This week in our Tuesday morning gathering, we sang our February songs and then Gundula read to us this week’s ‘Calendar of the Soul’ verse. Then everybody shared what they did on the Family day weekend. After that we introduced Anna- Sophia and Asha who came to work with us. Gundula and Scott talked about last week’s weather and then John spoke about the stars. We also sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to William. During our lunch break, William gave us fruit to eat in celebration of his birthday.
In our Thursday morning College, we learned about Estonia. Gundula spoke to us about the landscape. Estonia was made up of water, forests, rivers and giant rocks. Estonia covers 45,227 square kilometers. Then Jana taught us about the history. We learned that from 800-1200 A.D. the Estonians had formed a large naval force. In the 13th Century Estonia was forcefully converted by German crusaders to Christianity. The Germans controlled southern Estonia and the Danish took the north. Finally the Danes sold their land to the Germans in 1324. By the 15th century Germans became settlers and became a huge influence over Estonia. In 1561 Sweden took over and controlled Estonia until 1710 when the Russians took over. In the middle of the 19th century Estonian national sentiment was awakened and many landowners and other workers wanted independence for Estonia. After W.W. I, Estonia declared independence from Russia. During the Second World War, the Russians forces occupied Estonia and in August 1940, the Soviets made Estonia a part of the Soviet Union. In 1994 the Estonians finally got their independence. Then Patricia read to us a part of an Estonian story called ‘Kalevipoeg.’
In the afternoon we gathered into Circle Hall for a forum meeting about our Estonian Carnival.
Liisi tells us about the geography of her native Estonia