Impressions & Musical Musings of an American in Latvia
I’m so thrilled to be heading out tomorrow morning; thus beginning my journey to see my honey… It’s been 3 way-too-long weeks, since we’ve seen each other. I really don’t want to do this again. Hopefully, we can arrange things, so that we won’t have to.
In the meantime, I’ve been kept company by many a chatting friend (be they Skyper, MSN, AIM or Yahoo) and a cool Christian radio station, Praise Report, as well as a fantastically, high caliber jazz program, Radio IO Jazz.
Cheers,
~t
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Cheers!
~t
I have to come back to my first post about Latvians & their less-than-warm reception. I was in Liepaja again yesterday, & I talked with the one lady whom I had met, along with her husband, last year. She told me that, as it turns out, she wanted to apologize for not being more hospitable. She said it was due to being so shy!! Can you believe it? I’m such a jerk. These people are incredibly beautiful & precious in spirit.
Oy! I’ve got a lot to learn.
~t
“Kristofers, what is your magic number?”
“Umm…,” my reply came slowly. “I don’t know.”
“Kristofers, … your magic number? What is it? Between 1 and 9…,” Marika, my Latvian teacher, repeated in English.
“Es… nesaprotu,” I replied in Latvian stating I didn’t understand.
“Your magic number? OK, it will be 3.” So, ok, my magic number is 3. I’m glad that agony has been ended, and I can go on in life knowing I have a magic number. Phew! Three! Who knew?!
I finally deduced she was looking for me to pick a number between 1 and 9. I was wondering if somehow she had gotten a hold of a copy of “School House Rock”
“Three… is a magic number…”
Her way of phrasing things into English was quite cryptic, which was surprising, since I usually have a knack for deciphering non-native English speakers’ products of “translating” their native language into English.
Otherwise, Porteris is not at all my favorite dark lager in the world. I’m sticking with Livu Tumsais for now, till I can get back to Czech for some more Kelt.
Ata!
~t
It’s weird to hear bluegrass sung in French but it’s kinda cool, too. I suddenly remembered my roots & found this excellent online station, Bluegrass Country. I am actually nearly half-Welsh & nearly half-German. The non-nearly’s are steeped in Ireland, so bluegrass suits me well, especially when half my relatives came from West Virginia. It’s true.
Well, maybe half-true.
What does this have to do with the Baltics? Nothin’, I guess.
~t
I was incredibly surprised when we met some folks in Liepaja, Latvia in 2004. They never once introduced their friend who ended up spending the rest of the day with us. It wasn’t until we went out for pizza that I discovered that she spoke English!! It seems that I was actually introduced to the real Latvians!
My wife & I actually decided to move back here in the beginning of 2005, even after our cold reception. But we found out that as we returned, the folks that we met had warmed only slightly. They nodded when we again met in a mutual friend’s flat.
Not all Latvians are so inhospitable. In fact, the director of our organization here is Latvian, & he is quite the opposite. He’s very large and very loud and very (potentially) intimidating. Reminding me too much of my father-in-law, he tends to amuse more than intimidate, but he remains to hold my respect.
Ata!
~t