I'll soon get my permanent residence permit (alaline elamisõigus) in Estonia.
So here's a non-exhaustive thread on why I love this place.
1. Seasons. In winter there are minuses and snow, in autumn it is cool, in summer the sun barely sets, everyone is outside (because it's not crazy hot), and everything is beautiful. (Spring sucks.) I really enjoy that there are seasons with their own charm.
2. Easy administration. Almost everything can be done online, on a clean and user-friendly interface. If there is a problem, you can call a PERSON (not a chatbot) who will answer the phone and help you. No long lines, no million papers, jerk administrators and wasted time.
3. Child-friendly. It is uncommon to exclude children from spaces and events, and being visibly upset by children is frowned upon.
I love this. Many places consider kids' needs, and surpriiisingly, they are way less likely to throw hissy fits when their needs are met.
4. Patriotism. Estonians love Estonia, Estonian language, Estonian culture. It is not remotely cringe or far-right adjecent to dance folk dances, sing in a choir, wear folk costumes, write about patriotism, or participate in patriotic events. I find this extremely important.
5. It is on the "good side". Estonian foreign policy knows exactly who the aggressor is and who needs to be helped, and it does. Period.
I can't even tell you what a relief it is to live in such a country (especially after Hungary, Holy Christ).
6. Incredibly beautiful forests, rivers, streams, swamps, islands, valleys, lakes, random castles, picturesque towns and gingerbread houses everywhere. I love them. I can't get enough of them. (And no, it is not too flat, and high mountains are overrated.)
7. You are visible and you matter. There are 1.3 million people in Estonia, everyone knows everyone. You can't sit back and wait for someone else to fix this country, because nobody else will. This aquarium is small, too much for many, but at least every fish counts.
8. They aren't hostile to Hungarians. In fact, many consider us somewhat cool. They remember Kapten Tenkes, Globus jarred beans, Ikarus buses, they know Sándor Petőfi and Lake Balaton. They often mention that we are somehow related, but they don't quite understand how.
They do hate Viktor Orbán though.
9. They have time. (Sometimes a bit too much.) Everyone waits their turn, there is no stomping, scoffing, shouting, or pushing. (Usually no long lines either.) If you're not patient and cordial, you're considered a Russian jerk and nobody wants that.
Of course there are things I don't like about Estonia, but they are not as important to me as the ones I listed above.
Some things (cold, dark, small, at the end of the world, bear is too close, etc.) may be bigger problems for others. But I'm really happy to be here. :)
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Have you ever wondered HOW exactly is Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language?
How it is actually related to Finnish and Estonian?
Well friend this is your lucky day! Buckle up and let's find out! 🧵
First, let's start with how languages can be similar.
In this picture, language A and language B have words with similar sound and meaning.
Language A is Greek.
Language B is Hawaiian.
The reason for their similarity is called coincidence. About 1-2% of any two given languages will have such similaities.
This FB page claims Slovakian is a particular version of Hungarian, supported by the image below.
What we are seeing are loanwords. Either from Hungarian to Slovakian, or Slovakian (or other Slavic) to Hungarian, or German to both, etc.
This has nothing to do with relatedness.
On this fine day of rememberance, let us remember times when Hungary knew better.
Incoming: few random facts about the 1956 revolution.
The revolution was inspired by the anti-Soviet demonstrations in Poland on 19. October. Hungarians announced a solidarity demonstration at the statue of General Bem, symbolizing Polish-Hungarian friendship, on 23 Oct at 3 pm, which is considered the beginning of the revolution.
The 8-meter-high and nearly 6-ton statue of Stalin, which had been standing on the edge of Budapest's City Park since 1951, was knocked down. Only the boots remained on the base of the statue. Today, a monument dedicated to the events of 1956 stands on this spot.
5 years since Albert Razin's self-immolation in front of the Udmurt Parliament.
I'll use @JohannaLaakso5's 2019 blog post as a source to recount what went down that day and who really killed Razin. kielioblog.wordpress.com/who-killed-alb…
On Sept 10, 2019, the 79-year-old Albert Razin, Udmurt sociologist and language activist, set himself on fire in front of the parliament building of the Republic of Udmurtia, as a protest against the suppression of Russia’s minority languages. He died in the hospital later.
Beforehand, Razin had been holding two placards. The one on the right-hand side says: “Do I have a homeland?”, the left one says: “And if tomorrow / my language will die out, / I’m ready / to die today.” The latter words were originally written by Razul Gamzatov, an Avar poet.
On 20 August, Estonia celebrates its 33rd anniversary of re-independence, and Hungary its 1024. anniversary of its establishment.
Though by far one of the biggest achievements in Hungarian history, even Hungarians don't know much about it.
So how did Hungary become a kingdom? 🧵
The 7 Hungarian (take that term here veeeery loosely) tribes conquered the Carpathian Basin in 895-896.
It was another massive achievement we should celebrate more, but let's stick to today's topic.
This was made possible by forming a tribal alliance and choosing a ruling figure.
The ruling figure was Álmos, and his son Árpád was the one to lead the conquest.
The Hungarian tribes settled in the plains of the Danube and Tisza, and more or less continued with their pre-conquest society and culture.
OK I'm cranky and annoyed because somebody's wrong on the Internet, so here's a thread about Hungarians.
Why Hungarians are not so big on being a "Finno-Ugric nation", specifically. And why they think they're Huns instead.
Gird your loins, as Nigel would say. 🇭🇺
I'm often amazed how little even Finns and Estonians know about Hungarians' resistence to being Finno-Ugric.
But it's true: though by far the most populous F-U nation (get used to this abbreviation), many Hungarians are unsure at best, passionate haters of the mere idea at worst.
Why? Well let's go back in time to the earliest mentions of Hungarians, in the 9th century AD. (Gonna use my slides from 6 years ago when I taught the subject in Budapest.)
This is when the 7 tribes of the Hungarians, led by Álmos then Árpád, conquered the Carpathian Basin.
It's been 4 days but I'm still so mad I have to write about it.
On 29 April, Sergei Kachimov, Khanty activist, shaman, protector of holy lake Imlor, died after a long illness, having denied medical care.
The land he was protecting sat on vast reserves of crude oil.
The struggle has been almost a century long. Almost half of Russia's oil is produced in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, where drilling has been conducted with no regards to the ecosystem of the taiga wetlands.
Or the indigenous people with their animals living here since forever.
Kechimov remembers the time when the lake was so rich he could catch fish with bare hands.
Now locals are tricked into letting oil companies exploit their land for minor compensations, such as a snowmobile.
They're not made aware what happens to the soil and water they give up.