Our Estonian Carnival
Liisi opens with her rendition of the Kalevipoeg in Estonian
Stephen and Ashling rock “Hey Jude” in the talent show
Arvo Part visits our carnival and leads the improvisation!
Caity and her Mom Catherine join the talent show
Caity and Liisi enjoying the wife carrying competition!
On Tuesday morning, our family and friends came to Circle Hall that was transformed into a beautiful Estonian forest with birch trees, birds and a lynx. Also in the middle of the room, there was a beautiful arch made out of willows and fabric. Liisi welcomed us to the country of Estonia and then John and Gundula waved a white sheet in the air which symbolized snow. At the same time, the audience members and companions played musical instruments that represented snow and landscape of Estonia. After that Liisi wearing a light brown cap, read to us the first couple of lines of the epic story called ‘Kalevipoeg’ in Estonian. Jana read to us the history of Estonia and most of the companions and volunteers acted it out. After that we played a dancing game called ‘Kes Annias’. In this game we danced in a circle and one person went in the middle and pretended to be a bee. Then we had a singing talent show. Some of the companions and guests entertained us by singing songs, playing the piano and juggling. During our lunch time we ate potato salad, rye bread with jam and a traditional drink ‘Kama’.
In the afternoon we gathered back in to Circle Hall where we were surprised by the visit from Estonia’s most famous composer ‘Arvo Pärt’. Then we went outside and played fun games like ‘Carry the Wife Race’, ‘Pancake Race’ and ‘Bathrobe Race’. After that some of the volunteers and coworkers took a dip in Felix’s sauna.
We would like to thank everybody for coming to this year’s Carnival and a special thank you to Liisi for organizing and teaching us about her country.
In our Thursday morning college, John drew on the black board an oval and said that this represents the planet earth. Then he drew two lines over top of the oval and told us that this represents the heart of the human being. Within the human being, there are four forms like imagination, intuition and two others that are connected to the four elements of fire, water, air and earth. After that John held up the four element forms that were made in clay and the companions had to identify them.
On Friday afternoon we sang songs from movies with Ashling.