I’m writing a research work about Imigration from Latvia to Ireland.
Please answer on these questions carefully! Your answers will be used in this work.
Please write your gender and age!

1.What are the reasons why you’ve decided to leave Latvia?
2.Why did you decide to go to excatly to Ireland? Which were the characteristics you took into the consideration choosing the country?
3.Were you choosing between few countries? Which ones? And why Ireland was better?
4.How do you evaluate the change in quality of life after leaving the Latvia? (At your new living place.)
5.Can you mention some similarities between Ireland and Latvia?
6.Do you sometimes think of returning to Latvia?
7.How do Irishes treat you?

Thank you very much for your responsiveness!

I don’t know if anyone on this forum is posting
from Ireland, but we think that folks are looking
for a better way to provide for their families.
There are many other reasons...........
Some just wanted to get out, after being cooped
up by soviets.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=latvians+in+ireland

Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it. Searching for the informantion for my research work, I found this site and hoped,that in this forum will be also someone from Ireland. Now I’m trying also to find people in other forums.

Anastasia

I do wish you luck............latvian government just spent
Ls50.000 on such study and did not produce much.
Latvian media has many stories about the exodus.
Anyway, Anastasiya........it would be interesting to
know something of your background and what is
the motivation for this study. Also, what languages
do you speak.
Ireland was the first country in EU to accept
guest workers without waiting period.
It may have been easier for people to travel to
Germany, but they didn’t want us.

Now it’s quite pressing problem, because many people choose to go to Ireland not also to work but also to live there.  It’s very necessary to write a research work about an actual problem, so my adviser suggested me to write about emigration from Latvia to Ireland. One of my friends went also to Ireland, at first her parents were working there and girl lived in Latvia with her grandmother and last year she completed her studies in primary school and went to Ireland. So now she studies in secondary school in Ireland and says that life there is better. I know one more girl who is going to leave Latvia and she is going to live also in Ireland. So I’m going to write more about,why they have chosen to leave Latvia, why Ireland is better,because they can choose to go to other coutries (one of my friends went also to the USA).  The government don’t think much about this problem, so people keep on leaving the country.
Maybe I’ve chosen to write a research work excatly about this problem, because I know people, who go there, I want to know the reasons. I’m living now in Latvia and for me it’s OK, I’m not thinking about leaving,but who knows how it will be in the future,maybe I’ll change my mind too as they did.

So I hope, I understood your question right and answered on it too.

You asked me about the languages I know. So I can speak latvian, russian, english and maybe a bit german.

Anastasia

Anastasia.
Maybe you should try some of the websites the Latvians in Ireland have set up, as well as their internet newsletter/newspaper.
The Latvian Society of Ireland can be found at http://www.lbi.ie/
The newsletter: http://www.sveiks.ie/
They have discussion forums, etc.

Thank you very much,for giving those links! It’s quite hard to find pages, which can help, because internet is full of different stuff, so it usually takes a long time to find a good site.

Anastasia

Why burden yourself with these studies. Go to Ireland and enjoy
yourself.............and then write us.

to me this is one item that baffled me. My last visit to Latvia brought me to Heathrow airport . Since I was waiting for my flight , I engaged in conversation and found that the restaurant and help were Latvians.
I found out that they were paid more as bus boys (help) in England then as engineers in Latvia.
The girl waiting on my table said she made more money doing this then working as an engineer in Latvia so I asked her when does she visit her home. Her reply was about every 3 months and she took money back to her family.
This to me sounded just like the Hispanics in the U.S.A.
Yesterday while waiting in line to send a package for my grandson’s birthday I overheard the person in front inquiring how he could send money to his family in Mexico.
There may be many people in Ireland from Latvia but they are sending money home to their families.

Why to burden myself with these studies? - It’s just a theme of my research work,that I need to write, and it was needed to write about an actual problem,so I’m writing about it ,because partly it affects me too as I live in Latvia.  Soon here will stay only old people,all who can work, will go somewhere else, because there different mushroom pickers can earn more money than engineers in Latvia. This idea came into my mind,because I know some people, who are leaving. Hmm...going to Ireland will be just a practical part of my research work - of course time will show, how it will be. Don’t worry,then I’ll write about my experience ;)

P.S. Soon I will hand in this work and won’t think about this problem so much. :)

I feel grateful for your help! ;)

Anastasia