One of Those Years 26 December 2022 I had a strange message from an old friend yesterday who said that “you haven’t written much this year.” It is true, I have not. Well, that isn’t exactly true because I write everyday for my job, and I write in my journals and I write poetry and …
Everything I Know About Finland (Which isn’t much) I spent the last couple of days chatting with people and doing some fact finding in Finland. Whenever I travel, I am always a bit blown away by how little I know about the world and how incredibly huge this planet is. When I moved to Latvia …
Why I didn’t like Helsinki Before I continue, I should tell you the reason for the trip. Before Covid started, I bought a ticket to a Punk in Drublic show with NOFX and some other punk bands. I had gone to see them in Berlin a couple years earlier, and this sounded like a fun …
Part 1: The Ferry and Human Kindness I spent a day in Tallinn and then got aboard the Tallink Ferry to Helsinki. My first mistake was thinking, in my own childish way, that I could simply walk to the boat and get on board. I left my Airbnb in plenty of time to walk to …
My friend Sarah asked me if I am still teaching here in Riga, and this reminded me that I had a dead blog post here that I started a year ago and never finished writing. So here it goes: a brief explanation of what I do here. Testhut I am not a strong subscriber to …
Just a short update on the world in 2022: a birthday, the war in Ukraine, Covid.
For those of you who do not know, I live in Riga, Latvia and a few weeks ago, the government announced emergency measures were returning because Covid is on the rise. I have been shocked to see how quickly we went from almost 0 cases this summer to over a thousand cases a day with …
I have been trying to write something about my trip back to the states after 4 years in Latvia. Rita and I did return for a short visit 3 years ago, but this was my first time back in what felt like a long, long time. I wasn’t sure what to write or how to …
March 2021 March has always been my favorite month because it is my birth month along with the birth month of some of the best people I know. This year, it also coincides with my first year anniversary at my new job, and we are supposed to use our vacation days each year, but because …
I am writing this just to prove that I am still here and I exist despite all the nasty rumors out there. It is officially the end of February here in Latvia, and there really is no end in sight to the Covid Crisis. We have been on somewhat of a lockdown for months. Winter …