Spring has technically arrived, despite the light snow that is falling as I type and the dirty white piles of snow and ice that are covering much of the ground outside my window. Although there is an appearance of winter on the surface of things, the miraculous signs of spring approaching are emerging as well. As I walk to school I notice that many of the flower shops ( there are almost as many flower (lille) shops in Tallinn as there are koviks, have pots of bright yellow daffodils for sale outside their shop doors. The snow that used to surround the large trees in the parks has melted and soft, muddy earth is visible. The many restaurants and cafes in Townhall square have table and chairs set up outside in the sun, and usually (unless it is actually snowing) Estonians are sitting outside to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes in their winter coats, hats and covered with a blanket of lamb fur. AND, the streets and sidewalks are no longer icyily lethal for strolling. (Bruce and I continue to be amazed at how much more we can see, when we are not scanning the ground for the next ice patch-of-death.) And of course the sun is palpably rising earlier and going down later each day. Last week, during an unusual warm spell (about freezing temps), I wondered if the artists in the geodesic dome felt trapped rather than liberated in their glass summery home. (The dome is an art installation- a space of warm summer with flowers, trees and calmness. Every hour, a different famous Estonian artist enters and spends their time doing whatever they want inside. I have seen people with children, on laptops, reading books or just looking at the world. The idea for the instillation is remind people of how light and warmth and time are necessary for creativity to thrive).
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| the summer dome at night |
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| Summer Palace in Kadriorg |
We continue to explore, using our new non-icy freedom to visit the St Peter's Summer Palace in Kadriorg, taking the bus to Pirita, just outside the center of the city to walk in the quiet, birch and pine filled woods and also just hanging out in our (now) favorite coffee shops. At Mamo, they greet Bruce with a cheery hello and good-by when he goes for coffee and I have discovered that most non-tourists use side streets when going through the Old Town, to avoid tourists in Townhall Square. Town Hall Square itself, is becoming a tower of Babel, as it fills with more and more languages, behind people pointing cameras in all directions.
We have also been exploring interesting places to eat (of course) including a quasi-Moroccan restaurant in an area that was new to us...with great decor, yummy kebobs and a chicken harrira salad on a bed of cabbage, couscous and sesame seeds and with a thick sweet-sour dressing. Bruces dish came with vegetables that were so breaded and deep fried it was hard to even know what the original vegetable was (not Moroccan at all). We are also loving all the different types of fruits from all over Europe and Africa-blood oranges, clementines, and mandarines plus others we dont know the names for and apples from Germany, Poland and Holland, all with a slightly different look and flavor. I look forward to spring berries and fresh greens in the near future.
My time is full. I am also getting busier with teaching and workshops and my days are filled with grading papers, planning classes and figuring out how to do powerpoint outlines (Yes, I am slowly entering the 21st century, but it is not an easy journey.) Getting to know students has been wonderful. They are smart, inquisitive and very brave in trying new things. There is much they know and much more they want to know and sometimes my hardest task is trying to get them to slow down and not be angry at themselves that they don't know everything perfectly yet. (I can recognize that tendency in myself as well, so perhaps it is a good fit.)
We are also starting to plan longer exploratory excursions into greater Estonia- a conference in Haapsalu (we Fulbrighters were volunteered and will br speaking to nurses, police, road safety experts and perhaps a few military guys?????); Parnu- a rowdy beach town in the summer but, we hope, a peaceful quiet place to visit in the early spring; Tartu, for an ancient music festival in May; and perhaps some teaching in Helsinki, (which-after all- is only 2 hours away by ferry). Bruce has been attending concerts, going to museums and reading wonderful books..but I will let him share his adventures on his own.
To get to the title of this blog, we returned to the synagogue for Purim. And what a celebration it was. The theme was Purim in China, although we are still not sure why. (Perhaps reason for Jews to pretend to be eating traif???) We ended up hearing the megillah read twice (three times gets you maximum mazel points). (NOTE: For those who have no idea what I am talking about, Purim is one of the many Jewish holidays that celebrates a time when Jews were threatened with annihilation and by courageous acts and miracles they/we were saved. This one happened in Persia, and it was the king's advisor (Hamman) who was the bad guy and the heroine was a Jewish woman who also happened to be married to the king. End of story- bad guy, family and friends are killed, Jews survive, Jewish queen is honored and everyone is happy!!!! (That is the short version, more more details consult you local Jewish resource). The holiday is celebrated by reading the story of the event, eating pastries filled with sweet seeds or other yummy fillings, celebrating alot, giving to those who are needy, giving gifts to others and alot of cross dressing, drinking and breaking of rules. It is a perfect spring holiday, and is a time to be wild and silly.
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| Notice the women sitting with the men in schul!!! |
We attended first the morning service and megillah reading, which seemed like a practice for the afternoon party. Then in the afternoon, it was read again. Both times the rabbi performed an amazing feat of speed reading barely pausing to breathe or take a break. Accompanying him was a DVD of, what looked like Israeli or Russian mimes acting out the story on the screen at the front of the synagogue.
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| Two Rabbis and a mime walk into Shushan.... |
Between the speed of the Hebrew and DVD being dubbed in Russian, the only way I knew which chapter we were on was from the mimed story. As usual, the rabbi was the most excitedly vocal and energetic when it was time to make lots of noise at the mention of Hamman's name in the morning, but in the afternoon, the many costumed children in the congregation also joined in.
The Purim in China party was in the afternoon and the synagogue was packed with people of many ages and wearing all sorts of costumes. Following the second megillah reading, we all descended on tables of non-traif (kosher-like) Chinese food like locusts (or at least most of the Russian congregants did). Within 10 minutes all the food was gone. We managed to get a few tastes but were intimidated by the life-threatening hoard surrounding the tables.
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| Rabbi inviting us to eat and drink |
I was most moved by conversations I had with two women I had met during the morning service and reading. One woman was Jewish, is from St. Petersburg and a hemotologist. she talked about her upcoming move to Tel Aviv, speaking poignantly about the wonderful feeling of belonging she has in Israel and her excitement at being able to live someplace where she felt she was not an outsider because of her heritage. The other women, an Estonian had an even more interesting story. Although her family has been Estonian for many generations, she talked about having always felt Jewish and being drawn to Jewish traditions. Her father and grandfather also felt similarly. She is in the process of officially converting. (although she seemed a bit upset that she would have to put in so much study and learning to become something she had always felt she was) It was interesting to hear the depth of her longing and to see the brightness in her whole body when she talked about being and becoming Jewish. She too, will probably end up in Israel at some point and I felt happy for her but also felt some ambivalence as well. Both of these people helped to remind me that, in many places of the world, there are people who do not feel safe as a Jew, and that they long for such a place of safety and 'home'. And I also worry that this will contribute to Israel (and Palestine as well) becoming even less safe for any of its citizens. I dont have an answer or solution, but was struck with the challenge of how to bring all of these different stories and needs together.
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| Family in Costume |
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| Waiting for hamentaschen |
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| Rabbi's kids behind the mechitza |
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| Two grandma's???? |
Final comments: As we walked toward Vanalinn today,
on the first day of spring, the dome had been taken down..so, now warmth is free to enter the world- no need to contain it. Summer is coming hurrah, hurrah......(despite the snow and cool temperatures) ....let the melting begin !!!!!!
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