ESTONIA

READ

The novel I chose for Estonia, Burning Cities, by Kai Aareleid, tells the story of Tiina Unger, a young girl growing up in the city of Tartu in Soviet-era Estonia. She is the only child of Liisi and her much older husband Peeter, who is a warehouse director and always has plenty of money to buy nice things for the family.

Tiina learns from a young age how to move stealthily through the house and find things that her parents have hidden. After finding clippings her father had locked in a drawer about arrests at an illegal card den, she asks the neighbor, Ida, to teach her how to play cards. Ida shows her how to play “war,” which she says some people call “burning cities.” When Tiina asks why, Ida says, “I suppose it’s because the stronger card is like a fire that destroys the other one, until the whole city of cards is burned to the ground …”.

When I saw the title of the book, and realized that it was about Soviet-era Estonia, I assumed the burning cities reference would be to events that occurred relative to the Soviet occupation of Estonia. This was not the case, however. The wars that took place in this book were personal – between husband and wife or among gamblers. The one “war” between Estonians and Russians was a short-lived attack by the Estonian students at Tiina’s school against the Russian students at the next school over, an event that would have a lasting effect on Tiina’s life.

It took me a long time to sort out who the narrator was in this book, and almost until the end, I thought there was another character telling the story, a character who had not yet been named. I don’t know if this confusion was caused by the author or the translator, or if I’m just a little slow on the uptake. At any rate, when I finished the book, I had to go back to the beginning and reread a few chapters to help me understand everything that had happened. Having said that, I enjoyed watching Tiina’s character grow and become strong, in spite of, or maybe because of, the unwelcome changes taking place in her home life.

COOK

The Estonian recipe I made is for a dish that’s not mentioned in Burning Cities, although many of the ingredients are: potatoes, apples, parsley, and pickles. There are more than just those ingredients in rosolje, though, which is a potato and beet salad. This dish is normally made with pickled herring, but I found a vegetarian version on the Panning the Globe website, which I veganized with nondairy yogurt and vegan mayonnaise. I was a little skeptical about how the ingredients in this recipe would taste together, but I’ve actually really enjoyed this dish. If it didn’t involve so much prep work, I’d probably make it again.

GIVE

There are no projects for Estonia at GlobalGiving.org, so I had to search the Internet to find an organization for my donation. I found the Estonian Ornithological Society, which was perfect for me because, in addition to reading, cooking, and giving, I’m also an avid birder. The organization’s “mission is to achieve favourable condition of birds in Estonia by means of bird studies, habitat conservation and awareness raising in the society.” The donate button on the website took me to BirdLife International, where I put in the comments section that I wanted my donation to go to Estonia. Fingers crossed that they honor my request! More information about the Estonian Ornithological Society can be found at https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/partners/estonia-–-estonian-ornithological-society-eos.

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