Me? A City Dweller?

I never thought that I would live (happily) in an apartment downtown in any city.  I thought of myself as a suburban house-type person with a requirement of a yard.  Was I ever wrong!

Our flat is above the Addidas store.

It turns out that one of the things that really makes me happy is proximity to amenities. In Riga, I usually do not have the car because Sonny needs it to drive to work.  It seems to work for us since we live downtown and we are in walking distance to coffee shops, restaurants, grocery stores, malls, boutiques, movie cinemas, opera and ballet, the list goes on.

National Opera House

Walking the dog has turned out surprisingly easy, as well.  We have many parks close by and I probably walk with Lincoln for about 90 minutes every day.  I think all the walking has been a great help in avoiding any kind of winter blues.  Riga can be fairly grey in the winter but to be fair, when the sun is shining, it is really quite glorious!

There is transit outside our door so if needed, I can hop on the tram.  Riga is a safe city.  Just tonight, G and I walked to his soccer practise and he took the tram (by himself) home when practise was over (he is getting so independent).  He walks to school, occasionally with me & the dog, and even if he wakes up late, he can still make it to school in about 10 minutes.

As for our apartment, it really works for us.  It has three bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms and plenty of storage space.  Of course, we knew in advance that we were moving into the apartment and were very fortunate to be able to put many of our belongings in storage (garage-type items, extra furniture, etc.). The colourful hallway/entrance makes me I smile when I step into the building from the street.

We live on the 3rd floor so taking the stairs does not take much effort.  Our building has an elevator but, as it was put in after the building was built (circa 1900), it only stops on every 1/2 floor (if that makes sense).

One thing that I would say I do miss about living in this apartment is not having a terrace or a personal balcony.  We do have access to the rooftop terrace with barbecue, and other bonuses would be the saunas and gym in the building.  The ease of leaving our home and being right in the middle of the city has been better than expected.

We have used the roof-top terrace to raise a glass (or two)

Every apartment that I have been to in Riga, has been pretty lovely.  I have seen some amazing terraces, beautiful light-filled rooms, great locations around the city, and even a car elevator!  We could have also chosen to live in a house with a yard but we would have had to give up living in downtown Riga.  Life is full of choices!

This nearby park has an "internet" booth.  There is wifi access when in close proximity to the booth!

The experience living in Latvia has been pretty fantastic and I did not expect city living to be one of the highlights.  Really, that has been the best surprise for me.

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.