So we started the day by going to the Konstantin Pats School, which started as a school for children with tuberculosis, but is now a school for children with asthma, and behavioral issues. Konstantin Pats was the first President of the free Estonia, so though he didn't have any disorders, this school was named in honor of him. There are only 5 special needs schools in the city of Tallinn, and 3 are required by the state to close this year because of inclusive education, so the school itself is struggling to stay open. It is a boarding school, which automatically makes it different than any other school we've seen so far, but it was also kind of creepy in a way. It was a VERY soviet style school, especially in the architecture and design. The room we were in was considered to be a "soviet style social room." It was completely bare, had really old, old auditorium style chairs, and the walls were painted brown and tan. The room just looked completely cold, barren and drafty.
We also got to sit in on an Estonian class, which was interesting. Though the students behaved pretty well overall, there were still a few trouble makers. It was interesting to see how the teachers treated situations differently. Not to mention that Estonian is a pretty difficult language to learn in the first place.
After the Konstantin Pats school, we had a brief lunch and then headed to the New Synagogue and Jewish School. This was definitely the part of the trip that I was most excited for, but ended up being the most different from what I was expecting. For starters, the main language in the school was Russian, not Estonian. In retrospect, that makes sense, in a way, because the few remaining Jews that weren't killed, left with the Soviet Army, and grew up in Russia. Because of this, they became assimilated to Russia, so when they started trickling back to Estonia, they were all Russian-ified. Still, it was odd that the languages were taught in Russian, and Estonian was taught as a 2nd language starting in 4th grade. The children are also taught English and Hebrew as well. Many students at the school were also not Jewish, but were willing to learn about Jewish history. I have a feeling that they go to the school because it is a mainly Russian community. Then within the community, they also have a Jewish community center next door to the school that has classes and activities for Jewish people, but don't openly accept non-Jewish people into the community the way they do into the school. If a person is dating a non-Jew, then they're more than welcome to invite them to socials and such, but they don't openly advertise to the non-Jewish community, the way that the school does. The school also has the reputation of being "the best school in Tallinn." The woman who gave us a presentation told us that part of the reason that this is true is because there is a very home-y atmosphere in the school, and the teachers treat their students like their children. The community center also houses the Estonian Jewish Museum, which is a museum that is all about the Jews in Estonia. That was fascinating, but we didn't have enough time to thoroughly look through everything.
Next to the community center, there was the Synagogue. It is the only official synagogue in all of Estonia, because other Jewish communities just rent out other buildings. The synagogue was built 2 years ago in 2007, and was the first one built since World War II. It is quite a modern synagogue, and is mainly decorated with pomegranates, because rumor has it that they have 613 seeds, which is a significant number in the Jewish religion. The President of Israel came to open the synagogue in 2007, and every year on the first night of Hanukkah, the President of Estonia lights the first candle on the giant menorah in front of the synagogue. Though Estonia doesn't have very many Orthodox Jews, the new synagogue is an Orthodox temple, where the women sit upstairs and the men sit downstairs. It was created like this because people of a reform background can still feel comfortable and ok in an orthodox service, but people of an orthodox background will not feel comfortable in a reform service.
only synagogue in Tallinn
We got to sit in on a class in the Jewish School as well, and I was in an English class. This was pretty interesting to see and hear, but it was also a lot of culture lessons, which I wasn't expecting. Around the classroom there was a picture of Queen Elizabeth II, as well as a map of England that had questions like "which of the spice girls has blonde hair?" The American students all found it really interesting.
The most interesting thing about the visits in Estonia was definitely that we had to use translators in every place we visited. Though the translators were from their own schools, the contrast between Estonia and Scandinavian countries was drastic. In Copenhagen, and thus far in Stockholm, everyone has spoken English, and it was a requirement to learn in school. Perhaps because Estonia is so newly independent, that when it was part of the Soviet Union they didn't learn English. But for whatever reason, I found that fascinating, because that's really the only country so far where I've run into that problem.
Tuesday night we took the overnight ferry from Tallinn to Stockholm. It was really more of a cruise than a ferry. On the boat there were like 5 different dining options, a night club, a place to gamble, 2 places to shop, a pub with karaoke...it was intense. We all ate dinner together at a massive buffet, and then just hung out for a bit. Later that night, all the girls from my program ended up at the pub doing karaoke, and then later on at the night club. Because it was mostly just my class that was on the boat, it was awesome. Unfortunately, Tuesday night we went through a MASSIVE rainstorm in the middle of the night so the boat was SUPER rocky, and just really uncomfortable. Nobody slept well at all, which is unfortunate because the next day we got into Stockholm at 10 AM, and had quite a busy day!
We started Wednesday in Stockholm by docking at 10 AM after a sleepless night. Our first visit of the day after dropping our stuff off at the hotel &having a quick lunch was the Stella Nova school. This school was fascinating, I think it was the most unique school we visited. It was based on the Reggio Emilia methods, where everything about the child's learning process is documented and put into a book. It was extremely fascinating, and it was also pretty much the only diverse school that we saw. Every other school had almost all Swedish kids, so it was really nice to see diversity. Plus, the kids put on these ADORABLE performances for us, it was actually the cutest thing I think I've ever seen. There were 4 kids who did "ballet" for us, then a group of boys that dressed up in sweatpants, hoodies and sunglasses and did "breakdancing" to "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. It was beyond cute. Then there was a group of girls who were dressed in additional Indian garb, and danced to an Indian song. The kids were SO cute, and were so happy and willing to perform for us, it was adorable.
stella nova children dancing
After the Stella Nova school, we went to an inspirational lecture held by Sara Wallen, who had started her own company. Her company is for the children of ex-patriots who are forced to move everywhere, because that's the life that she had growing up. We had the lecture in this really hygge coffee shop in Stockholm which was delicious. [Hygge is a Danish word that means essentially a comfortable, cozy atmosphere and time. There is no direct translation, since it's more of an atmosphere, but the Danes are famous for it, especially as it starts to get colder and darker outside.] Sara's story was very inspirational, but I feel almost as though it was therapeutic for her, instead of having the original intentions of being beneficial for the children. Overall, it was very interesting though.
On Thursday, our first visit was to Autism Center for Small Children. We didn't get to interact with any actual children at this site which was kind of disappointing, but we did get to sit through a 2 hour lecture about how this center helps work with Autistic Children to make sure they're improving. It was really interesting, but I don't know that I really approve of their theories.
After the Autism Center, we had a historical scavenger hunt around Stockholm that allowed us to see all of the super old buildings that were from the 16th century. It was really cool, plus we also got to wander around the old town on our own. We got to do some tourist-y shopping and such, which was also a lot of fun. Surprisingly, most of the Swedes that I saw were not blonde. My all time favorite part of Thursday was the fact that Thursday night we got to go to the opera in Stockholm!! We saw The Barber of Seville, which was AMAZING. The only thing that I didn't like was that the subtitles were in Swedish. It's not that I didn't like it, because it was fascinating, but it was frustrating. I only understood some of the Italian, and only a few words of the Swedish, so I'm hoping that it'll come to New York sometime soon so I can see it with English subtitles. The opera itself was fabulous though. The singers were great, and I knew the story line before we saw it, so I was able to follow along. Not to mention that I got to hear "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro" sung out loud, which was possibly the highlight of my entire trip. At the end of the opera, everyone was clapping like crazy, then all of a sudden, everyone started clapping in unison. It was the most bizarre thing. Never in my life have I experienced something like that, where the entire audience starts clapping in unison. It must definitely be a cultural thing. The whole thing was amazing and I absolutely LOVED it.
view of stockholm
Today, Friday, had absolutely no academic components to it at all, which was nice. We went to the Vasa Museum, which was a museum donated to the warship Vasa. The ship was built by the Swedish King in the 17th century, and on its maiden voyage, the ship capsized and sank within the first 15 minutes. It was finally salvaged in 1961, and was preserved, making it the only remaining intact 17th century ship. It was pretty cool to see the ship, especially fully in tact. Then we just had time on our own, and flew back to Copenhagen. The entire trip was amazing, I had the time of my life, and I absolutely LOVED it. The next update probably won't be nearly as exciting, nor as long, but hopefully it'll be soon! Sorry that the descriptions get less &less detailed, and much shorter, but I'm exhausted. Hopefully, if I have time, I'll come back &edit this post to include more details!
the vasa ship
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