Jõekääru — the early years. A kid

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Jõekääru — the early years. A kid (1)

Eestlased Kanadas | 03 Jul 2002 | Kalev RaudojaEWR

Due to positive feedback about the first two installments, we decided to do one more final chapter about the early years at Jõekääru. Before we start, I received a wonderful e-mail from the USA from one of the two un-identified boys in the 1953 fishing picture from the last chapter. Mart Talvik has the very same photo in his family photo album! He was the boy in front, and he's almost certain that the other boy was Harri Kunder.

Even though my years in the small boys' group in the third barrack was fairly uneventful, the one interesting highlight was our hikes to Udora. This was before the saun and canteen were built in 1955, after which we could buy ice cream and other treats at certain hours from Sauna Aadu. Anyway, in Udora, at the store on top of the hill, our pennies and dimes went a long way back in the early 50's. For a few pennies we could fill a bag full of candies, chewing gum etc. For a nickel, one could buy a pack of baseball cards with gum inside, and a comic book for a dime. Who knows what rare comics or baseball cards may have passed through our hands. The lady in the store must have become an honourary member of the Estonian community for all the business she got from Estonians over the years.

Mealtimes were always something to look forward to, especially by growing youngsters. Breakfast a lot of times included cereal, grapefruits and sandwiches consisting of a thick slice of white bread with a slice of cheese on top. These sandwiches don't sound too exciting but even now I enjoy them. Mahla-aeg was always a treat on hot summer days, with a nice cool drink and some kind of pastry. When corn came into season and was plentiful, we'd have unofficial corn eating contests to see who could eat the most cobs. The same for watermelon. Inevitably, the seeds would start flying all over the place, with the kids using the rinds to hit the seeds on their plates. On Sundays we'd get an extra treat, namely a small cup of ice cream in one of those small Sealtest containers. After some of the lõkkeõhtud we'd all get a nice "loot bag" with a bag of potato chips, candy, pop etc.

For even added treats, kids would place orders with their parents to bring their favourite foods during their next visit. The kids with the big bags of potato chips etc. would automatically become very popular, needless to say. One curious food craze, at least with the boys was halvah. For those not familiar with halvah, the dictionary describes it as a sweetmeat of sesame flour and honey, of middle eastern origin. It came in a can, like tuna, and we would use the lid to scoop out the goodies. I have no idea how this craze started or how long it lasted. I wonder if delicatessen owners will now experience a surge in sales of halvah.

Not only the kids enjoyed the junk food. The local chipmunks would inevitably find their way into the snacks. All hell would break loose as twenty screaming kids would try and capture these critters. None were ever caught though because they were much too fast and clever. In 1958 after the large dam was built, another fellow and I decided to see how far up the river we could get with a canoe during puhketund. The first couple of miles were pleasant with the pastoral scenery of grazing cows etc. and passing by "savikoda". Thereafter, the going got tougher, with wire fences, fallen trees etc. starting to block our passage, requiring some portaging. Eventually, maybe four or five miles upstream we got about as far as was humanly possible, to a tiny lake or large pond, take your pick. It was strewn with fallen trees and branches and was not much good for anything, except for frogs and snakes. Only U.S. marines or Navy Seals could have gotten any further.

Preparing for the weekly dances in the "söögisaal" was always interesting The boys would prepare by actually putting on socks and shoes, long pants and applying generous gobs of grease on their hair. The two popular brands were Brylcream ( "a little dab will do ya") and Wildroot ( "better get Wildroot Cream Charlie"). The girls somehow always looked a little bit better-groomed. I remember in 1958 one of the older (13 or so) fashion- conscious girls wearing a new "sack dress". The sack dress was a very short-lived fashion craze, and most would say quite deservedly so. Oh to have a photo of the girl in her sack dress! Speaking of grease, three of us decided to hitchike to Uxbridge in 1958, where we had a close encounter of the unpleasant kind. If any youngsters are reading this, don't even think about hitchiking anywhere today. Today's world is a lot more dangerous than back then. Let me set the scene here to help explain what followed. We were wearing our short shorts as we all did all summer at Jõekääru. The country and town boys wouldn't have been caught dead wearing shorts, let alone short shorts. We also had our tobacco pipes with us. As all kids, we experimented with smoking etc. Perhaps we were too sophisticated to smoke cigarettes, so we bought ourselves these little pipes. Most of us never became smokers, so again , any youngsters reading this should be smart and not get hooked on smoking.

Anyway, once in Uxbridge, two of us, 12-year olds, wearing our short shorts and smoking our pipes, were confronted on the main street by a teenage greaser or hood as they were called back then. This guy would have fit perfectly into one of the 1950's juvenile delinquent/hot rod Hollywood movies with his black leather jacket, black, cleated motorcycle boots and greased hair. He probably didn't care for our short shorts or pipes, and demanded to have our pipes. Being scared to death and not knowing what to do, I told him that the pipes were not ours. He wasn't interested in my explanation, and kept pressing his demand. We didn't relent, and he finally gave up and started walking away, muttering to himself , and gave the near-by lampost a good kick with his leather boot for good measure. We were certainly relieved to meet up with our companion and get back to Jõekääru as quickly as possible.

More sedentary puhketund activities included lying on our blankets, either sleeping, reading or suntanning. We'd slap on plenty of sun tan lotion and compete to see who could get the darkest tan. This was back when the ozone layer was thicker and before we knew the hazards of too much exposure to the sun. Again, I'm still looking for the 1955 Pr. Falkenberg 8mm home movie and any other films or photos of Jõekääru from the 1950's. My e-mail address is: KALEV RAUDOJA