I know more Chinese than Estonians

Unlike my last entry, there is no truth-streching involved in today's entry. I am "more than aquainted" with four Chinese people, and three Estonians. You are probably asking, "But Andrew, how can that be? Are you not, in fact, living in Estonia?" Well, yes I am indeed living in Estonia, but hear me out:

I take my classes at the Estonian Academy of Music, and for some reason (one which I will expand upon later) over thirty of their fourty or so foreign students this year are from China. Like me, they are taking classes taught in English; however, unlike me, they do not really speak English. This makes learning Estonian quite interesting.

My Estonian teacher Kersti oversees me, Zhu Fong Lin, Haung Lin, Li Huang (took me forever to figure out who was who) and Lili. Kersti and I are the causcasian minority. I think their are two other Chinese boys in the class, but apparently truancy is a global phenomenon. My hat goes off to Kersti, she has made an effort to learn a little Chinese to help this process (it is usually ineffective) (pic:http://php.louisville.edu/news/images/instory/academyestis.jpg)

Basically this is the flow of class: Kersti asks us to read a passage. She's gotten into the habit of starting with either Lili or I, because we know the most english and understand the directions. After reading the estonian passage, we are then supposed to translate into english. Inevitably there is a word the others do not know. Amidst rapid Chinese, and Kersti repeating the word over and over again, I sit in doubt that class will progress beyond this moment. At some point, there is consencus among the Chinese about the meaning of the english word, and I am asked "Please, you put into here". This familiar phrases alerts me that I must type the english word into their electronic dictionarys so that it may forever be defined as whatever they figured out. I am scared to know what they came up with for "porridge".

Then it is the next student's turn to read the same passage. Now, I admit that estonian pronunciation can be difficult, especially if you speak tonally. At these times however, I am ashamed to remember National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation/ The Griswald Christmas, specifically the scene in which the Chinese waiters sing Jingles bells to the family. Politically incorrect, yes; horribly entertaining, yes. The song Jingle Bells will be the topic of a future blog.

When it comes time for their english translation there are two options available. Either the student will remember the previous discusion about the unkown word and speak it triumphantly, or the previous process will repeat. I hope and pray for the former.

It has now been about ten minutes, and it is time for the third person to speak the original estonian sentence. As though just awaking from a coma, they have no clue what is going on, where we are, and what we are doing. The class erupts into Chinese, and the affair is sorted out. Kersti tries to help, but it is futile, and sometimes I think she is as confused as they are. The look on her face reminds me of the feeling you get when you loose your train of thought and forget what you were going to say.

It takes about twenty minutes for the five of us to finish one exercise. During this time, I have heard quite a bit of Chinese, a fair amount of English, and very little Estonian. My fear is that I will leave this course speaking Estonian with a Chinese accent.

So why are there so many Chinese in Estonia? Honestly, I have no clue, and I am not sure they would understand me if I asked...Lili might. Somebody told me that many countries allow Chinese students to study at their universities for free, or close to free. It is like a "get out of China free card". I am not sure of this response, nor do I care much for its sentiment. Whatever the reason, they, like me, are here for the long haul. So to them I say, "Welcome, Bienvenido (i can speak some spanish), and Tere Tulemast (Welcome in Estonian)". And that is all I have to say about that...


(Pics: http://www.terrapinn.com/2006/reiw_cn/Img/china_flag_lg.jpg, http://php.louisville.edu/news/images/instory/academyestis.jpg, http://www.psychiatry.emory.edu/PROGRAMS/GADrug/images/frustrated.jpg)