A Cruise Through History
Established through a generous anonymous donation and managed directly by our faculty, the AIS Summer Travel Study and Research Grant Program supports the professional development of teachers each summer.
Six months after the Baltic cruise I took with an AIS travel grant, my strongest memory is of the people I met.
In Estonia, we were treated to a wonderful day by a high school classmate who lives four months a year in Talinn. We entered the old city and walked along cobblestone streets, peeking into shops and enjoying the view of daily life. We ate delicious fresh-picked strawberries and drank the strongest coffee I have ever choked down. We visited the apartment that he's re-modeling in a 14th century building off the town square. We ate lunch on the stone patio which a restaurant had carved into a hillside, sampling Estonian cuisine and enjoying it all, except the pickles dipped in mayo. We sat in a park to talk, enjoying the relaxed pace which eludes us at home, and later on –- after seeing an old woman carrying a bucket and broom which she used to clean the streets and sidewalks –- we realized that everywhere life is harder for some than others.
In St. Petersburg, I was enthralled with the view points of our Russian guide, who let us know how much she misses the old Russia which would have supported her in her retirement. Unlike the younger Russians we met, she did not appreciate the independence and capitalism of the new Russia. She was an extremely learned woman with university degrees in things as varied as nursing, geology, and history, and she was an excellent guide as she led us through the Hermitage. She showed her fun side as we walked through the fountains at Peterhof, and she was proud of her country when we visited a grocery store full of wonderful looking fruits and vegetables and delicacies which seemed more than reasonably priced to us until she reminded us of the difference in income between us and her people…and then we realized once again that life is harder for some than others. Most probably, the average Russian doesn't see the inside of that store.
I was overwhelmed when I finally met Cantor Gregory Yakerson at the Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg, a man with whom I had been corresponding for more than six months, thanks to the magic of the internet. Born in St. Petersburg, he has a magnificent voice that filled the synagogue's halls, bringing tears to my eyes and beauty to my soul. It was wonderful to hear about the thriving Jewish community in a country which once had disallowed religion, a community that now boasts two Jewish day schools and the promise of a future.
I enjoyed meeting Luc Hilderbrand, a friend of AIS family the Grünenfelders, who left Switzerland and opened a salad/pizza place in St. Petersburg by constructing a glass roof over an alleyway between two old buildings. And my friends were shocked when, as we entered the restaurant, we heard the voice of a young woman say, "Mrs. Ferko?" It was Katie Wilkins, Class of 2006, who was midway through an immersion experience to learn the Russian language. My friends believe I have students everywhere I go, but this meeting (arranged by Katie and me earlier) really shocked them and absolutely delighted me.
I will always remember the Finnish gentleman who translated into English the Swedish commentary on the tram ride around the island of Visby. I loved the pace of life on Visby and the way the people seemed to congregate with neighbors, kind of like I used to do in my neighborhood before I went back to work.
And I was deeply touched by the old Jewish man determined to walk the grounds of Sachsenhausen outside Berlin. The guide, afraid that we might miss the train back to Warnemunde, was reluctant to slow down and told us there wasn't time to light a memorial candle. But we were determined to take a moment for that candle and to say the prayer for the dead…so the guide acquiesced and probably muttered a prayer of his own. Afterwards, as I walked with the elderly man and we found ourselves further behind the main group, he told me to go ahead so I wouldn't get left behind. When I told him we would make it together or miss it together and spend the evening in Berlin, he laughed and told me I had made an old man feel safe.
The trip was so much fun and absolutely wonderful. Seeing so many new places (only Berlin was a repeat for me, but Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Talinn, and St. Petersburg were all new) was exciting. Thank you to the Travel Study and Research Grant Committee for helping to make it possible!