ESTONIA - Christmas presents

At Christmas we get present from Santa Claus.When we get a present we have to read Christmas poems, sing Christmas songs or dance. Sometime Santa puts presents under the tree. Before Christmas some children write a letter to Santa. Children write what they wish for Christmas. In Estonia Santa comes on Christmas Eve: on the 24th of December. Some people give Santa some Christmas food or a little present.

ESTONIA- Christmas party in our school

On the 22nd of December we'll have a Christmas party in Surju Basic School. All students will participate in a play and hopefully Santa will come and bring us some nice presents too :)
The play talks about Santa Claus who travels around in different countries and visits different people. I think it's interesting to learn about other people's traditions and sing songs in different languages.

ESTONIA - winter

Estonian winter is very snowy and cold. For some days there was so much snow that we couldn't get out the house!
In winter we usually go out skiing, sledging and skating or play snowball fight. We can build snowfigures like snowmen, snow animals, snow castles and houses. I like it very much.

ESTONIA - Christmas food

For Christmas we clean up rooms, we bring a Christmas tree and decorate it. In evning we have dinner together with a family. We usually eat black pudding with whortleberry jam, boiled or baked potatoes with sauce and roasted pork, sauerkraut, meat jelly, herring, beetroot-, potato- or pumpkin salad. For a dessert we have gingerbread, mandarins, nuts, candies or some cake.

ESTONIA - Surju skatepark

Surju skatepark is a very cool place. Many Surju skaters ride there and and do many cool tricks like an olli, 50-50 and a kickflip. There are about 10 ramps where you can ride down or do tricks. The skatepark is situated between the culture house and a shop.

ESTONIA- Surju playschool

Next to the school there is a playschool. It is connected to our schoolhouse. This is the new building. There are 2 groups the younger ones are called "Ladybirds" (lepatriinud) and older ones (päevakoerad). They are a joyful and very eager to learn. They have very lovely and excellent teachers.

ESTONIA - Surju health center and a home for elderly people.

This is a very old but beautiful house. It is situated near the park along the lake in a beautiful place.
When you are sick you can go to a doctor or then you are very old you can stay there. A home for elderly people is small but a nice place. Many people are taken care of there.
Surju health center is also a nice and quiet place. The family doctor looks after everybody's health there.

ESTONIA -Surju culture house

The culture house is in Surju center.
It is a very popular meeting place. People go folk dancing, singing, acting, sewing and doing aerobics or yoga there. Mostly women and children go there. Sometimes there are some parties: the Christmas party, the New Year's party, the Mothers Day party, the Movie Night and a party for big families.

ESTONIA - Surju farm

This is Surju farm behind us. This is big and new building. There are a lot of cows in it. In summer the cows are out on the pastures but in winter the cows are in the farm. The cows also have to come into the farm for milking. The smell around the farm is not very good but the people are used to it I guess.
People don't keep domesticated animals these days. They usually only have dogs and cats, rabbits, rats and fish.

ESTONIA - Surju park and lake.

These are the pictures of Surju lake and park.Surju lake is very beautiful. Many people go for a walk by the lake. In summer children and even grown-ups go swimming there. There are some benches by the lake whare you can sit back and enjoy the view.
Surju park is very old. Long time ago there was a manor house in the park. Nowadays the park is used for Midsummer night parties. It is nice to walk in the park.There are many big trees like spruces, birches, maples, alders and oaks.

ESTONIA - Playground

This is the playground in Surju centre. I like to play here with my friends. All the children can play here. There are a lot of attractions. I like swinging very much.There is sandbox and a palying house too. You can climb the ladders and go sliding. In autumn and winter children don't visit it often because it is wet and cold outside.

ESTONIA - Traditions and Important Events in November

For a small nation like us it is important to keep our traditions alive and introduce them to other nations as well.

We would like to share some of our customs and traditions with you. You can learn more about Kadripäev (St. Cathrine's Day), Mardipäev (St. Martin's Day)and Isadepäev (Fathers' Day) and find out how we calebrate these days.

We would be glad to answer any questions you might have. Thanks!

ESTONIA - Mardipäev

Mardipäev is an important holiday in Estonian folk calendar.
Mardipäev is on the 10th of November but children dress up as men and go from house to house on the 9th of November. Long time ago Mart put on big boots and coats. Their costumes used to be brown and black. Nowadays the costumes are more colourful and look different (even witches’, clowns’, cats’, dogs’ or other funny costumes).
Children sing special songs and wish households good luck for crops, cattle and for the household in general.
In an old time people gave to Mart bread, meat and the other type of foods. Today Mart usually gets a lot of diffrents sweets or even money.

Here you can learn more about Mardipäev HERE.

ESTONIA - Fathers' Day

On the second Sunday in November we celebrate the Farthers' Day in Estonia. Fathers' Day is devoted to all fathers'. In Estonia children usually bake a cake and draw a card for their dads'.
We celebrate Fathers' Day in our school too . Usually it begins with a concert and after that there are some sport competitions. Kids can participate together with their fathers.
The party usually ends with eating some snacks and having a good time together.

ESTONIA - Kadripäev

Kadripäev is an important holidays in Estonian folk calendar.
Kadripäev is an old Estonian tradition which came to Estonia with Christianityn in the 12th century. Kadripäev is on the 25th of November. Usually children run from house to house the previous night, sing songs, dance and play. In Kadripäev boys and girls dress up as women. They wear masks or a lot of make up. Kadri girls wear beautiful and light coloured clothes.
Kadripäev rules are:
- if Kadripäev is windy it'll be a good weather at Christmas.
- it wasn't allowed to do any work with wool.
- if Kadris were not let into the house they put a curse on the family or played them a trick.

You can learn more about Kadripäev HERE.

ESTONIA - My school...

As I said earlier I go to Surju Basic School in form 5.
My school is small. There are only 101 students. My school is in the forest.
There are 12 students in my class: 4 girls and 7 boys. My class teacher is a very nice and smart woman.
I have 6 lessons every day. My favourite lesson is a break :D - then I play with my friends. I also like PE, art and English.
The school starts on the 1st of September in Estonia. There are 4 terms in a schoolyear. Between the terms we have a holiday. The first holiday is in autumn, the next is around Christmas and New Year, the third one is in spring and the longest holiday is in summer (July and August).

I went around in our schoolhouse to show you some places:

ESTONIA - Kusti Saarepuu

Hi!
I'm Kusti Saarepuu.
I'm an ordinary Estonian boy. I'm 11 years old and I live in Surju village.
I'm handsome, nice and a good boy in general. I am friendly so I have many, many friends.
I have red hair and I'm about 150 cm tall. I usually wear a T-shirt and jeans.
My hobies are sport, skateboarding, art and graffiti. I also like building things.
I go to Surju Basic School in form 5. My classmates are very good and kind. I like them.
My family is not so big. I live with my parents, a brother and a sister.
I have 2 pets: a dog and a cat.

This is a picture of me. I am together with my friend Rainer.

ESTONIA - Surju English Club

Hi to everybody and welcome!!

You are looking at the Surju English Club blog.
This has been created by an English teacher and some students from Surju Põhikool.
We like our school and village very much and we would like to introduce them to English speakers too. Kusti is going to help us with that. We hope you'll find a lot of intersting material and pictures here in the future and maybe can come for a visit one day!
We also hope to find some partner schools from other countries who we could get to know and work together with.
Have fun on our blog :)