Ziemā Pludmales 14 January 2018 After we arrived back in Riga this afternoon, I was making up new words to Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” and singing aloud on Gogoļa street past the cold people waiting for a bus, carrying a pussy willow branch and a bag of driftwood from the Gulf of Riga. I like …
I will not call this my Christmas letter or epistle or whatever. I am just sitting here on a Sunday night thinking that I should really probably be writing something. There is this interesting phenomena that I have noticed happening when you disconnect from people. When you are in the immediate circle of intimacy with …
The Holidays Holiday season is upon us! So far, I have survived enjoyed a few Latvian and American holidays here in Riga. I have already written about Halloween, and this week we had a sort of Latvian/American overlap. Right now, a turkey is cooking in my tiny Latvian convection oven. I hope it is okay. November …
1.11.17 Prologue: I have not written in awhile. I could blame this on many things—time, laziness, disinterest—but I have just been contemplating the reason that I am writing. I watched an episode of Bill Maher’s show and he was questioning why we share everything on social media. I decided to examine my posts to ask …
Kaķis 4.10.17 This is just a quick post to let everyone know that we fulfilled Anna’s dream and got a cat. Rita happened to know someone who knew someone who had a farm and there were some kittens who needed a home, so we decided to help him out. Jacques Balzam arrived in the early …
Nav Brīvdienas 26.9.17 Yes, it is true. This is not a vacation. This is not a trip. This is real life! After three weeks of being a Latvian worker, doing the daily commute, and getting my ducks in a row, I am exhausted and content at the same time. From my blog posts, one might …
My goal today was just to post a bunch of photos of my daily commute via bicycle to Gymnasium 2 and RTU. I just want to remain thankful and humble each time I leave in the morning to go to work. I am lucky enough to live right along the river, and it is easy …
With only a Master’s degree in English from the lovely and wonderful University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I have landed myself a job as a lecturer at Riga Technical University (RTU). The Mighty Flying Letts of RTU are a traditional powerhouse of the Big Baltic Conference. They are dominant in such sports as Ice Fishing, Feline Trapping, and …
Atvasara September 10, 2017 Atvasara is the Latvian word for a day like today. It was cold all this week. I even wore gloves, a coat, and hat while riding to school. Then, suddenly, it warmed up to a balmy (for Latvia) 23 degrees Celsius, which turns out to be just 73 American degrees. So …
It has been awhile since the Spanish Incident; in fact, it seems like forever ago. Today is my first day off after a very busy week and weekend. I am recovering from some kind of sinus infection that has been the source of a three-day headache, but I have some time, and the story is calling …