Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Metric System

As many of you who have traveled or lived in Europe (or anywhere outside of the US) know they use the metric system in nearly every other country in the world. So not only do you have to calculate currency conversions (with the even shrinking dollar) you also have to figure out how long it will take you to go 50 kilometers. While normally this presents a problem for me hating math and normally have to pull out my conversion chart and calculator, I discovered one instance today where this was a good thing. I was in the grocery store looking for something chocolaty to eat when I happened upon chocolate chip cookies. This in Latvia is a rare occurrence usually I have to pay three times the US price to get a package of toll house cookies from the foreign grocery store. So I was very happy to find a generic brand from England in the little shop by my house. As a sat down to enjoy them the American in me was forced to look at how much fat this indulgence was going to cost me. However because the fat content was in kJ (whatever that means) I wasn't going to bother converting it. So I enjoyed my cookies in perfect ignorance of how much exercise I would have to do to make up for my indulgence and honestly I don't feel guilty as I might in the US. I guess in Europe fat contents and things like that just don't matter when you are walking everywhere and up numerous flight of stairs every day!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Opera

Yesterday I went and got a tour of the National Opera House with the American Embassy people. We got to hear about the history of the opera and how Wagner composed the Flying Dutchmen while he was here in Riga. All in all it was pretty cool and all for less than 5 dollars. Here is a picture of me on stage!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

ASK Riga

One of the Fulbright Professors and his wife invited us to watch Latvian Basketball last night. It turns out there are four Americans on the team and their coach is Lithuanian so the team is really more international than Latvian anyway. The team was called ASK Riga and the games were held in an arena smaller than my high school gym. Despite that the game was throughly entertaining. The cheerleaders were the most hilarious at first I called them the Parex Bank girls and they had fake tans and fake hair. Their dancing was a lot of hip moving hair flicking and was something anyone could do. Then I was expecting a nice and exciting half time show but instead they left before anyone else to change their cloths. Then they were no longer the Parex Bank girls but the Reebok girls. The game was great and the last five minutes were really exciting because the Riga team only beat Valmiera by two points. We got to meet the mascot and I even got an autograph of one of the American players.

The Tip Off ASK Riga is in yellow
The Parex Bank girls
Devoted fans with flags and drums
After half time the new and improved Reebok girls
Whit, Monika and I with the Mascot (which I think is a lion)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

First Day of School

I have had many of these days in my life so I really have gotten used to finding new classes in new buildings and schools. But nothing could prepare me for my first day in Latvian school. I decided that I needed to improve my academic Latvian and thought that the best way to this was to audit a class in Latvian about Latvian politics. So I went in to talk to the secretary in the political science faculty about classes they were offering this semester. I explained to her (in Latvian) that I wanted to get a copy of the course listings and she said well we only have one course in English this semester and I said no I want to take a course in Latvian. She gave me a weird look and said ok..then I asked if they have had foreign students take courses in Latvian before and she said no never. At that point I knew I was in for a big treat.

I decided to take a master's level course on the Latvian Political Process so I got all of the permissions that I needed and went to the course last night. Luckily one of the other exchange students said that she was also interested in taking the course. When I walked into the classroom the girls stopped chatting and all turned to look at me. So I sat down and waited for the other exchange student to arrive in class. When she did we started chatting in English and people kept turning around to stare at us. Eventually class started and this girl in front of us kept turning around to look at us every couple minutes or so. I think she was waiting for us to realize we were in the wrong class (which we were not) and get up and leave. Class proceeded on like this for three hours with people continually staring at us when we look up words in our dictionaries or they would giggle when the professor would explain something in Latvian and also give the English definition to a word like rule of law or something. I have never felt like that big of a freak in my life.

Then after class I was waiting at the bus stop and one of my classmates was there and said to me in English where are you from. I said is it that obvious that I am foreign and said the US. Then he said where in the US? I am always skeptical when people ask me that because many people and have no idea just how big the US really is and normally ask me if I know someone they know who lives there. So I said the middle of America by Chicago. He persisted and said what state and I was like MN..then he said he lived in Wisconsin for one year and I said oh I did my undergrad in WI and he was like where and I said Eau Claire (thinking there is no way this guy has any clue where it is). Well it turns out he studied there last year in the political science department and knows all my professors and some of the people I still know from good old UWEC. So it turns out no matter how far I am away from home I always manage to find people who remind of it even in Latvia! Plus now I have one less person staring at me in class.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Vienna Adventures

I did have a little time to walk around Vienna after the conference and of course go to H&M (my favorite store). Plus I have really perfected the art of taking photos of myself and key touristy things. Here are some photos from my adventures.

Me and the Hofburg Imperial Palace
The very famous opera house

Me and the town hall
A statue of a Hapsburg on horseback...
Me and St Stephan's (the most famous church in Vienna)
Me and the Ferris Wheel (a little blurry...I am still working on my night photography)
View from the top..of the UN International City

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Vienna Forum

I just returned from the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking Vienna Forum at the Vienna branch of the UN. It was kind of a last minute thing because my boss decided she couldn't go so I got to go instead. It was really a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and even better because I was in Model United Nations Club in college, so the chance to go a and participate in a real UN conference was something I just could not pass up. In the end I actually learned that there were many similarities between Model UN and the real thing. Here are some of the pictures from the conference.

This is the logo of the conference
Me in front of the UN you can see the Latvian flag in the distance.
The forum main meeting room where representatives from almost all 181 member states met to discuss Human Trafficking. The interpretor booths were above the hall because every speech was translated into the six official UN languages.
Me and fellow Fulbright fellows to Cambodia and Ukraine.
Me and fellow Ukrainian Fulbrighter at the Imperial Hofburg Palace for the conference reception.
An Exhibit about trafficking called journey about one girls human trafficking story. If you look closely the exhibit was inside freight containers.

This is her story in her own words and the British government's response to trafficking (which basically is non existent).

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Samples

I remember when I was little and a trip to the grocery store was greatly improved when it was sample day. In my family getting something for free is kind of a cherished thing so getting free food is always a good thing. So you can imagine my surprise when I went to the Rimi grocery store in old town this past weekend and found out it was sample day. In the US on sample day you get free food and maybe if your lucky some kind of sugary juice drink. Well on Latvian sample day they give out alcohol for free! They were just giving away shots of vodka (some gross Russian concoction that when said in Russian sounded like original by apparently meant something different) and pickles to wash it down. My north American friends and I could not believe our eyes...and of course all around the booth were questionably old enough teenage boys trying to get as many shots as they could for free. Needless to say I passed up the opportunity to get something for free for once in my life.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

America!

Living in Latvia has really given me a true appreciation for the United States. The first time I studied here I saw the US in a different light...one that was not so flattering. But after living here again I really have developed an appreciation for my native land. So I made of list of the things I really appreciate about America living here in Latvia.
1. Service with a Smile. While many people think the fact that Americans smile all of the time is fake I would take a fake American smile over the frown that seems to permeate Latvian society any day. Also the fact that Americans say please and thank you all the time is such a nice gesture...in Latvia if you thank someone they just look at you like what is wrong with you.
2. Free Refills. This is probably one of the reasons why we are overweight in the US but I must admit I sometimes have to order two drinks because I am still thirsty after the first one. Plus the portions are much smaller here which is sometimes nice but for drinks is always leaving me wanting more. Plus you can't (or at least I don't) drink the water in Latvia so ordering table water is out of the question.
3. Ice Cold Beverages. You would think that since the weather is cold outside that the beverages might as least be cool during the winter..Um no in fact I think they are warmer. I search and search sometimes digging to the back of the drink cooler for a cold juice but it seems to always allude me for some reason. I have actually starting putting beverages in between my window panes to keep them cold because my host parents wonder why I want to refrigerate juice.
4. Fast Food. Something kind of interesting about this is that I rarely go to fast food especially McDonald's in the US (unless its for breakfast). But I probably go once a month in Latvia whenever I am feeling homesick. However when one goes to McDonald's in the US they expect the food to be fast..and usually the whole wait, order and get food time is less than 10 minutes. However here in Latvia not only is McDonald's really popular which adds to the wait time but then they are really in no hurry to get you your food. I clocked it once because I wanted to go and see a movie afterwards and I waited close to 30 minutes in line just to order. So I miss fast food actually being fast!
5. Choosing my own seat. In the US we have the freedom to sit wherever we want. In Latvia and maybe the rest of Europe when you go to a movie you have to choose your seat. Plus we we see movies we try not to sit right next to someone we don't know unless the theater is full. Well in Latvia they cram everyone, even if there is only like 10 people in a theater made for 100, right next to each other. So you almost always have the awkwardness of having to sit uncomfortably close to someone you don't know. They do this on the airlines too even if the flight is half full I am always sitting right next to someone and they think its weird when you want to move.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Les Miserables

I will never forget when my high school musical did a production of Les Miserables and my Mom came home from the PTA meeting and asked if I knew how to pronounce it. She said that the student at the PTA meeting had no idea how to say it correctly. Luckily I passed the test since I had seen it on Broadway. The reason I mention this story is because I thought it was funny that in Latvian the letter s is pronounced in Les Miserables which is the way uneducated people in the US pronounce it.

So on Saturday I went to see the Latvian production of my favorite musical. It was very good even though some of the songs were a little off because it took longer to say things in Latvian. Also the symbolism between the musical and Latvia didn't hit me until I saw the barricades.
(I stole this from Wikipedia) In January of 1991 Latvia, which had declared independence from the Soviet Union the previous year, was attacked by pro-soviet forces, most notably the OMON (Soviet special forces). Events that took place January 13-27, 1991 are known as "The Barricades" because of barricades built for defense of strategic objects. At least 7 people were killed, and in total 15,611 people have registered themselves as participants of the Barricades.

I think this really shows just how nationalistic Latvia can be..staged during any other time of the year it would have been different but staging this production during January evokes Latvian nationalist sentiment at its very core.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Singing the Blues in Latvia


On Friday I was invited to hear American Blues music at the only Blues Club in Riga as part of the kick off to African American History month. It was pretty cool I got to sit right by the ambassador on her last official day of work and the music was great. The singer was from Mississippi so she had a deep southern drawl to her voice and I really don't know how all the Latvians could understand her but I thought she was pretty funny. Also Latvia is not the most diverse country so strategically placed in the audience was practically every minority in the entire country. But the most hilarious thing about the whole experience was that the band looked like a bunch of 12 year old boys who could actually play and sing the blues.