Vasaras Svētki This weekend was Vasaras Svētki, or so I am told. I believe the holiday coincides with Pentecost, or, as my calendar told me, Whitsunday. In Riga, this means that Saturday night is Baznīcu Nakts (Church Night) when many churches open their doors in the evening to visitors holding celebrations with music and other …
Game of Thrones leads me to think about my place in the world. What is my identity? What is my culture?
March 2019 It is true that I have not written in awhile. Winters in Latvia are really like a hibernation. Everyone kind of buckles down and settles into a routine to stay warm and alive during the darkest months of the year. It begins some time in late October or early November. You start to …
One Year Jubilee Well, I did it! I have officially lived in Latvia for over a year, and I have a lot of people to thank for that! As with any jubilee, I think there should be a celebration, so this post is dedicated to all the people I have met and all the adventures …
6 October 2018 UPDATE! The results are in and the Harmony/Saskaņa won the overall election, but to have any power, a party has to have a coalition since no party won the majority. I am not sure what it means, but I think I feel a little disappointed. I do like that all these parties …
I saw the Pope today. Pope Francis to be exact. Rita got on some list and we managed to score tickets to the Riga Dome Cathedral service starring Pope Francis himself. It was pretty cool. In fact, it was BlogPostCool™. I remember when I was quite young, and I saw news stories of Pope something …
My newest post is going to be a reflection of my first full year of being a Latvian. However, this short post will be a quick explanation of the barefoot trail of Valguma Pasaule. The bad news is there will not be many photos. This weekend, we rented a car so that we could travel …
Three Days in a Tent When I was in Latvia in 2016, I learned about this big music festival that happens every July. Both Ansis and Rita talked about it. It is one of those classic stories where a couple of Latvians had a dream to get some bands to come to this tiny country, …
The Song Festival 2018 This year Latvia held its 26th annual song festival and 16th annual dance festival. These celebrations are held every 5 years, and I feel blessed to be living here in both the Centennial year and the year of this incredible event! I thought that there was no way the performance could …
Colorado to Chicago Welcome to Part 2 of the journey from Latvia to Ireland, America, London and back to Latvia. This post starts in Granby, Colorado a tiny mountain town. Quite frankly, I just need to publish this. There may be mistakes and not all the photos are perfect. June 5-7: Granby Instead of taking …