525,600 minutes
How do you measure, measure a year (in Latvia)?
In rudeness, in frustration?
In terrible drivers?
In a dismal education system?

525,600 minutes…
How do you measure a year -
In umbrella demonstrations?
In pathetic politicians?
In bureacratic snafus?

525,600 minutes…
How do you measure a year -
In “diskomforts” & “normāli”?
In “pamperi” & “autleti”?
In “haiteks” & “pī ār”?

525,600 minutes…
How do you measure a year -
In karbonādes? In pelmeņi?
In bad sushi?
In sublime gaileņu mērce?

525,600 minutes…
How do you measure a year -
In flowers given & received?
In .5L of beer?
In pasākumi & ballītes?

525,600 minutes…
How do you measure a year -
In trips to the sauna?
In honey taste-tests?
In slices of saldskābmaize?

525,600 minutes…
How do you measure a year -
In songs sung?
In pieces of amber collected on the seashore?
In sunrises over the Baltic?

With all due respect to Jonathon Larson (back in the day, saw Rent on Bway...loved it.) - my cryptic thoughts about having lived in Rīga for one year now. 

V.

So is it worth it? No regrets?

Regrets...I’ve had a few…

We’re still here, if that says anything.  ;-)

Now, if only we could sell that condo in Chicago…

V.

Maybe rent that condo to someone who is ready to GTFOOH?*

* get the f… out of here.
But I don’t particularly like Chicago. Boston is better. Stockholm is likely…

Juri K,
Where you live is not as important as how you live. How you live may dermine where you live ,but it may not be where you LIKE to live.Your acerbic style of writing may not be appreciated in Stockholm, however, it may be dynamite in Chicago. Having lived in New York, Long Island, DC,Houston, Minneapolis,Madison Wi,and spent loads of time in Chicago, I recommend Chicago .Good luck in your quest. Merely the musings of an idle mind over a martini.

Zinshamamma.
I can’t figure out you motivation for moving to Latvia. Your nick suggests that you are a young child’s mom, which makes the move, unless your life partner or you yourself are here for a work assignment, a bit difficult to comprehend. On the other hand, if you’re a retired person here, not for the sunrise, but rather the sunset of life in a “latviska vide”, well, why not…
I have a child who turned 13 today, and I am not at all sure I want him to grow up in Latvia. This is a society on the downslope economically and sinking into political helplessness, botching two chances to get the 100 monkeys off their back. The best and brightest as well as the next best and the next brightest have left for Ireland, encounters with the dregs of society are a frequent everyday experience. As some one put it recently, this is a society of democratic institutions, but not of a democratic mentality.
The aggressive driving is symptomatic of the sick, reckless white-trash attitudes of a lot people, even those who can afford super-expensive, “plātīzera” vehicles.
As for me, I like my work environment, the people there are nice, as they were at my last workplace, but on the whole, I have drifted into an attitude of complete indifference as to whether I live in Latvia or not.  Given the chance to be elsewhere, such as Sweden or the US, I would take it, but given that such chances are rather difficult to come by, having to continue to live in Latvia, well, those are the breaks.

29 Aug 2008

Eurostat: Latvia’s population to sink by 2060

On the bright side, think of the elbow room: By 2060, if one or more demographic trends are not reversed, the population of Latvia will have plummeted to less than 1.7 million, according to a new European Union forecast.

The forecast, released Aug. 26 by the EU’s Luxembourg-based Eurostat service, puts Latvia second only to Bulgaria for the greatest percent loss in population over the next five decades.…

All of us,

Let’s go home, to Latvia.

525,600 minutes per a year,

7/24,

we should think about to increase the population of Latvia.

i wiil go by the evening express (unfortunately, Russian avia companies do not fly, there is no fuel, but huge debts for it.)

BTW, i am in the autumn already. Here is Sept,1, 2008.

Latvian guys ahead for ever!

Juris

Sveiki!

„This is a society on the downslope economically and sinking into political helplessness, botching two chances to get the 100 monkeys off their back.”

Juri, I read LOL sporadically, and perhaps missed the detail.  But, pēc Tavuprāt what were the two chances that were botched?

Lai veicās Tev - nu, lai nu mums visiem veicās,

Elizabete

Elizabete,
I am talking about the two failed referenda. While the threshold figures—at least as many as voted in the last Saeima election in order to validate the referendum (whatever its outcome)-- can be debated, the fact is that this nation lacked the political will to strike a real, binding blow at its arrogant, insufferable political elite. OK, huge percentages, more than 96 % in both cases, vote the “anti-government” side. But there are no signs that these large numbers will consolidate into any kind of political force, parliamentary or otherwise. The political gang, as Kārlis Streips regularly calls them in his blog, succeeded in its goal of creating sufficient numbers of stay at homes, non-participants, to invalidate both referenda. Streips writes that he voted against the pension reform, but VOTED. So he was not with the 96 %, but was one vote toward validating the referendum.
So nothing shakes the coalition of the stupid, arrogant, corrupt mutt parties until 2010. There appear to be no alternatives. The last party calling for an end to the bardaks was Jaunais Laiks, a failure. They kicked off their short period of governance with Mr. Golden Hands getting kicked from the Minister of Health position for double-dipping for operations (state and private fees, the best of both worlds). Also the PR bad timing event of sharply raising cabinet salaries before anyone had done any work. Plus the general freakiness of Einars Repse.
On the economy, watch inflation really hit 20 % by year end, with everyone clueless on issues such as labor productivity. Public sector strikes, private sector bankruptcies, bank bailouts from Stockholm (if not the parent bank itself) as the follies of Swedish finance in Latvia come home to roost. A real estate crash, but much too late to open affordable housing to us middle or whatever class folks (but you still see the 275 000 euro bomžatņiki advertised, as some have for six, eight or more months, hoping for what??).
We are in a New Cold War, but the minister of defense relents on his obsession for a horse guard only a couple of days ago in order to save budget funds. Well, if we are saving on the horsies, unlikely that anyone will spend on building up a stock of TOW missiles or medium term projects to get anti-tank helicopters and the like.
That is a big part of the decisional framework as far as staying or going, to my mind.

Sveiki!

Paldies, Juri K, for your answer.

In light of what’s occurred in Georgia - to say nothing of the deteriorating economic situation in LV - I wouldn’t dream of contradicting your pessimistic message here on LOL.  Undeniably, very tough times are ahead. 

But, I will, however, say that in the last few weeks I’ve been quite surprised that even the most apolitical of my friends & relatives in LV have taken me aback.  When asked whether they participated in either referendum, they look at me as if I were nuts.  Of course, they did.

What’s the saying? ‘It ain’t over until the fat lady sings?’ Well, it’s something like that.

Ar ļoti maigu smaidu,

Elizabete

Juris Kazha et al.,

I took part in the first referendum ,and I am not too pesimistic about the outcome.  President Zatlers mentioned that the turnout was sufficiently great, and gave the Parliament till the end of the year to come up with a solution to the question posed in the referendum, hinting that otherwise he might dissolve the Parliament.  Lets see what happens by the end of the year.

Reading NEWSWEEK SEPTEMBER 8 issue, I came across George F. Will article, “Heepism vs. Elitism, and the following part made me think about the political situation in Latvia.  Quote:

“Charges of “elitism” are hardy perennials, but surely Americans can accept two axioms. The first is: The central principle of republican government is representation, under which the people do not decide issues, they decide who shall decide. The second is: Elections decide not whether elites shall rule but which elites shall rule”.

Visu labu,

So nothing shakes the coalition of the stupid, arrogant, corrupt mutt parties...

The latest nadir in pathetic nincompoopery began yesterday, when the Minister of Justice (law professor and Fatherlander Gaidis Bērziņš) began to muse on restoring the death penalty. He is now joined by the Minister of the Interior, the possible future leader of the People’s Party Mareks Segliņš, musing on holding a referendum on capital punishment. 

If I didn’t live here, I’d suggest getting it over with, withdrawing from the CoE and EU, and joining Belarus, which is where these people belong intellectually, spiritually, and morally.

/P

I found this report in English.

Pierre

Merci, Pierre!

Ah yes, Jānis Šmits, who suggested that being compared to Russia in regard to gay-bashing was a compliment on our civilization vs. the decadence of the West, wherever that is.

/P

“Jānis Šmits, ...” And he’s the chairman of parliament’s human rights committee?!? YIKES!!!

Pierre

Gays are human?

/P