One of the first things I did when arriving in Calgary was to find out if there is an Estonian Society of some sorts. I figured that we are coming completely into the unknown and do not know anyone and therefore meeting some Estonians would be a good way to start building a network of familiar faces to talk to and to socialise. I found the website for Alberta Estonian Heritage Society http://www.aehs.ca/index.php/aehshome/about-us on google and wrote to them that I’m coming and would like to meet some locals. Since then we have met up with a couple who arrived in Canada with their parents after the Second World War. They both speak Estonian, so for me it has been the only possibility to speak Estonian live besides Skype. Since both of them are active members of the AEHS, they were contacted to organise the meeting venue for the visit of the Estonian Ambassador to North-America Marina Kaljurand on Tuesday. I was very happy to get the invite as well. There were 8 people including me who came from the local society and Ambassador was there with her husband.

We had a short, but very nice and interesting lunch with the Ambassador who had already been to Edmonton and to Stettler. I found out that Stettler was the place where the first Estonian settlers came already as early as at the end of the 19th century. That’s when the Canadian government gave land to those who could farm and some Estonians came here instead of going to Russia. After that there have been 3 more waves of Estonians coming to Alberta – after the two world wars and now when Estonia is independent. There is even community house in Stettler that has been built by Estonians where they could come together and spend some time.

The meeting was held in English, since there were quite a few members present who do not speak Estonian – they are the grandchildren of the original settlers or their spouses. Also the website is in English and the meetings and events that are held by society are in both languages which is good for us, then my husband can also participate. He promises to learn Estonian when we go back to live in Estonia. I will hold him to his promise.

The Ambassador had to rush off to catch a plane to Washington and her husband was going back to Tallinn. There had been lots of snowstorms in and around the Central North America – even the Chicago airport was closed for a day. But if anyone knows how to handle snow that would be the people who live here, so we hope that they both could get to their destinations without too much time in the airports.