EVS in Estonia

During our small trip to Setumaa, we took advantage of being in this region to visit the sand caves of Piusa. These caves emerged as a result of manual mining of glass-sand between 1922 and 1966 and represent a system of underground galleries with sandstone columns and vaulted ceilings. The sand is still used for the glass factory just nearby. In the 1950’s thousands of hibernating bats were discovered in the caves, and they are now part of a natural reserve.

One of the two abandonned caves can be visited. That’s what we did, trying to understand as much as we could the guided tour in estonian.

Then, we walked around, fascinated by all the colours the sand can take from white to dark red. Jonathan even took a little of it for his sand collection.

Couple of weeks ago, we went to the very south-east of Estonia, in a place called Värska where lives a minority of a few thousand people (4 000 in Estonia, 3 000 in Russia). We chose this particular time of year because on the 2nd of August the Setu people elect their king. Actually, this king is the representative of the god Peko, which symbolises fertility.

The Setu people are said to be “half believers” but they should be called “double believers” for they are orthodox and also have their own divinities. They also have their own dialect which is closer to estonian than russian and they are famous for their songs dances and food. Their costum tells a bit their strory : they carry long necklaces and heavy silver plates (between 4 and 6 kilos) because the Setu people fled with all their richness and therefore made necklaces with rings, coins and melted all the rest. They have a strong oral tradition and hopefully some songs have been transcribed from an old lady called Hilana Taarka, the mother of Setu music. Though she was illiterate, she had memorized up to 30 000 verses of leelo songs (eight syllable verses to a repetitive simple tune).

We were able to discover this event with two other french people that we had met during one of our guiding tours in Tallinn, with whom we spent two days. There was lots of good food, we even participated in a cheese contest to elect the members of the court. That is when we met some people from our village which we learned had some Setu origins and authorized us to vote as well for the Setu king. After some songs in which each candidate was praised, people were invited to stand in a line in front of the person that they chose. Lembit Lennuk (his family name means “airplane” !!!) did not win but we didn’t mind, we were happy to see the other man parade on a horse with the Setu flag, followed by his “army”, a burlesque crowd of supporters in costum marching and taking their role seriously.

Estonia is a beautiful country and still has, unlike other places, quite many pristine landscapes. If 40% of its territory is covered by forests, up to 30% of the land is covered with bogs. These marshlands are a fantastic reservoir of freshwater, but also have an incredible biodiversity. Plants, birds, insects, though they might seem barren at first sight, they are full of life. Sooma is one of the biggest and impressive humid zones in estonia. Located not too far from Viljandi where our training was. To protect this fragile environment (any alteratrion can take up to seven years before disapearing), a natural parc was created. We set to discover part of it by canoeing 4 hours on the rivers which go through Soomaa. it was very peaceful, a bit tirering after a while, especially carying bags we could have not carried with us. I’ll remember the apple fights between canoes, Margus fixing tea with his stove, the good laughs when we would run into the banks (except one where Amélie fell backwards). After that we hiked a bit into the bog, on a boardwalk which led to an observation tower and small ponds, with very deep and dark waters (had a swim there as you can see). In the peat around, one can put a 5 m or more pole in without hitting the bottom. A very dark storm was approaching, with menacent roars of thunder, but though it passed very near to us, it did not hit us. This is how we got this wonderfull light on Soomaa (see movie and picture).
That night, we fixed ourselves some panckakes on a campfire, with the homemade jam we had brought, then slept in a barn on stacks of hay. We loved it (the mosquitos too.)

On the 27th-28th of July, we went to the Viljandi music festival in the southern part of Estonia. This event is very popular, and each year, young and old meet to listen to traditional groups from all over the world. From estonian folk, to portuguese, quebec, norway, chili or other countries, artists shared their music with the public, with instruments or styles they might never have heared before. We absolutely LOVED the concept of this festival, in addition to its wonderful setting, on the top of a hill, overlooking a lake, the different stages spread around town, the main one being in the middle of a ruined castle. Though it rained quite a bit, everybody didn’t seem to mind and kept dancing and cheering even under buckets of water.

Though there were many people, we ran into many that we knew, volunteers from all over, people from Joelahtme, Estonia is a small country and that’s one thing we like, you can always meet someone you know. We stayed at some of Merle’s friends who were nice enough to let us camp in their garden. They were very welcoming and we had great estonian brunchs on the grass, with fruits and homemade juices and good company.
A very pleasant weekend, just before our mid-term training.

On our days off, we decided to go visit Tartu, a city in the south of Estonia known for its University. It was a beautiful day and we were welcomed by a choir singing on the main square (see picture). On This same square is a statue of two students kissing. It became the symbol of Tartu. We looked through the shops and in one of them, there was an old little lady, who welcomed us as she could with greatings in languages she had written down phoneticaly on a piece of paper. We bought a nice pair of mittens from her and they have kept me warm since then.

We found a nice café, which, we discovered later, had a french atmosphere inside. We could hear all the music we usually listen to in France ! With a delicious hot chocolate (literaly : it was melted chocolate in a cup!) and a crep, it livened our spirits for the day.

We then visited the sports museum in Tartu. not the best of all, but it was opened at least and it ended up being a fun experience. The bottom floor was a small exibit of local sport club victories, but the top floor presented estonia’s champions throughout history. A lady, who was a relative of one of these champions, guided us through the different rooms trying to speak english as she could. She stopped at the room about the soviet times and said she would not comment it and left us there. It was not easy being a sport champion at that time and could be thought of trying to liven up national pride. The exibit ended with a show on the different olympic games and an interactive rope pulling (against 4 fictional strong estonian guys on a screen).

We spent the evening in a place we almost missed, for it was underground. (We had passed above it several times until two russian ladies pointed to the ground to tell us where it was !)
It was in an old powder house, a room with a 10m high ceiling and a festive atmosphere. We ate like kings and enjoyed some music. A great evening to end a great day !