It has literally been months since I have written anything, and so much is going on in the world that I feel inspired to make a little blog post. Halloween just ended, but the scariest few days are yet to come. With 2 days until the U.S. election, no one knows what is going to …
Arnolds Grinvalds 25 October 1956–10 November 1990 Arnolds was the second child of Liesma and Vitauts Grinvalds. He was named after his uncle Arnolds Grinbergs, his mother’s brother, who had been a soldier, stranded behind in Latvia after World War II. Uncle Arnolds’ wife Alma fled the country with their children in October of 1944, …
I honestly have no idea what this is going to be about, but on this foggy morning in Riga, I felt like it was time to write something. Philosophy of Writing and Sharing I have not been writing my blog because I had this moment last year where I thought… why am I sharing my …
It has been too long since I have written anything, so this is just an exercise in writing. I have been to the USA and back, and since today is the last day of summer, it seems fitting to write a relatively interesting post about my thoughts an reflections on life. September Here I sit …
My cultural experience model went off the rails in March when I was suddenly left unemployed with no prospects in Latvia. This came as a huge surprise to me, and even though I am relatively old, and I feel like I should be in a secure place in my life by now, I am not. …
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 …