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!
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