BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Helmut Kohl: «See oli nagu pärast pommirünnakut.»

31. detsember 2004

Endine Saksamaa liidukantsler Helmut Kohl , kes pääses Sri Lankas napilt eluga, kui hiidlained tema hotelli nahutasid, võrdles ajalehele Bild antud intervjuus tsunami laastamistööd Teise maailmasõja purustustega.

Reuters/BNS/SLÕL 

«Mulle meenusid noorukieas üleelatud sõjakoledused. Hotelli ümbrus nägi välja nagu pärast rasket pommirünnakut,» ütles Kohl, kes nägi hiidlainete pealetungi pühapäeva hommikul Thalpe kuurordis hotelli Paragon kolmanda korruse rõdult.

«Me ei saanud alguses aru, et lainel on selline purustusjõud,» seletas 74aastane Kohl. «Alles siis, kui nägime, et hotelli esimene ja teine korrus on üleni vee all, mõistsime katastroofi ulatust. Hotelli ümbruses on kõik purustatud ja ka meie hotell sai kõvasti kannatada.»

Aastatel 1982-1998 Saksamaa liidukantsleri ametit pidanud Kohl sõitis enne jõulupühi koos sõpradega Sri Lankale, et teha läbi ajurveda kuur.

Enda sõnul soovis endine liidukantsler pärast tsunamit hotelli jääda. Ükski seal elanud 50-60 šveitslasest ja sakslasest surma ei saanud.

«Me otsustasime jääda. Ma ei tahtnud minema joosta. Ma pidasin oluliseks kohale jääda ja püüda abi organiseerida. Aga kui kaks päeva ei olnud elektrit ega vett, soovitati meil lahkuda,» rääkis Kohl.

Eksliidukantsler ja tema hotellikaaslased toimetati Thalpest ühte Colombo lähedal asuvasse hotelli. Kohli sõnul otsustas ta jääda esialgu Sri Lankasse, näitamaks, et elu läheb edasi ja sellel saareriigil on endiselt olemas tulevik.

Hiidlainete alla jäi Tallinna lennukikapteni pere

31. detsember 2004

Hiidlainete rüüstatud Khao Laki kuurordis Tais on kadunud Tallinna lennukikapteni Matti Aho pere. Üleeile oli Finnairi Eesti tütarfirmas Aero töötava pereisa 45. sünnipäev.

Tõnis Erilaid

Ahode kolme lapse - Petra, Panu ja Paula - passid ja Eesti ID-kaardid leiti Khao Laki rannast. Pere oli elanud Khao Lakis turismifirma Finnmatkat Blue Village puhkusekülas, millest pärast hiidlainete rünnakut midagi järele ei jäänud.

Neljalapselise pere kaks last - Pauliina ja Petra - olid ravil Bangkoki haiglas ja tuuakse täna lennukiga Soome. Isa Matti, ema Päivi, nelja-aastase Panu ja seitsmeaastase Paula kohta seni teateid pole, kuigi neid otsivad nii Soome Punane Rist kui ka Tallinnas soome koolis käiva Pauliina klassikaaslase isa, kirjutab eilne Ilta-Sanomat.

«Lootus elab ikka veel,» märgib ajaleht.

Remember them during the New Year !

TSUNAMI-South Asia-December 26th, 2004

New Year's falls just at the darkest hours,
Even as the sun lies sick and dying.
When the darkness turns hope starts anew,
Year by year a lesson ever true,
Each of us the bitter cold defying.
All my life I want to be with you,
Restoring year by new year what is ours.

New years are a chance for a beginning
Even when there hasn't been an end.
Wheels turn in an interminable bend,
Yet, marked in one spot, seem to wobble spinning.
Each year we hope to do a little better
Although we know that really nothing's changed.
Reason thinks that everything's arranged,
So we must dream if we would fate unfetter.

Happy New Year! To those who will have none,
A wish that knows too well it cannot be.
Perhaps one ought not wish so futilely;
Perhaps one ought, that such not be alone.
Yearning is the price one pays for hope,
Nor can one hope unless one would endure.
Each futile wish makes paradise more sure,
Widening the world's supernal scope.
Yet there are those who find such wishes cheap,
Easy substitutes for sacrifice.
A wish for good is more than merely nice,
Restoring winds that stir the unguent deep.

How sad, the year just passed! A year the past
Arose like smoke from deep beneath the rubble,
Pouring up through fissures in the heart,
Perhaps our own as much as those of others.
Year of hatred writhing in raw pain,
Near mad with certainty arrayed in faith,
Each aggrieved alight with righteous anger,
Whirlwinds swirling through their swathes of rage.
Yet let us in the new year look for justice,
Ever the rock on which to live in peace,
Administered with love for every soul,
Regarding every evil as our own.

Tsunami (a Japanese word meaning harbor wave) are gravity waves generated by large disturbances of the sea floor caused by volcanic eruptions, landslides or earthquakes. Shallow earthquakes along dip slip faults are more likely to be sources of tsunami than those along strike slip faults. In deep water tsunami travel at approximately 0.2 km/sec as compared to 5-10 km/sec for P waves and S waves.

Thus, approaching tsunami can be detected by sea floor pressure gauges which measure the height of the water column above the gauge. Tsunami warning systems consist of networks of such gauges connected to a control center.

A scale of magnitude for tsunami, similar to the Richter Magnitude scale for earthquakes, is based on logarithm of wave height corrected for distance from the source. The first motion (up-crest or down-trough) can be used to determine direction of sea floor displacement in the source area.

Our deepest condolences to the families of over 150 000 people (including 1000's of tourists) who died in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Maldives, Malaysia and on the east-coast of Africa.

Jõulude traditsioonid Kuressaarel

American, Estonian Christmas traditions
By Michael Jones, Staff Writer

GAYLORD - Although Gaylord and Kuressaare, the hometown of Estonian exchange student Mehis Vipp, are separated by several thousand miles, the celebration of Christmas in the two cities do bear a number of similarities.

"We decorate a tree, bake cookies and Santa Claus brings presents to the children," Vipp said from the festive living room of Ron and Linda Kirkpatrick, his host parents for part of his one-year stay in Gaylord.

While there are many shared similarities in the customs of Christmas between the two countries, one major difference seems to be that Vipp and the rest of the 1.5 million residents of the tiny country south of Finland have yet to be hit by the frenzied commercial aspect of Christmas commonly found in Gaylord and the United States. "We exchange a few presents in our family, with the kids getting a little more," said Vipp. "But it doesn't seem like it's what it is here."

While not at all unusual to see stores in Gaylord setting out Christmas decorations by the end of October, Vipp said Christmas activities, including shopping, traditionally do not commence until the first of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" - Dec. 13.

"Christmas is a family holiday," Vipp said, comparing it more to the celebration of the American version of Thanksgiving. "I haven't experience it (Christmas) here yet but I was somewhat surprised to find that the schools don't have Christmas parties."

2004 aastal Eesti eraldas oma eelarvest EUR 511,000 välisabi jaoks

Estonia hands out Eur 511,000 in foreign aid in 2004

• From: "Katia M. Peltekian"
• Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2004 15:33:36 +0400 (AMT)

TALLINN, Dec 24 -- Estonia gave international development and foreign aid to the tune of eight million kroons (EUR 511,000) from the state budget in the outgoing year, mostly to support eastern and southeastern Europe and southern Caucasus. Estonia handed out a total of more than 1.5 million kroons in humanitarian aid through international organizations, the daily Postimees reported.

So Estonia supported victims of the Beslan hostage drama, civil war refugees of the Sudanese Darfur area, earthquake victims in Iran and children in the Russian Pskov region who were given hepatitis A vaccine, Foreign Ministry press secretary Anneli Kimber reported.

Kimber added that 6.5 million kroons was spent on development aid, which consisted in the transfer of material aid as well as technical knowhow.

So we have invited to Estonia public servants from Georgia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine to share with them eurointegration experience, to inform them how to negotiate with the World Trade Organization, and have helped Armenia develop its emergency centers and communications network ; Kimber said.

She said Estonia was sharing its experience in the sphere of public administration, institutional development, development of the information society, accession to international organizations and environmental protection.
In the transfer of its knowhow Estonia mainly centers on areas where processes similar to the reforms carried out in Estonia lie ahead or are already in progress.

Next year the Foreign Minstry has set its foreign aid target at the same level as this year, Kimber said. She said the main target countries would be the same as previously, the most important of them being Georgia and Ukraine.

Salong

Salon

By Victor Sonkin

Internet junkies and academics may ordinarily be cut from different cloth, but two weeks ago, one stuck up for the other in a last-ditch effort to save one of Russian literature's greatest treasures.

Representatives of Moscow-Tartu Initiative, an association of private donors organized on the Internet, have pledged to bail out the Russian department of Estonia's Tartu University from financial ruin. Tartu University's Russian department is dear to many of Moscow's literati, as it became a haven for liberal thought during the stagnation of the 1970s. Yet falling enrollments meant that two of the department's professors would have been fired if the donors hadn't stepped in.

Speaking at the ceremony, Moscow-Tartu Initiative chairman Sergei Kuznetsov, who recently published a history of the Russian Internet called "Feeling The Elephant" (Oshchupyvaya Slona), said that the foundation lays waste to the charge that Russia's businessmen couldn't care less about their country and culture. "As private persons we are able to solve problems that politicians and officials ruefully neglect," the association reported Kuznetsov as saying.

Tartu University has been an important center of Russian studies for more than three decades, primarily due to the charisma and prominence of professor Yury Lotman, a leading figure in the field of structural semiotics. After Lotman's death in 1993, former students such as Dmitry Itskovich, owner of Moscow's OGI literary cafes, and Roman Leibov, a scholar of Russian literature who teaches at Tartu, transformed the quiet Estonian town into one of the centers of Russia's intellectual Internet movement.

"Ten years ago, the Internet was more developed in Russian university communities outside Russia," Kuznetsov said, "and it's time for us to repay the debt."

The problems plaguing this Russian department are universal among post-communist countries now shaking off their Soviet past. Tartu University finances its departments proportionally to their number of students, and Russian departments these days are not exactly overpacked.

"It has become much more difficult for our graduates to find jobs in Estonia, and there's little hope for significant change," Leibov wrote by e-mail last Monday. "With this in mind, Moscow's initiative, if not quite a cure-all, will certainly help us survive."

To this day, many Russian culture officials refuse to acknowledge the Internet community as a positive force in the arts. Columnist Maxim Sokolov once called it "a toy for American imbeciles," and Culture and Press Minister Alexander Sokolov called it "a hundred-headed hydra" as recently as last week. Members of Moscow-Tartu Initiative are right to emphasize the role of the Internet in their collective, if that is what it will take to get the web to be accepted as nothing less than a fact of life.

Laevafirma "Tallink" ajutiselt peatas teenuste osutamist St.-Peterburi liinil

Ferry Firm Tallink Suspends Service to City

By Galina Stolyarova
STAFF WRITER

Estonian ferry operator Tallink has suspended its services to and from St. Petersburg that had been intended to continue year round.

Citing unexpected and significant rises in port fees, it announced Wednesday that it will cease the service it began in April between St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn on Jan. 2.

Tallink Group, a leading player in the eastern Baltic shipping industry, announced it will refund tickets to all passengers and compensate all expenses that would-be passengers may have spent on obtaining visas to Estonia.

Tallink's chief executive Enn Pant said a decision whether to resume operations will be made in spring and for that reason the company will not close its representative office in the city.

"There are very few passengers in winter, while harsh weather conditions force us to drastically increase fuel consumption," Pant said in a press release. "We aren't very optimistic that the visa regime will be eased [soon]. The last straw came two days ago when Morskoi Vokzal, the city's sea passenger terminal, told us they will double their fees from Jan. 1, and we definitely can't afford that."

Russia requires visas of almost all citizens except those from some CIS countries, while Russians need visas to almost all other countries, including Estonia and Finland.

The Endangered Uralic People

The Endangered Uralic People Short Reference Guide compiled by Lembit Vaba and Jüri Viikberg edited by Andres Heinapuu translated by Kai Vassiljeva HTML by Sven-Erik Soosaar

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION

BEYOND THE POINT OF NO RETURN

LIVONIANS

VOTES

IZHORIANS or Ingrians

ENETS or Yenisey Samoyeds

THE ENDANGERED PEOPLES

INGRIAN FINNS

KARELIANS (incl. Ludes)

VEPSES

SÁMIS or Lapps

MORDVINS (Erzyas and Mokshas)

MARIS or Cheremisses

UDMURTS or Votyaks

KOMIS or Zyryans

PERMYAK KOMIS

OB-UGRIANS AND SAMOYEDS

KHANTS or Ostyaks

MANSIS or Voguls

NENETS or Yurak Samoyeds

NGANASANS or Tavgi Samoyeds

SELKUPS or Ostyak Samoyeds

---

window to the finno-ugric world

© SURI

Estonian driver on road in Wales

Eduard Laats plans to work in Wales for five years

Bus passengers in Pontypridd are being picked up by Estonian drivers but not because they have lost their way.

Bus company Shamrock Travel was forced to recruit drivers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Maltese after locals no longer wanted to work on the buses.

One of the new recruits was 44-year-old Estonain Eduard Laats, who features on BBC documentary Busman's Holiday.

Laats arrived in Wales a few days before filming started.

As a bus driver in Tallinn, Mr Laats earned about £60 a week.

In Wales he can expect to earn five times that amount, so he intends to stay here for five years.

Laats, who left behind his wife and 10-year-old son, said he will use the money for his son's education and to finish building work on his house.

Clayton Jones denies the bus company are taking advantage of cheap labour

When the new recruits arrive in Wales they are looked after by a welfare officer employed full-time by the bus company.

The welfare officer sorts out all the paper work for the new bus drivers and finds them somewhere to live. They are then trained to drive on the roads.

Most new drivers adjusted to their new life, although 12 have gone back home since May.

Estonians like Laats don't find the weather a problem. Back home he is used to driving in temperatures as low as -30C.

Learning the language, however, has proved more of a struggle.

Clayton Jones, owner of Shamrock Travel, denies the bus company is taking advantage of cheap labour.

Instead he likens the work ethics of the drivers to that of Welsh miners. "These men put their families first," he said.

Most local people welcome their new bus drivers and are sympathetic towards the language problems encountered by the drivers.

Jõuluvana Eestis

Le père Noël en Estonie
Santa Claus in Estonia

Hei, hei jõulumees,
mis on sul kül kotti sees ? !
Koti sees on maiuspala,
seda ütles jõuluvana.

Massiline tellimus Hiinast hirmutas Esti firmasid.

TALLINN - AS Ritsu, a leading manufacturer of log homes, announced it has received an enormous order from China that would require the firm to combine forces with several other log home-producers to carry it out on time .........

Ei mingil juhul mitteasjalik aasta

NEVER A DULL YEAR

At the end of each year pundits have a tendency to claim that the past 12 months was the year, the one that changed it all, the one that, in a decade or two from now, we will all look back at and remember distinctly. It is very easy to get sucked into this "significance trap," but still we must ask: was 2004 such a year?

Judging by the memberships in NATO and the European Union, it was. These are, after all, the two things the Baltic states wanted most since achieving independence. Now they have them. Membership in the two organizations was the result of years of negotiations and reform and could, if utilized properly, continue facilitating development and broaden prosperity in countries that are still impoverished by European standards.

Pundits be damned, but 2004 was the beginning of a new era in Baltic history.

Otherwise, it was politics as usual in 2004. Latvia had three governments, Lithuania two and Estonia only one. Estonians stuck behind Mr. Juhan Parts, despite the growing unpopularity of his ruling right-wing party, Res Publica. On the other hand, Lithuania went through three presidents (Paksas-Paulauskas-Adamkus), an undisputed record not only for the Baltics but maybe all of Europe. What's more, its corruption scandals were easily the worst in the Baltics. So stability-wise, Estonia takes the prize.

Täna, 15 aastat tagasi, 24/12/1989 olid saadetud Eestist ära esimesed BBS teaded.

Bulletin Board System known as BBS

TELECOM Digest     Sat, 30 Dec 89 09:15:25 CST    Special: BBS in Estonia

Today's Topics:                             Moderator: Patrick Townson

  On-line With BBS in Soviet Union (Dave Hughes via D. Dodell & F. Linton)
  On-line With BBS in Soviet Union (Andrei Kolesnikov, calling from Moscow)

[Moderator's Note: Fred E. J. Linton and David Dodell both sent copies
of the online session by Dave Hughes with the BBS in Estonia. Other
than slight differences in editing, the copies were identical. I've
tried to eliminate any editing in the text presented here, but some
technical problems required a couple of minor changes, such as the
indentation of the word 'From' when it appeared, and the removal of
some dash marks. The second text is from our Soviet correspondent to
the Digest, Andrei Kolesnikov. I hope you enjoy reading this as much
as I did, and Happy New Year to all!  PT]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Dec 89 12:48:58 mst
From: David Dodell <ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org>
Subject: BBS in Estonia

I found this posting in alt.bbs ... didn't know if you wanted to repost it to 
the group:

  From: dave@oldcolo.UUCP (Dave Hughes)
  Date: 25 Dec 89 07:46:14 GMT
  Organization: Old Colorado City Communications, Colorado Springs, CO
  Message-ID: <236@oldcolo.UUCP>
  Newsgroups: alt.bbs,comp.misc


I have managed to log on tonight, Christmas Eve, to the 1st BBS inside
the USSR. Its in Tallinn, Estonia. Phone number Country Code +7, City
Code 0142, Number 422 583. You can't dial that direct from the US. I
had to use the technique I use to call my son's modem in China - using
a voice phone branched off the modem, going through two operators. Got
it at 1200 baud, 7S1, Bell212.

Below is most of that 30 minute first session. The software resembles
a public domain US package. The Finns from Helsinki helped set it up.

[Hughes note: I edited out redundant menus and some line noise.]
[Moderator's Note: And I had to remove some dashes on a few lines.  PT]

atd
CONNECT

CONNECT 1200 / 12-25-89 (03:12)

Eesti BBS # 1
PCBoard (R) - Version 14.1/D

Do you want graphics (Enter)=no?

** EESTI BBS # 1 **

Welcome to Tallinn !

Tere tulemast Tallinnasse !

What is your first name? dave
What is your last name? hughes

DAVE HUGHES not found in USER's file.
(R) to re-enter your name or (C) to continue logon as a new user? C
New Users see this File

Would you like to register with us (Enter)=yes?
                            (------------)
Password (One word please!)? ...
                            (------------)
Re-enter password to verify? ...

                            (------------------------)
City and State calling from? Colorado Springs, Colo

                            (-------------)
Business or data phone # is? 7196324111

                            (-------------)
   Home or voice phone # is? 7196362040

                            (------------------------------)
Brand of CPU you are using? Toshiba Laptop MSDOS

Please wait - Adding name to Quick Index File ...

Registration Information Saved .

Luuletused Jõululaupäevas

Lumelahmakad männi okstel - kui ilusad !
ja laternad Jõuluses öös.
Silmadega sametist lund seilan.
... siis sõnad hetkeks suretan
tumma tühjuse eemale peletan.

Palju ütlemata teil jätan.
Vaid metsale sosistan
ja lumega laterdan.
Ma tean, et nad vaikivad ...

Helbest mu pihus saab pisike piisk,
tuisu tusast saab nakatav naer
ning pisarast peos tõuseb tõeline pillerkaar.

Kodu uksele hetkeks nõjatun
lumelastele lehvitan ...
"Varsti kohtume !" luban veel ma
... avan ukse, ja sellega
avan hoopis teise maailma ...

Jõulumees
Ma ei ole julm,
kuigi kortsus on mul kulm,
kuigi küljes on mul vead,
tahan lastele vaid head.
Oleks suhkrusaia sarnane
kui ma poleks karvane.
Habe pikk mul ees,
ma ei ole tavaline mees.

Kõige ilusam KUU on Jõulukuu,
kõige ilusam PUU on Jõulupuu,
kõige ilusam MEES on Jõulumees,
kõige ilusam AASTA ootab ees !

Vaikselt langeb lumehelbeid, särab tähevöö
rõõm ja rahu südames, kui on jõuluöö.
Üks aasta vaikselt ukse suleb
ta puudutusest link veel soe.
Uus juba hõisates ta järel tuleb,
ei möödunu tal midagi ei loe.

Oh jõuluaeg, oh jõuluaeg,
millal sina tuled ?
Mul on valmis juba kingid,
praed ja küünlatuled.

Kust Jõuluvana küll teab,
kas lapsed on olnud head ?
Kas on nad ema aidanud,
kas on nad kassi paitanud ?

Kas laps on olnud virk ja kraps
või mõnel koolis saadud kaks ?
Kes sussi sisse komme toob,
ja kingiks täpselt lapse soov ?

Tean, PÄKAPIKK on see,
kes jõulu eel meil luuret teeb !

Enely Meritam

13 years old Enely Meritam choosen amongst 15 "worldbest" young models.

Will she be next to Carmen and Tiiu ?

                 

               

Eesti neiu valiti maailma 15 parema modelli hulka
Shangais peetud ülemaailmsel modellivõistlusel jõudis 13aastane eesti modell Enely Meritam 15 finalisti hulka.

Super Tiiu Kuik : 300 Pildid

Album has been updated with 300 pictures now. And more to come !

Tiiu Kuik

Date of birth : 16 march 1987
Place of birth : Estonia

Hair color : brown
Eye color : green-brown
Height : 5'10 1/2 (179 cm)
Bust : 34 (85 cm)
Hips : 35.5 (90 cm)
Waist : 24 (60 cm)
Shoe : 8 (40)

Click : Tiiu's fall

Discovered in front of a food market !

Major Model Mgmt NYC, FM Model Agency London, Major Model Mgmt Milan, Angels Model Mgmt Paris.

Spring/Summer 2005 :
Amaya Arzuaga, Antonio Berardi, BCBG Max Azria, Betty Jackson, Byblos, Carolina Herrera, Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Clements Ribeiro, Ebru Ercon, Elspeth Gibson, Emilio Pucci, Esteban Cortazar, FrostFrench, Gaetano Navarra, Hermes, Hussein Chalayan, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jens Laugesen, John Galliano, Julien Macdonald, Kenneth Cole, Kenzo, La Perla, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Luca Luca, Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Matthew Williamson, Miki Fukai, Moschino Cheap and Chic, Narciso Rodriguez, Nicole Farhi, Nicole Miller, Nina Ricci, Oscar de la Renta, Paul Smith, Preen, Proenza Schouler, Ralph Lauren, Rocco Barocco, Sportmax, Tuleh, Valentino, Versace, Viktor & Rolf, Wunderkind, Y and Kei, Zac Posen.

Happy Xmas Tallinn and Salsk

                      

To my family, I would like to bring all the goodness of Christmas.

May they get the happiness that they all deserve during all the coming year. May it be free from troubles and full of those good remembrances that everyone seeks and love to recall all along one's life.

  .

                              Download Petit Papa Noel.mp3   

                              

Oopera "star" etendab kirikus

Opera star to perform at area church

STEPHANIE PORTER-NICHOLS

St Bland County Messenger

Friday, December 17, 2004

Sunday morning, a voice that could easily be considered a gift from God will resonate through the sanctuary of a local church. The community is invited to the service featuring this international opera performer.

Estonian born Taimo Toomast will share his musical talents with the congregation of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Wytheville.

It was Toomast’s voice that made his life quite different from his fellow Estonians early on. He began formally studying music in 1984.Within four years, he was performing with the National Opera of Estonia.

His talents made passage to Western Europe easier and by 1990, Toomast had worked his way to Vienna for further study and performances with the State Opera of Vienna in Austria.

Most recently, his career has found Toomast on stage in Germany and returning as a guest to the Estonian National Opera.

Eesti euromündi telefonihääletuse võitis Eesti kontuuriga kavand

Winning Design of the Estonian Euro Coins Competition Disclosed :

Today Governor of Eesti Pank, Vahur Kraft, disclosed the winner of the competition for the design of the national side of Estonian euro coins. The winning design is called Hara 2 by author Lembit Lõhmus and received 12,482 votes.

The design depicts contours of Estonian map and a word "Eesti" which means "Estonia". "There are only a few countries in Europe that have such an attractive and memorable contour like Estonia. The symbol is easy to remember," described the author his work.

"We thank all the people, who actively expressed their opinion, and also all the authors, who submitted their designs to the competition. I am sure the competition raised people's consciousness about the euro and generated a wider interest in matters related to the single currency," said Vahur Kraft, Governor of Eesti Pank and Chairman of the Panel.

The designs received votes as follows:

PLACE	DESIGN (AUTHOR)	VOTES	% OF VOTES
1.	Nr 4 - Hara 2 (Lembit Lõhmus)	12,482	27.46%
2.	Nr 1 - Järjepidevus (Tiit Jürna)	7,477	16.45%
3.	Nr 10 - In Corpore (Jaan Meristo)	7,284	16.03%
4.	Nr 8 - Tomson 5791 (Taavi Torim)	6,219	13.68%
5.	Nr 7 - Eesti keel (Jaak Peep, Villem Valme - TANK)	5,997	13.19%
6.	Nr 5 - 261948 (Villu Järmut, Mai Järmut)	3,036	6.68%
7.	Nr 2 - Linnutee (Tiit Jürna)	1,323	2.91%
8.	Nr 3 - Leopardid-2 (Jaano Ester)	759	1.67%
9.	Nr 9 - Nova (Rene Haljasmäe)	498	1.10%
10.	Nr 6 - Lill rukkis (Margus Kadarik)	378	0.83%
	TOTAL	45,453	100.00%

The ten best designs selected by the panel of experts were submitted to the national telephone vote that lasted for one week and in the course of which 45,453 votes were cast. The competition was announced in June, and by the deadline, 19 October, 134 designs were submitted.

The results of the telephone vote were confirmed by the panel summoned by Eesti Pank. At the beginning of November the panel also selected the ten best designs that proceeded to the national vote.

According to the terms of the competition, the authors of the ten best designs selected by the Panel will be paid remuneration in the amount of EEK 20,000 (€ 1,278). The award for the winning design is EEK 50,000 (€ 3,196).

Estonian government and the central bank are of the opinion that Estonia must be technically prepared to adopt the euro in the middle of 2006. Changeover to the new currency is likely to happen on 1 January 2007.

Rõõmsaid Ja Lume- Ning Kingirohkeid Jõule Kõigile !

Pime öö, jõuluöö.
Jõuluvanal puss on vööl.
Ärikas tal seisab teel,
suleb jõuluvana tee.
Kõval häälel pasundab,
nõuab jõuluvana kasukat.
Jõuluvana karamees,
ärikale ära teeb !

Jõulude Aeg
Tere, armas Jõulutaat !
Kui vinge, et sind ka näha saab !
Habe on sul tõega vänge
ja kingikott ullult suur !
järgmisel ju tuled jälle here ?
Ma seniks soovin sul üva jõulu !

Tere jõuluvana,
pai oodatud Sind kaua sai,
üles tunnistama pean,oma head ja halvad vead,
kuid see jutt siis kestaks kaua
teinekord ma sellest laulan.

Jõulud tasa, jõulud tasa
Härmas maale jõuavad,
Iga mehe, iga naise
Valgustamist nõuavad.

Mis on ühel, mis on teisel
Hingesoppi peidetud ?
Kas ei ole viimaks mõnda
üle parda heidetud ?

Meie mõtteid, meie ausust
Mõõtvad Jeesuslapsega.
Kas me sellest helgest soovist
Saame ikka aru ka ?

Kas on tunda, kas on mõista
Jõulu harrast koputust,
Nii et hundirahva kombed
Jäävad korraks maha sust ?