Tilza - First days

My second day off from work started with the first language class in Riga. And guess what people I met???.... missionaries..... as this is nothing new lately, I did not exactly wonder...... Among the group of 10 students I was the only business person! People from Agape Latvia, the Bridge Builders and individual missionaries met to learn Latvian! All of them very dedicated Christians who helped to build up this country... some of them already for a couple of years.....
After the language class I rushed on to a bible study with Fran, who I keep meeting with since Summer. She also works as a missionary for Agape Latvia..... surprize, surprize :-)) ..... Together we explore the wonders, how God created women..... some toppic I found, I would like to improve my knowledge on!
At 15.00 h I was picked up by Mo & Wes to travel to Tilza! The journey took us 4 hours by car..... No, it is not that far!!! But the streets are no highways here! And trucks are slow on small roads.... besides driving quicker than 70km/h could cost you your car or your life or both..... just considering the bumps in the roads or traintracks to cross!

We arrived and I was immediatly integrated into family life! Wow! We just planned to stop by the latvian teacher to say hello.....BUT instead the evening stretched until 21.30 h. I played cards with the 3 kidds, got some tea and cake to start with..... lots of talking afterwards.....

Then they took us to the yellow house, where we had our seminars and guestrooms. Everything very simple, but clean! Comparable with a youth hostel 20 years ago! There was a community kitchen, serveral meeting rooms and I got a full 6 bed room for myself! So choosing the bed was hard!!!

The first floor of the house is heated with a wooden stove! A radiator system (fed by the wooden stove) provides for the heating system upstairs! This is worth while mentioning, as heat does not come natural living in the country..... either you feed the stove or the house will be cold... and that means really cold! Isolation is just known since 1995.......the traditional system is a solid wooden wall... u-value ~ 10???

My first language morning began early at 9:00 am! All seminar days had the same classes..... First in the morning learning new vocabulary by repeating the words or playing games..... starting light is nice if you are not a morning person..... Grammar started after the first coffee break..... being drugged, learning latvian grammar was easier..... all practicing included games.... kind of children games, but this was also how I felt, not being able to say the easiest sentences without help.... but the games were FUN..... we got to talk about own pictures describing, what we saw......colours, adjectives, objects. Starting next week, I will practice my new learned stuff with an old lady in the afternoons....

Here are some examples, what I learned this week:
Kas tas ir? - What is this?
Tas ir kruze! - This is a cup!
Kada ir kruze? - How does the cup look like?
Kruze ir dzeltena! - The cub is yellow!
Cik? - How many?
Cipari - Numbers
Pulkstenis - Clock & times
Kas mil ko? - Who loves who? (nominative-accusative)
Es esmu/ man ir - To be/ to have
Mani sauc Claudia. - My name is Claudia
Kur tu dzivo? - Where do you live?
Es esmu no Vacijas. - I am German.
Tagad dzivoju Riga. - I live in Riga now.
Cik ilgi tu jau dzivo Latvija? - How long do you already live in Latvia?
Es dzivoju jau divus gadus! - I already live here for 2 years.
Ko tu dari? - What do you do?
Es esmu arhitekte. - I am an architect.
Kur tu strada? - Where do you work?
Es strada Riga! - I work in Riga!

Does not sound much for 3 days??? ....... Well, let me tell you, I was definatly racking my brains off day after day.....