Riga, Latvia Day 2

Last night after the opera, which was awesome, we walked around the down following the music. We even stopped for awhile in what seemed to be the hip young part of town but the not so great Latvian rapper stirred us away after a few minutes. By midnight we were tucked away in our beds. I know, late night. Eye mask and ear plugs are made for hostels. Anyway got up the next morning and headed out.

We went to mass in a church with Hannah. It was a great experience.

Reminds me that no matter where you are, what language you speak, or what you worship that there are people all over the world who believe in God and are trying each day to be better. I love that. I think all too many times we place way too much emphasis on what and how you worship then the simple fact that you worship. Which is awesome. Anyway after church we walked old town some more, found a gorgeous church and an awesome hang out place. It was filled with hammocks and books.

We saw these gates that are from when the Sweedish had rule over Latvia.

We wait I told you about the awesome church but here is what it looks like:

And they has a flower garden in the park:

We also rode an elevator to the top of St Peters church for an incredible view/

Found an American flag

Checked out some old buildings

And for lunch we ate at this medieval place! We even got to go through tunnels to get to our table. 

It was all underground and lit by candles. 

So that was our awesome adventure in riga. We are on the bus now and as soon as we entered the bus it began to rain. Perfect timing.

Latvia= country #14

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Opera, Henna, Sumo, Oh My!

Today had been a day for the books. 

1. I'm in Riga, Latvia. Yeah, I didn't know where it was either. But it does exist.

2. I hula hooped on the streets. Why? I'm not sure what was going on but I got the hula hoop and have it a whirl.

3. Attempted slack lines by the canals. It was really hard!

4. Got a henna. 

5. Danced in the streets while an old man was singing I'm walking on sunshine. That video will have to come later.

6. Danced with an orange elephant. Another video to follow.

7. Hugged a snail. Why? Again, I am not sure but they had giant snails everywhere.

8. Dressed as a super hero.yeah.

9. Went to the opera. El travatore. 

10. Did archery infront of an ancient church. Hit the bulls eye. Twice.

11. Did sumo wrestling and beat the crap out of Mikele. But for her sake I put this photo of her beating me up. 

12. Ate a lot, and I mean I mean a lot of cheese and bread! Like all day long. 

13. Saw so many beautiful sites with these lovely ladies. 

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Cookies?

Lets talk about what just happen here. 

1. I decided it would be fun to make cookies for Dimas family because they are coming back from Russia tomorrow. Who is Dima you ask. Dima is awesomeness bottled in a jar. He is our country coordinator boss man.

2. Back to the cookies. Okay. Every country has it's differences luckily butter looks the same. ✔️That was easy. Eggs look the same. ✔️That was easy. Where is my staples easy button. Oh wait flour... Well everything is in lithuanian. Analyze all the half used bags in the cupboard. Hmmmm. After a considerable taste test / color/ texture I decided on what looked to be the closet to flour. Should be good enough. Baking soda? Um, something in te cupboard said soda so that seemed okay. Salt✔️ Vanilla... In powdered form? Um okay. Because you don't really need that liquid do you? Brown sugar? Well there is some serious deep brown sticky stuff that somewhat resembles sugar crystals.

3. Mix. Well... That's one contraption we do not have but we do have a ladel. Of all things a ladel.... Not a mixing spoon but a ladel. So I use my ladel to mix my overly thick batter with ingredients I'm not so sure of oh and no chocolate chips so I use the candy bars that have been here for who knows how many semesters but at this point: what the hell.

4. Cook. What the freak the oven only goes to 250 degrees. Whatever. Guess I will just cook them longer. Good thing I mentioned this step out loud so my roommate could inform me that the oven is in Celsius. Yeah. 

5. Put cookies in oven.

6. Take a peek... Well people I need to announce that he cookies are now one huge blob. Someone said too bad we don't have ice cream we could make a huge pizookie. Freaking genius! If we run we can get to the market in time. So pajama bottoms that are too big, hoodie that is too short, mismatched running shoes, socks that have not been washed in days and a purse. Oh this is attractive. As we begin our mad dash my hair bun falls out and my hair which has been tightly wrapped all day proceeds to grow Into a hagrid size poof ball. I'm holding my pant legs up as I run trying to stay out of the puddles and my roommate is half laughing half screaming that she needs to pee and oh wait #2 as well. No I didn't just type #2 because I am embarrassed to say poo. She is literally running down the street saying I need to go #2 hurry! In which case my baggy pants, hagrid hair, mess of a self heaves over laughing hysterically while still trying to run and dodge puddles. 

7. Enter store totally mortified at this point at how I look but determined to find ice cream. But do they even sell ice cream in containers? We could buy sticks and just pull the stick out. Okay start collecting individual ice creams to pull sticks out. Wait! Oh my heck. Literally. Ice cream in a tube! Seriously. It's so amazing we have I buy it. Grab it and run. 

8. Begin the run home. Except at this point my roommate is dying and proceeds to waddle home because a run jiggles too much.

9. Enter house sweating and laughing.

10. The one thing I told roommate not to do is burn the cookies. Hehehehehe the oven cooks totally unevenly so the front half she wTched are perfect and the back is burnt. Oh well. Open ice cream pull out stick, squeeze ice cream from tube. 

11. Grab spoons and devour. 

12. Lithuanian cookies suck. 

Oh yeah and Dima didn't get any of these. Sorry Dima.

Oh and one more thing. This happen today.

Yeah. That's Paige. In the rain. Sportin a boom box.

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Is This Real Life?

Im having a very trippy moment lately. I feel as though my life is so surreal.

Was I really in Fiji just a few weeks ago?

Am I really laying on my bed in Lithuania?

How is this real life?

Shouldn't I be in America teaching?

I surely do miss Chaparral and the consistency that class would bring. I miss technology and having my 30+kids to joke with and play around with every day. It's a serious amount of work but leaving has made me realize that no matter how hard it is I really do love it. I enjoy the connections I make each year, I love the people I work with so much, and I love having my own classroom. So seeing all these posts on Facebook about Chap has made me sad but I am so glad I am not doing Back to school night tonight that always freaked me out.

Okay anyway.

Dude. I live in Lithuania. I live in Europe. And I moved here from Fiji.

How is this happening?

Isn't this crazy? Do people really do this? I feel like I am literally in a dream. Like Fiji was all a dream. 

I miss that place so much. Which is weird to me. I never considered myself a beach person and wasn't ever really interested in going I Fiji but I miss it so much. I miss the beautiful mind blowing clear water and soft white sand. I miss the kids so much. I miss the fifth grade class I taught and the way they treated us with admiration and love. I miss that everyone talked to you and greeted you on the streets. I miss yelling Bula and vinakavakalevu! I miss the house of craziness even though while I was there it drove me nuts. While the food and cold water were enough to drive me crazy, I wish I had more time there.

Now I live in Europe. I teach three different classes of kids and it is a completely different experience. Saturday I get on a bus and get to go explore Latvia. On my way here I got to go to Denmark. 

Months ago when my life so to say fell apart I realized that really my life was just getting started on a new path. I chose to do what I've always wanted: travel. I've always had this insane desire to travel and learn other cultures. Within a week of my divorce I had Fiji booked. Then as I started to think of what I wanted from life I toyed with the idea of going abroad for a whole year. It seemed nuts. I didn't know how I would do it and there were so many things that should have held me back but the nag wouldn't go away. I remember texting my mom something along the lines of if I went to Russia for a year would you watch my dogs? I was only half serious but of course that fueled the fire when she said yes.

If you know my mom you know she is all about doing things like this. In fact when I was freaking out because I thought I was going to have to quit my job to do this she like yelled at me and told me it was stupid to not go just because of a job. She said she would be disappointed if I did that. I love that! Most people would think and say the opposite and she was like screw the job, you can find a new one, get on the plane and do it now. 

Supportive parents. ✔️

Okay well my dad is a little more logical than my mom and he worries more but it's all about some balance. 

Anyway. I did it. My job worked out and I got special year of opportunity leave. I had been saving my whole life so the money was ready. I put everything on storage and my dogs at my parents and the day school ended I got on a plane.

Was it easy? Signing up was. Leaving behind everything to go has of course been hard at times. I had my heart broken when I left someone I was majorly in love with. It still hurts. It hurts to be away from my dogs. It's hard to meet so many new people and to live with people you didn't pick. It's hard to learn new languages and cultures. It's scary being places you have never been. Sometimes it's lonely. Some days and harder than others but it's incredible! It's amazing to live in new places. It's mind blowing to see sights that are only distant ideas. It's life hanging making connections with strangers and children around the world. It's laughter and smiles living with roommates you don't know. It's invigorating spending your time volunteering. It's a life changing personal experience that will teach you more about yourself, the world, and life than anything else.

I beg anyone with the opportunity, especially those in college to take a semester or summer and volunteer, work, teach, travel abroad. It is something that will have a life long impact on your life and something I wish every person could experience. 

Cheers to life!

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Sailing, Castles, and Rain. Oh My!

Saturday we went to Trakai. It is about 30km away. 4 of us went with Dima, our coordinator and 2 took the bus. When we arrived we were greeted by this sight:

Love it! Then we entered that awesome castle and there was a medieval festival going on! This is why I was so excited! It only happens once a year and they bring the castle back to life!

I got put in jail and I got my head cut off. 

This reinactmeny was awesome!

They had a metal worker who I bought a ring from that she had just made. Now I'm wearing a ring made by a silversmith from a castle in Lithuania. Sweet.

Okay so maybe all the girls bought them too:

Then we went across the drawbridge.

And climbed around the three story castle that is. Now a museum.

After this we went sailing. I've never done this before and should have taken some motion sickenesa but it was still fun. Except when the mast comes flying at you and the boat jerks so suddenly you slide and think you are going to slide right      Off.

That was our captain.

After sailing we walked around the tiny town. We tried to eat at one place but thy toms is our group was too big and sent us away.

We found some adorable puppies to play with along the road. You will be happy to know that they take very good care of their dogs here! 

Then we stopped for some group photos. 

Are you proud of me for wearing so much color. I mean I kind of over did it with accessories but I'm wearing yellow! I wish it was black but I'm trying.

Spent some time sitting in the ruins.

Took some artsy photos.

Of course some selfies with the hat I found in my closet. One of the past volunteers I would presume. 

And then...

It started the pour. We went home.

The end. 

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