Estonian LineDance Festival - Pärnu, Aug 4&5th

    We had a great time this week-end with all the participants of the linedande Festival in Pärnu. thanks to some our volunteers, we could have this video. One more is coming and I'll post it when I will receive the link.

Just a little bit more...

Hello dear readers,

    Just a reminder about our Linedance Festival. I've juct checked and we should have a normal weather, not so hot but not rainy. So please come and join us. 

    Not only we will have this record attemps but also a nice concert on sunday in Vaalikaar. Our visitors will be able to buy food and drinks from Kaia and her kitchen. I've been here 6 months and not a single time she disappointed me with the food she made for us in the organisation. 

    So please come, better if you register before but not necessary. Check our facebook page to know the latest updates.

A little help for my friend Gaia

Hello dear readers,

Today I bring you the video of my friend Gaia, an italian volunteer in Tartu. Her project is to make videos of NGOs, organisations, youth centers, etc, etc to make them visible. I asked for her help to shoot the video of our linedance festival and in particular of our Guiness world record attempt. She kindly accepted to do it so I return the favor for her project.

Please people of Estonia, share it, like it or sleep on it if you like but Help her. She needs our help.

Open-Air music concerts are for summer!!

     In my home town in France, I love summer time, who doesn't??? I'm especially wiating for the "Café de l'Eté" or Summer Café which is a music festival spread over end of june until early august. Music groups or singers come and entertain us in the townhall garden, just behind the main square.  I always go to one or two concerts at least. This year i won't be able to enjoy it as I'm in Estonia. but not anywhere in Estonia, in the summer capital, Pärnu. 

    That means lots of activities, festivals to attend after work. As I'm missing those open-air concerts in France, I was very happy to see they organised the same thing here. This one is every week on wednesday at 7pm, close to the beach. They decided to focus this year on swing and jazz music and they asked groups from around Pärnu or close to the city. That's really cool they opted for that. This way, groups will have at least a few dates to promote and will be enjoy a wonderful public. 

Estonian Linedance Festival (Aug. 4th & 5th, 2012): record broken!!!

Dear Readers,

We received a thrilling news a few days ago. A group of people in the USA broke our record by around 200 people, the official number being 2569 beating our record of 2354 people. So now we definitely need our 3000 people to come!!!!

Please register now in our website (linefest.com) for the chance to get a  discount for registration before July 1st!!! You can contact us through our website, or write us directly at kaie@estonianlinedance.com or info@noorusemaja.ee or simply drop me a email.

Come one, join the fun!!!!

Share the news with your friends, colleagues, families.

We can accomodate people in wheelchairs if needed!! 

Parnu International Choir Festival and the Wingate University Choir

     When I was asked by Uudo to take care of a group of American students coming to Pärnu for this Festival, I decline coz I already planned to do some activities with two groups of pupils learning French. With those two classes, I just played « Drawing is winning ». I show them cards with words or expressions on it they had to draw. Of course they couldn’t speak or use any letter on the chalk board. It was really fun with the second group since they were really looking for the clock (each person had one minute to draw and make his/her team mates guess), they were really into the game. The team made only of boys were a bit disappointed not to win, especially since they lost to a group of girls !

     So when I had to go back home I decided to go the gelato shop who happened to be open for the first time just that day. So I decided to go there and check out the new flavour they had. I couldn’t resist the Belgian Chocolate, Kiwi and Vanilia flavour. It was awsome to eat it. When I had to leave, I met some of the students who were chaperonned by Katerina in the end. They were really friendly. So we decided to go meet again after their performance of the night somewhere to grab a drink or two or three or…… We ended up on one of the playground on the beach. We basically talked until 3 or 4 am, when the sun was coming up.

    The next morning they had to be on the beach to take some group pictures before their performance on Ruutli square. Let say some needed more time to freshen up before taking the pic. ;-) At some point I had to leave them for lunch and after eating just before going back home, I stumble upon a small group of them. They were looking for the donuts place famous in Pärnu. So I took them there. They couldn’t get away from the counter and kept on ordering again. Of course, they had to share the information to the rest of the group. After their performance in a Tori Church, a few kms away from Pärnu, some of them came to the little bar where we were enjoying our evening. To get some music, some people decided to put on the tv to watch the eurovision song contest. Those American students who came were surprised some of our group were so much into this show !! 

video of Walking the Light by the Wingate University Choir and Finland's Phonik Choir

    (sorry can't post the vids directly for now)

     The next morning, they had their final perfomance at the City Hall with a group from Finland. They managed to get their hands on some estonian choir music while in Tallinn, song they practice while on the bus to Pärnu or to the diffrence places they performed. It was very nice of them to do it even they were not obliged. It was a great gift to the Estonian people who great them. They made another surprise. While they were in Tori Church, they decided with that fininsh group to do a song in common (video above). Their last performance of Sholosa (video below) was just before the reward ceremony where they finished first place !! congrats to them, they deserved it.

video of Shosholoza by the Wingate University Choir

(sorry can't post the vids directly for now)

Estonian LineDance Festival (Aug 4th & 5th, 2012)

Hello everybody,

     As Summer is coming very fast, you have to decide what to do for your holidays. Here is an excellent idea. You can come and enjoy a few days in the Estonian summer capital dancing with lots of people. We need your participation as we want to beat a guiness world record, the longest single line dance. So please visit our webpage to register or send me an email,  we will do you best to answer you as fast as possible. Do not hesitate to share the poster or any information about our festival to anyone who might be interested.

Promotional video for the Estonian Linedance Festival (August 4&5th, 2012)

To my friends around the world and the others, here is a small promotional video about the LineDance Festival Nooruse Maja is organising. It will happen on August 4&5th this year in Pärnu. You will have the chance to be part of a world record, the longest single line of dancers!! We want to overdance our own record so help us beat it!!!!

For more informaiton, visit: www.linefest.com All the information needed to get registered is there!! No matter if you're valid or in a wheelchair, you can come.

The city of Pärnu

After a few weeks of adaptation in the city I will stay during the coming months, I will present you the city of Parnu or Pärnu as they write it in Estonian.

5th city of the country, Pärnu is located on the Baltic Sea in the South West of Estonia. Due to her location, she was a key port for the german Hanseatic League since the port was free from ice during winters. More recently, since the middle of the 19th century, she became a famous spa and seaside town. The first spa opened in 1838 and in 2004, the Tervis spa was then the largest of its kind in the Baltic states. The tourism industry strongly developed since the 2^nd independance and they were the first city in the region to obtain the Blue Flag which states the quality of its waters.

The city was also the stage of some landmark events for Estonia. The first ever newspapers in Estonian, the Posttimees, was published there in 1857. The Manifest for independance of the country was read in front of the Endla Theatre on February, 23rd 1918. There is a copy of the speech on the former location of the Endla theater. Every year, they organise the Ice Festival with sport events (ice hockey, cross country ski, ice fishing, basket ball, etc), ice sculpture, music and singing events, etc. The city or organisations from the town organise lots of festivals especially during summer time like the GrillFest (June 8th and 9th), the Porcelain Days (July, 27-29th), the LineDance Festival (August, 4-5th), etc. 

 the coat of arm, the official logo and the flag of Pärnu

Pärnu in facts :

Inhabitants : 44,024 (2009, numbers from the 2012 census unknown)

Area : 32,2 km²

128 km from Tallinn and 180 km from Riga (Latvia capital)

Official website of the city : http://www.parnu.ee/lang/eng/

Tourism information: http://www.visitparnu.eu/

Wikipage : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A4rnu

The French Speaking Day (3): "Official Program"

Laupäeval, 24. märtsil Nooruse Majas, Roheline 1 b, Pärnu

Journée de la Francophonie – Prantsuse keele pave

Ürituse korraldaja Pierre-Marie Brianceau, vabatahtlik Prantsusmaalt

Tule omandama teadmisi ja kogemusi prantsuse keelt kõnelevate maade kultuurist ning toidust. Kogu päeva jooksul saad vastata teemakohastele küsimustele ning õigesti vastanuid ootavad ilusad ja maitsvad auhinnad.

10.30 avamine, päeva tutvustus, esitlus, näitus, mängud Prantsuse sümbolitega.

Esitlus „Kui hästi tunned Prantsuse kööki“

12.30 Lõunasöök. Buffet lauas on Pierre-Marie valmistatud toidud. Eelregistreerumine vajalik info@noorusemaja.ee Lõunasöögi hind 3€

14.00 Tutvumismängud, et raputada alla maitsev lõunasöök

15.00 Räägime stereotüüpidest Prantsusmaa ja prantslaste kohta

16.00 Kokkuvõte päevast ja viktoriinist. Räägime erinevatest võimalustest, kuidas ja kus õppida prantsuse keelt Eestis ning kuidas saada informatsiooni prantsusekeelsest maailmast

What? You  got scared? 

Here is the program in english. :p

Saturday March, 24th. Nooruse Maja, Roheline 1b, Parnu
Journée de la Francophonie – Prantsuse Keel Paëv
Come and enjoy some activities about French speaking culture, food and games. During the whole day, you will have some questions to answer for a small quiz to win a beautiful and yummy prize.

Start 10.30: Official opening
Presentation of the events of the day, exhibition and some games involving French Symbols
Presentation: How well do you know French Cuisine?

12h30/13h= Lunch with a buffet made of food cooked by me. "Reservation to be made before at info@noorusemaja.ee, limited number of place, Price: 3€/person"

14h= Energiser Games to digest my beautiful and delicious food.
15h = French People and French speaking people stereotypes

16 = Results of the quiz and Presentation of the different way to learn French in Estonia or have more information about French Culture.

The international French speaking days (2): Ask for the program

In Estonian

In English

On-Arrival EVS Training - Day 2

       After a (short) night sleep, we started our second day of training. This day was focused on the idea of volunteering, our rights and duties as an EVS, the impact on communities.

     The reason why we were all here was obviously the will to be a volunteer in a community or a group where they need someone to help them out. During those two hours we thought about ideas or obvious facts that were normal or just logical for us like Organisations choose to host an EVS a cheap employee. We had to think about it and find a common ground in our duo and then show and explain it to the rest of the group. We had to position ourselves on a line drawn on the floor depending if we agree or not. With Alicja, we agree on almost everything and we didn’t have to talk much about the common point of view we had to adopt and then show to the rest. The only time when I decided not to step on the line was when I had to answer a question when I couldn’t agree on the statement. After, we talked about what the EVS was really about, its definition, objectives and some question we had like for our insurance.

      One of the main objectives is to interact with our local communities. Our main exercise was to go on the streets, find someone to needed help and then find someone who could help that person. We couldn’t be the latter as it would have been too easy. With Simone, we decided to go to a supermarket where we could find an elderly person and may be a teenager who could help the former. It wasn’t that easy as all elderly women we saw were pretty active or didn’t have much to carry with them. We finally succeeded in finding a girl teenager who could help someone just a bit younger than the person we thought about at first. As we were in a supermarket, we decided to offer a chocolate bar to the girl to thank her for the help. Two last things: we completely forget to ask for her name and we met a local celebrity who was doing a show sharing the same objectives as us.

     We finished this day by watching a movie about the 2^nd independence of Estonia, in august 1991. It was very fascinating to watch it, see how 30 000 people singing in a single voice. When I think about this, I still have goosebumps. Without going into too many details not to spoil the movie, The Singing Revolution, You can see how people can change the face of history with their only arm available, their songs, without shedding a single drop of blood. After the movie ended, we couldn’t speak or say anything. We were so impressed by the intensity of it we stayed in the room talking about the movie, the consequences of what happened and some clarifications about how it really happened by asking our Estonian trainers.

Trailer of the Documentary, The Singing Revolution

for more information, visit http://www.singingrevolution.com

The Ice Festival (3): the concert given by the mayor of Pärnu

                When I was looking for some information about Estonia, I discovered this little country has two independence days. Or better said, one independence day and one re-independence day. The first one that happened this week on Feb 24^th was for the first independence time Estonia had back in 1918 when they liberated themselves from the Russian Empire of the fallen Romanov. The 2^nd I.D. was for their pacific liberation after the explosion of the USSR in 1991. That 2^nd I.D. is called by some people the re-independence day as they got it back after more than sixty years of foreign domination (German during WWII and Russian after WWII). The latter will be talked later as Estonians organize every year huge singing festival to commemorate those events.

 The Pärnu City Orchestra

                My tutor thought about us as he was the one to give us his invitation for two to go see this concert. Since he can go every year, he offered us the two tickets. I already had the necessary clothes for this event as I planned to go on some interviews if I had passé the first stage of my entrance exams. But Katerina, the other volunteer, just had one dress but no shoes or stockings. She was a bit panicked about it but in the end, she went shopping and found something useful for this night. The difficulties began when we had to go the concert hall. Since she was wearing high heels, it took us about 20 min when it takes us only 5 in the morning to walk on the same road. We managed to arrive just on time, just before the national anthem. 

 The two soloists

                This was followed by 1h15 of speeches and songs by children. For one moment, when they gave the city and county medals, it would drag on forever as some people couldn’t stop talking. When the music finally started, it was nice to listen to some nice music even though I couldn’t understand a single word of it. They only sung in Estonian. In a future I hope that won’t be too far away, I would be able to understand part if not all of what they said. At the end of the 45 musical minutes, we had a cocktail in the lobby. Depending on what you prefer (the finger food or the free champagne) it was better to stay in the main lobby or in the 2^nd floor. In the end, they offered us some nice chocolates truffles with tea or coffee. I had a nice red tea and to avoid having two plates (one for the drink, one for the chocolates), I put them next to my cup. I just forgot chocolate melted next to sources of heat!!

A little bit of auto-promotion: Wheelchair dancing.

As I can go to any class to check them and see for myself what they were doing, I went to a class given by Kaie, the folk and line dance teacher. I was surprised to see the doors of the dancing hall open during a workshop, something that normally doesn’t happen to avoid the noise in the other class. But it was for a good reason. That afternoon, the dance class wasn’t for valid but for wheel chair people. That is really cool of the teacher to organize such activities even though she is valid, she also uses a wheel chair to dance like them.

The Silver Wheels dancing in a contest

Even when Nooruse Maja is organising their annual Linedance festival, they are not left on the side of the road. No pun intended here but one the main event of the festival is a single line dance on a road in the countryside. It could be perfectly understandable for the organizers not to care about wheel chair people but they decided to include them in the program, in the dancers. They accounted for 1% (29 people for 2354 dancers) of the total participants for the Guinness world record they achieved in June 2008. Record we hope to break this year with more than 3000 people. I’ll be there to tell you all the latest news about it and more!

The Silver wheels during the Line Dance Festival

For pictures of wheel chair line dance, go there. For the linedance festival, click here.

Pictures courtesy of Kaie Seger, dance teacher at Nooruse Maja.