My cure for the wintertime blues

So, I know that I rave about Riga so much that someone reading my blog might think it’s filled with rainbows and bunnies riding unicorns, and, while there actually are a lot of bunnies, 

there is a dark side. It’s literally dark.   Lately it’s also been the kind of cold where I don’t necessarily notice just how bad it is until I realize I haven’t felt my toes in a while and I suddenly can’t do a 20 minute walk without stopping in a few stores to “look around” while my toes regain consciousness, but that’s a whole different story. Oh, and if anyone was wondering what happens when you run in -12 degrees Celsius, 7 degrees Fahrenheit, your fleece neck warmer actually makes you colder because so much frost forms from your breath and any hair that pokes out of your hat or eyelids (aka eyelashes) will turn frosty and white and make you look like a frozen Albert Einstein. But again, that’s a tale for another time. So, before the polar vortex skated over to devour Riga, it was mostly just so dark that the lack of Vitamin D in my veins made me inexplicably sad. I would randomly start crying even if I was talking about how much I liked it here. Nothing made sense. So, I decided that, as everyone else in my office ran away to the warmth and sun of Israel, I should go to another dark place that I at least heard looked like a fairytale: Tallinn. 

            I hopped on another New York length bus ride, this time with an individual TV and free coffee (this bus was far fancier and more accommodating than my 10 hour flight to Riga. NEVER TAKE AEROFLOT) and I arrived just in time to see darkness in Tallinn. At least there were a lot of Christmas lights. Especially in the Christmas market. Tallinn really plays up their fairytale reputation because, in addition to the already enchanted looking buildings they also have people in old timey costumes everywhere. It felt a little touristy to me, but the other tourists were eating it up so I just moseyed on through, admired the random witches costumes, and got a nice tour of the town from the Estonian fellow, Jonah.

The next day began the way all my great days in Latvia do, with a trip to the local kindergarten. Their kindergarten is much bigger but I still felt completely at home. Jonah goes three days a week to lead Shabbat, Havdallah and Israeli dancing. In exchange, he gets a Russian babushka because the school chef force feeds him chocolate, homemade crepes, and other treats as she tells him he’s too skinny and needs to eat more so he can get a girlfriend. Finally the Russian babushka experience I was searching for! And it turned out it was only the first of many in this wonderful town.

  So, after watching the little kiddies show off their Israeli dance skills and sing Havdallah tunes on a Tuesday morning (technically you have until Tuesday night. And, as my family likes to say, it’s never too late), Jonah and I seized the few hours of daylight (or day grey) by taking a short walk around town so I could see the color of the colorful buildings. Tallinn is certainly quainter than Riga and much more cutesy. It looks more like a Christmas collection of gingerbread houses than actual buildings, which provided just the kind of warm, merry feeling I needed to fight the cold and darkness. So I reveled in the little Disneyland dollhouse that is Tallinn and then Jonah and I made our way over to the Jewish Community.

  In Riga, the synagogue and community center demonstrate their ideological separation with physical separation. In Tallinn, however, they at least share a courtyard.  The synagogue is extremely modern, with gorgeous glass patterned windows that offer a glimpse into the sanctuary. Also, the Rabbi is really really nice and offered a glimpse into the local Jewish community.

            After chatting it up with the Rabbi and wandering around the building, we wandered over to the community center where we actually got in trouble for wandering. Jonah tried to give me a tour of the museum based on the tour someone else had given him when, all of a sudden, some old guy Jonah had never seen before started yelling at us that that is now how they do things in the museum and Jonah does not know what he is talking about. First of all, Jonah definitely knows what he is talking about. Second, that guy shouldn’t tell us the tour is inappropriate and inadequate unless he wants to give us a tour himself. When it became clear we were not welcome we ran into the welcoming arms of the welfare center. I knew we made the right choice when we were immediately greeted by a babuskha knitting group. Since I hadn’t brought my gear with me, I talked to one of the heads of the welfare center instead and learned that, exactly like the center in Riga, the center gives elderly Russians places to go, things to do, and people to see. The head of the welfare center also offered my second positive babushka experience of the day when she finished our tour with pictures of her lovely children, coffee, and tasty cake. Real babushkas know how to make everything better. With my belly warm and full I finished my already lovely trip with a visit to the teen center. I watched the madrichim’s planning meeting, which was really just a group of teens eating burgers and cookies while they doodled and goofed off in Russian. The more similarities I saw between Tallinn and Latvian Jewish life, the more excited I felt to get on the bus and go back to my community in Riga.