No Water

A couple of the girls I studied here with in 1999 found my blog on the internet (just one of the many perks of having this blog). One of them wanted to send me a photo of her daughter and asked if my e-mail accepted photos. And I thought Latvia is a developed country, member of the European Union and yes, of course we have internet access fast enough that it can download photos. Many thing have changed since we studied here in 1999, for example it no longer takes an hour to send one e-mail and now there are so many exchange students at the university that they actually created a department to deal with them (there were 13 of us in 1999).

But just when I think Latvia is becoming more western and developed....a day like today happens! I woke up this morning to find that the water didn't work. Now I have had the hot water turned off numerous times over my years spent in Latvia. It even happened this past October for like 2 weeks! But I have never had no water...and the people here act like it is the most normal thing in the world for all the water to be shut off. I mean this is the capital city of a European Union country and they just shut off the water! At first I thought it was just my block but then after asking one of my friends if I could shower at their house I learned its at least the entire city centre. And when I asked how long it would be until it is turned back on I was told maybe tomorrow. All I can say is I am flying to Ireland tomorrow and think its sad that I have to leave the country just to take a shower. There are fines for things like this in the US but in Latvia they are very nonchalant about basic necessities like having water. So Andrea I guess just when you think have changed here, they turn the water off and you realize just how backwards Latvia still is.