Travelling around Latvia :)

I am sitting in the Orange Bar in Old Riga. Really nice place. I am waiting for the bus to Vilnius to leave in some 1 hour and a half. Finally leaving as I was supposed to leave yesterday but I missed the bus :) Bad connections from the middle of nowhere to come back to Riga :).

But I had a very cool weekend...and adventurous I would say...
We went on a trip in the South East of Latvia, visiting mainly Jekabpils, Daugavpils and Rezekne. Latgale is the name of the region actually. The group was small, me and 4 guys :) Aurelien, Guilamme, Adrien and Patrick. It was so much fun :)....

In Jekabpils, we visited the city center :) of course, some small streets, the bank of Daugava and some church we found in the way. Then we had tea and coffee in a very cheap and also nice pub in the center of the "city" :). In the evening, we were hosted by Marine, a French volunteer. We were cooking and playing cards and having fun and it all ended up with sleeping ...on the floor :D as there were only 2 beds in the flat, where "owners" were sleeping. What was worst is that in the morning the Turkish volunteers came back from the disco making lots of noise..it was terrible...

So after not much sleep and a singing breakfast (listening to music from our origin countries - they liked Iris and Vama Veche :P)...we ran for the bus to Daugavpils. After we walked half of town and had many many snow fights and my shoes started getting wet :D, we managed to get in the crowded bus where I continued my reading of Dracula :D ... (I am enjoying the book so much... ).

In Daugavpils we had Ilona (LCP elect of Riga :D) as a guide. She showed us some main attractions from the city. It is the second biggest city in Latvia and mostly inhabited by Russians :D (around 80%). It is kind of nice :)...

Hasty decision took me to Rezekne afterwards, to some improvised party organised by Giovanni, Italian volunteer. We arrived there and we went into such a nice pub with all these things you sell for tourists, but traditional Latvian:). We spent around 3 hours there waiting for other people to come, but we enjoyed hot wine and the nice atmosphere...

When we finally gathered, we went to the hostel. And here the adventure started, as the guard did not want to let us in. When she finally let us in, she decided that we cannot sleep there and we have to go away at 11. So we went out to this nice place where we played bowling...my first time :D. And I was not that bad :D. I had so much fun!....

But we had to sleep somewhere so we decided that we are getting in the hostel on the window :D so we did, but at around 5 the guard woke up and came into the rooms and started yelling that we have to go out and she even called the police :D....That is why I said adventure :D. When she came with the police, of course that Angelika did not open the door, but yeah it was frightening :D...

Hope they will not have many problems now...

We were back in Riga after a long 5 hours trip and as the bus to Riga was too late for me to catch the bus to Vilnius at 18:45, I missed it :(...But I got some rest and some good sleep at least...


Now leaving for a week in Vilnius to meet Danny and Alisa and then from Friday I am a faci in Synergy :D for the OPS track. I will enjoy it a lot!

What I got out of this weekend was not only having fun and visiting places, but meeting new people and getting to know Latvia behind only Riga and people in Riga. I got to know and see small cities, how people act and how life is in these cities...I enjoyed it a lot!

Thanks my dear Auri :)

Till the next adventure, enjoy snowing spring!

For the crazy ones :)

Cleaning-up Riga

This weekend was really amazing. I felt like I can do again something for the environment I am leaving in.

Maggie, German volunteer in Riga, initiated the project concerning Cleaning-up Riga!
So we gathered around 12 volunteers and some Latvians (small number I would say) to clean up a region of the capital city :). Maggie chose for this the bank of Daugava, the river crossing through the city. it was really awful view and we did a great job I think! We collected 50 bags of rubbish and we left a much cleaner place to walk on.

For me, this is not the first experience of working with cleaning the environment but it is the first one I do abroad. So it was very cool to see that volunteers from France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands and Romania :) caring for the city of Riga, not our country at all. I wish only we could have made this more public so more people join us. Otherwise, I feel that Latvians do not care so much, or at least the ones we asked :)...

You can see some pictures below and more in my album!
Hope to make this public, trying to put it now in some newspapers!

Enjoy clean environment and don't trow away rubbish!

Uploaded new pictures!

You can find most of the pictures from my last 9 months in Latvia at the following link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/anca.silaghi

If the world was made of 100 people

I guess we have heard about this comparison lots of times, but are we doing something?

When does it end, when does it start again?

I was wondering if in life one of the hardest part is to let go...To let go people, to let go things you have worked at and put passion in, to let go places, to let go memories...

I have experiences in the last years many moments like these ones. I had to let go my parents, hometown, friends when moving to Timisoara for university. I had to let go then my LC where I was working so much, where I was building ideas and mostly friends. I had to leave it for the next people to come, with their ideas. I had to let go family and friends again when coming to Latvia. I was moving from home for one year, to a different country, different language, different people I did not know at all! I did this also and everything was fine, I survived!

But now I have to let go love. I know that I have to let it go forever. I know I have to let him go forever. It might come back, but under another face. A better one maybe, a different one for sure! I am saying good bye to you, my love, may life treat you well!

And after all this will pass, I will have to let go also to Latvia. My host country for a year. My home, lovely friends, lots of heart and effort put in, lots of unslept nights, lots of stress and worries. Everything will become past in 3 months! Only 3 months or even less. I am leaving Latvia at the end of May! Time passed so fast and now, more than before, I feel I don't wanna leave. yes, I miss home, I miss my folks, but somehow I love Latvia for its unique experience it gave to me!

So this is me now, learning to let go again...what is next?

Silence, I kill you :)

I totally like it and I enjoyed it. I hope you will also :)

The earth in miniature

Are we really doing something against it each day?

Updates from my life currently

Still in Riga. Have still 3 more months to live here and finish my MC term. Enjoying a very very small start of Spring in Latvia:). Enjoying my MC team a lot. Enjoying Latvian lessons with Jana and weekends spent at her place.

But what have I been doing lately?

- today I participated in LC Riga legislative meeting (they have voted their first compendium :)..and selected a new LCP. Congratz Ilona:) it will be challenging, but beautiful:).

- had a great EVS mid-term training, had loads of fun and relaxing time while getting to know new people. Had fun on Hungarian-Romanian relations and how people mistake Bucharest with Budapest :). Also realised how cool project I am involved in and how cool AIESEC is :P. And decided to work on my Latvian:) that is why I am taking lessons with Jana.:P
Pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.lv/okisLV/20080218Evs

- spent weekends at Jana's place. Feel like home. Her family is very nice and welcoming. The house is on the shore of a lake:P and they have sauna.

-BTW, got into the snow just after sauna. Yes, me; I rolled in the snow just in my swimming suit :) after some 1 hour spent in the sauna. Another first time in life happening in Latvia :)

- getting ready for the future :P well, thinking too much lately on what to do when I am back in Romania. Well, so now I am just taking things easy and decided to see when I get there :D

-Love my MC team; I totally enjoy spending time with them. will miss Latvia and them :( and Karums :(

- had a cool Valentine's Day with Jana, Evita, Lelde and Laura. We had fun watching stupid american movies and eating ice-cream :). You can see pictures on my web album, http://picasaweb.google.com/anca.silaghi.



This is me now :P Don't get confused by the rose :)