Estonian World recently compiled the list 100 ways to know that you are from Estonia. It's a thoroughly enjoyable and hilarious read that many Estonians can identify with. If some of the points don't resonate to you personally, then you'll probably know someone with whom it does.
Even though I wasn't born in Estonia, I'm Estonian by descent and can still identify with many of the points listed. Of course some of the language things do go over my head!
Here are 10 points that I can easily relate to:
1. When someone ask you “where is Estonia?” you quickly reply that it’s located in Northern Europe close to Finland…
2. Every year you believe, deep in your heart, that Estonia will once again win the Eurovision Song Contest.
3. You don’t think that “terviSEKS” is a funny word.
4. You don’t give a damn about religion, but get lost in a spiritual section of a bookshop for hours.
5. You’re proud that Ernst Hemingway wrote that you can find at least one Estonian in every harbour in the world.
6. You look in both directions before crossing the road, even if it’s a one-way street.
7. You are so proud of every Estonian that you correct foreigners who say that the population is one million, not 1.3 million as it actually is.
8. Everyone in your family has pictures from funerals.
9. You presume that all other countries also have ubiquitous internet access.
10. Potato to you is the same as rice to a Japanese.
Then there's this one. It got a good laugh from me! 'You think any beverage below 20% is non-alcoholic'.
