Published in the Community Journal (Kerrville TX) August 19, 2008
Those whose interest in the Far East is rising as a result of the Beijing Olympics can add to that knowledge with Club Ed. Next spring we are sponsoring a trip to China, and this fall you can start working on the language by taking Chinese Language.
Tatiana Authement teaches both Chinese and Russian. Tatiana is a native of Moscow, and spent time teaching and living in China, where she participated in a historic first I'll share later. So along with language instruction, she plans to pull back the Iron Curtain to give westerners a glimpse into daily life in the former Soviet Union.
And what a life. Tatiana's parents were dissidents, who actually met while held in one of the gulags. When Stalin died in 1953, the government released her parents.
Both were theater producers, so Tatiana grew up surrounded by artists, actors, and performing troupes that put on local productions.
"We would travel to peasant villages, and give little shows with singing, playing, and comedy," she recalled. Her father directed these shows, which were approved by the communist party line. But it was a way to spread culture to her countrymen. Young Tatiana was often cast in these local productions.
"I was performing bad characters mostly," she explained. "I was always the mischievous one - I played the witch types that went flying across the stage."
She eventually enrolled in Moscow University, and studied International business relations and the Chinese language.
In 1989 she traveled to China, where her life took an unexpected turn and she made a bit of history. Tatiana never particularly wanted to come to the United States, but she met and fell in love with an American. Both the U..S. and Soviet embassies in China refused to marry them, so they were married in a Chinese courthouse by Chinese officials. It was the first marriage between an American and a Soviet citizen ever performed in China.
Tatiana has lived in Texas since 1994. She finds most Americans to be very curious about Russia, but not always informed.
"People ask all sorts of questions about my life," she said. "The everyday stuff interests them. They know about Tchaikovsky and Dostoyevsky, but they don't know what the Russian people are like."
She finds many Americans hold onto stereotypes of Russian people left over from the cold war.
"People say to me, 'You can't be Russian... you don't look like a Russian!'"
To help educate us, Tatiana promises to add in a bit about the culture as well as the basics of the language.
"We have this great soul," she said. "Things like our little traditions and superstitions. If you don't know them, you can't understand us."
She acknowledges that one cannot expect to learn any language in six lessons. But she promises that students will have a better understanding of the culture and even be able to read a sentence or two. She does promise two things: "It will not be boring. And there will be no propaganda!"
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Tatiana will teach Chinese starting Sept 16 at 1 p.m., and Russian starting Sept 16 at 3 p.m. The trip to China leaves in April, 2009, with a free information session set for Tuesday evening, October 21 at the Auld Center.
To learn more about these and hundreds of other lifelong learning classes starting this fall, call 830-895-4386, or visit www.clubed.net.
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