EVS in Estonia

That was an idea, I aways wanted to realize… Promoting Estonia in my own town : Le Bourget du Lac, located in the French Alps.

As my mother is now in the city council , and with her team decided to organize one Festival about Europe on the 18th of July 2009 (with Irland as guest country), I proposed to take part in the event, through the european market set in the main street of the village, creating a stand on Estonia.

I had prepared everything, with the help of my family of course. My mother had found some artificial cornflower (national flower in Estonia), I brought back from our last trip some estonian specialities such as : dark bread with garlic, moose sausages, Kalev chocolates, roasted almonds with cinnamon. And my estonian flag was waving in the air.

At first, we had some rain, and only a few people were stopping by. But in the afternoon, the sky cleared up, and my stand was a success. I was so happy to explain, and to do my best to promote Estonia. I answered questions, first one was usually “but where is Estonia?”. But finally it is good point I think that for now nobody really know about Estonia, because thanks to this, they don’t have any prejudice about this country, everything for them is a discovery. Lots of people told me that the pictures we had taken (especially Jonathan’s one) were beautiful, and were given them the desire to go overthere.

I was so touched, when small children asked me if they could take the small estonian flags, and after that I saw that they were wearing them or brandishing them in the streets of my village. I was hearing “Tere, tere !” everytime I was crossing somebody in the street. And that was for me one of the best pleasure I had.

Thanks everybody for passing by our stand, thanks to our dear estonian friends who helped us promoting well their country ! Hope we are good ambassadors of this small country !

Here is also an extract of an interview on my EVS (European Volontary Service) experience in english done by a journalist from RFI (Radio France International) in Paris, during the Day of Europe on the 9th of May 2009 :

Imagine standing with 26 000 other people in a half dome, with in front of you one person frantically moving their arms and making faces. Behind, are sitting on the grass, a crowd so numerous that your eyes can’t even see how far they go to. There are even people in the trees, trying to get a better view ! Two seconds of silence…

Then all of a sudden as a wave of sound, you and all those around you are singing a powerful tune and each note goes through the air as if carried by one single voice. This was “to breathe as one”, the name given this year to the singing festival, or Laulupidu in estonian, which attracted thousands of people around songs of peace, love of nature, and freedom, some of which had been part of the Singing Revolution : a passive but efficient protest all through the Baltic States, to get rid of the Soviet and be free from the occupation.

Next to us, were standing some people who probably had lived through these events and participated in the liberation of Estonia. For them, as for all who know about this country’s history, this Laulupidu meant more than just a concert. It was a gathering of people wanting to sing and afirm their identity and culture. This, was particularly visible at the end when the flame of the festival was put out, and no one paid attention to it and continued to sing the songs they all wished to hear. When the crowd of singers finally dispersed, each one was still singing while tranquilly mixing in with all the other estonians. It was as if each one carried home the spirit of the Laulupidu… until next time !

For the common, going to Estonia is already quite a surprising idea. Going back puts you in the category of weirdo’s and other strange people you want to avoid, but a third time back has the effect of leaving most people open-mouthed and eyes wide open. Why would anyone impose himself such a long journey in a place like this ?! Amelie’s colleagues imagined that for our holidays we would be going to a warm sunny place somewhere south, but never would they believe the things we saw and did in Estonia !

Hopefully, you faithfull reader of our blog, you can understand our love and passion for this little country. We were welcomed as kings and our friends took us around as one of theirs. It was as if we had never left and even though time had passed since we had last seen each other, we caught up on news and told them all about our new life.

The excuse was the huge singing festival, UNESCO world heritage, called “Laulupidu”, which united 26 000 and more singers, plus two French, who were lucky to be invited as part of this incredible choir. But, Estonia was for us a haven of tranquility, friendship, and a simplicity which we have a hard time finding anywhere else. It just felt as if we were coming home in some way.

Thanks to all of you whom we saw during this trip, to the others, hopefully we will meet again next time !