Swan stories and the return of the sun.....

It has been a week of ice and cold made tolerable by sunny days, gradually increasing sunlight and of course the requisite local chocolate that makes everything better.  We are settling into a rhythm and as the city becomes more familiar I notice my attention is becoming more relaxed and internal. Of course, when the ground itself is inconsistently icy and slippery, it is hard to walk and take in the amazing beauty of medieval buildings and red-tile roofs sparking with snow and sunlight.  I wonder if the Estonian reputation for being so internal is, in part caused by needing to make sure you don't slip in the winter and the need to watch the ground to navigate through the least slippery options available.  

Bruce grading papers in a local bakery
 and coffee shop

Our days are quiet and gentle: In the morning we wake up, later that normal for both of us- to a sky that turns first deep blue, then brilliant purple/orange/yellow with the sunrise.  We make toast and coffee to the sounds of the rumble of the street trolley passing by, five floors below our window.  Watching BBC World News, I glance out of the window, to assess the outside temperature, to see if people walking to work are wearing gloves and hats. I watch the   soaring seagulls and neon smoke from houses nearby, to see if there is a wind blowing. We spend our mornings puttering- Bruce catching up on world news while I take some time to work on classes or prepare for school.  Later, once the temperature is a bit warmer, we go exploring- sometimes it is to a local museum, church or new area of town.  Bruce checks out English language books at local bookstores, I note cafes or craft stores of interest. We both 'book mark' churches or other historic buildings for future visits.  We are constantly discovering new places, often as we meet local friends for coffee and the mandatory ultra-sweet and chocolatey cake or pastery.  (See photo of Bruce)

Ice Sculpture up close

If I am going to school I walk down Roosikrantsi- our street and pass first,  an inexpensive and fun 4-table size sushi restaurant (it if is late enough, I notice its waitresses wearing cute Japanese style 'cat ear' head bands and and the Japanese cartoons dubbed in Estonian playing on a large TV screen. Further down the street I pass a flower shop, an ultra-hippyesque youth hostel, a travel agency and a sex shop. Its quite a mix! At the end of the street, I go down some steps, through a short underground tunnel, and ascend to Vabanduse Valjak (Freedom Square) which still has its circle of ice sculptures from the Chinese New Year celebration. I continue - past the square, past a small ice rink playing loud rock music in English, and then several tall stone church buildings from Medieval times.  From there I enter the central square of Old Town. This square is a vast expanse of older stone buildings that are now mainly restaurants with the ancient town hall, topped by a tower that resembles a Muslim minaret on one side.  The square is usually filled with camera toting tourists, young men in capes whose basic job is to invite hungry people into the restaurant they work for (if you wanted to enjoy a medieval-style meal complete with music and costumed 'wenches' you have a choice of several places), and more soaring birds. 

One of 'my' class rooms

From there, I pass through a low stone arch, past another church, three different coffee and chocolate cafes (usually filled with older ladies and couples on dates by the afternoon) and at least five different art galleries and performance centers. (As you can tell, Tallinnites love art, performance, coffee and chocolate)  The I make a short left and right until I arrive at the heavy green door that is the entrance to my department.  I enter and am greeted by the sounds of music and singing and I glance at the plethora of posters listing local performances on all the walls. I nod and say 'tere' to the door attendant and go up to offices that always have the makings for tea, coffee and a changing bowl of chocolate for any of us who might need a boost. 

Beyond our daily rhythms, our days are also filled with adventures, successes and new food and learning experiences.  First WE BOTH GOT OUR VISAS APPROVED ON OUR FIRST TRY!! The extended stay visa process is incredibly complex and convoluted (see earlier posts) and other Fulbrighters have been having a hard time  getting their visas without several return visits and additional documents. We were lucky so we are now legit (and can vote in the next election we are told). 

Town Hall- topped by a muezzin
inspired tower 

Buildings in Old Town

This was also the week of double swan stories: First we attended a local production of Swan Lake in the National Opera and Ballet Theater (A five minute walk from our apartment). The theater itself is a small jewel box of a space, not too large and the audience for this performance included a mix of small girls with tightly ponytailed hair, physical theater actors from London, short wide older ladies in elaborate hats and fur coats and a few folks from England on holiday. The production was good, except for the plastic swans that floated across the mirror-lake  to indicate the arrival and departure of the flock. But it was a treat to see the whole ballet, rather than excerpts, as is more normal in the US.  Compared to theater in Lithuania, I missed the older-style formality I remember from Vilnius, where everyone was dressed as elegantly as possible, little girls wore pink tights and had their hair pulled back in tight buns topped with huge bows.  I also missed the intermission activites- thick hot chocolate that you had to 'drink' with a spoon and the carousel-like circular promenade of couples going around and around until the call to return to our seats. But there was still champagne and the love of the theater that seems to pervade all ex-soviet places we have visited. 

Statue in the Danish King's garden..
or at least a garden in the spring

Then, the  following day we went to see the new movie Black Swan at the local Solaris Shopping Center. Wow, talk about opposite experiences!!  To see this movie, we entered a huge theater with seats like lounge chairs and a bone-vibrating sounds system.  While to local, live production ended somewhat happily, with the prince and his 'virgin swan-love' exiting upstage together (unified either in life or death, but they were together for sure) the movie ended in a shockingly different way.  Black Swan continues to impact me, days later.  The movie (in case you haven't seen it) is quite intense, depicting the challenges and often less than healthy demands of being a ballet dancer. It is powerfully acted and, for me, portrays the dark underbelly of a world I know well.  I simultaneously relate to the ecstatic experience of being one with the movement in a performance, an amazing high that is almost spiritual or as stated in the movie 'perfect'.  But the cost of this perfection in the Ballet world is also painfully portrayed in this movie.  The physical, emotional and human cost of such dedication to an impossible goal. Plus the way that performance also has a voyeuristic side, with the audience sitting as judge and jury while the performer pours their soul into their work...for me the movie also shows this dark side of the ballet world as well.  The next day, in a movement class, I noticed that my movements often mirrored scenes from the live ballet and movie and the polarities of light and darkness continued to haunt my thoughts and dreams. The night after we saw the movie, local news showed pictures of people feeding swans at a near-by Tallinn park (Kadriorg). Life mirrors art, once again.

Tompea from outside the walls 

In addition to swans and chocolate, I have had a wonderful time getting to know several Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) colleagues from Germany and Prague, as well talk about DMT in Europe.  I also hope be teaching some workshops and classes in other institutions in Tallinn and getting to know more about people's stories here. 

Finally, I am also finding it challenging to read about the political events that are happening in other parts of the world. I notice the absence of conversations and topics coming up with people we are meeting (or perhaps those topics are for later discussion). I asked one of my colleagues about his thought related to the events in Egypt. While he was clearly aware of what was happening in other parts of the world, he also seemed to be more focused more on his own family life and work efforts here.  It is strange to be in the far north corner of the world and enjoying the local happenings and national pride, but I also miss conversations about events in the rest of the world. One of the things I appreciated about the Middle East (and felt a bit intimidated by) was the level of awareness of world events that colored almost any conversation that occurred.  Or perhaps, this absence is due more to my newness and lack of language skills. 


To be continued....(and one last photo)

From the Tallinn City Museum