Here we are, on our last evening in Latvia, packing things up and cleaning the apartment. I can remember sometime during our third week or so, I said to Don, "We've been here awhile, and we have six more weeks to go! Isn't that great?" Well, time went by quickly, as it usually does when you are enjoying yourself, and it is now time to go.
While I am looking forward to going home, I am extremely sad to be leaving this wonderful country. This has been a magical place for me -- a place where I am around people who love music as much as I do. I don't know anyone here, and I am a nobody in a big sea of people, but this has been such a special place for me. I just wish I could go back home and encourage the people around me to make music an important part of their life. Music has a profoundly positive effect on our physical health, our mental health, and our social life. There is nothing else like it. Latvians have figured that out; most Americans haven't.
I am profoundly grateful to the Eli Lilly Foundation, because without their grant, I would never have been able to come to Latvia. My life has been transformed; my appreciation of and love for music has been multiplied many times over. I will never look at music the same way.
My goal is to come back to this awe-inspiring place. I want to bring my choirs here. I want them to sing in these beautiful churches. I want them to feel the magic that I have felt while I have been here. I want them to grow to love and appreciate music more than they ever have before. I want them to sing with so much joy that they are lifted to a higher place -- a spiritual realm that they have never visited before.
Good-bye, Riga. Good-bye, blog. And good-bye readers. May we continue to raise our voices together in song.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
The Things I Have Learned About Latvians
Since we spent a couple of months here, we have been able to observe a lot of people, and Latvian people have some definite "quirks" that I thought I would share with you.
1) They will knock you out of their way and not say "excuse me." Several times I have been sideswiped by a Latvian, and I never heard a "pardon" or anything that sounded like it. I guess they get tired of having a lot of foreigners around and have decided to treat them rudely.
2) The women like to wear dresses or skirts. Don and I have noticed that a lot of the women wear dresses. One day we decided to take a count while we were walking along. Don counted the slacks/shorts wearers, and I counted the dress/skirt wearers. We only counted for three or four blocks, and I can't remember the final number, but the dress/skirt wearers beat out the slacks/shorts wearers two to one.
3) Baby buggies are in. I haven't seen a baby buggy for decades, but they are all over the place here. Babies are pushed in strollers, too, but there are an awful lot of baby buggies. Maybe they are coming back in the US, also, and I just haven't noticed.
4) They like to drink beer. If you are 18 or older, you can drink beer in Latvia. Almost everyone does so. While there have been some Friday evenings when we have noticed that it was getting drunk out, most of the time drunkenness doesn't seem to be a problem at all.
5) If you aren't careful, they will cut in line right in front of you. For example, Don was standing in line at a Narvesan store this morning, waiting patiently, and just before he got up to the register, a lady shoved her things onto the counter in front of him. The next lady tried to do it, too, but he was prepared for it and put his items on the counter first. She gave him a dirty look. Too bad, so sad.
6) They eat a lot. We have been to several restaurants, and the portions of food have been huge. If we had been smart, we would have shared a meal.
7) The women like to wear high heels -- not just the kind with 2" heels, but the ones with 4" heels. I have no idea how they are able to walk on the brick and cobblestone sidewalks and streets around here, but they seem to be able to do it very well.
8) They love flowers. There are flower stands all over the place, and you constantly see people carrying bouquets of flowers. Many times they carry them upside down. I supposed there is a reason for that, but I don't know what it is.
9) They are proud of their heritage. When special holidays take place, many Latvians bring out their folk costumes and wear them proudly. They show their pride every time their national anthem is played. They sing along as though it is expected of them.
10) They love to sing folk songs and do folk dances. The children begin learning folk songs when they are very young and continue to sing them throughout their school years. For that reason, everyone knows them. At the Ligo festival (summer solstice), there were some people up on stage singing folk songs, and everyone around us was joining in and singing boisterously -- men and women both. I was quite impressed. They also take their folk dancing seriously. It is always so much fun to see them perform them so well.
11) They make a lot of U-turns. It must not be against the law to do so in Latvia, because everyone does it. We even saw a chartered bus do it the other day.
12) They aren't in a rush to do anything. When you eat in Latvia, you don't want to be in a hurry. They usually wait on you right away and bring the drinks. However, it then takes forever for your food to be served. After you are finished eating and they have cleared your table, you wait quite a while to get the check. If we are in a hurry, I will usually tell them that we are ready for our check when they clear our dishes. There are restaurants where you don't have to wait -- McDonald's is one, of course, as well as a popular restaurant called "Lido." It is a smorgasbord type of deal where you walk down a line and tell them what you want and then pay for it right away.
13) A lot of men carry bags or purses. They aren't the same purses or bags that the women carry, of course. They are more manly looking. Our contact here in Riga had told me that before we came, but I was still surprised to see the number of men who do so. It is not safe to put your wallet in your back pocket, so the men keep their money in a bag or a purse.
14) They like to smoke. A lot of residents smoke cigarettes, and they start very young. The Latvian cigarettes are much skinnier than our American cigarettes. However, they still reek as bad as the American ones.
15) They love music in general. You see street musicians everywhere, and people really appreciate them. (Although I have heard that some people resent them because they think the street musicians do that instead of having a normal, responsible job.)
16) They are willing to pay money to go to the bathroom. In most public places (not restaurants), if a public restroom is available, it costs you around 30 cents to use it. In one place, there was no toilet paper in the restrooms. As you paid your money, you took the amount of toilet paper that you think you needed and then proceeded to the bathroom. It was rather embarrassing. If you got a lot of toilet paper, everyone knew you were going to do a Number 2.
17) People wheel huge carts onto the street and sell their wares from them. Around 9:00 in the morning, you will see several people pushing the carts out into the streets. The carts have a lid on them that raises up, and the people display their wares in the top of the cart and inside the lid. The carts have storage space in the bottom, and when it is time to close up, the merchants pack up their things and store them on the inside of the bottom of the cart. I imagine there are carts like that in big cities in the US, but I haven't seen them.
18) People love to feed the birds, and you can tell by the number of pigeons and sea gulls that strut around on the streets. The birds are so used to being around people that they walk right among them. If you aren't careful, you might trip over one.
19) Latvians love nature. The parks here are beautiful, and they are used by people all the time. There are benches spread throughout the parks, and there are always people sitting on them enjoying the nice weather and spending some time with their friends or significant others.
20) They are not ashamed to show their affection toward one another. This can be rather embarrassing. It is nothing to look up and see a young couple making out on the street right in front of you. However, it can also be refreshing. Kids walk around holding hands all the time. Not only boyfriends and girlfriends, but girls who are friends and boys who are friends. Adult women often walk around with their arms linked. A class of school children will be walking down the street, all of them holding hands with one another. In my 3rd grade and above classes, when I ask the kids to hold hands, they act like they can't stand to touch each other.
I'm sure there are other things that I have learned about Latvians, but I can't think of any more right now. Of course, as soon as I publish the post, I will think of several more. Oh, well, if I do, I'll just post a Part 2.
Thanks for visiting!
1) They will knock you out of their way and not say "excuse me." Several times I have been sideswiped by a Latvian, and I never heard a "pardon" or anything that sounded like it. I guess they get tired of having a lot of foreigners around and have decided to treat them rudely.
2) The women like to wear dresses or skirts. Don and I have noticed that a lot of the women wear dresses. One day we decided to take a count while we were walking along. Don counted the slacks/shorts wearers, and I counted the dress/skirt wearers. We only counted for three or four blocks, and I can't remember the final number, but the dress/skirt wearers beat out the slacks/shorts wearers two to one.
3) Baby buggies are in. I haven't seen a baby buggy for decades, but they are all over the place here. Babies are pushed in strollers, too, but there are an awful lot of baby buggies. Maybe they are coming back in the US, also, and I just haven't noticed.
4) They like to drink beer. If you are 18 or older, you can drink beer in Latvia. Almost everyone does so. While there have been some Friday evenings when we have noticed that it was getting drunk out, most of the time drunkenness doesn't seem to be a problem at all.
5) If you aren't careful, they will cut in line right in front of you. For example, Don was standing in line at a Narvesan store this morning, waiting patiently, and just before he got up to the register, a lady shoved her things onto the counter in front of him. The next lady tried to do it, too, but he was prepared for it and put his items on the counter first. She gave him a dirty look. Too bad, so sad.
6) They eat a lot. We have been to several restaurants, and the portions of food have been huge. If we had been smart, we would have shared a meal.
7) The women like to wear high heels -- not just the kind with 2" heels, but the ones with 4" heels. I have no idea how they are able to walk on the brick and cobblestone sidewalks and streets around here, but they seem to be able to do it very well.
8) They love flowers. There are flower stands all over the place, and you constantly see people carrying bouquets of flowers. Many times they carry them upside down. I supposed there is a reason for that, but I don't know what it is.
9) They are proud of their heritage. When special holidays take place, many Latvians bring out their folk costumes and wear them proudly. They show their pride every time their national anthem is played. They sing along as though it is expected of them.
10) They love to sing folk songs and do folk dances. The children begin learning folk songs when they are very young and continue to sing them throughout their school years. For that reason, everyone knows them. At the Ligo festival (summer solstice), there were some people up on stage singing folk songs, and everyone around us was joining in and singing boisterously -- men and women both. I was quite impressed. They also take their folk dancing seriously. It is always so much fun to see them perform them so well.
11) They make a lot of U-turns. It must not be against the law to do so in Latvia, because everyone does it. We even saw a chartered bus do it the other day.
12) They aren't in a rush to do anything. When you eat in Latvia, you don't want to be in a hurry. They usually wait on you right away and bring the drinks. However, it then takes forever for your food to be served. After you are finished eating and they have cleared your table, you wait quite a while to get the check. If we are in a hurry, I will usually tell them that we are ready for our check when they clear our dishes. There are restaurants where you don't have to wait -- McDonald's is one, of course, as well as a popular restaurant called "Lido." It is a smorgasbord type of deal where you walk down a line and tell them what you want and then pay for it right away.
13) A lot of men carry bags or purses. They aren't the same purses or bags that the women carry, of course. They are more manly looking. Our contact here in Riga had told me that before we came, but I was still surprised to see the number of men who do so. It is not safe to put your wallet in your back pocket, so the men keep their money in a bag or a purse.
14) They like to smoke. A lot of residents smoke cigarettes, and they start very young. The Latvian cigarettes are much skinnier than our American cigarettes. However, they still reek as bad as the American ones.
15) They love music in general. You see street musicians everywhere, and people really appreciate them. (Although I have heard that some people resent them because they think the street musicians do that instead of having a normal, responsible job.)
16) They are willing to pay money to go to the bathroom. In most public places (not restaurants), if a public restroom is available, it costs you around 30 cents to use it. In one place, there was no toilet paper in the restrooms. As you paid your money, you took the amount of toilet paper that you think you needed and then proceeded to the bathroom. It was rather embarrassing. If you got a lot of toilet paper, everyone knew you were going to do a Number 2.
17) People wheel huge carts onto the street and sell their wares from them. Around 9:00 in the morning, you will see several people pushing the carts out into the streets. The carts have a lid on them that raises up, and the people display their wares in the top of the cart and inside the lid. The carts have storage space in the bottom, and when it is time to close up, the merchants pack up their things and store them on the inside of the bottom of the cart. I imagine there are carts like that in big cities in the US, but I haven't seen them.
18) People love to feed the birds, and you can tell by the number of pigeons and sea gulls that strut around on the streets. The birds are so used to being around people that they walk right among them. If you aren't careful, you might trip over one.
19) Latvians love nature. The parks here are beautiful, and they are used by people all the time. There are benches spread throughout the parks, and there are always people sitting on them enjoying the nice weather and spending some time with their friends or significant others.
20) They are not ashamed to show their affection toward one another. This can be rather embarrassing. It is nothing to look up and see a young couple making out on the street right in front of you. However, it can also be refreshing. Kids walk around holding hands all the time. Not only boyfriends and girlfriends, but girls who are friends and boys who are friends. Adult women often walk around with their arms linked. A class of school children will be walking down the street, all of them holding hands with one another. In my 3rd grade and above classes, when I ask the kids to hold hands, they act like they can't stand to touch each other.
I'm sure there are other things that I have learned about Latvians, but I can't think of any more right now. Of course, as soon as I publish the post, I will think of several more. Oh, well, if I do, I'll just post a Part 2.
Thanks for visiting!
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Let the Games Begin!
The World Choir Games have begun! The opening ceremony was last night, and it was pretty spectacular. I wish I had some pictures to show you that I took, but our tickets said no cameras allowed. Like a good girl, I didn't take one. Boy, was that dumb. There were cameras everywhere. However, my contact here in Riga sent me a link to some pictures, so I'll share those with you.
The event was held in the Riga Arena, where their ice hockey and basketball games are held. It has three levels, but the second level wasn't used. It's kind of like box seats that are set up for VIPs. Anyway, I got the cheapest tickets I could (still $15 - ouch!), which put us up on the third level. They were great seats, and, while we couldn't see people's faces on the stage, we could see and hear extremely well.
Can you see us? We're up in the red section. I got seats that were above an aisle, so there wasn't anyone in front of us.
They started out with introductions of all the important people, which I didn't care about at all. Then they had a parade of nations. That was pretty cool. A woman dressed in Latvian folk costume carried a big sign with the name of each country, and a man in costume followed behind, waving the country's flag. They then lined up on stage.
There are over 70 choirs participating, representing five different continents. There is a large World Choir Games bell that travels from place to place that is rung for each continent represented. The WCG choir shouted the name of the continent, and the bell was rung once for each one.
After the parade of nations, there were performances from several different groups: The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra played, and a WCG choir sang (I don't know how this group was organized or who participated).
Several different groups from Latvia participated -- the ballet, an accordionist, a saxophonist, and a couple of singers. It closed with all the participants singing the World Choir Games 2014 song -- "Our Song." It was written by a Latvian composer named Eriks Esenvalds. While the crowd was singing it, the lights were low, and everyone brought out their cell phone lights. It was a pretty powerful event, and I'm really glad we went.
Since that opening concert, we have been able to attend several different things. We have attended competitions in several different categories, and we've heard some great choirs -- although some of them weren't as great as others. With Latvia being the host country, they have the highest number of choirs participating. I think there are over 100 different choirs participating from this country the size of West. Virginia. Wow.
We attended a Celebration Concert on the 10th, and it had choirs from four different countries participating -- Spain, Singapore, Canada, and South Africa. These weren't choirs that were in the competition, and I don't know how they were chosen, but they were absolutely fantastic. They were fun to listen to and exciting to watch. In my mind, that's what makes a great choir. Later that night we attended the Stars of the World Choir Games I concert. It didn't start until 9:00, and it was extremely long. I'm not sure why it was called what it was, because no one in the concert was a part of the games. It was good, but it is my least favorite one so far.
Oh, by the way, Don's birthday was on Thursday, July 10th. He turned 68 years old. He's officially an "Old Fart" now. The next time you see him, wish him a Happy Birthday!
On the 11th, we attended a concert by The Real Group, a vocal jazz group from Sweden. Boy, was I ever impressed. I love vocal jazz groups, and this one was the best I have ever heard. I just can't imagine learning the music that they sing, with all the tight harmonies and neat rhythms. They did an excellent job of picking songs that would appeal to kids. It was another great concert, and I'm planning on ordering some of their CDs.
Today we attended a Champions Concert. There were two of them to choose from, and I didn't know which one to select. The one we attended was great, as I'm sure the other one was, too. We got to hear six of the groups that won in their categories. We heard a college choir from South Africa, a men's group from Latvia, a girls' choir from Latvia, a boys' and mens' choir from Russia, a group from China, and a boys' group from South Africa. The first four performances were great. When the China group came out, it was fun seeing them, because they were decked out in really neat costumes. You can kind of get an idea from looking at these pictures.
The lady in red is actually the conductor of the group. I have a video of their performance, but I can never get them loaded onto the blog. Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, it was great.
The last group to perform was a large group of boys from South Africa. They were performing in the category of show choir (I think). I took a video of their performance, but didn't take any pictures. I apologize for that, because I would have loved for you to see them. There were around 40-50 boys in the group, and they were absolutely awesome. They got a standing ovation at the end of their performance, which I haven't seen happen for any of the other competing choirs. Their performance was the end of the concert, because no one could have followed them. I didn't think anyone could follow the Chinese performance, but if anyone could do it, this group was the one.
We were supposed to go to a big event this evening at a park in Riga, but it was pouring down rain and we decided to waste the $30 we spent on tickets and not go. Neither one of us wanted to sit at an open-air venue when it was raining. I guess you might say we are too old for that -- at least Don is, anyway. (Don't tell him I said that!)
My contact that sent me pictures of the WCG Opening Celebration also sent me pictures of the Estonian Folk Song Festival that we went to in Tallinn. I thought I would show them to you so you could get an idea of the huge event that these song festivals are.
Well, I've written far more than you probably want to read, so it's off to bed for me. It's almost midnight here. While I hope today's post has helped you sense a little bit of the excitement that Don and I have had, there's no way to fully explain it. I just hope that someday you can experience it along with me.
Goodnight!
The event was held in the Riga Arena, where their ice hockey and basketball games are held. It has three levels, but the second level wasn't used. It's kind of like box seats that are set up for VIPs. Anyway, I got the cheapest tickets I could (still $15 - ouch!), which put us up on the third level. They were great seats, and, while we couldn't see people's faces on the stage, we could see and hear extremely well.
Can you see us? We're up in the red section. I got seats that were above an aisle, so there wasn't anyone in front of us.
They started out with introductions of all the important people, which I didn't care about at all. Then they had a parade of nations. That was pretty cool. A woman dressed in Latvian folk costume carried a big sign with the name of each country, and a man in costume followed behind, waving the country's flag. They then lined up on stage.
After the parade of nations, they carried in the World Choir Games flag.
There are over 70 choirs participating, representing five different continents. There is a large World Choir Games bell that travels from place to place that is rung for each continent represented. The WCG choir shouted the name of the continent, and the bell was rung once for each one.
After the parade of nations, there were performances from several different groups: The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra played, and a WCG choir sang (I don't know how this group was organized or who participated).
Several different groups from Latvia participated -- the ballet, an accordionist, a saxophonist, and a couple of singers. It closed with all the participants singing the World Choir Games 2014 song -- "Our Song." It was written by a Latvian composer named Eriks Esenvalds. While the crowd was singing it, the lights were low, and everyone brought out their cell phone lights. It was a pretty powerful event, and I'm really glad we went.
Since that opening concert, we have been able to attend several different things. We have attended competitions in several different categories, and we've heard some great choirs -- although some of them weren't as great as others. With Latvia being the host country, they have the highest number of choirs participating. I think there are over 100 different choirs participating from this country the size of West. Virginia. Wow.
We attended a Celebration Concert on the 10th, and it had choirs from four different countries participating -- Spain, Singapore, Canada, and South Africa. These weren't choirs that were in the competition, and I don't know how they were chosen, but they were absolutely fantastic. They were fun to listen to and exciting to watch. In my mind, that's what makes a great choir. Later that night we attended the Stars of the World Choir Games I concert. It didn't start until 9:00, and it was extremely long. I'm not sure why it was called what it was, because no one in the concert was a part of the games. It was good, but it is my least favorite one so far.
Oh, by the way, Don's birthday was on Thursday, July 10th. He turned 68 years old. He's officially an "Old Fart" now. The next time you see him, wish him a Happy Birthday!
On the 11th, we attended a concert by The Real Group, a vocal jazz group from Sweden. Boy, was I ever impressed. I love vocal jazz groups, and this one was the best I have ever heard. I just can't imagine learning the music that they sing, with all the tight harmonies and neat rhythms. They did an excellent job of picking songs that would appeal to kids. It was another great concert, and I'm planning on ordering some of their CDs.
Today we attended a Champions Concert. There were two of them to choose from, and I didn't know which one to select. The one we attended was great, as I'm sure the other one was, too. We got to hear six of the groups that won in their categories. We heard a college choir from South Africa, a men's group from Latvia, a girls' choir from Latvia, a boys' and mens' choir from Russia, a group from China, and a boys' group from South Africa. The first four performances were great. When the China group came out, it was fun seeing them, because they were decked out in really neat costumes. You can kind of get an idea from looking at these pictures.
The lady in red is actually the conductor of the group. I have a video of their performance, but I can never get them loaded onto the blog. Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, it was great.
The last group to perform was a large group of boys from South Africa. They were performing in the category of show choir (I think). I took a video of their performance, but didn't take any pictures. I apologize for that, because I would have loved for you to see them. There were around 40-50 boys in the group, and they were absolutely awesome. They got a standing ovation at the end of their performance, which I haven't seen happen for any of the other competing choirs. Their performance was the end of the concert, because no one could have followed them. I didn't think anyone could follow the Chinese performance, but if anyone could do it, this group was the one.
We were supposed to go to a big event this evening at a park in Riga, but it was pouring down rain and we decided to waste the $30 we spent on tickets and not go. Neither one of us wanted to sit at an open-air venue when it was raining. I guess you might say we are too old for that -- at least Don is, anyway. (Don't tell him I said that!)
My contact that sent me pictures of the WCG Opening Celebration also sent me pictures of the Estonian Folk Song Festival that we went to in Tallinn. I thought I would show them to you so you could get an idea of the huge event that these song festivals are.
Here is an aerial view of Tallinn along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Do you see that blob of color in the middle? That's the festival.
Here is a view that is quite a bit closer.
And here is a view that is even closer. I don't know if you can see us or not, but we're beside the triangle in the lower right side of the picture. I am wearing my floppy hat. Look real close
and you might see us.
I got to experience a folk song festival as a spectator, but I think the best way to experience one would be as a participant. These people love their folk music, and they love singing together. People of all ages come together once every five years to share in this joyous experience. There's nothing like it in the United States. While our sports events often draw huge crowds, nothing we do has over
25,000 people participate.
Well, I've written far more than you probably want to read, so it's off to bed for me. It's almost midnight here. While I hope today's post has helped you sense a little bit of the excitement that Don and I have had, there's no way to fully explain it. I just hope that someday you can experience it along with me.
Goodnight!
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
The Estonian Folk Song Festival
It's been a few days since I was able to post to our blog. It's been one thing after another, and I just haven't gotten to it. However, I'm back, and I have a couple of interesting things to share with you.
In the last post, I mentioned that we were going to the American Embassy for a July 4th Celebration (on July 3rd, but who cares?). Silly me. Here I thought I was going to a party where we would be able to meet a bunch of other Americans and talk with one another and get to know each other. Boy, was I ever wrong. It was nothing but a political event. There were more Latvians there than Americans! I know, I know -- some of you are thinking, Boy, how dumb can she be? I guess I was thinking it would be what I wanted it to be -- a taste of back home.
Here are some pictures from the event. Don't ask me who anyone is, because I don't know.
See what I mean about it NOT being an intimate party of Americans? I can't believe I was so nà ive. The invitation said to dress casually. As you can see, most of these people are NOT dressed casual. Don and I, however, always do what the teacher says. Boy, did I feel out of place. We did get a free McDonald's hamburger, a brownie, and a warm bottle of Coke. Woo-hoo! One of the things that bothered me about the event took place during the national anthems. The band played our national anthem first, and I sang along quietly. I couldn't hear anyone else singing. The Latvian national anthem was played next, and all the Latvians in attendance broke out singing. I was ashamed to be an American. Here were all these people who had been through decades of repression unashamedly singing their country's national anthem with pride, while the Americans there who had never experienced being under any other country's rule hardly sang a note. How sad I was for my country.
On a happier note...
I got to go to the Estonian Folk Music Festival this last weekend. There were over 25,000 singers participating and well over 100,000 people in attendance. Boy, it was some trip! We left Riga by bus on Saturday morning. We arrived in Tallinn at 1:30, and the first concert wasn't until 8:00 that evening, so we should have had plenty of time to go to our hotel (20 minutes outside Tallinn) and get back to the concert. I asked a lady at the bus station where I could pick up bus #286 to take us to our hotel. She told us to take Tram #2 to the city bus station where we would then catch the bus. Well, she was wrong on both counts. Because of this massive Folk Song Festival parade through town, the trams weren't running. We ended up having to walk to the city bus station. After we found it, we discovered that bus #286 does NOT go to the bus station -- it's not an intercity bus. We walked around for awhile and finally found the spot where bus #286 was picking people up. We rode out to our hotel. It still wasn't too late, so I wasn't worried. We got back on the bus and rode into Tallinn. We went to the bus station and waited to pick up bus #34A that would take us to the festival grounds. Well, guess what? No buses were passing through the bus station that day because of the parade, either. We sat and waited for a while, but we finally realized that it was futile. We started walking and searching for the bus. We saw several city buses lined up on this one street, so we decided to wait there. After what seemed like forever, bus #34A arrived. We got on, sat down, and sighed with relief. We were on our way.
Don and I had gone to the festival grounds when Debbie and Dan were here, so we knew where it was. We knew that it was right across the street from the Baltic Sea and that the bus would drop us off right in front of the grounds. As we rode along on bus #34A, we kept looking for water so that we would know when our stop was coming up. We never did see any water, and our bus never did go to the festival grounds. (We decided Sunday afternoon that it didn't do that part of the route due to the parade marching out to the grounds.) We rode it back into town, thoroughly discouraged. By the time we got into town, it was 8:00 -- too late to go to the concert. We ate dinner and then took bus #286 back to the hotel. Needless to say, I was frustrated. I was tired. And I cried. We went to bed and set the alarm in plenty of time to get to the Sunday afternoon concert that started at 2:00.
We left our hotel around 9:00 on Sunday morning. We rode into Tallinn, got off at a downtown stop and walked to the city bus station. Since we had ridden bus 34A the previous night, and it didn't take us to the grounds, we didn't know what bus to take. Unfortunately, I had no Internet connection, so I couldn't check on my phone. We saw a woman in folk festival clothing and asked her if she was going to the festival. She said she was. We asked her what bus she was taking and she told us #35. The computer had told me to take 34A, but we shrugged our shoulders and got on #35. Lo and behold, we got to the festival grounds without a bit of trouble. It took us to a side street, but I didn't care. At least we were there. I was pumped!
We arrived there around 10:15, and they weren't opening the gates until noon. We walked around a bit and took in the sights. Around 11:00, we decided that we needed to get something to eat. There was only one restaurant close to the grounds, and it wasn't open. We came upon this little pizza shack, and since there was no other choice, we ordered an Americana pizza with no black olives. We were even able to get a thick crust. We didn't know what to expect, but it was the greatest pizza we have had since we got here. It was awesome. After eating, we walked back to the main gate area. I took lots of pictures of people in folk costume. I think all of the singers were wearing costumes of some kind.
The gates opened, and we went in -- along with lots and lots of other people. Since the concert didn't start until 2:00, it was still pretty early, and the crowd wasn't bad. There were lots of tents set up with all kinds of things for sale. I ended up buying a hat to keep the sun off of my face. We walked around a bit and then decided to "stake our claim." We bought the cheap tickets for the concert, so our assigned seats were in the back on some large patches of grass. We had taken a blanket with us to sit on. We found a spot that we thought would stay in the shade and sat down. More and more people were milling in. I took off and walked through the tents once more. When I got back to our "seat," the grassy areas had filled almost completely up with people. As I stood there and looked around, I saw hundreds of people standing in the "aisles" and to the back and sides of the area still looking for a place to sit -- without much success. The concert started, and the hundreds of people looking for a place to sit just kept walking the aisles looking. Because we were sitting on the ground, we couldn't see much on stage because of the people standing in the aisles in front of us. We were able to hear, though, and it was fantastic hearing over 7,000 children's voices singing together. We heard two children's choirs (one had 7000+ singers, and one had 5,000+ singers) and the orchestra (over 700 players). It was awesome. Between each group, the risers had to be emptied and the next group brought on. While I thought it would take a lot of time to do that, it surprisingly went very fast. They've been doing these festivals since 1869, so I guess they have it all figured out by now.
There were a lot of different choirs performing, but after the third group, we decided to leave. The crowd was getting horrible, and Don and I were getting tired of being kicked and trampled by some kids behind us and by adults who were stepping over us to try and find a seat. One thing about Latvians is that they have no qualms about running right over you, and they don't apologize for doing it, either. While I would have loved to stay and hear the adult choirs, Don was having a "Popeye" moment -- "That's all's I can stand, and I can't stands no more," so we left. We stood up, picked up our blanket, and headed out of the arena area. We still had a ways to go to get to the gate so we could leave, and scads of people were still outside of the arena area trying to get in to hear and watch the concert. Boy, were we ever salmon swimming against the current! I have never been so mashed up against other people in my life. I couldn't help but think how awful it would be to get stuck in a stampede. It was awful trying to push ourselves one way while all these people around us were pushing the other way. We finally made it, got to the bus, and rode back to Tallinn to get the bus back to Riga. We arrived back at our apartment around 11:00, and we were really glad to get back home.
My goal in going to the festival was, first of all, to experience it. America has nothing like it -- a music festival with over 25,000 participants and over 100,000 people in the audience. Woodstock may have been close, but they took their clothes off. Don't worry -- we didn't. (Although it was warm enough that I wished I could.) Secondly, I wanted to hear what thousands of voices sounded like singing together. I wondered if they would have problems staying together, but it was a glorious sound with no problems whatsoever. Thirdly, I wanted to watch and listen as these people sang the songs of their country. These songs were what helped them keep their identity through years of repression, and it is fun to see and hear them sing these well-loved songs.
I took lots of pictures. While I can't include them all, I will include some of the ones that I think do the best job of sharing the experience.
Oh, I have one more picture to share with you. While we were eating our pizza, this guy came up to the window to place his order. He had this great tattoo on his arm. Don decided that if he ever got a tattoo, this would be the one he would get -- with a trout instead of a Northern Pike. (As if Don would ever get one.) I asked the guy if I could take a picture of his tattoo. He probably thought I was being silly, but he let me do it. I don't like tattoos, but I thought that one was pretty cool.
Well, it's time to do some running around, so I need to close. We're coming home a few days early. Instead of leaving on the 22nd, we'll be coming home on the 16th. I'll try and get a couple more posts put on before we leave.
See ya!
In the last post, I mentioned that we were going to the American Embassy for a July 4th Celebration (on July 3rd, but who cares?). Silly me. Here I thought I was going to a party where we would be able to meet a bunch of other Americans and talk with one another and get to know each other. Boy, was I ever wrong. It was nothing but a political event. There were more Latvians there than Americans! I know, I know -- some of you are thinking, Boy, how dumb can she be? I guess I was thinking it would be what I wanted it to be -- a taste of back home.
Here are some pictures from the event. Don't ask me who anyone is, because I don't know.
Actually, I do know who this is -- Mark Pekala, the US Ambassador.
At least the kids are having fun!
See what I mean about it NOT being an intimate party of Americans? I can't believe I was so nà ive. The invitation said to dress casually. As you can see, most of these people are NOT dressed casual. Don and I, however, always do what the teacher says. Boy, did I feel out of place. We did get a free McDonald's hamburger, a brownie, and a warm bottle of Coke. Woo-hoo! One of the things that bothered me about the event took place during the national anthems. The band played our national anthem first, and I sang along quietly. I couldn't hear anyone else singing. The Latvian national anthem was played next, and all the Latvians in attendance broke out singing. I was ashamed to be an American. Here were all these people who had been through decades of repression unashamedly singing their country's national anthem with pride, while the Americans there who had never experienced being under any other country's rule hardly sang a note. How sad I was for my country.
On a happier note...
I got to go to the Estonian Folk Music Festival this last weekend. There were over 25,000 singers participating and well over 100,000 people in attendance. Boy, it was some trip! We left Riga by bus on Saturday morning. We arrived in Tallinn at 1:30, and the first concert wasn't until 8:00 that evening, so we should have had plenty of time to go to our hotel (20 minutes outside Tallinn) and get back to the concert. I asked a lady at the bus station where I could pick up bus #286 to take us to our hotel. She told us to take Tram #2 to the city bus station where we would then catch the bus. Well, she was wrong on both counts. Because of this massive Folk Song Festival parade through town, the trams weren't running. We ended up having to walk to the city bus station. After we found it, we discovered that bus #286 does NOT go to the bus station -- it's not an intercity bus. We walked around for awhile and finally found the spot where bus #286 was picking people up. We rode out to our hotel. It still wasn't too late, so I wasn't worried. We got back on the bus and rode into Tallinn. We went to the bus station and waited to pick up bus #34A that would take us to the festival grounds. Well, guess what? No buses were passing through the bus station that day because of the parade, either. We sat and waited for a while, but we finally realized that it was futile. We started walking and searching for the bus. We saw several city buses lined up on this one street, so we decided to wait there. After what seemed like forever, bus #34A arrived. We got on, sat down, and sighed with relief. We were on our way.
Don and I had gone to the festival grounds when Debbie and Dan were here, so we knew where it was. We knew that it was right across the street from the Baltic Sea and that the bus would drop us off right in front of the grounds. As we rode along on bus #34A, we kept looking for water so that we would know when our stop was coming up. We never did see any water, and our bus never did go to the festival grounds. (We decided Sunday afternoon that it didn't do that part of the route due to the parade marching out to the grounds.) We rode it back into town, thoroughly discouraged. By the time we got into town, it was 8:00 -- too late to go to the concert. We ate dinner and then took bus #286 back to the hotel. Needless to say, I was frustrated. I was tired. And I cried. We went to bed and set the alarm in plenty of time to get to the Sunday afternoon concert that started at 2:00.
We left our hotel around 9:00 on Sunday morning. We rode into Tallinn, got off at a downtown stop and walked to the city bus station. Since we had ridden bus 34A the previous night, and it didn't take us to the grounds, we didn't know what bus to take. Unfortunately, I had no Internet connection, so I couldn't check on my phone. We saw a woman in folk festival clothing and asked her if she was going to the festival. She said she was. We asked her what bus she was taking and she told us #35. The computer had told me to take 34A, but we shrugged our shoulders and got on #35. Lo and behold, we got to the festival grounds without a bit of trouble. It took us to a side street, but I didn't care. At least we were there. I was pumped!
We arrived there around 10:15, and they weren't opening the gates until noon. We walked around a bit and took in the sights. Around 11:00, we decided that we needed to get something to eat. There was only one restaurant close to the grounds, and it wasn't open. We came upon this little pizza shack, and since there was no other choice, we ordered an Americana pizza with no black olives. We were even able to get a thick crust. We didn't know what to expect, but it was the greatest pizza we have had since we got here. It was awesome. After eating, we walked back to the main gate area. I took lots of pictures of people in folk costume. I think all of the singers were wearing costumes of some kind.
The gates opened, and we went in -- along with lots and lots of other people. Since the concert didn't start until 2:00, it was still pretty early, and the crowd wasn't bad. There were lots of tents set up with all kinds of things for sale. I ended up buying a hat to keep the sun off of my face. We walked around a bit and then decided to "stake our claim." We bought the cheap tickets for the concert, so our assigned seats were in the back on some large patches of grass. We had taken a blanket with us to sit on. We found a spot that we thought would stay in the shade and sat down. More and more people were milling in. I took off and walked through the tents once more. When I got back to our "seat," the grassy areas had filled almost completely up with people. As I stood there and looked around, I saw hundreds of people standing in the "aisles" and to the back and sides of the area still looking for a place to sit -- without much success. The concert started, and the hundreds of people looking for a place to sit just kept walking the aisles looking. Because we were sitting on the ground, we couldn't see much on stage because of the people standing in the aisles in front of us. We were able to hear, though, and it was fantastic hearing over 7,000 children's voices singing together. We heard two children's choirs (one had 7000+ singers, and one had 5,000+ singers) and the orchestra (over 700 players). It was awesome. Between each group, the risers had to be emptied and the next group brought on. While I thought it would take a lot of time to do that, it surprisingly went very fast. They've been doing these festivals since 1869, so I guess they have it all figured out by now.
There were a lot of different choirs performing, but after the third group, we decided to leave. The crowd was getting horrible, and Don and I were getting tired of being kicked and trampled by some kids behind us and by adults who were stepping over us to try and find a seat. One thing about Latvians is that they have no qualms about running right over you, and they don't apologize for doing it, either. While I would have loved to stay and hear the adult choirs, Don was having a "Popeye" moment -- "That's all's I can stand, and I can't stands no more," so we left. We stood up, picked up our blanket, and headed out of the arena area. We still had a ways to go to get to the gate so we could leave, and scads of people were still outside of the arena area trying to get in to hear and watch the concert. Boy, were we ever salmon swimming against the current! I have never been so mashed up against other people in my life. I couldn't help but think how awful it would be to get stuck in a stampede. It was awful trying to push ourselves one way while all these people around us were pushing the other way. We finally made it, got to the bus, and rode back to Tallinn to get the bus back to Riga. We arrived back at our apartment around 11:00, and we were really glad to get back home.
My goal in going to the festival was, first of all, to experience it. America has nothing like it -- a music festival with over 25,000 participants and over 100,000 people in the audience. Woodstock may have been close, but they took their clothes off. Don't worry -- we didn't. (Although it was warm enough that I wished I could.) Secondly, I wanted to hear what thousands of voices sounded like singing together. I wondered if they would have problems staying together, but it was a glorious sound with no problems whatsoever. Thirdly, I wanted to watch and listen as these people sang the songs of their country. These songs were what helped them keep their identity through years of repression, and it is fun to see and hear them sing these well-loved songs.
I took lots of pictures. While I can't include them all, I will include some of the ones that I think do the best job of sharing the experience.
 |
| Here is what the gate area looked like when we first arrived. Not too bad. |
 |
| Here is a sign we saw on the side of a building. I am assuming that it is the longitude and latitude position of where we were. |
 |
| Here is the pizza we got from that little pizza shack. It looked so good that I decided to take a picture of it. Believe me, it was as good as it looked. |
 |
| The above two pictures show two groups of young girls that were participating. Their outfits weren't nearly as fancy as some that we saw. I don't think anyone can participate in these festivals as an individual. I think everyone has to be a part of a choir, either a school choir or a community choir. |
Below are just some pictures I took of various individuals. If there is something special about the picture, I have put it under it.
 |
| Here is a young boy dressed up. I don't know if he really wanted his picture taken or not, but Grandma made him do it. |
 |
| Here's Grandma. Isn't she sweet looking? I think one of the greatest things about these festivals is that they are multi-generational. |
 |
| Here they are walking off together, hand in hand. |
 |
| Here is a bunch of young guys dressed in costume. I didn't think they would let me take their picture, but they really got into it. |
As I mentioned earlier, the grounds are just across the street from the Baltic Sea. The second picture shows me standing in the Baltic Sea. Boy, was that water ever cold! I don't know how the two girls (and everyone else for that matter) could stand it.
The next several pictures are pictures of the people and the grounds.
 |
| Here is what the gate area looked like as we were standing in line to go in. There were people everywhere. |
 |
| Here is a tower with a flame burning on the top of it. The flame gets lit at the beginning and continues burning until the festival is over. |
 |
| Here is a picture of the stands with the largest children's choir. Look how many children are up there singing. It was so exciting to see that many children singing together. It gave me goose bumps. This picture was actually taken while they were rehearsing. Notice that the blue chairs for the adult participants are empty. |
 |
| This picture is what it looked like during one of the children's choir performances. Notice that the blue chairs are now filled with people and that people are walking in front of my camera trying to find a place to sit. |
These next three pictures are of the crowd around us. The grounds are full. There are people all around us, standing in the aisles beside us, in front of us, and behind us.
This was one of the warmest days that we had had in four weeks. As you can see, there was a bright blue sky, and the sun was beating down on us. I decided that I would buy a floppy hat to keep the sun off of my face. I don't like wearing hats, because I don't think I look good in them. You know how some people can wear a hat and look really sophisticated in it? Not me. As you can see from my picture, I look pretty dumb in them. However, I also didn't want my face to get burnt to a crisp. Here's me in my hat. It's a great one, isn't it? Unfortunately, I lost it somewhere along the way. I think I left it at the bus station. Oh, well, such is life...
Oh, I have one more picture to share with you. While we were eating our pizza, this guy came up to the window to place his order. He had this great tattoo on his arm. Don decided that if he ever got a tattoo, this would be the one he would get -- with a trout instead of a Northern Pike. (As if Don would ever get one.) I asked the guy if I could take a picture of his tattoo. He probably thought I was being silly, but he let me do it. I don't like tattoos, but I thought that one was pretty cool.
Well, it's time to do some running around, so I need to close. We're coming home a few days early. Instead of leaving on the 22nd, we'll be coming home on the 16th. I'll try and get a couple more posts put on before we leave.
See ya!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)