Of Things That Are Different. Part 1.

An everyday Dumpster Scene. Sometimes I see people eating what they find.

It is 90 Fahrenheit degrees here right now and no air conditioning. As our whole yard unintentionally witnessed yet another vocal drama involving a cheating husband/boyfriend, a screaming infant and a rather hysterical woman at 4 in the morning two nights ago, I thought I should finally start pouring out some of the thoughts and observations I have accumulated over the last 3 months of living here.

• There is no voicemail. None, whatsoever. You can text someone or you can call them, but you can not leave them an audio message. That means you are deprived of enjoying listening to some good/bad/informative news over and over again, the only way to get an urgent message is to type it manually (which I gather a lot of vehicle operators do), and that you just have to keep calling constantly - especially if it is a business - to get a hold of someone. Besides, don't you just hate picking up the phone when you don't know who is trying to reach you? 
• There is no air conditioning. And the climate is very humid. Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrgh! Even before this heat wave, a simple trolley ride to downtown would make me sweat in places I never before knew could produce perspiration, although everyone around me would look OK while wearing an extra layer or two. I have been falling asleep and waking up shivering an hour later, putting the blanket over, waking up sweating and throwing it off, just to wake up again - soaked in the sweat that has already cooled down, and so on... until I get so irritated that I can't take the torture anymore and have to get out of bed. This brings up the most annoying thing of all:
• Most heterogametic species DO NOT use deodorant. None. Whatsoever. My gag reflex control has had so many updates that it has now gone gold, if not platinum.
• Customer service - there is NONE. Unless you are foreign and indulging in a ridiculously overpriced (by local standards) mug of beer cup of coffee somewhere downtown. Return policy - there is NONE. Unless you buy online. It pretty much sums up to this: you need something - they have it (and be grateful you have a chance of having it too in exchange for money). Think about it.                                 

         One of the most embarrassing moments here was my trip to the main TELE2 (cellular network carrier) store to sign up for a plan. I walked into the place that had about 6 "geniuses", some sitting and some standing at their stations. There was a flock of younger girls dressed up and their faces painted like they were on an obvious mission to score a few tourists that night (it was Friday) talking to one representative, and there was a middle-aged woman being helped by another; she was getting her first smartphone. I parked myself on the side of the counter, right in front of one of those mobile wizards (he looked busy typing something on his keyboard) and started waiting. Hookers Young ladies had left and their little helper submerged himself into his apparatus; I was getting more and more anxious. About 15 minutes later into this nightmare, a couple walked in, looked around, went straight to one of the stand-up experts and started chatting. And then it hit me. I cautiously mumbled: "Hello, can you help me?" to the guy in front of me. He said: "Yeah, I didn't know why you were just standing there.", it sounded like he thought I wasn't very bright. Stumbling over what was left of my confidence, I started blurting out: "Well, you didn't even greet me or offer to help...", but cut myself off and explained to him what I needed. As soon as everything got signed and clarified, I couldn't wait to run outside and get some fresh air. I bet I was the star of the breakroom jokes that night. :)

                                                          - to be continued -

Alūksne and the Beer Fest

Pictures only! :)

Of Dirty Money

First of all, here are some pics from last Saturday. Jan and Göran Rygert were in town for the day, so we met up and had a wonderful time. It started with vodka. It ended the same way. Just your usual BDAA style. :)))
Apparently, one of these huge snails that are all over Riga has "moved" on them when they walked back from the restaurant the night before. I still have no idea what they are representing. Painted cows in Madison made sense. Snails here? Hmm. Maybe. And Jan had enough of seeing amber. We wandered around shouting "Snail Alert!" and "Amber Alert!" :)

At their cozy little cottage.

Beautiful sunset...


Well, that was Saturday and I was bawling in a cab all the way home...

...Back to business. For the ones of you that are aware of my "vacuum disaster" - I haven't heard from the BusyGovermentPlace yet, however the regional manager of the store has contacted me. I will not get the actual money back, but they are agreeing on giving me their gift card. But of course, I need my passport for that :)))

  And today has presented another clash of expectations: I went to one of those currency exchange places. I have some dollars left in my wallet from the trip but can't go to an actual bank yet until I have my passport handy. The lady behind the glass looked like she was having the worst day of her life. And I got scolded again! For assuming that it is OK to expect them to take "dirty" and "crumpled" bills. Slap! :)

"Dirty money" :))