This is a movie review of sorts. Thanks to some of my lovely students who gave me a gift certificate to the Akropole Apollo theater, we were able to watch t Dvēseļu putenis in style! This movie, which translates as “Blizzard of Souls” has been the most anticipated movie of the year. It is based …
This morning, I am looking at my laptop and closing the tabs that I had opened the day before while teaching my students who range from Intermediate to Advanced speakers of English. For those of you who don’t know, I teach primarily at Lingua Franca where I engage in intensive daily courses for three …
Berlin 2019 One of the great things about living in Latvia is that I have the opportunity to just get on a plane for a few hours to travel just about anywhere in Europe. All the cities I dreamed of going to when I was growing up like Paris, London, and Cluj-Napoca are just a …
For anyone who reads this under the age of 40ish, watch this to get the title reference: The rest of you can watch it just to feel a dose of nostalgic inspiration. Rita, Max and I have moved. The process has been delightful and I love moving so much. Seriously though, is there anything worse …
Our Wedding Just in case you weren’t sure or didn’t know, Rita Treija and I were married in a very discrete ceremony on the 15th of June 2019 at approximately 11:02 a.m. My cousin Ansis and his wife Monta were the witnesses. Our photographer, Didzis Grodzs, was also present documenting the entire pre- and post-ceremony …
I hope that people who have read my blog before start off with the question, “Part 3 or 4? Where is part 1?” and they start going through old posts to see if they have missed something. That would be cool! But you haven’t missed anything. I just felt inspired to write on this day, …
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 …
Warning: I am writing this with no photos or hard evidence. This is all based on speculation, and I will use the term “Gypsies” because that is what the locals call the Romani people who live in Riga. I just felt inspired to write this after a long conversation with one of my English classes. …