Today was Sunday, a wonderful day to venture out and experience Latvian church life...well it would have been! Except we can't seem to get on a good *normal* schedule. In fact, tonight we have required everyone to head to bed by midnight...let's hope they can actually sleep! And Gary and I have decided to wake them by 9am in order to get a bit of a normalcy going on.
Today was a great day though. I was up around 9am and started out just ill. Frustrated I mean. I had this perfect day in my brain. Church, lunch somewhere, a little more sightseeing...you know the drill. And here I had this apartment full of sleeping humans. Remember when I said I wasn't expecting everything to be perfect immediately? Well, I think I need to get THAT tattooed on my forehead!
So anyway, the monkeys didn't crawl out til around 12pm...and by then I had done a load of laundry, washed all the dishes and had already showered. After a quick breakfast and Gary reminding me that the only person I should be irritated with is me (I mean really, I could have been dressed and Eddie and I could have been at church by 10:30am) we were all ready to hit Riga once again.
It was late again and we had no ideas as to what we wanted to do. So Zach had suggested the museum that was in Old Town. It is the museum of the Occupation of Latvia. This little country has been through so much...and yet they have such resolve and persistence. Such a proud people in spite of all they've been through. If I remember correctly 10% of the population was deported at one time for reasons that made no sense...but because of their size, they really had to just go along with Russia or Germany (depending on who it was at the time). Really all the Baltic States had to deal with this.
As we were walking through, J mentioned there was a train memorial/monument not far from Riga, we could go there. With E getting a little restless and the older ones having already blasted through the museum, we headed to TGIFriday's for lunch/dinner (J's choice!) to get a bite before going to the memorial. We ran into one of J's friends from the orphanage who had recently left to be on his own. He's in between homes right now so we invited him to eat with us. He only speaks Russian so I'm not sure how much of a positive influence we were on him...but at least we know he ate well tonight.
From there we walked to the train station and bought our "billettes." Only three lats for all of us to ride. It was only one stop away in Tornakalns. There we see a train car...looks like a cattle car really...that was used on the nights of June 13 and 14, 1941 to deport people to the GULAG. It is tiny...and terrifying to think of this. In fact, this monument area is called the Communist Terror...I'm certain that I cannot relate to this...I've always felt safe.
As we stop for photos, Gary politely motions for a two women to walk on by...the one says "no, we'll wait." And then she asks where we are from. He told her Maryland, USA...and she says ME TOO! Crazy isn't it? This world is so tiny y'all! She lives in Potomac and works in Rockville and she's originally from that small town where we were visiting this monument. Gary had to give her a hug ;-)
We walked down around the other monument, were nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes (Robert and Wendy, it was bad enough to remind me of Savannah and the biting flies!). J picked me a flower for my birthday a week or so late. I took pictures of all my kids climbing all over the statues. And then little E started picking me flowers. Now I had to take pictures of this. J's flower was one stem with the extra leaves pulled off...Marleigh and Mae added more whites, yellows and some purple...carefully thought out.
But E? E's bouquet was snatched handfuls of clover, tall grass and some yellow weeds all mashed together. He shoved them in my face with a huge grin and "Mama!" Then just as quickly told me to hold them but they were "Ebbie's." He was soooo funny!
We went back up to wait for the train to take us back to Riga and while we waited the girls picked more flowers among the train tracks...they look like little yellow snapdragons...the boys pitched lats (yes like pitching pennies....but with lats). And I swatted mosquitoes! Got one on Gary's shoulder and one on Zach's chin!
Finally the train came and we got back to Riga. J pointed out where his church is that he has attended on occasion...if we are here through next weekend, we are going to go there on Sunday. And also the building where one of his friend's grandfather's works.
We walked a different street back to the apartment and cut through the park...they are so pretty here! Very manicured and lots of flowers. As we walked along, E practically pushed me down the path towards...you guessed it!...the very Auto Bounce House we saw the other night. For one lat he could bounce for 10 minutes! He was in heaven! (If I have not clarified before, Auto = Disney Cars...the kid is CRAZY for auto!) The girls stayed with me and jumped on a trampoline for 10 minutes while he did and then we all headed back.
We had a quiet evening here at the apartment. Sandwiches for dinner, watching Nickelodeon...Circle Time together. It was nice when J said his praise for the day was being with us as we learned more about Latvia. He's proud of his country and we are proud of our son.
Two things to share that are just observations I like:
The first are the street performers. Some are simple beggars (I can't stay here too long because I really want to help them all). But some are very talented and just have fun doing what they are doing. There was one set today that started with guitar and singer...and they were good. And as we walked back after lunch, they had changed to guitar, bass and clarinet...and they were good! I was wishing my husband would have twirled me around a bit...with our five watching there would have possibly been a mutiny from embarrassment though ;-)
The other observation I had wanted to share the other night and forgot...there is such a nice "civility" thing you see here all the time. People walking with fresh flowers. There are flower stands all over and some are already made up into pretty bouquets...almost like you could walk up and do an entire wedding from what you see there already done. And they are pretty cheap...3 lats for a nice size bouquet. But EVERYONE buys them...and when I asked why? Well, it's just because. Flowers are nice. I think we should all learn a little from that...don't only take time to smell the roses, but take some home (unless you're Mae wanting to pick one from the window box of the Radisson hotel HAHA).
For starters, I'll take my hand picked bouquet from the little meadow in Tornakalms...and thank God every day for the hands that picked them!
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