Eye Opening Experience

Over the Christmas holidays, we had the most amazing experience.  We joined my parents and sister & brother-in-law on a visit to Zambia and Zimbabwe.  My mum still has family there so we were hosted by many extended family.

We were also able to safari at the luxurious Mukambi Lodge along the Kafue river in Zambia and stay at the Sherlanga Lodge at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  Seeing wildlife impressed me over and over.

I found that life there is a contradiction:  on one hand, the beauty of the animals and the environment is tainted with garbage strewn on the sides of the city roads, the clear days were punctuated by the pitch-black nights with no or no-longer working street lamps.  

But the people there have an amazing outlook on life.  Many would still not leave Zims, even with all the strife and hardship that occurs there.  The clearly strong people, in particular, the strength of the women was really amazing for me to see.  They work so hard, smiles on their faces, a real joy to be alive.

I have struggled with chasing joy for many years.  What I mean is that I have difficulty living in the present and constantly forsee many problems that may come down the road.  Ironically, I am part of a military family and so constant life changes happen every year or two for us.  And what is even more shocking to me is that I love this life. I admit that moving and leaving dear friends has a toll on the heart but the chance to make new has me hooked.

I have been told many times in my life that I am a "glass 1/2 empty" person so when I meet new people, I really make a concerted effort to be the person that I want to be - a person happy to be alive, a person looking at every occasion as an opportunity, a person living each moment with joy.  So the experience to witness people in Zambia and Zimbabwe living life with joy impressed me so.  It also reminded me how precious life is and how many blessings I have in mine.  And when I say that I'm blessed, I think of my family, first and foremost.  My family knows how to bring joy to life.  I laughed so hard on our trip, sometimes over very funny happenings and sometimes out of the absurdity of what we experienced.

Just as 2019 starts anew, I feel like I have another opportunity to start fresh as well. Yesterday is behind me and today is just beginning.

Christmas in Latvia?

The word "Christmas" in Latvian is Ziemassvētki. It is made up of two words, "ziema" which means "winter" and "svētki", which means "holiday". The decorations are winter themed and have a lot of Latvian folk symbols tied in. I have yet to see a nativity scene, even by any of the churches.

That made me think about how blessed and fortunate that I am. When we found out that we were moving to Riga, I wondered if I was going to be able to attend Mass. As it turns out, there is an English Mass in Riga every Sunday afternoon. As well, we can attend the Latvian Masses. Although we cannot understand the homily in Latvian, there is much comfort knowing what is happening in the Mass even when it is in a different language. It is truly amazing to hear traditional hymns and contemporary music sung in Latvian.

St James in Old Riga

Our parish, Mary Magdalene is behind St James

I admit that I have not done as much this Advent season.  We talk about how we are preparing ourselves in anticipation for the birth of Christ but we also celebrate Christmas with decorations, gift giving and stockings. I admit that I am overjoyed that we'll be with family this year.

Lincoln has taken to hanging out under the tree

I appreciate it that you made it to the end of this blog post because it is not as light-hearted as my normal postings!  So to thank you, I will include something that I found quite funny.  It shouldn't be surprising but in Latvia, every day has a small surprise.  While walking Lincoln yesterday, I came upon this ferris wheel that has been set-up by some market-type stalls.  There is also a "petting zoo" but without the "petting" (so basically, rabbits and lambs on display).  I am not entirely sure why someone would want to go on the ferris wheel in 0 degree temperatures, but what do I know!

"non-petting zoo"

Elvis' face is on the middle of the wheel

Just a Regular Day...

So I thought I would challenge myself and try to document what would I consider to be a typical week day.  I always start the day with a coffee, checking out the street. Our flat is on a major street with tramlines on the cobblestone but it's surprisingly quiet and I cannot believe how much I've taken to living downtown.  There are shops, grocery places, markets, parks, all within a 10 minute walk from home.

A view from our apartment.

The day really starts with a walk with the dog.  Lincoln and I have walked all over Riga. Interestingly, dogs are welcome in most places.  We have taken Lincoln into cafés and restaurants.  At one restaurant, we asked if we could bring the dog inside.  The server looked quizzical when he responded, "Is your dog behaved? Then yes." It seems that if there isn't a sign saying "no", then it's allowed.

Passing the National Opera house on a walk.

I still am surprised everytime I enter our building, the colours and patterns on the wall make me smile, particularly knowing our flat is quite modern.

When I pass by our mailbox, I always peak inside but very few people write letters so I'm quite often tempted to start writing letters to myself!

I was particularly lucky on this day, as I had a newly found friend, Ilga, show me around to a few unknown places (to me).  We started the "tour" at the Vidzemes market.  It was the first in Riga in 1876 and has seen better days.  It would seem that the rise of the grocery chains has led to the demise of this grocery market.

Entry to the market

The meat pavillion

Next on my educational tour included a visit to the Riga Central Library.  I have walked by this building umpteen times and I had no idea that this was here.  We had to go to the 7th floor and coming off the elevator was this non-descript door.

My heart jumped for joy seeing the books inside.  The library did not have a huge selection of English books but with a passport, I could open up an account and borrow books.  I was told that the late fee was 1¢ per day.

That evening we took a walk to Vec Riga (old Riga).  Every day there are more Christmas lights on the streets which really stand out.  Considering that the sun sets at 15:44, there is a lot of darkness to shine in.

We made our way to the little Christmas market and had a very healthy sized "karsts vins" (hot wine).  G had an enormous Nutella crêpe, followed up by gingerbread made right in front of us in an outdoor oven.

What I didn't mention in this write-up was the so-called mundane things that I do during the day.  Who wants to hear about taking care of laundry, mini-grocery shops and making dinner?!

Adapting for Success

It is now 5 months since we have moved from Ottawa, Ontario to Riga, Latvia.  I have been thinking about how do you have a successful outcome after experiencing a big change like that.  I have come up with the following action items that have helped me to adapt to change:

1.  Be an open circle.  G and I often have the conversation about being an open circle.  What I mean by this is, imagine that you are part of a circle of friends.  It's great!  You have friends around you, supporting you, sharing life experiences and you never feel truly alone because of your circle.  

Now imagine that you have just moved to a new place (or started a new job or joined a new club or... insert whatever new experience you have).  All you see are closed circles of people so everything seems to be a challenge because you are going at it alone.  Now imagine how you would feel if those same people were welcoming to you, ie. an open and inviting circle.  You really get to meet the most interesting people when your circle is open and you have also had the chance to join other circles.  When I say be welcoming to others, I mean, greet them, make eye contact, disrupt your conversation in order to include the newcomer, etc.

See the little parting of the circle on the pizza?

2.  Reinvent yourself.  The great thing about finding yourself in a new situation is that you can shed things about yourself without explanation.  You can try out new approaches, wear different clothes, join different clubs.  It is really quite liberating!

3.  Try something new.  Try new groups, recipes, etc.  This one goes hand in hand with the "reinventing yourself".  I have tried so many different things in Riga.  One of the funniest was attending a cake/pasty lesson.  We spent many hours making a medus kūka (honey cake) and at the end, the cake wasn't finished (we had to pick it up at a later date).  

Finished workshop.

So the next day, inspired by this workshop, I set out to make a 10 layer honey cake.  It was really enjoyable and nothing I would have every tried before.  I can still conjure up the pride that I felt, accomplishing this delectable dessert.

Cake (in progress) that I made at home.

 4.  Don't be afraid.  Don't be afraid to try something new or, I should say, don't be so afraid that you won't try something new.  Every move I have to move twice: geographically and metaphorically.  The geographic move is from point A to point B. The metaphoric move is me breaking out of my comfort zone.  This applies to starting a new job, attending a function where I do not know a soul (except perhaps my wonderful husband!), joining a club.  I think you get the point.

About two months ago, I took G to soccer practice.  It was the first time I had attempted transit at night.  In Riga, the sun sets quite early in the Fall, so I found myself having to enter this pedestrian underpass to cross the busy road. After assessment of my physical surroundings, I knew that there was no risk to my life.  I went through the tunnel.

Guess what?  I survived, nothing happened to me! My younger self may have refused to go through that tunnel because of being afraid.  This is particularly important because moving to a country where English or French is not the norm, I have felt surprisingly vulnerable trying (and not always succeeding) at doing everyday things, such as grocery shopping.  

5. Ask for help.  I have found that I am not very good at asking for help.  I think it is actually because deep down, I feel like that I am admitting that I cannot do it myself.  This couldn't be further from the truth!  What is true is that I am human and cannot do everything at all times.  So that leads to my next point...

I have discovered Riga by walking around A LOT but only because...

I have had to ask for directions A LOT!!

6. Accept help!  Most people want to help (I know that I do).  So sometimes it's a joy to accept the help that is being offered to you and a joy to others offering the help.

7. Be Generous with 1st Impressions.  I have discovered that I don't always give the best 1st impression.  It could be because I had a bad day, I'm nervous meeting new people, I was very focussed (my face becomes scrunched up when I thinking hard), or my back and feet hurt.  Now if this happens to me, I'm sure it can happen to others.  So I am working on giving people 1st, 2nd and even 3rd "first" impressions.  I might make a great friend that I may otherwise have discounted based on a bad 1st impression.  This is particularly important when going through a big change, such as moving.  Stress doesn't always show us at our finest.

8. Eat the dessert.   Eating dessert will bring you joy because in order to get to dessert, you usually have to get through dinner.  In my opinion, taking the time to enjoy food is so wonderful for lowering your stress level. But (I know, using "but" is such a downer!) don't forget other aspects of your health.  So when you're going through change, you will feel so much better if you pay attention to your physical state (exercise every chance you get), spiritual state (spend time with God or wherever you find peace), and mental state (ask someone if you're particularly snappy to do a self-assessment as to how you're dealing with stress).

I think the description was Apple Crisp.

It didn't taste as expected.  It was better!

Reflections on Freedom

It is November.  The month that always brings to mind all the freedoms that we hold dear to our hearts.  The Freedom Monument (Brivibas Piemineklis) is a memorial, honouring soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence and is a symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Latvia.   If you are walking around Riga, you will certainly pass by it.  I love looking at the woman carrying the three stars above her head.  She is impressive. 

November is the time for wearing our poppies on our hearts, as well.  I didn't realise how Canadian that was until moving to Latvia.  I actually had someone recognise me as a Canadian because of said poppy.  Surprisingly, I have also had other people ask me why I was wearing it.  I have spent most of my life knowing what the poppy stood for and all the respect, feelings and emotions that I have when I wear the poppy.  

I cannot quite put into words the feelings that I have for Sonny but they hit me like a wave this weekend when he put on his Mess kit for an event that we had this weekend.  He makes me so proud and humbled to be able to stand by his side.  The Army life can be a challenge at times.  It takes Sonny away from our family and quite often, even when he is home, his mind is still working away.  Most of the time, I feel pretty supportive but then there are the other times...  But I'm a work in progress!  

Life provides us with many opportunities and if you're like me, I have a fantastic and blessed life.  It is this way because we have soldiers all over the world, working for all the freedoms and liberties that we can sometimes take for granted.  Just something to think about.  I know I do.

Rafting on the Daugava Riv

In mid-September, we were invited on a rafting and "kempings" weekend on the Daugava River.  We had no idea what to expect but Sonny convinced me that we should go for it.

Which way should we go?

Yum!  A cheese (siers) shop. 

We left Riga on the Friday night and headed eastwards towards Daugavpils, approx 200 kms away.  On a funny note, we only made it 10 minutes from home and stopped at an average pizza joint for dinner.  However, had we continued further, we would have come across this beautiful bakery, restaurant and cheese store pit stop.  We did stop there for a stretching break and only looked at the tasty morsels that they were selling.

Twilight at the pit stop along the Daugava River

We arrived fairly late and found out we were the last to arrive and got the furthest cabin from the kitchen and bathrooms.  We had no idea what surrounded us and we also got quite a shock to find out that another family had a run in with an elk driving to the campsite.  It never occurred to me that there would be wildlife on the roads (silly, isn't it?!)

In the morning, I opened my door to some breathtaking beauty.  We looked out onto the Daugava River and with the morning dew/fog, it was astounding.  The air was crisp, a really beautiful Fall day with the shining sun to greet me.

The cabin was very modest:  two beds, a bar fridge, small table and chair.  Done.

Mid-morning, we drove to the put-in point on the river.  The raft had a covering and about 5 picnic tables (you can see that in the picture).  It also had a charcoal barbecue which some people used for the potluck lunch.  We "sailed" or floated down the river for a better part of the day, arriving at our cabins late afternoon.

There were rudders (?) on both ends of the raft

We made stops along the way.  At one stop, we climbed a tall tower which gave us some amazing views.  For me, the countryside really reminds me of home.  There is so much beauty with towns and cities scattered amongst the wilderness.

After the day on the water, before our campfire and catered dinner (no one was really interested in cooking so someone brilliantly arranged our dinner to be delivered to the site), I enjoyed a few moments with a Canadian magazine and a cider.

One of the most interesting things about the weekend was who we shared it with.  The five Latvian families were connected by the husbands.  The men were all born outside of Latvia but as adults, returned "home".  They met in school or upon arrival to Latvia and then married Latvian women.  We were very fortunate that they all spoke English and even moreso, that they shared their weekend with us.  We never would have taken a raft down the Daugava, let alone finding this cabin camping spot, which we shared with bikers on the Saturday night.

Side note:  on the Friday night, we scoured the site for more blankets because of the very cool September nights and we "borrowed" many blankets from above the kitchen/cookhouse.  These bikers ended up sleeping above the kitchen but I think after they spent the Saturday night in the sauna (yep, there was a sauna onsite) and having a few drinks, they didn't notice the cold!

Driving and Parking

Driving in Riga is surprisingly easy, I find.  On the plus side, the speed limits are fairly low, people seem to respect the limits (perhaps thanks to the speed cameras posted), merging is quite easy and there is not a lot of honking.  That being said, I would not say that people practise defensive driving here so I have already witnessed an accident (fender bender in a parking lot) and I have seen multiple car accidents with the occupants awaiting the police to arrive.

I have raised my eyebrows a few times at what I have seen on the road.  Just the other day, a car followed me on the sidewalk.  I don't know why he didn't choose to drive on the road. On another day, while I was waiting to cross at an intersection, a car drove around me, over the curb to drive into a park - there was no road, it was a large walking path into the park.  I scratched my head on that one  as well.

Parking sometimes has me stumped.  I have been startled when driving down a street and thought, "Is this a one way?" but no, on many streets, cars can park in either direction so you will find one car's front end facing the trunk end of another car.  In the middle of a very large intersection, I once saw a car stopped for at least 5 minutes.  Cars happily drove around with the occasional car honking its horn as if to remind the driver that he wasn't in a parking spot.

Another thing that still makes me chuckle is the normalcy of parking on a sidewalk.  There are usually signs indicating this and as the pictures show, the parking does not have to be parallel type parking.

Lastly, there is one thing that I think every country should adopt.  Haven't you ever wanted to thank the driver behind you, particularly after having had to cut in (aka merge)?  Here, they use the hazard light for 2 seconds or so.  It is brilliant.  Not only is it lovely being able to thank the driver behind you but it is also wonderful to be thanked after letting in another car in front of you.  What a simple and effective gesture.