located at 18 Vabriku Street, Kalamaja, Tallinn
Present name is Kalamaja Basic School aka
Kalamaja Põhikool - see pp 11-12 of the book
A
surprise awaited us on the second day of my visit to Estonia in the summer of
2006. We had just been to my father's home in Kungla Street in Kalamaja [a harbour
side suburb of Tallinn], where he had lived as a boy in 1918.
The
next stop on our tour of places that he mentions in the manuscript was his
primary school located at 10 Vabriku Street. Although Kungla Street crosses
onto Vabriku Street, the one-way traffic regulations meant that we had to go
back around to enter the street. The street numbers began at the point we
entered the street.
 |
| No. 18 Vabriku Street |
The
taxi driver enquired about the name of the school. It had been Tallinn Primary
School No. 9 [Tallinna IX Algkool] in 1918. He thought for a moment and told us
about a primary school that actually was in Vabriku Street but its name was
Kalamaja Põhikool.
We
drove a short way along Vabriku Street passing Kungla Street along the way on
the same block, until we reached a school enclosed by a high railing fence at
No. 18 Vabriku Street. I got out of the taxi and said that I would check it out
and walked back. I saw sign at the front entrance of the school that showed it
had been established in 1915.
I
entered the school grounds. The school appeared to be deserted. However on
walking around the corner of the school building I found a couple of teenage
girls sitting on a step.
I
enquired about the location of the school principal. In Estonia a school
principal is referred to as the Direktor. The students indicated for me
to follow them. They entered the front doors that I had seen before which I had
passed by while looking for a guide. A pungent smell of rancid cabbage pervaded the corridors of the building. The walls of the hallway were covered in graffiti. We walked up some stairs to another level and they showed me a wooden door that seemed to be a door to a cubicle.
In
an adjoining office a person looked up and I enquired if they were the Direktor. They stood up and walked over
to me stating that the Direktor was
in the office [the cubicle] and knocked on the door.
The
person spoke briefly to the Direktor.
He was a man of youthful appearance. His manner was reserved and thoughtful as
I explained what I was looking for, the primary school my father attended as a
boy. I showed him the first four chapters in the book. In 2006 it was a
prototype that I had made up to take with me to Estonia.
He
introduced himself as Marko Rööpson. I told him that my father had in his
manuscript mentioned that the Direktor
of the school at the time, in 1915, had been Peeter Talts.
This
moment was an emotional one for me. Suddenly, the serendipity and awareness
that a confluence of many, many hopes and wishes had been realised made me want
to share the moment with my companion.
So
I excused myself saying that my companions were awaiting me in a taxi and that
I had been uncertain until then whether it was the right school leaving him to
leaf through the prototype of the book.
I
rushed to the taxi announcing to all ‘this is the school, this is Isa’s school’
and more or less dragged my bemused companion to the Direktor’s office. Then I introduced them to each other. My
companion speaks excellent Estonian. She is also a professional high
school-grade teacher of English for foreign students. I was aware that I had
not spoken Estonian for a substantial amount of time before this moment; for
many, many years.
But
I am certain as we spoke with each other that I clearly communicated the reason
for our visit. The Direktor asked if we would like to take a tour of the school.
He said that the renovation of the school had been authorised by the Minister
of Education and the work would commence as soon as the school vacation
commenced in a couple of days.
Commenting
on the rancid cabbage smell, he smiled he said that it was typical in Estonian
schools. When I have mentioned this subsequently I am amazed that exactly the same
response occurs, irrespective of the age of the people that I am talking to.
Seems
to me that it is an authentic national experience, perhaps, it could be used in
the future to assess whether one has had a basic schooling in Estonia or
somewhere else.
Walking
along the graffiti covered walls of the main school hall-ways; I queried him
about the graffiti expressing our concern about what type of area the school
was located. He commented that it was not a rough school in the sense of bad
behaviour, rather a strategy adopted by the school to permit the students a
special one-off experience to vent their creative feelings on the old school
before they went on summer vacation.
Students
were given permission to graffiti the walls, exceptional circumstances, so that
they would appreciate the new school when they returned to a brand new school. I
was tremendously impressed by the strategy. The entire school was being both
renovated and refurbished during the school summer vacation, which is from mid-June-Sept
in Estonia.He explained that basic school or põhikool is for school students from 7-16 years of age in the Estonian education system, which can lead to college or to senior high school or gümnaasium for the remaining two years. He showed us through the classrooms.
He
mentioned that we had been very lucky to even catch him as it was school
vacation, if we had come a day later or a day earlier, we would have missed
him, because he was going on vacation himself, however there was a graduation
ceremony in a couple of weeks, he invited us to attend.
The
main auditorium was a beautiful performance space with wooden floors, where we
were privileged to witness a graduation ceremony two weeks later. All the
students were dressed in their Sunday best. It was obvious that it was a very
important and treasured occasion in their lives.
He said that he hoped that when the book was
published that we could donate a copy of the book to the school to enable
students to use it to study Estonian history and to also use it to improve
their English. Estonian students are required to study two languages at school.
