So yesterday, we had an assembly at school. It was for Latvijas dzimšanas diena, the 18th of November (today). And basically, there were two different choirs from our school, a couple of solo singers, and four girls dressed in traditional Latvian dresses saying stuff about Latvia and two other speakers. Then at the end, we played "Dzimtā Valoda" by Līvi. The first assembly was for the 7th and 8th graders, then the 9th and 10th graders, then the 11th and 12th graders. Personally, the best assembly was the 11th and 12th graders. Much more responsive to all of the performances made by everybody. One guy who was a really good singer, sang an apparently really popular song and then a second song for the last one. When we played for the final performance, it went really well. After we finished, they wanted us to play more, and so we did. The drummer started out with an average speed tempo, then we both looked at each other and said that we should play something fast. It was great!! Deeply satisfied. :D But I noticed that nobody filmed the entire assembly! There was a photographer, but nobody filming. Oh well, it was reallyy fun. :D
Today, is Latvia's birthday, and there is going to be fireworks at night, and light shows all around Rīga. I'm going to go to Rīga, visit Allie in the hospital, again, and then go to see "Shining Rīga" (the light shows). It will be cool. :D And there is already a Christmas tree in front of Origo, the train station. The tradition of having and decorating a Christmas tree started here in Rīga. :D
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
November 13, 2010
On Monday, my class went on an excursion to a place where there was a battle on Christmas Eve, if I remember correctly. The entire excursion was really fun and at one point, the tour guide person dude asked me my name in Latvian, but I couldn't answer. Nor did I understand what he said. It was so basic that I should have understood, but no... :/ Anyways, at one point, we all put on WWII gas masks and had a small competition of the Latvians against the Germans. I was on the German team. The competition was to put on the gas mask, and then run through a little course and beat the other team. Nobody knew who won. In the latter part of the excursion, we took torches and walked a good little time into the swamp to a monument. The monument was a large wooden sword and though nobody translated this part of the excursion, I know that it was something really important, cause there was no laughing and atmosphere had a sense of import to it. After the man finished speaking, a bunch of fireworks shot up from behind the monument. It was cool.
On Tuesday in choir, we were given a song in English to sing!! It was the "One Horse Open Sleigh". I got all excited, then the choir teacher said, "now we will translate the lyrics to Latvian." while looking at me haha. Then he wondered if I could say a certain word in Latvian. I found it was similar to the word "Šķiņķis", which means ham. It's also my favorite word in Latvian, it's just fun to say! But its still fun despite the fact that its translated to Latvian and not in the original melody. The other song we were given is called "Ak Svēti Nakts" and it sounds like a really calm song.
On Wednesday, the people in my class wanted me to bring my football (not soccer ball :P) to sports class so we could throw around a bit. Not much happened on Wednesday...It's a lazy day. Classes start at 10:00 for class 11E and it's just really short.
Thursday, the choir teachers weren't there because they were in New York for their job. They both sing in a professional choir, go figure. So no choir that I knew of. So I hung out with Artūrs and threw the football with another guy from our school, Rihards. We went to the park, it is like Central Park, except small, and in Rīga. That's what I think of it at least. When we were there, there were these seventh graders who were REALLY annoying. They kept repeating everything we said, and I noticed that right when the National Guard went to the top of the hill, they left, immediately. Artūrs threw the ball off the hill once by accident, so did I, and we had to chase the ball down the hill having to jump down a couple places cause the hill was made more or less like a terrace. It was fairly close to the moat (yes there is a legit moat!!) So we ran to get it before the ball bounced into it. But it never did. It was a fun day. :D
Friday was band practice day and I also had to give a presentation in the freshman English class. It went well and this one kid, who was very curious about America and Thailand, asked many questions, as you can imagine. During band practice, I had the four-string fretless bass that my neighbor let me borrow. The practice went well and afterward, me and the drummer, Nils, I think, had a good jam session and it was set at a fast pace. So it was really fun. We have a concert on the 17th of November and I am excited. :D It's going great.
:D
On Tuesday in choir, we were given a song in English to sing!! It was the "One Horse Open Sleigh". I got all excited, then the choir teacher said, "now we will translate the lyrics to Latvian." while looking at me haha. Then he wondered if I could say a certain word in Latvian. I found it was similar to the word "Šķiņķis", which means ham. It's also my favorite word in Latvian, it's just fun to say! But its still fun despite the fact that its translated to Latvian and not in the original melody. The other song we were given is called "Ak Svēti Nakts" and it sounds like a really calm song.
On Wednesday, the people in my class wanted me to bring my football (not soccer ball :P) to sports class so we could throw around a bit. Not much happened on Wednesday...It's a lazy day. Classes start at 10:00 for class 11E and it's just really short.
Thursday, the choir teachers weren't there because they were in New York for their job. They both sing in a professional choir, go figure. So no choir that I knew of. So I hung out with Artūrs and threw the football with another guy from our school, Rihards. We went to the park, it is like Central Park, except small, and in Rīga. That's what I think of it at least. When we were there, there were these seventh graders who were REALLY annoying. They kept repeating everything we said, and I noticed that right when the National Guard went to the top of the hill, they left, immediately. Artūrs threw the ball off the hill once by accident, so did I, and we had to chase the ball down the hill having to jump down a couple places cause the hill was made more or less like a terrace. It was fairly close to the moat (yes there is a legit moat!!) So we ran to get it before the ball bounced into it. But it never did. It was a fun day. :D
Friday was band practice day and I also had to give a presentation in the freshman English class. It went well and this one kid, who was very curious about America and Thailand, asked many questions, as you can imagine. During band practice, I had the four-string fretless bass that my neighbor let me borrow. The practice went well and afterward, me and the drummer, Nils, I think, had a good jam session and it was set at a fast pace. So it was really fun. We have a concert on the 17th of November and I am excited. :D It's going great.
:D
Saturday, November 6, 2010
November 6, 2010
I had a choir concert on Thursday the 4th. It went really well! Two nights before the concert was the last rehearsal before the concert and that went well cause we only did a certain amount of the songs that we actually sang. But that night, after the rehearsal, the choir teacher gave me about five-six songs to learn... I ended up not looking at them until the warm-up on the day of the concert. :/ But despite that, I was able to sing the songs!!! to some degree at least... and another choir came and joined us. That was what the other songs were for, singing in a collaborated choir. The songs we sang were: "Latvju Zeme Vaļā Stāv", "Miķeļa Tirgus", "Lačabērni", "Tiltu Zvani Dunēt Sāk", "Zida Sparniem, Vienos Pelnos", "Mosties, Celies, Strādā", "Mana Dziesma", "Saule, Pērkons, Daugava", "Tā Dziedāja Martiņš", "Septiņi Brīnumi", "Daugavas Kraustā", and "Garais Starpbrīdis". They were all fun to sing. :D The director of the school was surprised to see me in the choir. I don't know why, I told him that I joined the choir. Oh well. After the concert, there was a party in the concert hall. I went to that and it was fun.
On Wednesday the 3rd, Fabiola, Allie and I had to go to the Immigration Department to get our Residency Permits. It took a while, but at least I got to leave school early that day. I also brought my football to the school and threw it around a bit in the hallway on the fourth floor. At the Immigration Department, I noticed that the Missionaries walked in. They were from Idaho and Oregon, and they were getting a residency permit for their new companion from Alberta, Canada. So i started up a conversation with them, and then Ieva and Allie noticed, Allie got excited, and then when I had to get the residency permit, Allie started to barrage them with questions. Then, when the missionaries were leaving, the most senior companion gave Allie his personal copy of the Book of Mormon, in Latvian. So now she has one! :D
Yesterday, I went to a school rock band thingy's practice. Like i said last time, I am going to play bass for them. We are playing Dzimtā Valoda by Līvi. I didn't practice with them yesterday becuase I didn't know when we were going to practice and therefore didn't have the bass. I think Im going to use the four-string fret-less bass, cause Kirils needed the five-string fretted to record a song. (He is my neighbor who is letting my borrow a bass) But I just got finished learning the song today. It's very easy for bass. And next friday or anytime sooner, we have another practice. It will be fun. :D
On Wednesday the 3rd, Fabiola, Allie and I had to go to the Immigration Department to get our Residency Permits. It took a while, but at least I got to leave school early that day. I also brought my football to the school and threw it around a bit in the hallway on the fourth floor. At the Immigration Department, I noticed that the Missionaries walked in. They were from Idaho and Oregon, and they were getting a residency permit for their new companion from Alberta, Canada. So i started up a conversation with them, and then Ieva and Allie noticed, Allie got excited, and then when I had to get the residency permit, Allie started to barrage them with questions. Then, when the missionaries were leaving, the most senior companion gave Allie his personal copy of the Book of Mormon, in Latvian. So now she has one! :D
Yesterday, I went to a school rock band thingy's practice. Like i said last time, I am going to play bass for them. We are playing Dzimtā Valoda by Līvi. I didn't practice with them yesterday becuase I didn't know when we were going to practice and therefore didn't have the bass. I think Im going to use the four-string fret-less bass, cause Kirils needed the five-string fretted to record a song. (He is my neighbor who is letting my borrow a bass) But I just got finished learning the song today. It's very easy for bass. And next friday or anytime sooner, we have another practice. It will be fun. :D
Monday, November 1, 2010
Halloween and such. (11.01.2010)
So last week I had a break in school. So me and Allie decided to go on vacation and we chose to go to Liepāja. It's in the west of Latvia. It was fun. In the middle of Liepāja there is a giant guitar and near it, hand-prints of famous Latvian musicians. By some park, there was a giant drum set! It was cool to see. And the leaves on the trees there were all changing colors and most of them were a brilliant yellow color. We went walking around at night, just going places, and there was this one car that zipped around the corner really fast. It scared the heck out of us. I think it was a BMW too! The hotel we stayed in was the Fontaine Hotel. We were allowed to make anything we wanted in the kitchen, so we did. One night, we made some weird bread thing that I thought looked like a tortilla. Then Allie was complaining about having a sore throat, and eventually, on the last day, she went to the hospital.
On the day before Halloween, I went with a couple friends, Ieva Slišāne, Anna Bluķe, another Ieva (I forget her last name), to a party. There, we met up with Jānis Ruško and his friend (whose name escapes me...), Martiņš, Gustars Šulcs, Napon Suzuki and Mint. We were there until 3am or so. There we danced, and played a card game called "We Will Rock You". It was basically a game of rhythm, obviously to the beat of We Will Rock You. You had to perform hand motions on beat to the rhythm, and if you missed it, the you would get a bomb card. If you messed up, you had to give all you action cards to someone else and then they'd have to perform their original action AND the actions of the cards you gave them. We piled them onto Gustars at one point and it was fun. After the party, we all went our ways. Aija said that it would be better to stay at someones house, and Ieva said that it was no problem staying at hers. So went there along with the other Ieva, made pizza, and tea, talked until 5am, and then went to bed. That same day, we woke up at about 11 or so, made breakfast and hung around for awhile. Then i decided to go home, after looking at Ieva's paintings and drawings (which were really good) at about 2. I wasn't home until about 5 or 6 pm. When I got home, i had thirty minutes or so to eat, get cleaned up, look formal-ish, and then go to another house for a dinner. We went to the flat of one of the acquaintances of my host-family. The flat was amazingly lavished! So yeah there we had dinner (obviously) and after, we played Uno after a little bit of playing on the drum-set their son had. I learned how to play the drum-line to "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Starlight" by Muse (just the intro/main part). So that was fun too. :D
When I went to pick up the package that my family sent me, I forgo to grab my passport...I realized this on the train to Carnikava... But I wrote down my number on a card that my dad gave me when he handed me my passport. So it was all good. Getting the package took like twenty minutes and I was using like three different forms of ID that I had with me, my California ID, Passport number card thingy, and my ISIC (International Student Identification Card). I got it, then waited like an hour to catch the next train to Kalngale. It is something I do not look forward to doing again in the future.
In school, some dude asked me to play in the school band. Not an orchestral band, but a rock band. This school doesn't have a school team, but has a school rock band?? Forši. So they told me to learn Dzimtā Valoda by Līvi. I will eventually. I just haven't found a good tab for it. So that's kinda it.
On the day before Halloween, I went with a couple friends, Ieva Slišāne, Anna Bluķe, another Ieva (I forget her last name), to a party. There, we met up with Jānis Ruško and his friend (whose name escapes me...), Martiņš, Gustars Šulcs, Napon Suzuki and Mint. We were there until 3am or so. There we danced, and played a card game called "We Will Rock You". It was basically a game of rhythm, obviously to the beat of We Will Rock You. You had to perform hand motions on beat to the rhythm, and if you missed it, the you would get a bomb card. If you messed up, you had to give all you action cards to someone else and then they'd have to perform their original action AND the actions of the cards you gave them. We piled them onto Gustars at one point and it was fun. After the party, we all went our ways. Aija said that it would be better to stay at someones house, and Ieva said that it was no problem staying at hers. So went there along with the other Ieva, made pizza, and tea, talked until 5am, and then went to bed. That same day, we woke up at about 11 or so, made breakfast and hung around for awhile. Then i decided to go home, after looking at Ieva's paintings and drawings (which were really good) at about 2. I wasn't home until about 5 or 6 pm. When I got home, i had thirty minutes or so to eat, get cleaned up, look formal-ish, and then go to another house for a dinner. We went to the flat of one of the acquaintances of my host-family. The flat was amazingly lavished! So yeah there we had dinner (obviously) and after, we played Uno after a little bit of playing on the drum-set their son had. I learned how to play the drum-line to "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Starlight" by Muse (just the intro/main part). So that was fun too. :D
When I went to pick up the package that my family sent me, I forgo to grab my passport...I realized this on the train to Carnikava... But I wrote down my number on a card that my dad gave me when he handed me my passport. So it was all good. Getting the package took like twenty minutes and I was using like three different forms of ID that I had with me, my California ID, Passport number card thingy, and my ISIC (International Student Identification Card). I got it, then waited like an hour to catch the next train to Kalngale. It is something I do not look forward to doing again in the future.
In school, some dude asked me to play in the school band. Not an orchestral band, but a rock band. This school doesn't have a school team, but has a school rock band?? Forši. So they told me to learn Dzimtā Valoda by Līvi. I will eventually. I just haven't found a good tab for it. So that's kinda it.
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