Who here lives in Europe?

Maroon said:
I'm from Riga, Latvia, I guess I'm the only Baltic person here, but I bet there must be some Scandinavians.
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I've been to Latvia several times as a kid. I have fond memories of trying to learn the Lettish language. I still remember: paldies (thank you), ludzu (please), and balta maize (white bread). By the way you're not the only Baltic poster here, we had someone named *woman* from Estonia, but she doesn't post here anymore.:)
 
Moskvichka said:
I've been to Latvia several times as a kid. I have fond memories of trying to learn the Lettish language. I still remember: paldies (thank you), ludzu (please), and balta maize (white bread). By the way you're not the only Baltic poster here, we had someone named *woman* from Estonia, but she doesn't post here anymore.:)
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Oh, that's nice. :) Did you get to sea the beach?
 
Maroon said:
Oh, that's nice. :) Did you get to sea the beach?
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Yes I swam in that COLD Baltic sea. I also picked a lot of blueberries and mushrooms. I hope Latvia is still as beautiful as it was in the late eighties/early nineties (the way I remember). I was a kid, and my mom and I, we lived in Saulkrasti and we used to go to the beach, and then we'd go to a restaurant called Varavva (means mermaid, right?), and then we'd go to the woods and pick blueberries. And not only that but I remember the four parts of Latvia: Kurzeme, Latgale, Zemgale and Vidzeme. And in Latgale, the traditional clothing is a read cloak. Also I remember Sigulda and the ancient castles, on the Gauia river. I remember one little town on the Daugava river where we lived one summer, I can't remember the name but it must have been very diverse at some point because it had four churches: Lutheran, Orthodox, Catholic and Baptist. And in the woods of that town there was an old abandoned Jewish cemetery, so there must have been Jews there at some point, too. But probably one of the dictators did away with them. And of course I remember Ligo! I still see in front of my eyes, it was a Ligo celebration one summer before the independence. They sang and danced on stage, and one man in the audience was waving a big flag of Latvia, which wasn't official yet. That's why I tried to learn a little Lettish and speak it when I went to the store - out of respect.

And to think that I've lived in the US for 15 years! And I still remember my childhood in such detail.
 
Moskvichka said:
Yes I swam in that COLD Baltic sea. I also picked a lot of blueberries and mushrooms. I hope Latvia is still as beautiful as it was in the late eighties/early nineties (the way I remember). I was a kid, and my mom and I, we lived in Saulkrasti and we used to go to the beach, and then we'd go to a restaurant called Varavva (means mermaid, right?), and then we'd go to the woods and pick blueberries. And not only that but I remember the four parts of Latvia: Kurzeme, Latgale, Zemgale and Vidzeme. And in Latgale, the traditional clothing is a read cloak. Also I remember Sigulda and the ancient castles, on the Gauia river. I remember one little town on the Daugava river where we lived one summer, I can't remember the name but it must have been very diverse at some point because it had four churches: Lutheran, Orthodox, Catholic and Baptist. And in the woods of that town there was an old abandoned Jewish cemetery, so there must have been Jews there at some point, too. But probably one of the dictators did away with them. And of course I remember Ligo! I still see in front of my eyes, it was a Ligo celebration one summer before the independence. They sang and danced on stage, and one man in the audience was waving a big flag of Latvia, which wasn't official yet. That's why I tried to learn a little Lettish and speak it when I went to the store - out of respect.

And to think that I've lived in the US for 15 years! And I still remember my childhood in such detail.
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Wow, I'm totally amazed and impressed how well acquainted you are with Latvia. It's amazing that you lived in Saulkrasti, because most Russians live in Riga and other bigger cities. And the Ligo festival is the biggest of the year, of course.. and you were there at such a moment, I'm glad you experienced that. :)
 
Maroon said:
Wow, I'm totally amazed and impressed how well acquainted you are with Latvia. It's amazing that you lived in Saulkrasti, because most Russians live in Riga and other bigger cities. And the Ligo festival is the biggest of the year, of course.. and you were there at such a moment, I'm glad you experienced that. :)
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Wait Maroon, I think I didn't make myself clear: my family didn't actually live in Latvia, we're from Moscow (as my screen name proudly states:D), but we spent many summers in Latvia because my family were friends with a Latvian family from Saulkrasti. So we used to live at their house in the summer, and one other summer we rented a room in that other town with many churches. My mom still keeps in touch with her friends from Saulkrasti, especially one lady named Laila who is my mother's age, and Laila actually came to visit us in the U.S. one time.

And yeah I know many local Latvian Russians live in Riga, my cousin here actually married a Russian lady from Riga, and another friend of mine still has a sister there. I know that those Russians sometimes don't want to learn the Lettish language, and I don't agree with that. I live in the U.S. and I learned the language in two years. If you live in a country with its own language - be so kind, learn it!
 
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