inglise keelne intervjuu

Due to the fact that i have volunteered myself, i had heard about the European Volunteering Service(Euroopa Vabatahtlik Teenistus), a project that offers the opportunity to young people(aged 18-25) to work for a year as a volunteer abroad. We decided to find out if there were any working in Tartu at the moment and as it turned out two girls are working at the soup kitchen in the Paulus church. Karl and me went there to make an interview with them. Gesine (aged 20) is from Germany and Vera (aged 23) is from Czech. They were both very kind to us and suprisingly they spoke quite good estonian but they still thought it would be easier for them to give this interview in english. I have to say that these are not their exact words in this interview because i did not record it but i tried to change as little as possible. Still i am sorry for any inaccuracy that might occur.

1. Why did you choose to volunteer in Estonia?

Gesine: I wanted to go to a country where i didn`t know the language and i also wanted to go to an Eastern Europe country. At first i was supposed to go to the Czech Republic but for some reason it wasn`t possible.

2. Have you volunteered before or is it your first experience?

Gesine: I have worked in a church but i don`t see it as a job, it`s normal for me.

Vera: Yes, it`s more like a hobby.

3. Do you like it here or do you regret your decision?

Gesine: For one year it was really great but the winters.. I don`t think i could take another winter here(laughs).

4. What would you say is the biggest difference between Estonia and Germany/ Czech Republic?

Gesine: The people have a cold temperament here, they aren`t very friendly at first but when they open up, they`re good inside.

Vera: It seems to be a country of big differences. At the beginning and in the centre of the town everything is very nice but then as you walk round you can really see some old and damaged buildings.

Gesine: It`s a very small country and the towns are really different looking.

Vera: Everything is in Tallinn, like when you want to start a bussiness, you have to do it in Tallinn. But Tartu is really nice, it`s always something to do here.

5. What does your typical day look like here in Estonia?

Vera: We get up and we usually work here for four hours.

Gesine: We live in the church. There is a kitchen and two rooms that more people can use but now we are staying there.

Vera: We also take two estonian language courses a week.

6. Really? A lot of people(especially the russians) don`t bother to study the language even if they have lived here for 30 years or more. Why did you decide to study it?

Gesine: Yes, we hear that all the time, that the russians don`t study the language and people are suprised at that we speak estonian. But i think that the russians don`t have any motivation to study estonian. We had to learn it because otherwise the people here(in the soup kitchen) wouldn`t understand us.

7. What do you think causes the lack of motivation?

Gesine: I think there are too many of them(russians) so they don`t need to study the language. There is a very big community of them, it`s the same with turkish in Germany. They go to their turkish shops and communicate with their turkish friends and so they don`t really need to speak german.

8. Who is paying for your trip?

Gesine: We have free accomodation, pocket money. The European Union is paying.

Vera: It is also paid for the insurance and the journey.

9. How do you see the European Union in your country? Does it feel different now that the new members (like Estonia) have joined in?

Gesine: You can`t really feel it. It is more popular now to travel to Eastern Europe because we don`t need a visa but still the other European Union countries seem far away and we are still more members of our country than the EU.

Vera: It is easier to travel, the boarders are open. The french think they`re more part of the EU than their country, though.

Gesine: The french? (laughs). Really?

10. Have you travelled outside the EU countries?

Gesine: No, i don`t have a passport for that. I have an ID-card and in Europe i can travel with this.

Vera: I´m going to Russia soon.

11. Is Estonia now more known as a part of Europe or is it still seen as the former part of the Soviet Union ,connected with Russia and mixed up with other Baltic States?

Gesine: I wouldn`t say it`s connected with Russia but it is with the Baltic States. But people don`t really know where it is, when i said i was going to Estonia, everybody was like : „ What, Island??“. I didn`t really know what it was going to be like here either.

Vera: Younger people know more.

We also asked them if they had heard about the European Spring Day and how they celebrate it in their countries but they hadn`t really heard of it. On the 9-th of May,( which happens to be the last day in the project European Spring Day 2006) however, they are going to different schools in Tartu with some ex-volunteers to give information about volunteering and it`s different options.