Thanksgiving

Hello again! I'm still here! I apologize for the lack of posts over the last month and a half- we've been without internet in our apartment for the last three weeks, which makes things decidedly harder. For the three weeks prior to that I have no excuse (insert sheepish look here). But here I am, back on track, with a lot to share!

This past week was our Thanksgiving retreat, and it was a wonderfully fun and relaxing time. Our country team (Jeff, Erica, and me, plus Andy and Timon from Vologda) spent the better part of the week in Riga, Latvia. It is a beautiful city and we rented an apartment smack dab in the middle of the historic (read:tourist) district. We're talking cobblestone streets, beautiful architechture, and cathedrals around every corner. We spent a fair amount of time just walking around and exploring the city. Erica and Timon are photographers, so we have no end of amazing pictures from the week. There was a whole photo shoot in front of some cool, weathered doors we found in Jelgava (very CD cover-esque). The perfectionist in me wanted to wait to post this until I got the pictures from them, but that's how I got in this mess in the first place!

This retreat was almost like a small getaway to America. First of all, it was English only the whole time! When I'm in the states I tend to underestimate the value of simply understanding what's being said around me. Even in the stores and restaurants most people spoke English. And one night Jeff took us all out to dinner at T.G.I.Fridays! They also have a great store there, Stockman's, that sells a lot of American brands. I bought a can of Dr. Pepper there for only 70 cents. The only Dr. Pepper I've found in St. Pete was $4 for a can! That's definitely not happening. But the best part is that they have a movie theater there that shows movies in English. Jeff, Erica, and I saw the new Harry Potter movie- or rather, Harijs Poters. I wanted a picture in front of that movie poster so badly, but when we tried to do it a security guard came up and stopped us.

In addition to all our explorations, we spent a fair amount of time just chilling in our little apartment. We watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Santa Clause" and a lot of "Big Bang Theory," which Andy had on his computer. We played a few games of Settlers and Dutch Blitz, made up nicknames, took (and subsequently laughed at) surreptitious pictures and videos of each other, and just generally enjoyed one another's company. All in all, it was a great time, and just the break I needed.

In parting, here are some of the pictures I took while we were there. Most of the cool ones of the city are on other people's cameras. I'll add more on my "Pictures" page once I've gotten them from everyone.

Timon playing the air-saxophone on a street

corner. He actually kept it up for almost 10

minutes, and even got 3 Lat (about $1.50)!

Strikingly similar Russian and American

political posters... in a Latvian store window.

I guess some things are universal! :)