Super Saturday is put on about four times during the school year for Seminary and Institute students. In Estonia, Super Saturday has usually been in Tallinn, but this time it was moved to Tartu, a college town in southeast Estonia. This event is staged to promote the CES programs in the country and to give the students an opportunity to visit with friends from far away. The program usually has a few speakers and then an activity (game) and a service project with lunch served to all. This time the youth visited an animal shelter and helped clean the pens and yards. After a lunch of build-your-own burritos, the YSAs went to tour the Eesti Rahva Muuseum (Estonian National Museum) there in Tartu. Wow, it is huge and our feet gave out before we could see everything by closing time. We will have to come back again, it was really good. Here are a few pics.
A girl from our branch spoke in the opening session
I made a new friend (she loved my iPad)
This represents the Ural River and all the cultures that depended on it over the centuries
Regional dress typical of Estonia
Woven cloth and tapestries
Decorative Jewelry
Beads and necklaces
Look at the detail in the handwork (womans cap)
Decorative craftsmanship in this wooden chest
A very old loom for weaving
Typical wedding day attire
Beautiful tapestry
The original "Big Gulp". The room was full of them, all different in one way or another
My favorite in front of my other favorite
This steam tractor deserved another shot
A collection of ladles and spoons, all hand made of course
Adults riding a "kiik" (swing)
At last, a chance to rest our feet
Front view of the museum
A long view
We found this upside down house outside
As we headed home, this was our view
There was much more that just this small sampling of things. Like I mentioned before, this will take two trips to see the rest of it. Anyone want to come over and visit? We'll even pay your admission to the museum.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Baltic Mission Senior Couples Conference
In a nice one day get-a-way from the daily routine, we attended a Senior Couples Conference in Riga, Latvia, that was hosted by our mission president and wife. The night before, we were treated to a nice dinner at the Flying Frog. The next day, we found ourselves at the new Riga chapel and listened to instruction and other presentations and we also learned from each other. It was good to become more acquainted with the other couples as we generally do not ever see them as we all live in other countries. I found out that one of the sisters is a cousin from the Isaac Allred line. He would be pleased. Midway through, we were treated to a nice luncheon in the cultural hall. One they do well here is feed people and we were stuffed. At 3:00 pm we ended and we drove the 4.5 hours back home. The couple from Pärnu were our driving companions and we took them home on our way back to Tallinn. This is their second mission in Estonia. They love it here.
Flying Frog decor
Our Mango Chicken on homemade fries
Inside the Flying Frog (like a grotto)
Europe East Area S&I Couples Convention As if driving to Riga didn't wear us out, we got to do it all again the following week. We attended a convention in Riga for all S&I (Seminaries and Institute) couples in the East Europe Area. It lasted 5 days. We met senior couples from all over. There were some from Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and of course the Baltic countries as well. We were well instructed and well fed. We stayed at the Monika Hotel in the "Art Noveau" section of town. We also had a tour of the Open Air Museum and learned of Latvian culture and history. We had some free time to walk about Old Town and see the sights. The weather was outstanding with sunshine warming the place up a bit. A nice break from the ice and snow of winter. Sister Allred and I presented to the group a power point discussion on "Serving with a Language Barrier". It went over very well as we used some funny video clips of language and translation problems. President Kacher of the Area Presidency came and addressed us also. During one of the presentations, we were asked to play Two truths and lie. When it was my turn, my lie was that I was valedictorian of my high school. Everyone guessed it right away. I've been wondering if it was that obvious? Gosh! After the last session, we all walked over to the "Riviera" and had a royal feast. The started all the tables with seafood appetizers (raw) oysters, clams, cray fish, calamari, raw salmon and other fish I'm not familiar with. Then came the entrees of lamb, trout or duck. Afterwards there was a beautiful tort with fresh berries on top to finish out the meal. The next day we said our goodbyes to our new friends and headed home. Below are some pictures of our visit to the Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum.
One of the many old-style windmills here
This sits outside the church. Can you guess what it's used for?
Our Group
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Weatherizing the Babies A common practice in the Nordic countries is to place sleeping babies, while in their prams, to nap outside - even in spite of the weather. The prams here (they are like the British prams, not like the strollers we have back home) are well insulated and come with protective coverings for snow or rain. The first time I saw this was at church when I saw a pram outside the chapel in the rain with a sleeping child inside. It is reported that children sleep longer because of the fresh air and are healthier having not been cooped up in a room with other children who may have a runny nose or some other disease of the week. Some say that it helps the child to be less likely affected by the cold weather later in life. Prams are usually under the watchful eye of a parent in case the child should awake and need attention. Americans might feel a little uneasy about this, but here, the issue of safety is relatively nil. I feel safer here than I do back home, anytime of day or night. It is an interesting cultural practice that works very well here, in spite of the wet, cold and sometimes freezing weather. If we tried this in Arizona, our prams would have to be equipped with AC units and water dispensers to handle the heat. Weatherizing the babies is one of the many wonderful things about Estonia that make it so fascinating.
Rain Baby
Snow Baby
This is how it's done
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Happy New Year Every new year celebration for the Young Single Adults in the Baltics is hosted by the one of the four countries in the mission. This year it was Lithuania's turn to plan and host. For us, it means a seven hour drive to Vilnius. I was a little anxious about it as the proof of insurance for the car was outdated. What if we get stopped and what if we find ourselves being tossed into a dark cell with only bread and water in a foreign land where we can't speak the language and can only communicate using emojis? 😢 (actually, the bread here is fantastic. Bread and water wouldn't be so bad) We met up with the senior couple there and helped set up for the party. We had about 20 show up for a meal, games and dancing. The branch was holding their own party elsewhere in the building and eventually, their party merged into ours. The more the merrier, right? At midnight, the fireworks outside were phenomenal. Everywhere you could look in the sky, the air was filled with multiple fireworks exploding. This went on for many more hours. We can safely say that a good time was had by all.
