Dome Technology
Completes Estonia Project
by Freda Parker and Kathleen Clegg
photos
provided by Dome Technology
Not many of us knew that -- including some of the folks at Dome Technology, Inc. of Idaho Falls, Idaho.
According to its website (www.dbtmuuga.ee/), "DBT is the newest one of East Europe's modern terminals...well equipped to arrange through-transportation of Your products using all existing modes: by road, by rail and by sea."
Collectively, these dome warehouses can store 70,000 tons and have doubled DBT's covered storage capacity to a whopping 140,000 tons.
Fertilizers are the major product DBT transports from Muuga Harbour to Central, South and North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. And Muuga Harbour is Estonia's largest and deepest port. With depths up to 18m, it can serve any ship, is ice-free year round, and handles about 90% of Estonia's transit traffic. As an added bonus, Muuga Harbour has declared itself a "free zone," through which shippers can save on port taxes and custom duties.
Dome Technology knew that the DBT project would take almost eight months, so the company encouraged entire families to accompany their four-man crew.
During their entire Estonian stay, Kathleen, via e-mail, kept in touch with Monolithic headquarters in Italy, Texas, supplying us with information about their life and experiences in Estonia. The following are exerpts from a letter Kathleen sent us:
We are all living in Soviet-type, block apartments in tall, concrete buildings that are pretty old. I think they were designed to hold as many people as possible. Most of the apartments are two-bedroom, but we have three bedrooms. They are drafty and cold and the heat is controlled by building maintenance. That means that we don't get heat until the maintenance man gets cold.
There are no clothes dryers. We dry clothes on the porch and sometimes they freeze.
Other apartments have modern ovens, but ours is an old Russian model and I ruin things on a regular basis.
We live on the fifth floor, and since there are no elevators we get plenty of exercise. But the apartments are fine to live in. I haven't seen any bugs, so that's a big plus in my book.
Communication can be challenging, but with our little bit of Estonian, their little bit of English, and lots of hand signals and pointing we manage. Nick sends me shopping with drawings of things he wants.
And shopping is an interesting experience. They have regular grocery stores here, but not most of the things we are used to. No Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Nothing packaged and no easy foods. Everything is from scratch and fresh, so we have probably eaten healthier than ever before. They have great outdoor markets in most neighborhoods, with fresh vegetables and fruits, and many places to buy trinkets.
During our one month of summer, we went to the beach and did sightseeing. It's really cold now (October), so there's not much recreation.
Samantha made some great friends, all of whom say they will visit us in the States. Though our children are home-schooled, Samantha visited a Tallinn school with one of her friends. She said that it was pretty neat and the kids were really nice to her. Students changed classes as they do in the States. They have a 15-minute break between classes, but no lockers, so they have to carry their books with them everywhere.
Tallinn is a beautiful, old city with beautiful buildings, museums and a wall you can walk that has a few towers you can go into. Exploring has been the best part for me and my family likes it too.
People here move at a slower pace. They start their day later and take longer meal breaks. Some places close between one and three o'clock for lunch.
They wear a lot of black here in the winter, fall and spring.
Nick reports that the project is going well and right on schedule (completed November 1, 2001). Nick had some interesting experiences with the 12 local, mainly Russian workers. Dome Technology's guys did extensive training on the first dome, but far less on the ones that followed.
Still, they did have some unique situations. One day Nick walked into the area where the locals were eating lunch. He saw the guys drinking a beer. Nick told them they could not drink during work. The guys said, "It's just one." So Nick went to the supervisor and told him. His response was, "Only one, right?"
Then on one hot (relative term here) summer day, the locals returned from lunch wearing only their underwear, socks and shoes -- nothing else. That was a little surprising!
But one of our most surprising and heart warming experiences occurred following America's 9-11 tragedy. Many Estonians called us to make sure we were okay and none in our family was hurt. People hung flags with black strips of mourning. The sidewalk and steps to the American Embassy were lined with so many flowers and candles, you could hardly walk through. That was a good thing to see, even if for a bad reason.
The Cleggs left Estonia for home on November 8. In one of her last e-mails Kathleen wrote, "We really enjoyed our time here. We are excited to go home, but are glad we came. A little over a year ago, we had no idea Estonia existed. Now we have been able to experience it first hand. This was definitely the chance of a lifetime. If you ever get the chance to visit here, I highly recommend it."
177
Dome Park Place - Italy, TX 76651
Tel (972)483-7423 - Fax (972)483-6662
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