Memories from the Soviet period: 9 a

• Kindergarten toddlers and schoolchildren who lived a long way from their homes were housed in the kindergarten and in the dormitory. On Fridays children went home and on Sunday they came back. In this way, parents could easily go to work, as their children were not at home.
• There was no unemployment in soviet period.
• People were equal in economic status. The level of wages was equal for all people.
• In the Soviet period unskilled workers often had higher wages than educated people. ( By Annika)

• My granny has told us that in the soviet period people didn` t get fruit when these were brought to the town, there were very long queues. Sometimes the queue was out of the door. My granny used to stand in the queue too but when there was her time to buy there were only green bananas. She bought these and put into the cupboard. These were there for some days till they had got yellow.
• My granny also told that she got information about the books "ENE". She left home previous night and stood in the queue all night long. 
• She has told that when she was quite small she wanted to earn money. She left home early in the mornings to weed the field. She had a little bag full of lunch with her.(By Elise)

• The collective farms and state farms were the most important factories and employers in the soviet time. The people were occupied with agriculture and pasture. All people were occupied with work and also the flats were given. People didn`t have any loans or debts. (By Allan N.)

• In 1976 my grandparents went to Bulgaria. In that time people couldn`t travel to foreign countries, but my grandparents had got licence from some company. When they came back from Bulgaria, they brought some chewing gum with them so my dad and aunts were very happy. My dad was very proud of himself when he walked in the town and chewed the gum because in Estonia areas people could start buying that 1979.
• My father got his first Rubik`s cube a little bit earlier than others because his relative went to Hungary and brought many Rubik`s cubes for all his relatives.
• Every year on the 1st of May and the 7th of November big parades took place. All students had to take part in the parades and my mother was one of them. The assambly was in the front of the Kiviõli`s cinema where children got balloons and slogans. All students had to march and smile, nobody cared that people actually hated those parades. (By Laura)