Day 10 – Diplomacy and Dancing

​Today was an incredible day to say the least! It started off with mum and I attending our meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We got all dressed up, had our gifts to give them then made our way to the Ministry. When we arrived I was amazed at the grandeur of the building and so excited that I was invited to speak with the Ministry about my work with Sõrve. After we arrived, and did the relevant checks with our ID, we were met by Kadri. She was absolutely so lovely and really wanted to show us around. She took us to the little museum to start with, which had a desk set up there from the embassy from New York, which remained open and part of the Republic of Estonia, during Soviet Occupation. She explained there were Embassies open all around the world. It was the Government Minsters who fled Estonia during occupation and had their own little Consulates abroad, which kept this country going until its freedom in 1991. The desk and office set up were brought back from New York, after re-independence on 20th August, 1991 to mark how this occurred. She then took us into a room which was a big meeting room for the Soviets. When we walked in there, the smell, oh my god the smell, it was not bad, but it was different from anything I had ever smelt before. It was a representation of the Soviet occupation and often used by the Communist party for meetings and developing propaganda, amongst other things.

The fascinating thing was the celling was made up of over 60,000 sprat (fish) tins! The architect thought it was a good design idea to do this. Kadri also explained the building the Foreign Ministry now sits in was something like Communist Political Headquarters! Both mum and Kadri stomped their feet, in that moment, almost like a big “fuck you” communists, it’s now our diplomatic building and we are doing amazingly. We then headed upstairs into the offices and were met by Marin. We sat down and talked for over an hour about the work I have done with Sõrve and the Estonian Community. They had so many questions, as did I, and they were fascinated by how the camp has developed and grown over the years. I did explain however, I did not do this alone and I had some key players which helped me make this a success. First and foremost I explained a lot of my confidence and leadership training and “know how” started with work I was doing with Aime Liiband. They were very interested in how I developed my own leadership and my work with Aime, plus what I had learned in my Masters Degree played a big part in this. Then of course my right hand man, Andrew Kass. I explained the role he played in keeping me grounded and helping me through some really shitty times. I also explained how Jana Mõsia and I built it from the ground again, as we had no resources or anything to really go by other than one vague excel spreadsheet. If it wasn’t for these people, plus many others who helped me with Sõrve over the years, it would not be what it is today. I am so grateful that all the small moments, and hours of hard work have paid off in this way and we have started a beautiful relationship with The Estonian Government in such a way that Australia may be more connected to Estonia in the future years, with more opportunities for us to come here, all based around this amazing conversation, which I am so grateful to have had. They were interested in how we were celebrating the Estonian Culture in Australia, and obviously there is Sõrve but we also explained mum’s newly found Rahvariide Library, where kids and adults can borrow parts of Rahvariide and wear it for the culture day at Sõrve. They were SOOOO excited by this idea and wanted to support it in any way they could. After having had this conversation, and leaving the Ministry, I couldn’t believe the experience I had just had. It is linked in with the Global Estonian Initiative, which I am part of, but now, even more so, the connection they are looking for in Australia. I did half jokingly say, I could be the Australian Ambassador for the Global Estonian and Kadri very excitedly said “Yes”. This blew my mind!! I couldn’t believe it! It is going to be a wonderful future I feel and I cant wait to see what happens!

​We then, to decompress from that situation, went to Lido for lunch. This place is somewhere dad goes when he is here for food and it used to be cheap but my gosh not anymore. It was a bit nostalgic being there because dad is somewhat obsessed with coming here when we are here, for lunches. There is so much Estonian food but you take it all before you pay so it is a bit hard to know how much it is going to cost before you get it. But oh my god the food is so good, even though it is somewhat mass produced.

​We then ventured down to this amazing fabric shop and oh my god… so much fabric for Rahvariide. I was so overwhelmed with the choices! It took be about 30 minutes before I even decided on which one to get. There were a lot of red ones, and they seemed to draw me in more than the others BUT then the lady said to me, “one moment I have something” and she went out the back and brought out a ready made skirt in one of the fabrics I like! I was amazed and it FIT ME! I was so excited so I bought it! I could not leave it there for 140 euro, when other skirts would cost 270-400 euro depending on where you get it from, let alone finding one big enough to fit me. So I couldn’t leave that there. Then Taimi was on her way to us and she said she would just meet us at our accommodation, but then I sent her a photo of where we were and she almost ran to us! 

I told her if she gets some material, mum would be happy to make her a skirt! So she did! Having said that, mum will be like a sweat shop because I bought enough material to make several skirts, one for every day of the week at Sõrve! But maybe make some knee high, so they are a bit more Australian Summer friendly!

​After a little rest, we wondered around Vanalinn for a few moments, with Taimi and took some cute little photos, including with our Sõrve socks! I took her to where my grandfather grew up and the stair case. As I was telling her the story there was an American tourist, listening to the stories I was sharing with her and he was amazed at the story and I wanted to take a photo of us sliding down the stairs but I felt a bit awkward so I didn’t. Maybe tomorrow or the next day? Let’s see what happens.

We then started to make our way to Tantsupidu. We took our time and went via the supermarket to get some pirukad on the way and the shelves were almost empty! This is what we expected but my gosh it was almost all gone, I think many people had the same idea as us! We then continued on our 1.8km walk to Kalev Stadium and managed to make it there with time to spare. As I was walking up to the stadium I could already feel the emotions coming on.

​I was amazed and overwhelmed at all the kids being here, proud, in their Estonian costumes ready to perform dancing and show the world what they have learned and how good they are at it, which they are! Once we found our seats and the performance started, just wow. Words can not describe how I felt, such waves of emotion, trying to hold tears back, not sure why, but it was just incredible watching these kids poor onto the stadium grounds ready to showcase what they have learned and wearing their Estonian National Costumes. It was so incredible and the singing and talking, which was live, was done by kids. There was a real party vibe and excitement and pure joy that was felt in each moment is absolutely indescribable. It was pure majik and I couldn’t describe it in any other way. It took about 20 minutes for my emotions and this feels to settle down and really sink into the moment and enjoy it for what it was. Watching the kids dance, so proud, was wonderful. I have to say, I did notice when the kids were pointing their toes and it made total sense as to why Ella teaches us to do that at dancing because god damn it looks so good! I would fully advocate for us to do that, now that I see the result of doing that in dances. The last dance they did was one we have done and learned at Sõrve a number of times, with all 8400 dances on the stadium. What gets me is how organised they were! Everyone in their specific costumes, all in uniform, together in the same spot and moving line one organism. I just loved watching it, with such abundance of colour, patterns, designs, everything! Once it was over, mum and I looked at each other and said, “wow, that was incredible, somewhat better than the adults one!”

​As we were leaving we ran into Linda, Lenni and Linda’s mum. It was so weird running into Australians!! But wonderful too. Lenni and I walked a bit a head of the others and we had a great old chat. We talked about Sõrve mostly and I somewhat shared with her the experience I had with the Ministry during the day. We both agreed it was really hard to even quantify Sõrve and how does someone even begin to start explaining it to someone. We both agreed that the highlights reel on the Instagram page is the way to go with that one. But seriously, it isn’t like any other place in the world and it’s a real vibe. The majik that is created, the people that go, the connections, really hard to put into words and it just needs to be experienced. Lenni and I made plans to hang out the next day and take some photos with Sõrve socks but she forgot hers!! Never mind, we can still get up to mischief without them!

​When we got back to Vanalinn, I headed to Teliskivi to meet up with some people and connect. We had some great conversations at this bar we were at then we had an “after party” to continue on the chatting. It was great to connect with people in Tallinn around my age, with shared interests and really see what it is like living in Estonia as a young person these days. They were so accommodating and made sure we got to the places we needed to go. My phone was at like 7% at this point and they helped me out with a charger and one of them offered to pay for my bolt, if it died and I couldn’t get home. They were absolutely so kind and helpful. Some wonderful conversation and connections were made, not to mention the after party was in somewhat of a castle!!!! Amazing! By the time I left it was dark so when I came back through the Viru Gates, they looked amazing!! So pretty. The night life in Tallinn was very loud and full of drunk people, well in Vanalinn specifically. I thought to myself for a moment.. should I stay out? No, I thought it was time I went back home and sadly had to wake mum up to let me in but all in all, what a day!

So much has happened today, so much to process, incredible. I am so grateful for the conversations I had today and the connections I made!
Until tomorrow
​Marissa xx