What do you do?

Last week, I met a lovely woman whose first language was not English.  We were having that awkward conversation, trying to figure out what we were about.  I made my introductions first and she happily blurted out, "Oh, you are a housekeeper, too!!"

This week, Grayson shared with me a Latvian phrase that he learned at school, "Ko tu dari?", which means "What are you doing?"

This to me, is the dreaded question. "What do you do?" is always asked very politely, similar to "how are you?".  I should have a simple response but as I've discovered with this move, I don't really know just yet.  Three months ago, I worked full-time in a very satifying job, I spent many hours at the soccer field with G, I walked the dog, maintained the house, and that's kind of it.

Just a random face on an abandonned building

Now?  I am finding a new balance.  I have re-discovered a joy for crafting, sitting in the sunshine, cultivating new friendships, volunteering, taking pictures, sharing my adventures with my friends & family (thank you for all the positive encouragement!).  I am still walking the dog and spending hours at the soccer field. I also need to fit in groceries (many times per week), laundry (again, many times per week!), cleaning and cooking, generally, keeping house (which is not the same as being a housekeeper!).

Picking up balloons for a surprise birthday party

Ducks beside a lake with heaps of ducks!

Small discovery/story:  When Kristan came to visit, we came across a statue.

This Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin, apparently never stepped foot in Riga.  However, he has a lovely, romantic statue in a very desirable location by the canal.  His connection to Riga is by way of Anna Kern, with whom he had an affair.  Kristan "challenged" me to find Anna's statue.

Can you see Anna?

Poor Anna!

Anna was a Russian socialite who eventually moved to Riga.  She died in poverty and her severe and dour statue is found in a fairly obscure location (in my opinion).  So what do I do?  Two weeks ago, I discovered Anna.

What is that? Kas tas ir? Что это?

Ah, communication.

This was a sign that we found at the park that made us laugh with the amount of things we could not do there.  Yes, there are many rules here and I have found that Latvians follow these rules. What does that mean in practical terms?  There is very little jaywalking, minor littering in the cities, voices are not generally raised in public, all things that I find really lovely!  And although this example of communicating is only in Latvian, you will find most menus (and service industries) provide Latvian, Russian AND English.  Think to where you live.  How well does it cater to people that do not speak the official language of that country?

There are some humourous translations and also, I have seen things that make me think.  Can you tell who is the author of the left book?  Hint:  Latvian is a very phonetic language and "translating" names seems to be common here.

So when I go out on my own, I speak English and my Latvian is limited to "sveiki", "paldies", "lūdzu" (hello, thank you, please/you're very welcome).  I also have developed a strong hand gesturing/charades type way of speaking (it's not very effective...yet).

Première semaine de CM2 (or 5th Grade!)

I think back to my first days of school many eons ago.  I dreaded that first day.  I was so shy but my social side was doing cartwheels... on the inside.  Sonny on the other hand, was made for networking (a social butterfly, so to speak).  So who does G take after?

This is G's fifth school, if you count pre-school in lieu of Junior Kindergarten.

This new school is different on a few levels.  It is a small school:  approximately 280 students, in two locations, from kindergarten to grade 8.  It is a French school, accredited by the French Ministry of Education and you will find that the mother tongue of the attending students may be French, Latvian, Russian, English or maybe something else.

So now the first day is done what is the answer to the question first asked?  Thankfully, G is a happy and social child.  He is not shy and he makes friends so easily (just like his father).  We did have a headstart because G had met a few of his fellow pupils already. How lucky is that?

A beautiful Latvian tradition is giving flowers to the teacher and all types:  fancy packaged ones, solo sunflowers, cute little arrangements.  As well, it is custom to go out to dinner on the first day.

All in all, even though there are new experiences to be had here, it was still the first day of school.

1st day of school, 2013 (almost 5 years old)

1st week of school, 2018 (almost 10 years old)

1.5 Months Later...It is September!

It's about time that I've started this blog.  I've been wrestling with how to share our latest adventure in Riga, Latvia.  Honestly, it has kept my brain active at night!  I'm not the most technologically savvy (that's putting it mildly) and that was one issue.  Another was, who would want to read about our family?  Or could I be entertaining enough for anyone to want to read my "articles".  In the end, I realized that we have a lot of family and friends (who really are our extended family) that want to know what the Hatton's are up to in Riga, Latvia.

So we've been here for a month and 1/2 and it was this week that I thought, "I feel like this is home". What a crazy thought!

Last week, we went to a department store and bought a pull out couch for the spare room.  The saleslady had little to no English but Sonny was able to communicate with his minimal Latvian (we also played a bit of charades).  We were able to communicate that we needed time to discuss the purchase, that we needed to see how the couch folded out, and once deciding on the purchase, what day we wanted the couch delivered.  I shake my head to think about it.  So this Monday, the couch came.  The poor delivery man wanted my signature and something else on the delivery form - unfortunately, I did not understand.  He finally shook his head and left!

What was interesting was that it wouldn't have mattered if I had known any Latvian... he only spoke Russian!  Life here is all about laughing our way through it.  We are very fortunate because many Latvians understand and speak some amount of English.

To finish off this first attempt at sharing our experiences, let me say that we have now had our first visitor and Kristan was still smiling when I dropped her at the airport.  The couch was a success!  The Hatton house is officially open for visitors.

Pagaidām atā (Bye for now),

Chantal

PS  If you like what I wrote or you want to hear about something specific, please leave me a comment or send me an email!