Very good

To get me going on this new blog and start it off positively I’m going to steal my old thoughts from a previous blog with a few bonus thoughts, but promising that the ones to come in the next post, will be all new(ish)…

Once I felt embarrassed in front of some mothers when I had to confess that my daughter was doing well at school and Matt said that my behaviour was so English. If we lived in America, I would have probably been boasting about it and signed her up with some sort of reality show to prove my words. Actually I AM boasting about it but only to my parents. How else could I justify my move to another country and raising the children in a different upbringing to my own?

Although I have to admit boasting is not really Estonian way either. And neither is using the words like brilliant, fabulous, superb, fantastic. Yes, we do have these words in our vocabulary and we do know the meaning of those, but more likely these are just the ones written in a dictionary rather than used daily. So when a stereotype of the British people sees them as reserved and emotionally repressed, then I can't quite believe that, because I normally use only an adjective 'good' and on a very good day even 'very good'. 

Once a stranger in the toilet queue asked my opinion of the play that we’d both just seen (no, not us together! Just to clarify, I didn’t hang around outside of the theatre to pick someone up just to avoid going to the theatre on my own… Anyway, if I had done it, then by the end of the play I wouldn’t have called her a stranger anymore, would I? We would have had drinks during the break!). Anyhow coming back to the point I was supposed to make, she, the stranger, asked my opinion on a play, but she couldn't wait for my reply (not because it was her turn to enter a long-waited and now free toilet cubicle!) and before I could say something she just blurted out how fantastic it was! I was so taken aback by the force of such an excitement. I was unable to do anything than just to smile awkwardly and hope to get a move on with the queue.

But I am practising and have used these words in a few e-mails, hesitantly pressing the 'send' button. I am not doing it because I so want to become British (not that becoming British is very trendy at the moment in the light of the referendum. And also sorry, don't get me wrong I've got absolutely nothing against you! You are wonderful and fabulous and just brilliant! You see, I CAN do it!). Anyway I am practising if not anything else then just to widen my vocabulary.

And additionally on the same note (as I’m pretty positive that I haven’t said enough), my dear British friends - you really are truly wonderful and I am very lucky to have you in my life!