Serve the City: Kalli-Ralli

I decided to spent this Saturday doing volunteer work with Serve the City and I had an incredible time!

All the volunteers met at Serve the City "headquarters" at 10 and we were divided up into separate groups where we met our group leader, a.k.a our Blackshirt. 

I was in the Free Hugs group. The first thing we did was make posters that said "Free Hugs" or "Kalli-Ralli". We got to be creative because our Blackshirt told us to make them as colorful as possible, and they came out pretty nice! We also had two baskets full of candy that we offered to people when we hugged them. Once our posters were ready, we headed to town. Our route went through Balti jaam, the old town and then around Viru. 

The most interesting part of the Kalli-Ralli was seeing the different reactions that different people had. In Balti jaam the majority of the people were old ladies who were quite happy to hug us and chat with us (in Russian, which only some of us spoke). When we offered candy to the people there, they didn't hold back and simply grabbed handfuls out of the baskets.

In the old town, there were a lot of tourists - especially Spanish-speaking ones, so I got to practice my Spanish too! The tourists were all very happy and cheerful, and when we explained that we were giving free hugs many of them even laughed.

As soon as we were out of the old town, there was a clear difference that we were no longer amidst tourists. When we walked towards people, shouting free hugs, many of them walked around us in a big circle to avoid us. It made me sad to see how so many people simply refuse to open themselves up to even the smallest bit of happiness.

There are three incidents that I remember the best.

1. I went over to hug a little girl and offer her some candy, and when I bent down to hug her, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was the cutest thing ever, and it brought a smile to my face.

2. We were walking in a tunnel and there was a couple that we went over to hug. Our whole group started walking towards them, shouting "Kalli-ralli!" and "Kalli kalli!!", and then man said, "Sorry, but I don't understand." Then, all together our group said, "Oh! Free hugs!!" It was so nice to see everyone's face light up.

3. The last memory is slightly more negative than the other two. On our way back, we ran into an old lady who asked us to explain what were doing. After we had explained, she told us that we are crazy and that we should go home. It was terrible how disrespectful she was. 

I had a great time with all the people I met at Serve the City, and I had a great bringing smiles to people's faces by simply giving them hugs. I'll be sure to join the next Serve the City event!