EVS in Estonia

Hiiumaa is the second largest island of Estonia (after Saaremaa). “Hiiu” means giant and “maa” means land. The legend says that Leiger a giant was living there and wanted to link Saaremaa and Hiiumaa by throwing stones into the sea to meet his family and friends. For us, we had to come by boat for he apparently didn’t have anybody he liked on the continent and we came with our friend Maude.

We stayed in the south of the island, in an old estonian farm. It was a wooden house, with ballots of wool hanging on its walls and furnished inside with antiques and a great estonian touch. It was pooring rain outside, and like us, hundreds of mosquitos prefered to stay inside. Though we spent quite some time killing some of them, there were far too many for us to exterminate. We therefore tried to take advantage of the day, knowing full well that the night would be unbearable.

We hopped on some soviet bicycles and roade along the coast discovering the beauties of the countryside. The night came and we snuggled into bed. We were surprised the next morning and the day after that we had not one single mosquito bite ! I think we have found a rare specie of vegetarian mosquito, or very well educated by our host !

Though the giant Leiger never finished his bridge to Saaremaa, this trip to Hiiumaa made us feel close to the wonderful times we had had last year in the neighbouring island (with another Margit). Hoping to come again one day with a little more sun.

This blog has been, since last year, a fabulous way, not only for us to tell about our adventures in Estonia, but also to create situations that only internet can make happened : a couple of months ago, we had received a message from some french scouts searching for a place to help a local community or parish, so we immediatly thought of Margus the pastor and his plans for building a place for seminars. There is enough work there until 2015 and four young people wanting to help is always welcomed ! We forgot about it and then one day Margus told us about the arrival of these scouts. They did some work for the church, but our friends from Jõelähtme are so welcoming and took them around to different concerts and places they had to see.

On the day we were supposed to go and help them, we found ourselves in just a few minutes, all 6 of us, all french people, on the island of Rammu, not knowing exactly how this happened. Being on an island with a bunch of scouts is really a pleasure : wood is picked in no time, doors which don’t open, open ! , and water is fetched from the weel (the latest being unquestionably their favourite chore).

Though we enjoyed some walks around our 3km long island and admired splendid views from old rusted soviet watch-towers, we wanted to do something usefull as well for the family which was letting us use their small summer house (and sauna !) by reinforcing the pier. It was in construction still and the main structure made with logs needed to be filled with granit boulders. We therefore carried more than a ton of rocks and consolidated the pontoon for the next who will come enjoy the island of Rammu…

Last Saturday, we went to an Island, very close to Jõelähtme, called Rammu saar. Unfortunately, Amélie couldn’t come, for she was working at the museum, but I went with Cécile, a french volunteer (and friend). We met with Silja and the others and left from the little fishing port of Neeme. Though the sun was shinning, there was a small debate to decide weather or not we should go to sea. Indeed, there was some wind and the little fishing boat we were taking was going to rock quite a lot. We finally decided to go in the first boat to try the adventure and the others would join us in the afternoon if the wind died down. The ones who stayed on the shore were probably right not to go, but we went anyway and found ourselves drenched to the bones, by the spray. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the island, though it was about 5 km away.

The Island of Rammu is uninhabited since 1952, when the soviet soldiers forced the families to leave and installed a small military base on the island. There used to live two families on Rammu, descending from Finnish fishermen who had settled there. There had been up to 30 people living there and there was even a small school for the younger ones. One man still living today, remembers going to high school by row-boat (in summer) or walking on the ice (in winter). A lady came to us and wanted to tell us her story about the island. She was born on the island, (there were no hospitals, so it was probably at home) and had lived there until she was 6 years old. She remembers some of her childhood there and it is a very important place for her, she never went back to live there. Now, in the village of Neeme, many inhabitants come from these two families from Rammu. Even the first husband of the Estonian presidents wife is a descendant from these families (yes, it is a little outstretched).

Here is an archive picture (thank you Cécile !) which shows a burial ceremony in Rammu before 1952.

We were going on this Island, with Margus, the Pastor and other villagers, to commemorate the fishermen who were buried in the small cemetery. Once we landed on the island, (soaking wet) we headed for a small summer house (see picture) still belonging to one of the families. They had a Sauna and it felt good to warm ourselves in it. Our clothes were put to dry on a rope for most of the day, so we walked around the island with towels around our waists. Rammu has become a bird sanctuary and we had a small picnic watching them fish and jabber around us. It felt as if we we Robinson Crusoe or explorers on this abandoned piece of land. We climbed in an old rusted soviet watchtower, where we could get a very good view on all the surroundings. It was wonderful to be there and we could feel a great feeling of freedom.

We did the ceremony in the small cemetary, then headed back to the boat in the afternoon. It took us only 7 minutes this time, for the sea had calmed down. All this fresh air had made us feel hungry, so with Silja, Karl her son, Cécile, and Madleen, we fixed ourselves a nice barbecue before coming back to Tallinn. What a day, it was so sad though that Amélie wasn’t with us to share this…

Agrandir le plan

This last weekend we hoped in our colleagues car, and drove to the Island of Saaremaa, on the west estonian coast. I thought we’d have to catch a ferry from Haapsalu or even Tallinn, which has one of the greatest ports of call in the country, but actually, the harbour which we left from was in Virstu, a small village, on the coast, between Haapsalu and Pärnu. Historically, it has been an strategic place, for it is extremely close to the Island of Muhu, itself, connected by a road to Saaremaa. In soviet times, one used to have to show his passport and have a good reason to go to Saaremaa (tourism was not a valid one).

The Ferry opened its great jaws of iron and swalowed the car, the adventure could start, we were finally going to visit Saaremaa, which we had been waiting for some time. Adventure we wanted adventure we had. Just a few moments after landing on Muhu, Merle, which was or official co-pilot for this trip, told us to get on a dirt road, and called it a “shortcut”. We followed it for what seemed hours, and found ourselves on shorter and unexplored trails, in the middle of the forest. When it had finally become impossible to continue any further, we finally turned back, hoping the car wouldn’t get stuck in the numerous mud holes.

The rest of our trip went more smoothly. Our two colleagues did a good job, taking us on many “shortcuts” in Saaremaa’s country roads, which enabled us to see and visit many small villages, with traditional houses, off the beaten tracks, where life would seem to freeze when our car passed slowly through, all eyes starring at us. TIme just didn’t exist here. Apart from the countryside, we saw some cliffs, north of the island, overlooking the Baltic sea. There was nobody exept us, no wind, a perfect blue sky, enough to let our minds wander past the horizon.

Autumn is an ideal season to visit Saaremaa, for all the highly visited areas in summer are just empty in fall. In Kaali, the 8th meteorite crater in the world, which is also a famous spot on the island, was deserted and left for ourselves and a little squirrel, wandering what we were doing in his territory.

I could go on for ages, but we do recommend Saaremaa, its a peaceful place to go to, you just have to know when to come and where to go, to escape the crowds… Thanks to our guides for showing us !

On the 6th of July, we went on a kayaking trip. It had been offered to us by the city of Jõelahtme, to thank us for the work we had done at the Jägala waterfalls.

It started from the beach of Valkla, a small village about 20km from our place. We had to take the one and only bus that went there in the afternoon and then walk 2km through the woods to get to the beach. Oh, I forgot to mention… it was very grey and rainy. But we didn’t think about that yet, for we enjoyed the wild strawberies and blueberries which grew all over the place.

We got there a little early and sat on a log on the beach, watching courageous kite-surfers (yes, since there are hardly any waves, one has to be pulled by a kite to surf) testing their sails and surfing these very cold waters.

Our turn finally came and we were shown to our kayaks. There were about 6 or 8 of us in double kayaks. Amelie got in front and was our “motor” and I was in back steering (and helping the “motor” when it died) The begining of the excursion was a bit hard, for you are not used to the equipment yet and that’s exactly where it is the hardest to paddle, for the little waves that there are come splashing right into your face and bring you back to the beach. We finally got coordinated in our movements and the sea was more gentle, which made it easier to tour a nearby Island (named Peter Island) which is still pretty well preserved and is not inhabited permanently (only a cabin you can rent). We had a few stops to recover and enjoyed a wonderful sunset. The grey sky just cleared up for us and became all orange, the perfect light to paddle back to the mainland (see picture). We had very soar muscles and were tired (it was about 11pm when the sun set) but we loved it anyway.

We also met a very nice guy who brought us back home (thankfully) and whom you will hear about in a next article…

The visit of kihnu’s museum really interested us and we thought we’d give a little more info about what we discovered. This is a little article about the traditional costume of Kihnu.

Our guide (left on the picture) explained to us that there were several types of dresses they wear, depending on the occasion, but also on their mood. If one is happy, (as they ussually are) the worn colour is red. Otherwise, it’s a blueish dress or, in case of a funeral black. But Always, whatever dress, there is a thin red galon at the bottom, symbolizing hope which still remains.

The costume is not fixed in time, like in a living museum, but evolves depending on the years and the fashion. for example, in the 60’s, the dress for womens were much shorter, whereas today it goes down almost to the heals. People will recognise, depending on the design, what type dress one is wearing and if so and so is in the fashion or not. This keeps the people sewing all winter and the tradition alive.

We loved these explanations, as well as all the other details our guide gave us about traditional weddings, funerals… and everyday life !

Here is an article to help you discover the small island of Kihnu. About 7km long, 5oo inhabitants. 69 pupils in the local school, as for the orthodox church, the priest comes from the mainland once a month.

It’s a place wich is still deaply immerged into tradition, having escaped the second world war and the soviet occupation, it’s a small natural haven and the people living there still have their own dialect, costume, and for this richeness of local heritage, they received a classification in UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites.

We toured the island with an islander, which showed us some of the nice places such as the lighthouse (brought from England !) and the museum, which gives good information on the island’s history and famous figures, such as Kihnu Jõhn, an estonian sailor originally born on the island, which sailed around the globe and incarnated freedom during the soviet times.

We tasted there a strange fish called Tulle Haug (Tulle means “wind” in estonian) it’s bones are, believe it or not…… GREEN ! bright green yes. At first we wondered if it would taste good, but it was really tasty in fact and the colour of the bones were a great way to find them too !

Here is a little account of a beautiful day we spent in Vormsi, an island (one of the largest in size in estonia, but only 16km long) not too far from haapsalu. We had a nice journey and shared some homemade chocolate cake we had brought, with the other volunteers.
Once landed on Vormsi, we rented some bikes and decided to do one loop around half of the island (the only roads are in the shape of an 8 ) there’s hardly anybody living on Vormsi and you an se signs with “the hairdresser truck will pass through the village at 3pm on tuesday 12th” all the people get their hair cut on the same day ! that must be something.

We had hardly started cycling that we noticed two deer grazing in the distance. in just a few hours, we saw about 7 of them ! there were many more plants and wildlife than anywhere else and the houses were still like they used to be in estonia in the olden days. It was as if time had stopped and everything had stayed intact. A great feeling.

We enjoyed being together and could share some conversations as we rode our bikes, only disturbed by a few mosquitos. We saw a chapel dedicated to St Olaf (very popular saint around here) and some round crosses, similar to the celtic ones.

In the evening, we were treated to a local cafeteria, where they served some regional food in an oldy atmosphere.
A great day, which was ended by our return trip and some irish tin whistle playing on the boat… very appreciated by the
passengers !