EVS in Estonia

Haven’t you ever been tempted by taking the trains you see every day when passing through a station? Sometimes, one can make great discoveries without travelling very far. We took the train and for a few estonian kroons, went to the very end of the line. It wasn’t really the countryside but there was a definite feeling of nature close at hand, the breeze was blowing from the sea and this would be our only sunny day of the week.

Across the bay, we could distinguish the Pakri islands. The pictures on the guide showed white cliffs and an old rusted lighthouse. The maire has been fighting really hard to change the image of Paldiski. We must say that for someone who only just arrives there, it might be possible to believe one instant that indeed Paldiski is in fact “a green city”.

A few steps away from the train station, a graffiti on a rusted door welcomes the visitor (”Welcome to Paldiski”) translated in russian below. The history books describe it as the major nuclear submarine base under the Soviet occupation. Along with other military bases, this city was off the maps for many years.

“Are you happy to live in Paldiski?” I asked a man called Olav which we met in the street. He had helped us find our way and had some time ahead of him and insisted on showing us some parts of town. “I was born in Paldiski. For 80 years it was very bad here, but now it is not so bad.” He smiled, revealing a mouth with only two teeth. We felt how proud the people in Paldiski are : working today in a very prosperous trading port, when just a decade or two ago this was one of the most dreaded place in Estonia.

The museum still reminds of the old soviet times to the courageous visitor who manages to find it. The food is ok in the tavern, and Olav assured us that “there are no criminals there”. Peter the Great’s fortress still looks like abandonned ruins but Paldiski is changing fast, for the better… and maybe a little for the worst. No one but the tourist seem to like the nostalgic atmosphere that can still be found there.

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

Incredible but true ! We were watching as we usually do on internet, our french national news, when, at the very end, they presented how christmas was being prepared in… Estonia ! We thought they would talk about Tallinn, but not at all, they chose to go to Kasmu, a village, not far from Jõelähtme, which also has a small museum. An old man, with a grey beard and dressed as the captain of a ship works there and they interviewed him and showed him welcoming a group of students. They sang Christmas songs and the man explained how Christmas has a special signification in Estonia and how even during the soviet times, when it was forbidden to celebrate it, many estonians did continue to celebrate in secret. A very pleasant report, which surprised us, for it could well have been filmed here in our museum. For those who understand a little french, you can try watching the video…

At last ! After months of work, to try and get to a perfect result, here is the CD-Rom we made for the Rebala Heritage Reserve. About half way through our volunteering project, we had the idea to create a good promotion tool, which would add interactive content to the museum, and, through educational games help children better understand what the exibit is about.

With the help of our two colleagues, as well as Mari, which worked with us this summer, we worked on interactive maps of the reserve, short movie clips, animations, a virtual visit of the church, 360° panoramas, games, and wrote everything in three languages : english, french and estonian.

We tried to include as well useful information such as opening hours, contacts, detailed information about archeological findings in the reserve, as well as its missions so as to satisfy the curiosity of visitors, families, specialists and tourism professionals which would want to know more about the Rebala Heritage Reserve.

It was finally sent to the printer, and edited at a limited number at first. We hope that it will be a success and that the reserve will be able to sell it in its shop or in other museums, so as to promote its territory. It is a tool which would have cost a fortune if it had been done by a private company, but as volunteers we were happy to contribute, with this personal initiative, and to be able to apply something lernt in university.

About a week ago, we decided we were through with staying inside. It can be colder, darker, humid outside, one just becomes crazy locked up for a long time. We hitch-hiked to Tallinn, with an interesting russian kite-surfer, which told us without laughing, that he was going surfing, on a rainy and cold day (on the baltic ! important detail to mention !) you would have to pay me to go there with him that day. We then got a bus, which brought us to Rakvere, a medium sized town, which is famous for its meat, and its castle.
We headed for the castle, after some wandering in the streets of Rakvere (we were loking for the train station, a bad idea, only 2 trains a day) it was impressive on the top of the hill, overlooking the town. It was mostly in ruins, but inside, many animations were taking place and we spent quite some time there, with the castle almost only for ourselves !
We headed back to Tallinn at the end of the day, to meet with other volunteers, but our day in Rakvere was memorable and a good opportunity to go out for an afternoon.

The sunday after our kayak trip, we were called by our new friend : André and his wife, to accompany them on a hike to a place where we would have not been able to go without a car. It was a strange trail for it went through marshlands on a board-walk. It was a completely different environment than what we can see arround our place in Jõelähtme. The only similarity was that it was hardly populated. You could see swamps to the horizon. The only dry place was on these boards which they set in the winter when the marshes are frozen. To get a better point of view, some watch-towers were placed along the way and revealed great landscapes.

Towards the end of our hike, we got to a little hill with a set of lakes on top. We walked through the forest, eating our way through, with strawberries, blueberries, as well as “murakas” which are a strange looking berry, a bit like a raspberry except it turns yellow when it’s ripe and is pink when it’s not. The last scenery which we saw was a tundra-like landscape on a site where the Soviets had bombed the area before leaving. The vegetation was very low and similar to what I had seen in Alaska (though this one was not natural).

A good work out, in nice company, to continue this very sportive weekend !

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…

It’s been a while since we did this presentation in order to promote the Rebala Heritage Reserve, where we are doing our european volunteering service.

Now it is time to share it with you… Here is the result of our work, we are quite proud of it.

It will enable you to discover more and more our reserve. Have a nice visit !

It all started out with a rainy sunday… not much to do except maybe walk around Tallinn and find ourselves a nice little cafe. That was until Margit called us to suggest we come with her and her children, to Lahemaa National Park. It’s not that far from where we live, but it’s not very easy to discover it without a car, so this was the perfect opportunity.

We tried to escape the rain by getting nearer to the coast, where a clear blue sky still shone. We got a little lost in the forest, but ended unexpectedly near the largest boulder in Estonia. It was as tall as a house, and when you think these granit stones were brought from finland by glaciers of the Ice Age, one can imagine how imposing the glaciers were.

We had a little picknic and then headed to a river with small waterfalls and a cute trail following the river. At one point there was an older man getting water from a metal tube hanging over the river and coming from a clift on the opposite shore. There was a source of drinkable water there, and this man got his water from there.

At the end of our hike, the weather was getting grey again, almost time to go, but we had to try the swing, with Margit’s children this time. We went a little further than on our last try, but we’re still far from going all the way around ! (actually you can’t with the group swings…)

It ended up being a pretty full and agreable day after all !

We’re so close to the coast, but there are very few places or roads leading to the sea. most of the beaches around are still wild, and are basically a muddy swamp mixing with sea water. That’s why migratory birds love it so much ! To fight this frustration of not seeing the baltic sea, we tried to take an early bus (which didn’t com) and were droped off by a friend of ours to the small fisherman’s village of Neeme.

This village is on no tourist guide, for it is very small and there isn’t much to see, but a tip of land going into the sea, with a few houses in the trees. For us however, it was perfect, for we could take a litle walk on the pristine, untouched beach, with a beatiful sun shining and hardly any wind. The sea was as flat as a mirror and it was very peaceful to just sit in the sand listening to birds and writing in our travel notebook. I built a small boat with a few branches and left it floating on the calm water.

We went to the tip of the peninsula, to admire the view and see a small abandoned lighthouse. We could see in the distance, some islands which we might go visit sometime this summer.