My first morning in Latvia, I got up earlier than I wanted to and sat by the window to read, journal and sip coffee. It ended up being the perfect start to a very full and beautiful day, please enjoy the pages from my journal as the precursor to the rest of the day, I’ll write that up soon!
"The surrealness of my life is hard for me to grasp right now. Sitting in Tiger hostel, with cute bamboo and other plants growing in the pots by the window. The green and exotic reminds me of my past 9 months, the snow outside the window is an awakening to my reality. Never has a location felt more like home. Still can’t read anything, still feel like an outsider, but the familiarity is stronger than anywhere else. People don’t know we are foreigners, until we speak or they actually look at what we are wearing. We don’t have the warm coats, the nice boots, the designer jeans, the cute hats, gloves or scarves. Maybe we just appear poor to them, a correct observation. Every other country we have been to, it is assume that we are rich because of our skin color and nationality. No longer. Our dress and mannerisms announce that we are not used to this new world of cold, both internal and external cold.
The people here are nice, but still cold. Stoic. Not a lot of emotion, not a lot of expression. Our laugh and screams at the snow, our loud conversation, brings us quizzical stares. I guess some things have stayed the same, we still get starred at.
It’s Easter and I am battling between staying here on the couch, drinking coffee and writing in my journal and actually getting up, showering, trying to look cute and going to a Roman Catholic mass. I think I would like it, except for the 20 min walk in 20 degree weather. The only thing that could make this current moment better would be a fire place. God is good, giving me two options and neither one of them is bad.
I have a lot of work today, I have 5-6 one on ones in the squad and I need to go shopping. Yesterday I didn’t mind freezing as we walked around, but that will get old quick. I could just hear my Dad asking me where my coat was, as I climbed into bed to warm up after our 15 min walk to find food. I can feel my body shutting down. I can feel a cold pushing against my determination not to. Almost 7 hours of sleep, in a warm bed and cool room, my body is begging me for rest through sickness. I think I could stay in bed all day, watching the snow and surviving off of coffee and tea. I’m so thankful for the care package I recieved from my family and friends, they have me well stocked in the instant coffee department. It’s a really good thing too, because to get a coffee on my five dollar a day budget would require 3 square meals of PB&J a day. The conversion is .5 USD to 1 Lat. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are not in Africa anymore. I’m determined to be as creative as possible and NOT live off of such a diet. Planning on lots of cabbage and potato soup.
I like this place, a lot. Such a culture shock, but I’m thankful for it. I’m asking Jesus for some special dance time here. Dance dates with Jesus, that’s one of my requests for the month."
I ended up going to a Baptist church service for Easter, and it launched me into my favorite day on the Race so far…
