One fine day!!!

Independence day!!!
Rest, a great church service with lots of food afterwards, fireworks and great talks with friends! What do I need more than that??? Aren’t these the essentials of life? ….. OK, I forgot work, but lets just think about this loooong extended weekend!

Today was the 15. Latvian independence day!
First notice….. no ticket collectors at the busses. I did not really think about the national holiday this morning and so when I left to church, I was wondering what all these people would do on the streets….. Usually Sundays are quiet and there is lots of room in the busses…. But today the whole town was in MY bus! ….. I squeezed myself into it and through to the driver to buy a ticket… a nice Latvian lady helped me to understand that on Independence day none has to pay…. (unfortunately this does not count for restaurants)….. First encounter!....
Then the second!…… our sunday service….. we started with the national hymn!!! ….WOW! …. It was the first time I heard it and people around me sang with all their soul!!!.... I, as a German, can learn a lot from that national pride!!! Do we actually sing our national anthem anywhere else as at a soccer game??? And do I truly know the words and the melody that I could sing it by heart??? ….. PUH, no, I don’t! Sad isn’t it?....
Hey, here we go.…. some new point on my improvement list!
After church, wonderful food gave us the energy to leave with a bunch of folks for the fireworks at Daugava River. Streets were decorated with fires, flags and people everywhere….. Arriving Vecriga, we had to line up with thousands of others quizzing through the medieval city to the river banks….. I do not have to mention that we lost some of our folks on the way….. Finally at Strelnieku laukums, we did not see much of the fire works – to many heads and too much fog….. but the atmosphere was great anyway and besides we got fire places at the square to watch!
The evening winded down over a cub of warm tea and many great stories shared by 15 people in a restaurant!

And the addition… I got tomorrow off as well…. I love Independence days!!!

Flat news

I got a phone call today!!!
And on the contrary to Latvian traditions….. "being late"….. my landlord called "prior" our agreed date ……. and gave me a huge verbal gift!!! I am allowed to stay in her flat for another year! Yubeedooooooooo!
The other candidate was declined ……. I am happy, God provides!
Funny.... the situation is somehow similar to that in April, when I moved in! The other candidate could suddenly not afford the rent ....... so I was the lucky one! And because I had no possibility to influence the decisions ....... relying on HIM carried through!
Praise the Lord!
Sorry guys..... Latvians...... this means, you will not get rid of me before Christmas 2008!
Let's see what next year will bring......

Christmas songs

Just today, I have personally opened the Christmas season.....
Outside we got snow, it is cold and dark already so soon, or actually not getting light at all ……. But what is more important and inspired me very much was music…..
I bought the Christmas CD “Noel” by Josh Groban….. meant as a present….. but I was tempted to hear it…… of course the official version..... I told myself when I bought it...... is, you cannot give something away, what you do not know…… it could be a mistake….. of course this was half a lie to myself…… this voice is just brilliant… wow…. heaven….. Now I have to buy a second one…… :))
And let me tell you, if you start listening to Christmas songs….. candles, bakery, “gluehwein”, Christmas markets, warm cubs of tea on a sofa, listening to music, reading a good book....... suddenly occupy your mind!.... not exactly architecture work!!!...... So be careful, it is a secret weapon….. :)) …… in the worst case you might get homesick….. it definitely started me thinking, I would leave home tomorrow….. BUT its still another 6 weeks! ….. Uff!!!

My wool is my castle

The Brits are special! I already knew they have some very good architects, but this is something topping my expectations:

It all started in the Fifties/Sixties, when KNITTING became a highly valued hobby! Every woman loved to do it!.... and there were lots of clothing made from knittware...... So as a dedicated housewife you were setting a good example to dress your children in home made clothes.......

AND my mum was a loving and very dedicated housewife! She might have missed the turn of times in the Seventies though, cause when I grew up she still lovingly "forced" me to wear her special designs!.....she STILL kept the hobby and loved to give away knitted presents……
I hated them!..... they were not only itchy, but they also looked so uncool! My friends were wearing jeans and I got dresses….. yes, complete dresses!!!..... knitted in rainbow colours!
Well, as a kid….. what can you do…..???

But now..... we are writing the year 2007....... some 500 British women may have realized, that their kids do not like to wear knitted clothes anymore…… Which is why they started with architecture! Where I would use bricks or concrete, they used wool! And the product did not only look like a house, but you could also step into it….. Furniture, table cloth, everything provided …… someone should say ”women are not able to build”!!!

But unfortunately for all kids in this world, I have sad news…… your mothers might return to knitting your pullovers again…… the fire department did not allow the statement “wool would keep you warm” for a reasonable argument……

As an architect on the other hand, I am not really sure what would be more devastating to me…..wearing my mothers knitted dresses or having to cope with knitting women, creating architecture……

YES....... It is a true story about Allison Murray and reported by BBC news! This is the link..... http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2007/06/19/knitted_house_feature.shtml

The latvian health system

Oh, what a day!
I have met every man in white as I possibly can imagine! …. You say, this is a great thing???.... Mh?..... What for some people seems to be heaven or comes close to a soap opera, turned out to be a looooong day waiting in front of closed doors! Honestly, there is not that much fun in queuing with 40 other patients on a corridor!

Work regulations in Latvia said…. I needed a regular health check-up! Very useful… and being forced to face the doctor, is actually a wise step to also keep me focused on my health….. it is so easy to forget those things…..

Well…. this took me this morning to “Vesilibas centris 4”, which is Rigas health center4…. A house with all doctors, therapies and treatments you can think of!
Only problem was, I had no clue how things would work and what I actually had to do! And since the doctors speak English, but the secretaries usually don’t…... it was a huge relief, when all of a sudden my college BAIBA showed up right in front of me! She were able to give me instructions how to conquer the jungle.

I got numbers like at a German employment centre….. And then after waiting looong hours….. I changed doctors, as if I have never been to any before. Normal family doc, EKG, eyes doc, neurologist, roentgen pictures, gyn, blood tests….. You name it!

YES! Makes you feel well instantly!!! ……. In case it turns out you are not.... the hole atmosphere can be very depressing. Hallways with no daylight or fresh air, lots of people sitting in front of doors. Some who cannot wait, just enter the rooms, giving the patient inside no privacy. Everyone on the corridor can observe, what happens inside……whether you are “naked” or not, does not really matter, neither to the people waiting nor to the doctors….
No pictures or music anywhere……just slamming of doors, some conversations….. like a big impersonal human factory.

Let me guess…. You got the picture that I did not have as much fun as I would have loved. What do you actually do in Latvia, if you are really sick??? There is this sign, that I remember at my last visit to one city hospital.…. “Please take all belongings to where they came from, nurses are not responsible serving you!”….. Hopefully, I will never get seriously ill in Latvia!

Finland & Estonia

Office excursion!
As a thank you for our work contribution, my boss decided we would all go to see some architecture abroad. This took us to Helsinki and Tallinn.

Of course we did not want to miss out on the fun part, so we organized a few things around the architecture! First for example, we invaded the airport duty free to purchase some alcoholic drinks. This can become a difficult task, asking 12 people what they want to drink! Second, we hired a car to drive to our cottage destination…… where is the fun you ask?..... we had a rough idea, where to find the cottage in the big, dark Finish countryside....... We knew it was on a lake….. very funny, right?..... so the trip itself was a bit of an adventure. Third, we shared the sauna in our cottage….. 12 people in a room meant to accommodate 6 persons. This was hot, wet, squezzy and with a low oxygen level. The fresh lake below the cottage helped to vitalize our brains and changed our slow motion into quick movements….. believe me, it was veeeeeeery cold!

The aim on the second morning was to leave the cottage at 8 am…… Which you probably can guess…… we did not even come close to this time! The hang-over of some people made us leave at the early hour 10 am. Because we also forgot to buy some coffee….. after 2 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of vodka, 1 bottle of rum, many beers and different kinds of juices...... forgetting coffee is a tragedy……. we desperately needed to stop by a roadhouse to get some of this precious dark liquid. After that infiltration we all were much better capable to focus on architecture!

We arrived Helsinki at 13 pm…… just to realize that the first of our group needed to leave at 16 pm for the ferry boat. So there was no time for many different architectural impressions, but we just focused on the Steven Holl museum of contemporary art! WOW! Wonderful, impressive….. I am missing the right words. The museum itself is a piece of art and not just a functional building! We spend a lot of time there. I took… as usual….. millions of pictures from the same curves and walls – few actually from people…. My brother would be very bored watching these!!!


After a bigggggg dinner at a fancy restaurant (praise to Dainis - he paid!) we headed towards the ferry terminal. And we had to drop our car at a station near by. If you are not organized, this can be a major task….. finding the right place without a map and due to be back in time for the ferry boat. Vilnis had exactly 30 minutes until departure. But since the Latvians are very spontaneous, none really doubt, he would not make it…. Except maybe a German girl, being a bit stressed out!

Tallinn is a dream of a city! Beautiful and very medieval. We walked the old part and finally found a nice tavern to satisfy our hunger for food and dancing! It actually looked very Bavarian….


Following day was architecture again. We visited the Estonian museum of contemporary art and the occupation museum. Very nice and of course I took again many pictures of new stones….

After a medieval meal, where some of us ordered half a pig, we left Tallinn in the evening with the bus to Riga! I was exhausted…. But happy, that I had …thanks to Dainis generosity…..this great opportunity!

"Digital Dementia"

I knew it!!!
These are the reasons, why THINGS disappear….. why remembering numbers seems to be an impossible task and GOOGLE became my second brain!

Scientists found a name for it……. DIGITAL DEMENTIA…….. and LUCKY ME - it actually happens to all of us! A relieve to know…… from now on you got a universal reason to blame someone else than yourself when forgetting things! :-))

The official explanation:
It is a cultural phenomenon, occurring through changes in society. We sourced out our brain to digital inventions…. One brain you carry in your pocket, one is located in your car, one at your office and so on…….. our biological brain reduces to the size of peas …… future perspective…… but, sometimes I wonder, if the future already arrived……. Coz, when I try to remember my own phone number or when forced to recall a poetry from grammar school! There is ZERO motion where used to be a memory…….

And since this topic is not the most interesting one, do not think - just forget about it! :-))

HURRAY – Lets party!

YES!!!!!!!!
The GAISMAS PILS will finally turn on its light!
In case you were having doubts….. by the way you are in good company…… here comes the news: WE SUBMITTED THE TECHNICAL PROJECT DOCUMENTS! ….. So from now on, we and a bunch of others are reliable for any leakage, failure of the system or what so ever could happen in the future!
Well of course it is still needed to have common sense and skills in order to also build that castle….. As you might know, too many beers can keep you from working or even holding a hammer at all! :-))
But apart from that..... I will revitalize my life now!
So this is also very good news!!! Count on me for parties, meetings ...... I am back for the FUN part in life!

Skirts

Today a male collegue asked me....very politely though....... if I would waer skirts at all!.......
Can you imagine me being a bit surprized??? ..... :-
I lost my words in that very moment!

Well, getting deeper into this discussion I figured that we were actually talking about cultural differences, how to regard women being feminin! I knew there are some very big differences here. But to be honest I neglected to think about, how that would have an impact on me being in Latvia!

Germany = clothes show status & beauty, but they are also meant to be practical! Which makes many women...... me included ..... wear trousers!
We have well chosen, styled clothes which support your appearance, but not ONLY convey your being! They show a certain kind of character, but it is just ONE thing about being feminin.
I guess ......and hope..........there is a bit more to it than just clothes!
Latvia = being Beautiful is the top goal for every female here! Most of the women (80%) wear skirts and dress up for normal occasions, which includes top styling! This normally means....... what I would waer for special occasions are regular clothes here........ dressing-up for special days would be waering what I regard "extravagant evening clothes"! ......... Heardressers, beauty salons are highly en vogue! Nail styling, make-up, skin treatments are a must for your every day life! Women spend hours with these treatments ........
Obviously there are differences in people, but I am just talking in general!

As we say in Germany "Kleider machen Leute!" - "clothes make the Man", or "Fine feathers make fine birds"........ Clothes/styling will empazise my female appearance, this I knew! .........
It regularly gives me headaches when facing my wardrobe! ....... There is never the right thing to waer!!!........ Which is VERY female!!!!

BUT this alone does not make me wear skirts or dresses.......
So what is my female identity, and how do I show this with clothes?

I guess, I will need time to process this...... taking also into account that this question would be regarded different in Latvia!
Any comments, female and male, on this topic are very much appreciated!
:-))