News from Estonia

"Tartu the Christmas City" is the university city's other, current claim to fame. Its Town Hall Square is full of glass pavilions, including one from which writers broadcast poetry online and another housing happy chickens that lay Christmas eggs. But the crowning glory of this year's Village of Light is...

Tartu's "success story" at reducing car traffic, noise and air pollution in the city center has been nominated for an international award at the Green Destinations Stories Awards. In October, Tartu entered the Sustainable TOP 100 Destinations list of the international sustainable tourism development organization Green Destinations. It submitted its...

Kristjan Järvi, an internationally well known charismatic Estonian musician and conductor (familiar to Estonians in the USA as he, his brother Paavo and their father Neeme Järvi have guest conducted several USA symphony orchestras, and Kristjan co-founded the New York based classical hip-hop-jazz group Absolute Ensemble),  is featured in a...

  A monument marking the boundary where Saaremaa islanders begin to pronounce the unique Estonian vowel "Õ" as "Ö" was unveiled this past week.   The challenge of having to cut through bureaucratic red tape was worth it, since the islanders now have a new attraction that is both deeply...

Estonian American National Council (EANC) leadership recently took part in a video conference with the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Tallinn, Brian Roraff.    EANC President Marju Rink-Abel and Vice President Mai-Liis Bartling represented EANC, with Washington, DC Director Karin Shuey and Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) Managing Director Karl...

  As we celebrate International Education Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week, we'd like to introduce to  you an exchange alumni and entrepreneur, Triin!   She studied in the U.S. in 2015 in the Digital Communication Network program. While in the U.S., Triin wanted to understand how to utilize digital tools...

The United States, Sweden, Estonia and Baltic Air Policing participated in an air exercise across the region last Friday. Exercises like this help to strengthen the important relationships we’ve built with our NATO allies and European partners and enable us to effectively support our collective defense. The U.S. appreciates the...

"Light Stream", the winning entry in the Ülemiste rail terminal design competition.  Source: Zaha Hadid Architects and Esplan OÜ   The time-frame for the planned high speed Rail Baltic terminal in Tallinn has been announced, with work starting next year and the goal of completion by the end of 2025,...

  Estonian children’s physiotherapist Maarja Säde has released a book, now for sale on Amazon, featuring daily baby exercises that help to shape a child's proper movement patterns and encourage their physical development. The author of the books “My Active Baby” and “Baby Massage and Yoga”, Maarja Säde demonstrates exercises...

Children of Tallinn's Old Town's schools traditionally visit Riigikogu (Parlament) on Martinmas, where they were greeted by Henn Põlluaas, the Speaker of the Riigikogu. Photo by Postimees   Late autumn is the time when harvests conclude, the weather cools and the days grow shorter.   In Estonia, as in many...