Thank you Latvia
Trip Start Aug 16, 2008
9Trip End Oct 08, 2008
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Kaspar says ... Latvia was awesome. Everyone there was nice. Ok picture the nicest person you know. Now, would they do any of these things: Give up their bed for you to stay with them? Spend more than they could afford on feeding you? Cry/weep when you left after spending a night in the same apartment as them? No? Well just about every one of our relatives did at least one of those things for us
We only had 10 days in Latvia... I wish we had had more time there. We were moving for pretty much all the time in Latvia. We were at a different house for every day of our time there (except our last night and day). I can't name all our relatives for reasons of confidentiality (*cough*-Anita, Eriks, Linda, Kaspars, Beatrise, Roberts, Vitte, Valdis, Edgars, Janis, Aldis, Ilze, Juris, Martins, Liga, Andrejas, Gustavs, Inta, Valdis, Nina, Tolu, Elita, Eriks, Inese, and I may have forgotten one or two-*cough*)
And they were all TOO NICE!!!!
We gave a couple of presents to the people, then we got bags of presents from them. As I put it they were killing us slowly with their niceness. ROFL (rolling on floor laughing) now we are in Berlin but it is wet but not to cold. In fact, it is warm in comparison to Latvia. Tomorrow at 3am or something we have to get up and get ready to go to Switzerland. It will be cool and we will hopefully be seeing white -(snow).
I want a rocket ship-_-Bon voyage!!!
Juri says ... I admit it, I was making bubbles and every thing Oskar said was true. Well pretty much ... (forced to admit this by two boys who are getting bigger and cleverer every day)
Kaspar's impressions of our relatives' generosity in Latvia has not been exaggerated. We were treated really well. Along with their wonderful hospitality, we (in particular I) heard many stories that have brought both laughter and tears. We pored over old photos of my parents and their families from their youth.
We also visited museums and war cemeteries that impacted upon us all. We learned more about what my parents and their friends and relatives experienced in the past and saw first hand how they have survived those experiences. We also delighted in the progress and achievements of the emerging generations who are taking up the opportunities available to them.
Our visit was a rich experience. I left Latvia with mixed feeling - sadness at leaving our relatives, joy at having had this time with them and seeing Kaspar and Oskar make friends of their young second cousins. My head was swimming with a hundred stories and associated feelings and we have enjoyed have some much needed down time in Berlin. Today we did a little bit of last minute sight-seeing before heading to see Willi and her family in Switzerland tomorrow.
BTW, happy birthday to Guntis and Marcis for Monday :-)
Love to you all, Juri
24 September 2008