So I have a lot to update about...I kinda forgot to do it and when I set time to do it, I got sick... yeah. So Basically there was an International Dialogue Day on September 30th. It was fun. The opening part was kinda boring only cause I couldn't understand what they were saying. It was basically Karlina Vīksna and Ieva Vīksna opening it, with some other speakers like Tachy Cazal, who is the AFS International President. He's a funny guy. They asked where everybody was from, by blurting out countries names. Since Allie and I were the only Americans, I decided to yell out a bit. It was good. It felt tense in the room, to me, and it kinda let things down. After the opening part, we went across a street into another building where the party would soon start. But before that, we had to make presentations and do a couple activities and draw circles. The presentations went well and was basically about what we thought is where the most intercultural learning is taking place from the perspective of the exchange students. Then was the circles. Yes, we literally sat there drawing circles for five to ten minutes. It was to get only the positive thoughts into out minds and don't worry, 500 other people around Europe did the same...not just us crazy people over here in Latvia. After the circles, a band started playing and the party started. I gave my camera to Artūrs...He goes crazy with pictures if you give him one. So that night we were all just kinda meeting people and making new friends, except for the dancers, they were dancing...
AFS 20th Anniversary Events (October 1st-3rd)
The next day, October 1st, was AFS Latvia's 20th anniversary. We met at the Brīvdabas Musejs (Open-Air Museum) and we saw all the AFS people dressed in traditional Latvian costumes. We had to slow run around a building for a piece of Rupjmaize, which is Latvian Bread. It's black and is made only in Latvia. I still don't understand why we had to slow run, nobody ever explained. But after, we had lunch. WE went on a small little walk to another area where they served more traditional Latvian foods. It's actually really good. The food we ate were some kind of bean (I don't know the name) with what looked like quinoa, with a sauce on top. It was good, but I till don't know what was in the sauce. Then we walked back to the place that we began. There was the Rīgas Sarkan Koirs that came and sang somewhere in the day. They were good!:D We did a bunch of workshops, and Artūrs told me to provide music. So I did. I decided to bring Eva's guitar last minute and it apparently was a good idea. So I sat alone, while everyone else was working, with the exception of a few people coming over to say hi, like Madara, Katherine, and Gustars. Gustars was confused at what I was doing...It was kinda obvious as to what I was doing...I was playing. After the workshops, there was dancing! Traditional Latvian dances of course. They were both partner dances, and the first one was really simple and kinda slow paced, and the second one, I think it was called the Tūdaliņ Tāgadiņ, was faster paced and a group dance. Four people in a circle (two guys and two girls) and dance. I don't really know how to explain it though...there was a shortage of dancers, so I was in a circle with three other girls. Later that night we went to a dinner at a restaurant which was actually a really cool place. It was underground and looked cool. We just sat around talking there. There was this dude from Finland (his accent was cool!) there too. Someone approached him and said that he forgot who they were at some other event. And there he was, sitting there and trying to explain himself and apologizing. It was funny, but you would have to have been there.
The next day was a formal event. We met at the Rīgas Latvian Society House and the beginning, opening part was quite boring, again. Again Karlina introduced who was there. After that, we broke off into two groups: English Speaking, and Latvian Speaking. WE basically worked the time we were in those two groups. We were changing the Call for Action. It's about intercultural learning and how we can get more people to do it. We made it more efficient(?) and more interesting to the younger audiences. I found it quite boring to read at first though. Then was a coffee break (water break in my case) and then basically home. Later that night we went to a formal "ball" they called it, but I didn't see it so much as a ball. It was similar to the Mormon New Year's Dance except rather than dance/pop music, there was a live band playing jazzy music. Towards the beginning, there was a choir that came and sing, I forget the name of the choir but they were famous around Latvia. And there was this dude in the choir, he was hilarious to watch! He reminded me of the Will Ferrell from Blades of Glory. He was very entertaining to watch because of the facial expressions he made while singing! Then there was this other women in the choir who looked angry while singing...like she absolutely hated the director! It was entertaining. Then the ball started people started talking or dancing, or eating. It was fun. We got Eva online but nobody wanted to talk to her on Skype except me, Agnese and Aija. I didn't see Edgars during the ball. So it was kinda disappointing that nobody spoke to her about Costa Rica and her time down there. When we left, they gave us jars of medus (honey) which I had to help tie along with Ieva Slišāne and Rebeka (something) and there were a lot. So I'm glad that they were given to us for free. The next day was a guided tour around Old Rīga. I go to school in Old Rīga so I didn't need to go, but I went anyways. Karlina was our tour guide and she told us that she doesn't really know the history of Rīga. Later she told me that half the things she was saying were lies. hahah it was funny. So, when Karlina didn't want to talk, she told the Danish woman who was with us to explain it. She happened to be a historian. Bur she couln't explain it all in English, so she said it in Danish. It was cool to hear. There are a lot of cool places in Old Rīga and a lot of cool back-ways into little, secret, old fashioned looking places. Including a Black Magic restaurant!!
So on tuesday, I wasn't well at school so I went home straight after school. Apparently I got a virus that my neighbor had the week before. It sucks. I still have it but I feel wayyy better. So I just sit in my bed and play guitar, and such. And sleeeeeeeppppp. It's good to catch up on some sleep.
Teachers' Day
Oh! So on September 1st, it was teachers' day at my school. So i decided to teach English (go figure) along with my friends Niks and Diāna. This was the same day that I brought the guitar to the AFS thing. If I had not done so, then we would be sitting in the class asking the American questions about the US. It got quiet at some points. There was this kid, who I found very creepy, staring at me the entire time, with a blank expression on his face, and the first time he speaks, he asks: "Do you have Skype?" I said yeah why? and he asked: "Can I have it." it didn't even sound like a question. More like a statement. That's the only thing he said the entire time. I didn't answer him but he then continued to stare at me the same exact way, blankly.
School
School here is going well! For some reason, I only receive marks in three of my classes: English, Biology, and Math. English, I'm top of the class. Biology I understand, many of the Latvian words are the same in English. Math I have a four. It's on a 10 point scale. This is because he math here is different the American math, when I figured it'd be the same. My skolotaj looks as if she is doing whatever she pleases to the equation. She doesn't accept some of my methods of solving some things. On a test, I rationalized the denominator cause I had a Square root down there. It was marked wrong and my teacher wrote "Kapec?? Tas nevari darīt." Basically means "Why? You can't do that." I hate the Math here. Last year, I switched from the easier class to honors. Now, I want to switch from the only math class, to an easier one. hahaha But she doesn't speak English. Only my Latvian Language teacher, psychology teacher, the director speak. Everyone else does not outside of saying Good Morning. So all my other classes are great, just not Math. I know Mr. Chrispeels sent this blog to the Poway high teachers so I figured I'd post something for them.
So that's it! If you want to know something, ask! :)
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