Dūdū piedzīvojumi Iguānijā

So this will be short review of September and October activities in Sänna.

Time here has passed extremely fast, (as always I would like to say) but somehow autumn has come with big steps and has brought changes  and thoughts also in my inner life. As last months me and Elena had worked more or less seperately, I have had lot of time to watch myself working from sidelines and realize once again that I am individualist in many ways.

I am trying to rewind last months here in Sänna and realize that only one is left. Unbelievable. Feels like one small life has passed here.

More and more visitors are coming from all over Estonia to see the place; even more after us being on ETV show “Sõida maale” It was really amazing to see how manor and people have changed since May when TV was here and made a report. And of course I felt proud to hear good feedbacks from people who had seen the show.

So on September i went to primary school in Kääpa close to Võru to present culture of Latvia, turned out really good and again I gained new experience in working with children which i thought would never be my passion:

Also we got some potato results of 1^st permaculture experiment, not so bad for first year, at least we’ll be smarter next spring:

The biggest event of September was probably Bicycle festival in Sänna about which you can read on Tuuli’s blog and see wonderfull pictures HERE.

I have refreshed little bit DIY page, so you can see my work here in last month, the couch makes me most satisfied, because I had never renovated furniture before but this one I did in 3 days and the result is pretty (unfortunately i don’t have before&after effect pictures)

Well, about October activites you can get some impression on Sänna Kultuurimõis webpage- official carpentery opening on 17^th October and handicraft days; i attach some more pictures of making silk painting, broadloom workshop and sewing bags of second hand clothes:

That’s prety much what has happened in manor in few words.

Great news is that EVS project is accepted for next year and new volunteers will come in February- a guy from Turkey and a guy from Germany, me and Elena are trying to imagine them living in “our” room and being a part of new Sänna Kultuurimõis “commune”.

So see you everybody soon on Theater hall opening on 30th October!

On the day when I came back to Sanna after 1 week being at home and meeting my old friends and family, I received great news from Tuuli- we’re going on a trip! My first thought was about mind trip but it turned out that we were going on real trip around Võrumaa to collect new old bicycles for our workshop. As we didn’t have a car we had to pick up Tuuli’s father car which was waiting for us in her grandparents’ place close to Põlva. And as Elena is the only one from 3 of us who can officially drive a car, she was going to be our driver. So we got a car previous evening and on Saturday morning were ready for some adventures which turned out quite full of excitement, fun, laugh and bit disappointment. Our route was Sänna-Nursi-Rõuge- Viitina- Varstu- Anstla- Urvaste- Kanepi- Võru- Haanja- Tsooru- Sänna. Finally we got 10 bicycles, real treasure and beauty. More you can read soon on http://www.velokuur.blogspot.com/

Pictures HERE, also from next days’ workshop.

At the beginning of August we left Sänna again. Our road went to eastern Estonia, to Alatskivi which is small place close to Peipsi lake. 4 km from Alatskivi there is small village called Nina just next to the Peipsi where we stayed for 4 days to meet other EVS volunteers who are in the middle of their projects and also our trainers Margus and Kaisa. We had a very good and quality time and had chance to look back in our projects, remember the worst and the best moments during projects to share experiences, learn to learn and think and talk about future perspectives. We also had a bicycle trip where we were divided in pairs and had received a map and several tasks to do, so we spent all day cycling around local villages looking for objects which we had to find. As my mate (Jiri, the Czech guy) felt really adventurous and spontaneous that day we really had some wild adventures and finally we got lost and arrived as the last ones (although we started as the first ones). Anyway this was one the best days in this summer and I learned something not only had fun.

I want to share some photos HERE.

As you may know, Polymer- Culture Factory in Tallinn is the member of the same network as Sänna Culturemanor, so last week me and Elena went to Tallinn to work there, basicly to help to prepare for TEH International Workshop 6-8 August 2010. Unfortunately we could not take part in it, because we had our EVS mid-term meeting at the same time. But anyway… the place is more than impressive and i was amazed by the idea and people there all 3 days which i spent there, and the biggest THANKS to Ernest Truely, residence artist who is living and working in Polymer, for hospitality and great time. For sure, we will return to Tallinn during Polymer Festival at the end of August. And some pictures HERE

Ok, pictures, here we go…

Look how everything has grown in few weeks:

as I see everything growing and blossoming in our garden, i wanted to share some greenery of it. Yes, this is my passion:

So first of all I have to say SUUR AITÄH, TUULI who made this happen and second of all- SUUR AITÄH, MAIKAMEIKERS!

little bit about them

Tuuli kept talking about them now&then since May I think and was so excited about them coming to Sänna. So it happened this week. 5 guys arrived on Monday night, 2 more on Tuesday and one more on Wednesday- extremely positive and creative people which made our old theater hall alive and filled with sounds of drums, bass, guitars etc.. Concert on Thursday wasn’t so crowded as I expected but still it turned out more or less as private concert and was really smashing, i think i’m still high from the emotions.

As they had concert next day in Tartu, I thought they will leave quite early on Friday but noooo… people like Sänna, people love Sänna.. so they left just few hours before their concert and before that we made some farewell pictures and hugs …and as i heard they will probably come back soon and have band camp here. Nice to know. So see you soon! MAI-KA-MEI-KERS! We love you!

When I arrived here and spent 1^st month i never believed that summer time in Sänna will be soooo busy and full of events and visitors after long, cold and quiet winter. But as you see, I haven’t even had a free time enough to refresh my blog.

2 weeks there were 4 volunteers staying in Sänna and helping to create, develop and renovate things – Pekka from Finland, Ondine from Paris, Laurens from Holland (I recommend you to read about his experience in these 2 weeks on http://llaurens.blogspot.com/) and Anna from Italy who is now EVS volunteer in Rakvere.

Everything turned out much better than I expected although I was a bit nervous in moments when people could not make decisions and also during cooking when there were too many people in the kitchen. As we tried to cook typical Estonian food, i was surprised that people liked porridge, kama, mannavaht, nettlesoup and cold soup (well, at least they said they did).

On my point of view we did amazing work. It was lot about painting&cleaning but the result is more than good, more than amazing. We worked on the 2^nd floor of the manor, in the carpentery workshop& some other rooms, little bit gardening and watering and weeding and painting again. For me this time was a bit relaxing because I hadn’t used to work 6 hours per day and also trying to be bossy didn’t work out

As we were always spending most of the time together (working, cooking, eating and chilling) I felt like living in a big international family.

If i could only remember everything & express myself here it would be too long story about our free time – movie&quiz nights, volleyball with local youngsters, bicycle trip to Rõuge and bicycle&barbeque trip to local lakes, farewell carnival & real show with drunk David Coperfield (thanks to Elena and Ondine)

So I just wanted to say that these were really great and unforgettable 2 weeks of this summer and saying goodbye again (because I stay here and always see great people arriving&leaving; always saying hi&bye) was really sad and almost made me cry. Again. Now more often I imagine what will happen at the end of November when I will have to leave this place…

Soooo… enjoy some images HERE