Latvia in Three Days

We have had the last of our visitors to Riga, Mattias and Gudrun from Beedenbostel. Everyone who has visited us here has said they'll come back to Riga because they were delighted with the atmosphere and all of the interesting places to visit. For Bob and I it is also interesting to show people "our Riga" since each "visitor" had somewhat different interests. But with only three days there are some places everyone wanted to see and visit. So....if you come to Riga and have only three days here is what we did this weekend with Mattais and Gudrun.

Saturday they arrived at the airport, I met them and we took the express autobus 22a into the city stopping by the Katedral on Brivibas. Later we had a walk through Old Town with a pause at the Freedom Monument for the flower laying on ceremony to commerate the Victims of the Communist Genocide. We had a quick bite at Alus Seta a branch of the Lido chain found in vecriga (Old Town). Later the opera. The Latvian National Opera production of Siegfried began at 5 in the evening and was over at 10:30. There were two long intermissions and we could enjoy the view of the parks and flowers from the balcony of the opera house. Siegfried is part of Wagner's ring cycle and this portion is new this year. The music was wonderful and at the curtain call they had the entire orchestra up on the stage. It was helpful to have Mattias fill me in on the Ring Saga. He said originally Brunhilde was a princess of Iceland. That fits since she is surrounded by a ring of fire and Iceland has volcanoes. He said it is always interesting to see how Fraher the dragon is portrayed. It is just a short walk back to the apartment and it was still light for our walk. Sunday we visited the Open Air Museum a twenty minute bus ride outside of Riga. We saw the historic buildings, linen work, outdoor gardens and crafts made by some of the homestead caretakers. I had seen an art exhibit earlier this year with the threshing shed presented in various seasons and times of day representative for the artist as a symbol for Latvia. We walked in the Old Town and had a drink at the Top of the Hotel Reval Latvia. Monday we walked through the central market and then in the afternoon we took a thirty minute train ride to Majori in Jurmala where we walked on the beach, found a cafe for coffee to sit out the rain, looked in shops and the high light ....dinner at Sue's Indian Raja Restaurant. Chicken tiki masala in Latvia....delicious. Of course we watched the Germany in the Europen Soccer tournament when we returned back to lacplesa 29. Tuesday morning a walk to the bus for a return ride to the airport. So....here is a plan ...for your trip to Riga....

UNH Students Visit Riga

Four UNH students, 2 undergrads and 2 grad students, from Social Work and Family Studies Departments arrived on Monday, May 26 for a 2-week study tour in Latvia. It’s been a busy, event-filled, stimulating learning adventure for us all and certainly a highlight of our year here. They stayed in a 4th floor walk-up (maybe it was the 5th floor?!) B&B a block and one-half away from us, shopped for food and snacks across the street and generally explored the city. I had arranged visits to an orphanage/family crisis center, a family shelter, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations like Soros Foundation & Buckners International) as well as the Ministry of Children & Families and of course Attistiba. We were fortunate to have arranged a meeting with US Ambassador to Latvia Charles Larson followed by meetings with several of the consular staff who deal with issues such as immigration visas, international adoption, passports and other policy and public service matters. Cultural activities included informal, anyone-can-come folk dancing and later in the week a performance of some of the premier Latvian folk dancing groups at a Baltic Sea venue. We had a guided tour of the Occupation of Latvia Museum, portraying the most recent German & Soviet occupation of the country from 1940—1991; the 50-year period after the declaration of independence until Latvia, along with the other Baltic States & several former Soviet states, regained or gained their independence. Journals I read hinted at some additional extra-curricular exploration of Riga life, including night life, not included in the planned schedule.
Since we met almost daily around our dining table during their visit, we do notice it’s a bit quieter now that they have returned to the States. We also have a beautiful bouquet of gerber daisies in a Latvian ceramic vase—a farewell gift. They also left us with positive memories of their engaging efforts to learn about and understand modern-day Latvia, including its human service policies & programs. We look forward to a reunion back in the States with 2 Laurens, Jen & Jenna!!
Story Sequels: Taking out the trash this morning the watchman from the booth downstairs asked me if the four young women were our daughters. Then, just as the trash truck arrived a man about my age looked at my UNH t-shirt and said, in perfect American English, “University of New Hampshire—I’m class of 1957!” Dr. Vieverbrand (sp?) was born in Latvia, raised and educated in the US & is now back teaching a course at the Medical School 3 blocks away from Attistiba. It is indeed, at times, a very small world.
rej

May was a busy month

It is already June 5 and it seems I should recount some of what Bob and I have been doing in May.

Andrew left at the end of April, Gunnar from Finland arrived May 2 and stayed until the 5th and Lilli from Germany arrived on the 9th and stayed until the fifteenth, Barbara from the States arrived on the twelfth and returned to Ipswich on the twenty-third and Bob's four UNH students arrived on May 26 for a two week course/study/tour here in Latvia. They leave this Friday. Gudrun and Mattias from Germany are coming in June for a weekend visit. We're really pleased that so many of our friends have come to Riga.

With all the visitors to "tour" around we have been visiting and revisiting many of the places that we have come to know during our nine months and also venturing out to take in new sites and experiences.

So we have visited Jurmala, the Baltic Sea area several times and seen more museums including the Museum of History and Culture. In May Latvia hosted "museum night" when all museums across the country were free to the public and open until 1 am. We went to see a documentary film called The Soviet Story which is controversial in Russia because it protrays Soviet leaders in a harsh light. Later in the week we saw an art exhibit on The Mythology of Soviet Realism which displayed paintings and sculptures done according to Soviet "guidelines." We've seen Russalka and La Boheme at the opera, gone to the open air ethnographic museum several times and Barbara and I took the train to Cesis and climbed the stone spiral stairways with our candle lantern to light our way. We cheered our young Fulbright friends as they ran the 5K section of the Riga marathon which was won by a Kenyan and heard the Oriana Choir from London in a joint concert with the Hansa Banka choir in St. John's church. The Brits were well received when they sang a Latvian folk song and both choirs combined to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. We attended a 60 year celebration of dance program with folk dance groups from several regions of Latvia at the Dzintari concert venue with the four UNH students.

It now is light from 4:36 to 22:09....(yes, that's correct until 10:09 pm) and of course there is a twilight glow after that. We love the long days of sunshine.

So a few pictures of these many wonderful Latvian experiences will give you an idea of our Maijs, May. Can you match the picture with the descriptions?

4 Maijs Latvijas Republikas Neatkaribas deklaracijs pasludinasanas diena

May 4 is the Day that Latvians celebrate the Independence Declaration and is a five day weekend in Riga. We heard musical groups ranging from school groups to professional, saw the flower laying ceremony at the Freedom Monument attended by many dignitaries, saw flowers arranged to represent the four regions of Latvia and enjoyed the sunshine and long day...yes a long day sunrise at 5:36 and sunset at 9:07.

Storks Return
Both in Latvia and in Germany the stork is revered as a symbol of good luck—and a sure sign of spring. The huge nests dot the landscape atop chimneys, barns, telephone or power poles, occasionally dead trees. In all of our travels outside of Riga since last September we’ve seen the nests—empty. This week I was out of Riga in Sigulda, 45 km to the East and the entrance to Gauja National Park, and Kandava about 90 km to the the West. In both directions the storks are visible, occupying nests, flying to and from feeding and water sources, preening or resting in fields.
Latvians call the stork a sacred bird; scientists call it a bird of prey. According to the web, the stork has settled in Latvia only during the past two hundred years. Every year about 10,000 storks come to nest in Latvia from warmer climates. The life of the birds follows its own rhythms and humans have no say, but they do look forward to having storks nearby and it is interesting that storks seem to build their nests as close as possible to people’s houses—sometimes on them.
April 18, 2008
rej

Weekend in Finland

Finland (3/28-3/31/08)
Some of you will recall that in 1960/1961 the Delbert Jolley family in New Castle, PA hosted an AFS (American Field Service) exchange student from Pargas, Finland. We’ve stayed in contact with Gunnar ever since with visits back and forth, letters, pictures and more recently email. Cheryl & I visited Finland in 1988 with 2 young children in tow. This year with son Andrew, who is visiting here for much of April, we flew from Riga to Helsinki, a 40 minute flight, to spend a long weekend with Gunnar. He’s still as tall and blonde and broad-shouldered as ever with a hearty laugh that can be heard at least 3 blocks away—or halfway across the island where he lives. I should add here that it was from Gunnar that I learned some important lessons about international affairs and knowledge—lessons it has taken me many more years to appreciate. Gunnar and I got along well throughout his year-long stay and still enjoy reliving some of those experiences and shall we call them—“adventures”. But fairly early on there were more serious discussions, even arguments, about the U.S., American-style democracy, and the institutions of the U.S. government. The short story is this—he, the foreigner, had more knowledge, was more aware, and was more accurate describing many aspects of the U.S. government and our democracy than I. I certainly couldn’t admit that to him then; in fact, may not have admitted it to him any time since. The observations are these: Europeans often know a great deal about the U.S., generally more than we know about any of their countries. The various perspectives of others are useful ways to learn about ourselves—if we’re open to listening and hearing. And, there is almost always some significant truth in others’ perceptions and perspectives.
The weekend trip?? It was great! Northern Europe including the Baltics and Scandinavia had received the first real dose of winter with 4-8” of snow just before our trip so there was still snow on the ground. We had plenty of time to catch up, walked around and across the island he lives on, had a sauna, went to Swedish-Lutheran church on Sunday morning, visited a boat-building museum, the National Museum of History, enjoyed the 3rd segment of Handel’s Messiah plus the Hallelujah Chorus in the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki, had a wonderful, very elegant meal in an old estate-turned-restaurant, and consumed 90 homemade “platter” (small, flat, Deee-licious, pancakes).
We’re already looking forward to Gunnar’s return visit in early May here in Riga!

Social Work Class in Smiltene

Smiltene: “Values & Ethics” Course
The structure of the social work program and course/class schedule at Attistiba are quite different from the program at UNH, but the classrooms, students and course exercises are much the same. The photos show a recent course on “Values and Ethics in Social Work Practice” taught at one of the satellite campuses in a vocational-technical high school site in Smiltene.
Photo 1: Social work classroom; 22 students in this class
Photo 2: Role play phone conversation between client and social worker
Photo 3: Juris Osis, translating the student role play during class
Photo 4: Group photo of undergraduate Smiltene cohort (students all working; all in
their 30s & 40s)
April 4, 2008
rej