Reply #5: Estonian School

[LiberalEsto]

Every other Saturday my parents dragged me to Estonian school. I absolutely hated it. Who wants to do extra work, studying grammar, history, singing, etc. in a language that is spoken by only 1.4 million people, a language hardly anyone has even heard of? Boring and useless. I finally got to quit at 14 and was greatly relieved to end the torture.

Last summer I visited my aunt and cousins in Estonia for the first time. I got to hear a 93-year-old man reminisce about my late father and their hilarious adventures as young men. I got a private tour of the university where my parents and grandfather studied, and where my great-grandfather chaired the theology department 100 years ago. I got to talk about relatives and family history and gardening and herbal medicine with my only aunt.

Even though a few family members speak some English, many of the things I experienced on that trip would have been impossible if I hadn't spoken fairly fluent Estonian.