2/6 - Having Fun but Homesick

This morning was pretty crazy. For some reason our alarm didn't go off and we woke up at 7:20!! Well, Kristine has to be at the bus stop at 7:50 to catch her bus for school!! As you can imagine, I shrieked in panic as soon as I saw the clock. We all jumped out of bed and scurried around as fast as we could to get her ready in time. We are so thankful that she's a morning person. We haven't had one problem getting her to wake up and get ready in the mornings. She got dressed in a flash, ate breakfast and we were out the door. We even got to the bus stop with a few minutes to spare! WHEW!! Talk about an adrenaline rush!!

Here's a recap of the last few days. I'm at the internet cafe, so I'm trying to hurry. Actually, the cost isn't that expensive but I still don't like to pay one penny more than we have to. It costs about .50-.60 lats per hour..about $1 per hour in US dollars. This particular internet cafe is located at 75 Elizabetes Iela. This might be helpful to you if you'll be traveling to Riga without a computer. Our flat is on Terbatas iela so this cafe is very convenient for us.

Okay, here's the recap...

2/2 - This day, we woke up to our typical morning race to the bus. Robert and I had thought we'd have plenty of time to relax but there's not much time for that between getting Kristine to and from school and trying to get out and see the city in between. There was snow on the ground again and the shop owners were already out on the streets shoveling the snow from the sidewalks into neat piles. It really is interesting to see all the locals going about their daily routines...parents taking kids to school and workers heading to work, etc. For a moment, we feel a part of it until the strange stares start happening again. One thing we have to be careful about is the traffic here. This is not a pedestrian friendly city. You almost just have to run across the street with your eyes closed and pray that you make it to the other side. We mainly cross when the locals cross so at least then we feel that we have a fighting chance. I'm so glad we didn't rent a car. There is no way we would be able to navigate these streets with the snow and sludge and the other wreckless drivers. You basically have to do everything defensively here and you'll be okay.

Robert, Kristine and I are all fighting sore throats. There must be something about the air here. Ilga helped us get some good medicine and herbal tea that is helping so we're taking that. The last thing we need is to be sick. This day was pretty uneventful. I guess the most exciting thing that happened was when a big clump of snow fell off of a building as Kristine and I were walking home from the bus stop after school. It just barely missed hitting us. Robert stayed at the flat that day so he missed that excitement. While I waited for Kristine at the bus stop after school, I got more stares. As one of the buses stopped, I noticed a young guy on the bus nudge his friend sitting next to him and they both looked at me and started laughing. It was all I could do to keep from sticking my tongue out at them. Instead I just smiled and decided that they must just be jealous...jealous of what, I don't know but it made me feel better anyway.

2/3 - Saturday was a fun day. Olegs got permission to spend the night with us so we met him at the bus stop at 11:30 a.m. Ilga & Janis arrived a few minutes later in their car so they could take us around. Our first stop was the HUGE market in old Riga. This market is housed in gigantic hangar buildings that were used during World War II to house zeppelins. We would estimate the size inside these buildings to be about three or four football fields put together...HUGE!!. There are maybe four or five buildings and each specializes in a different product. For example, one is strictly meat, one is dairy, etc. We had thousands of items to choose from in each specialty. Thank goodness Ilga and Janis were there to steer us towards the best products. They pointed out that if there is a line at a particular counter, that means that the products sold there are better. In the area outside the hangars, vendors had all types of boothes set up with clothing, shoes, souveniers, fruits & vegetables...basically, a giant flea market.

Olegs had lost the gloves we bought him in the US so we found him some gloves at the market. We tried to find Kristine some shoes, but she couldn't find anything she liked so we had to abandon that plan after trying almost every booth. Robert found a Russian style hat made of rabbit fur that a friend had asked us to find. I forget the name of it but it's one of those traditional old style hats that you'll see a lot in old Russian movies, pictures, etc.

Our best acquisition was the kilogram of crab meat we purchased for about $3.00 (US amount). This was just the crab meat without the shell too. We also got some other type of smoked fish that had cheese in it. We finished up by getting some smoked chicken legs and wings and some fresh butter. When we got home, we melted some of the butter and dipped the crab meat into it. Talk about being in heaven!! One other item we got was a small jar of chopped of seeds of various kinds. The woman selling those had spread the seeds over a slice of bread with butter. It sounds so simple but is actually quite delicious.

After our trip to the market, Ilga and Janis drove us out to their flat in Jurmala. This is the resort area where there is a beach on the Baltic Sea. The flats look much like houses you'd see in any beach town. There are some really big ones and small ones, etc. Our first stop was the Baltic Sea. The water was very choppy and huge waves were crashing on the shore. It was such a unique experience to see a beach with ice and snow on the shore instead of white sand. Robert, Olegs and Janis had a snow ball fight with each other and that was fun. The sand there, at least what we could see in between the ice and snow, is actually a beige and grey color. The weather was bone chilling cold that day and the wind was whipping right through us. This was a high point on our list of "must sees"...how cool it was to see the real Baltic Sea!! Ilga said that when the weather is really cold, the entire sea freezes over. She talked of times when she used to go lay on the ice and was able to hear certain sounds of creatures underneath the ice swimming in the sea. WOW!

After we left the beach, we went to Ilga and Janis's flat which is actually on a river that flows near the sea. There was lots of snow and sludge on the ground and on the road. It is so amazing to us how Janis and Ilga are able to navigate their small Ford Fiesta through this stuff without even coming close to getting stuck. On the way to the flat, we saw many fisherman out in the river fishing. We walked out to the river bank to get a closer look but had to turn away because the area was marshy with ice and sludge. There were maybe 15 or so men out there fishing and Robert would've loved to have been one of them if we had more time and if the weather had been just a tad warmer.

We were all starving after our big day of sight seeing so we finished up by eating at a place called Big Lido. This place has the same type of food as the smaller Lido's I mentioned before but there are maybe 3 floors to this place. It is a huge log cabin type building all decorated in lights. They also boast that they have the largest outdoor ice skating rink in the Baltics. One thing to mention about this place is that they only take cash. The smaller Lidos take credit cards but for some reason this place doesn't. If you eat here, you'll want to have cash with you when you check out. They do have an ATM at the front door so it's not a problem if you have your ATM card with you.

After stuffing our faces with more authentic Latvian cuisine washed down with an American Coca-Cola, we ventured out to the ice skating rink. Robert and Janis decided to watch rather than skate themselves. I actually got out there and tried it (my very first time ever ice skating) and am proud to say I only fell once. Olegs was a pro and went up on the high ice banks on the edge and flew down the side. Kristine was a little slower so she hung out with me some. Ilga had her own skates and was also a pro. This was nothing new to her as she had skated hundreds of times since her childhood. Kristine asked me to rent her a "penguin" which was actually partly for me too. At the rink they have three foot tall fiberglass penguins with handles on each side of their heads that you can hold onto to keep from falling. You skate behind the penquin and hold onto the handles. You'll see mostly young kids with these but I used it quite a bit myself. I had to bend a good ways down at the waste to hold onto it but it did help me stay up and keep from falling. I was able to go faster too. I got a few laughs but I didn't care. We were having fun so that was what mattered!! We skated about an hour and then it was time to go. We were pretty pooped after a fun day. Ilga and Janis dropped us off at the flat.

2/4 - Today we had met up with Ilga and Janis again so we could attend church with them. It turns out that Olegs had some relatives in town so we put him on a bus early to go meet them. Any time he can see his family we encourage that of course. It's hard to understand how he can have family, yet he has to live in a children's home. We just pray that what's best for him will happen. We can't control anything anyway so that's pretty much all we can do. We just don't want him to grow up in the children's home. If his family can't care for him, then we want to so badly.

Ilga had told us beforehand that their church service would be three hours long but it actually didn't seem that long once we were there. They had headphones that we could wear so we could hear an English translation of the service. It was much like our services at home except ours is just an hour. A couple of the songs they sang were actually Latvian versions of songs we sing at our church. That was neat. It was just special to see all of these people worshipping freely, knowing that just a few years ago they would have never been able to do so without persecution.

On a side note...Kristine had decided she wasn't going to talk to us that day so we had to get Ilga to talk to her yet again. She did and things got better later. After church, Ilga and Janis took us for a stroll around Old Riga. Basically, the city is separated into two major sections, New Riga (where we're staying) and Old Riga. The Daugava river is the dividing line between the two sections. The real historic buildings can be found in the old section. What an amazing (sorry to use this word so much but it just fits so well) place. Many of these buildings date back to medeival times...back to the 1200's. Robert and I love the history that can be found here. We just don't get that in America since our country is so young. We saw beautiful cathedrals, parliament buildings, etc. I'll try to do a more detailed post about the places we saw. I don't have my notes with me so I forget the names of many of the places. We're finding out so much about the struggles the Latvian people have faced over the years to become an independent nation. This country has spent so much of it's existence being occupied by other countries, including Germany, Switzerland, the USSR, etc. It was only just a few years ago in 1991 that this country became truly independent. Just knowing this helps us understand why the society may appear cold to us. These people have been through so much and were lied to for so many years, it's probably not easy to trust. One place that Robert and I want to return to is the occupation museum. We stopped there with Ilga and Janis but didn't have time to go through the exhibits since the museum was closing. We did purchase a book that includes details about the years of persecution the Latvians endured. It only makes us love and appreciate this country even more. We want to learn all that we can since this is such a big part of Kristine's heritage.

2/5 - The only thing on the agenda for today was to get together with Helen Vipass, a British missionary here in Latvia who had been one of the chaperones who accompanied the kids when they came during the summer. We had a scary experience when we first got to Helen's office. I was on the phone calling her to come outside and meet us when all of a sudden a terrible car crash happened before our eyes. I told Helen and she immediately ran outside to see what was happening. The wreck was between a small SUV and another smaller car. The SUV flipped over on it's side just a few feet in front of us. A crowd had gathered and Robert ran over to try to help get the guy out. Thankfully, he was okay and was able to climb out on his own. The other person was also okay and able to get out of the car under his own power. It was amazing that no one was killed. What was even scarier was that Robert and I had just crossed that intersection only a few minutes earlier. The locals, trying to be helpful, pushed the SUV back upright but then it started to roll and hit another car. At that point, the drivers all began shouting at each other so Helen, Robert and I decided we'd better go inside before a fight ensued.

Once we all calmed down, Helen told us more about her work in Latvia. She is one of the founders of Hope for Children, which is an organization that runs day centers and foster homes for children throughout Latvia. There are thousands of children who live in children's homes here and even more who live in horrible abusive, family environments with no encouragement or love. Helen talked of how she had no plans to start such a mission but it came about after she began talking to children one by one as she saw them on the street. After hearing each child's individual story, she grew to love them so much and sought to do anything she could to help. First it was by buying an individual child something to eat for the day and later it grew into something much bigger. She showed us pictures of many of the children she's helped and shared their stories with us...some have happy endings and some don't. It's hard to describe here but it was just such a moving experience to see what a difference she has made in her own small way.

We took Helen to lunch and then went to the bus stop to meet Kristine. We told Helen we'd bring her back aftewards so she could see her. It turns out that Kristine got out of school early because the teacher for her last class had to go to the doctor. She was at the bus stop when we got there but said she'd been back and forth between the bus stop and the flat looking for us. We told her it was very smart of her to go back to the bus stop and wait. The last thing we need is to lose the girl. We have our second inspector visit on Friday and we don't this to come out. Everyone says it's okay for the kids to come home by themselves from the bus stop. We've been walking Kristine to and from the bus stop everyday anyway. I think Robert and I will be so glad to get home to the US where we might get some much needed rest. LOL!!

One more note, we were so excited to see that the Colts won the super bowl. YIPPEE!!! Robert stayed up until about 2 a.m. to watch the game. After surfing the millions of channels on our satellite, he finally found a German channel that was showing the superbowl. He couldn't understand anything the announcers were saying but at least he could see that plays. I went to bed early that night because I was just as happy to find out the winner in the morning. Ever since Tony Dungy left the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, we've been hoping he'd get his super bowl win. He is a class act so we were so happy for him!! My fingers are about worn to nubs after this post. Robert is here on the computer next to me and says "Hi". It's almost bus time so we'd better get motoring to get Kristine.