I have gotten involved a little bit with The Freedom Project by organizing an evening of teaching & music about the subject of human trafficking. It will happen in Talsi on October 13 at 7pm. A friend forwarded a link to me for an article that was written 7 years ago about this issue. In this article, it talked about 2 million women & children being trapped in sex slavery around the world. What was shocking was that it mentioned that “Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have become the sex centers for Western Europe, featuring women from the former Soviet Union.” Now, the number has swelled to 27 million (according to The Freedom Project website). Something must be done to stop this. Please consider how you can be involved.
I’m happy to say that Lydia & I are moving into a new place in the beginning of October. It’s an old Latvian famrhouse built in the 1930’s that was renovated in a Norwegian farmhouse style about 7 or 8 years ago. It comes complete with 2 fireplaces embedded in the walls on the first floor, along with a massive red-brick fire-heated cooktop & oven that is about 3m (10 ft.) in width. The kitchen & bathroom have heated tile floors, so our tootsies will be nice & cozy come wintertime. We will rent only the first floor for now. Here are a few photos to give the gist of this lovely place. More images to follow in the coming weeks.
I just need to make a disclaimer here that I’m including this video here just for humor’s sake. Thanks to my wife’s friend who got a hold of this one. Enjoy!
Here is my good friend, Kirsika singing. She is from Estonia.
Listen closely near the end she sings in Estonian.
I think it’s such a beautiful language.
This interview with Sigur Ros on the Bryant Park Project on NPR is a classic example of a clash between the American & Icelandic (Scandinavian) cultures. Those that commented were most likely either American or from UK where short answers are considered rude. However, once you have lived in a culture like that of Sigur Ros, you will understand that long answers only come after many, many months (or even years) of pain-staking patience on your part of proving yourself a friend worthy of long answers. Disclaimer: I don’t know the guys of Sigur Ros personally, but their behavior is all too familiar to me.
