Chris and I are studying (yes, still) for the Latvian driving test. We need to get a Latvian license… actually, should have about 3+ years ago, but now it’s imperative, at least for him. We’ve been studying like mad, which hasn’t been easy. We have a book of laws in English, a rough translation of said book, but 1-2 versions older, and a website of practice tests, all in Latvian. But, we can still take the test in English. Odd how it seems they don’t want you to since they give no help to study in English. (The rough translation we have was done by… someone and has been making it’s rounds through the English-speaking community. We’ll pass it on when we’re done.) We plan to take the test for the first time tomorrow, if for no other reason than to see what the English is like on there.

There are all kind of fun things in here, and we’re regularly told, by Ieva, when we’re taking the practice tests & she’s translating on the fly for us, “Remember, this isn’t America. The rules are not the same.” It usually means to choose the answer opposite of my gut reaction.

Some people have been surprised we’ve been stressed out about this. Well, after we pass, I hope to get some of the questions up here so you can test yourself, then you’ll understand. :) Here’s some laws I’m coming across…
60. The number of lanes designed for vehicles not requiring a railway are indicated by the corresponding pavement markings or road signs; if there are no such indicators, the number of lanes is determined by the individual drivers, considering the width of the roadway, dimension of the vehicles and necessary space between lanes of traffic. (read: if there’s no road markings to tell you how many lanes there are, decide for yourself. Confused yet?)

Continued a few days later:

Ieva and I are translating and writing down the 400 or so questions in our practice book that have no pictures to them. That was so we can study without her. Here’s my favorite of the evening:

What should the driver do in case of force stopping during the dark time of the day, outside of the built up area if you’re not able to drive off the drive way and one of your front or back parking lights don’t work? 

Why do I want to add “…when the moon is full, you’re wearing a blue sweater and there is a cow following you, but with no bell…” or something like that? This is nuts.

I have this memory from growing up… Actually, I’m not sure if it’s a real memory or just something that was just likely to happen and in my mind it is pegged to that day, but to me, it is real. New Year’s Day was the day to start new things, mainly focused around my dad. I remember cleaning out files in the file cabinet one New Year’s Day, using new files, rearranging them and remembering our trip to the office supply store a few days ago smelling the new paper and looking at all the new pens. Good times. But the one we always recalled kind of tongue-in-cheek was that it was the day that Dad sat at the kitchen table and read the new Tax Code, half under his breath and half silently, repeating various sentences because it helped to hear them read out loud as well as see them. I understand that.

Well, this year I didn’t clean out files (mine are still packed from the move), nor did I read Tax Code (I think it would have accidentally slipped into the fire I was stoking). No, this year, while watching the temperatures drop (they’re down to 9F right now) and snow pile up, I started to dream about my garden. I’ve been container gardening for a few years but this year, since we have a house & a yard, I’m dreaming of a big garden full of all kinds of yummy veggies, some which are not very popular here in Latvia. Today I made my final seed list and sent that off, as well as figured out my calendar of what to do when. (Ok, I’m a bit of a nerd, but if you read the first paragraph, I think you’ll admit that I come by that honestly.)

My list looks something like, “5 Weeks before Last Frost: Start tomatoes inside. 2 Weeks before Last Frost: Plant carrots, lettuce & spinach, transplant cauliflower…” I have 12 weeks of plans, from 10 weeks before the last frost date through 2 weeks after the last frost date. The only thing I need to know now is… what in the world is the last frost date for western Latvia?

Now, before you tell me to “google it”, let me tell you that I tried that. After a ton of searching, I did discover that we are in European Hardiness Zone 5, but that doesn’t help. And it’s not like we have a county extension office to call and ask. Grr. Somewhere I heard something about April 1, but I really didn’t think that was accurate. So, I started checking for Ohio last frost dates, which confirmed to me that there is no way our last frost date can be April 1, when back in Ohio it’s at least in late May. Google has failed me. Bored, I started looking through other places in the US at their dates. I always like to look at Alaska, since we’re similar in latitude, even though we have different weather patterns. Juneau is May 15th, with their first fall frost at September 15th. Ok. Then I glanced up the list and started laughing. I’ve always wanted to go to Barrow, Alaska, just to say I’ve been there. Glad I’m not trying to start a garden up there. Last spring frost date, July 24. First fall frost date: August 5. HA! 12 days frost free! Wow, even my Sub-Arctic Plenty tomatoes need 49 days! I guess the greenhouse comes in handy up there. :)

Anyway, I know I need to try to track down someone around here who would have this local info, though I think most of them just know when they do things “Tomatoes go in the greenhouse on this date. Peppers go in on this date”, etc. It’s always like me to shake things up. Wait till the locals get wind of the plan I have to experiment with Square Foot gardening and not plant in long crazy rows!!!

Gotta put wood in the fire. It’s down to 8F now. Stay warm, and happy New Year!

Winter has truly arrived in our corner Latvia. Yesterday we were very excited to wake up to about 1 1/2 inches of snow on the ground. It was so pretty. Everything was white and clean, as opposed to the dirty, disgusting mud that we’ve had for a few weeks. I took some pictures around the house, and this one of one of the apple trees was my favorite. I love winter.

This morning Chris woke up around 7:45am and told me we had no electricity. That’s not good since we have an electric pump for our water, so no electricity means no water. Hmm. We called around and it wasn’t just us, but it seemed to be at least our immediate area. It’s been flickering off and on all day. The other thing we found at 7:45am was that we got about another 5 inches of snow, so we’re at around 6inches or so on the ground, and it’s still falling. I guess we missed the forecast last night. I knew it was supposed to snow, but someone said our area of the country was forecasted as “strong snow”. Yup, we got it. So, of course I had to go out and take more pictures. Here’s that same apple tree, 24 hours later. (Maybe I’ll send this picture in to The Weather Channel.)

We were also very bad ants. We were not ready and prepared for this, and so I will publicly say, “I’m sorry” to my Dad for not listening to all of his warnings & lessons growing up and therefore not being better prepared. We have learned our lesson and now have water stored (for the time being at least), have 2-3 days worth of wood in the house (we had nothing this morning), and Chris is cleaning off the car to go to town to stock up on some food items. We’ll also make sure to have a minimum of 1/2 a tank of gas in the car. We have truly learned our lesson.

The power is back on, though it keeps flickering. Chris just came in to tell me that the battery on our car is dead. Hmm. We had sold our car when we went to America last year, and by some strange series of events, we ended up buying it back. What we didn’t know at the time was that it seems the guy who had bought it from us parted out all the good parts (battery, jumper cables, jack, etc) and put junky parts in there instead. When we get a jump from a friend today, Chris will go to town and also buy a new battery. In the meantime, we’re seriously praying for an SUV. Right now I’m hoping he can get out of our driveway.

That’s the latest from our neck of the woods. Stay tuned for more exciting winter weather! The forecast is for snow for the next 10 days. Woohoo!

It’s been a long road but I’d say we’re about 80% moved into our house now. In some ways I think that’s a pretty good accomplishment, and yet… those remaining boxes are like a stone in my shoe. So annoying. I just want to finish it!!! Part of the problem is I need to find some storage solutions for the rest of it. Something like a buffet or china cabinet for many things. And then there’s all of Chris’ office stuff that will go to his office at the base when he’s finished with that.

And even with things that are unpacked but just not put away, there are hold ups. We’re at the stage now that everything we need to do will take at least 2 or 3 steps. For example: We need to re-hang the curtains in the office. Before we can do that, we need to buy some kind of glue/plaster to fix the curtain rods so they don’t come out of the wall again. To do that we need someone who know how to do this stuff AND speaks Latvian to find the time to go to the store with us.

But don’t think our lack of settling has meant that we have no visitors! On the contrary. Since we moved in a little more than a month ago, we’ve had about 15 different people here, 2 overnight and 3 for a long weekend! Don’t get me wrong, we like having people over, but I can’t wait to finally have our “Come see our house” party when people can finally see everything done.

It is happening slowly, though. I went to a second hand store not long ago (a friend owns it) and scored an awesome Secretary desk from the 1940s… for about $35. It looks really good in my bedroom. The same day I finally got my stove! There’s an electric cook-top in the kitchen now, but I not only hate cooking on electric, I always burn things. And we had no oven. Not good. Our new stove is gas on top and has an electric oven. Beautiful! Just gotta get the gas hooked up now. Gotta figure out when Janis has the time to go with us to buy the tank… and on it goes.

So, anyway, here are a few pictures from the inside of the house. Hope you enjoy. :)

Remember, you can click on the pictures and they will get larger. :)

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written anything. Moving will do that to you! And right now, I’m also without internet at our house, so that just complicates things further. Anyway, last night we finished moving the last of our possessions out of our apartment and into the house. This process of moving has taken 2 weeks and we’re both DEAD TIRED! But, I know many people have been asking for pics, so here are some of the outside of the house. More of the inside to come.

 This is the back entrance to the house – but the entrance we use. We live on the first floor while some other staff live in the 3 bedrooms on the 2nd floor. In the spring/summer we hope to put a nice deck off of this door way.

Every farm/homestead has to have a barn!

Front yard, complete with a pine tree hedge and a BBQ pit/oven for making “shashlik”.

Front entryway… complete with stained glass windows. :)

Next time, pics from inside. :) So, who wants to come visit?

Living in a foreign country means that our lives are often very different than many people’s lives. I mean, sure, life in Latvia is different than life in the USA; things are handled differently and often much slower, but it’s more than that. Often our lives are still quite different from the other people who live in this country. There are some things that I can’t bring myself to do by myself, without a local to help me, mostly because of the language difficulties. I can shop by myself, pay bills and do a number of other things equal to the level of my language abilities. But, there are lines to be drawn. I don’t like going to the bank on my own… well, it depends on what I have to do there, but today I discovered that we are perfectly able to go and receive a Western Union Money Gram on our own. Woohoo! But there are other things, like, I refuse to go to the doctor by myself. It’s just way too important to know exactly what they’re saying. And I also will not go to get my hair cut alone. Again, it’s just way too important to be able to communicate very clearly. Thus, I have not had my hair cut in over a year, partially due to stubbornness & lack of language help, but now this longer hair is starting to grow on me (no pun intended). I think when Ieva gets home in a few weeks we’ll go together.

Chris doesn’t like to get his hair cut on his own either but he can’t go as long as I can without a trim. Often Andis will take him, which is fine, but it just hasn’t worked out lately. Chris has been mentioning lately that he really needed to get it cut and then, the other night, he asked me if I could cut it. HA! I told him, “No! I’ve never cut hair before!” He dropped it, but I couldn’t. I started to think about it. I started looking at his hair, and noticed that I could see how the hairdresser had cut it last time, and I started to think, “Hey, maybe I could do it.” Then I got excited, and told Chris I’d like to try it. That’s when he got nervous. So, for the the next few days, I kept bringing it up, and he kept having a reason for me not to do it. “I’m too tired,” or “We have a meeting tomorrow, so maybe not before that.” It all just sounded like excuses to me. I kept trying to encourage him that maybe I had a hidden talent for cutting hair that I don’t know about, so I really should try it! It didn’t work. It didn’t even seem to appease him when I said I looked on the internet for some instructions on cutting hair. I mean, come on, he learns all kinds of stuff about computers on the internet, so why wasn’t it feasible for me to learn to cut hair online? *wink* So, this evening, we were eating dinner and I announced that tonight I would be cutting his hair. Maybe he was resigned to the idea, or maybe he just didn’t have any ready excuses, I mean reasons… but tonight was indeed the night.

I admit I was a bit nervous, and there were a couple of times that I was glad he couldn’t see my face behind him as I cut some spots a bit shorter than I intended… but 1 hour and 15 minutes later, Chris declared that it was “not too bad, especially for the first time.” I think that means there will be a second time. I wonder what he would look like with a mohawk…

My cat, Saulite, is usually a very sullen, quiet, boring cat. She sleeps constantly (except when we’re trying to sleep) and usually on the back of the couch. She doesn’t meow, but kinda squeaks. She’s not very energetic, either. Not usually. Occasionally she’ll come out of her litter box and run, like she’s trying to escape something. We have come to learn this is her way of saying, “It’s gonna get stinky, so I’m getting out of here.” Nice.

This evening we were just finishing up putting together our taco salads, and Saulite came out of her box, not running, but more like a bullet out of gun… she was just a flash. And then she came back, every muscle in her body, tense, stared up at us as if to say, “Trust me, get out while you can!!!” and bolted out again. We laughed and laughed. Then went into the living room to eat.

Twenty minutes later I went back into the kitchen…. OH MY WORD! I didn’t know a little cat could make so much stink! That was one of the WORST smells I have ever smelled! No wonder after she ran out of the room, the second time, she went and sat by the open window… “Air, give me air!”

Oh my.

…but come on… I mean, really. I understand that prices go up. I don’t have a problem with that, in general. But sometimes it crosses the line of sanity.

Chris and I were at the grocery store the other day. I like to shop slowly, on occasion, as you never know when something new may have arrived. This was one of those days. As I stood surveying the ice cream freezer I saw something very exciting… Belgian Chocolate flavored Haagen Dazs ice cream! This was a first in Latvia, for me at least. I looked through all the signs on the cooler trying to figure out how much it cost. 4.50Ls for 1/2 liter… ok, that seemed expensive, but I wasn’t sure just how expensive it was. We passed after drooling for a moment and came home. That’s when my math whiz husband did all the conversions and figured out that it cost the equivalent of $72.42 per gallon!!!! THAT is insanity! *sigh*

We bought chocolate chip cookies instead.

If you’re curious, check out this article published on CNN Money today. The important facts to know is that Riga, the Latvian capitol city, placed 46 on the list of most costly cities to live in, around the world. That makes it more expensive than Dubai, UAE; Perth, Australia, Toronto, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston and a whole host of other cities.

Even more interesting than it’s ranking this year is that it moved up, not 1 or 2 or even 5 places, but 26 places since last year. The article also mentions that “Latvia’s gross domestic product rose 10.2% in 2007,” but doesn’t mention the 15-20% inflation rate this year. Couple that with the fact that the “U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar against other global currencies, has fallen 14% over the past 12 months”, and you will begin to understand our sometimes financial struggle to live in this country, and also the struggle that those around us deal with.

So, you can think about it this way… for an American living in Latvia, the exchange rate, Latvian Lats to US Dollars, has gone up 22% in the last 2 years, which means, even if all prices stayed the same in Latvia in the last 2 years (which they haven’t) it would cost 22% more to live here now than it did before. Now, add in Latvian inflation of 15-20% (just this year)… it costs 37 – 42% more for an American to live here today than it did 2 years ago. For a Latvian, it’s still 15-20% more than just last year.

Well, yes, we’re back home, and boy, am I glad! Maybe I’m just getting older or maybe it’s because I’ve just come off of a big trip (I didn’t think it was such a big trip when I was planning it…) but I think I’m to the point where I’m getting tired of traveling. I read about all the extra hassles in airports in America (fees for any bags, among the newer thorns), and it just adds to the other things on my list that I have less patience for these days… days without sleep, mountains of laundry to wash when i return home, aches and pains from sitting in one position to long, constant frustration of missed connections plus the rising costs… I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth it. Don’t misunderstand me… I know I will continue to travel… I still have 4 more continents to get to (including Antarctica), but maybe my trips will begin to be spaced out a little more.

But, this isn’t what you’re reading this for… you’re wanting to know about our trip to Czech. Is it enough to say it was frustrating, good, blessed, hot, good again and then bad? No? Ok, here’s the longer version.

I don’t even know when we left. Right, we left Talsi, our dear home on Wednesday the 25th. Our bus was leaving Riga around 7:30am on the 26th, so we went in the night before and stayed at a friend’s house where we could also leave our car while we were gone. We had one way tickets, and that only to Poland and in reality had no idea when we were coming back, as so many of our plans had fallen through. So, Thursday, the 26th we spent traveling. All day. And then some. We took a bus to Warsaw, Poland. (Note: NEVER spend that much time on a bus, especially through Poland. And always double check exactly which station you’re to be let off at.) 12 hours later we arrived in Warsaw, but not at the station we thought we would be at. We only had 1 hour until our train to Czech was to leave. When we asked for information, we were told to go to another place and ask. When we go there, the lady told us, in Polish, that we needed to go to another station 2 train stops away. A friendly young lady jumped into translate for us that we had to go immediately or we would not make that train. So we ran, with all our bags, to the other end of the station, up the stairs, just in time to see the train pulling away from the station. Hmm.. what now? Chris called our friend, Laurie, in Czech to ask her to get on the internet and check schedules for us. Peteris and Elita went back to the nice info lady to ask about the next train to the Central station (all the trains to Czech leave from there). Peteris and Elita returned with another young Polish lady who decided to walk us to yet another side of the station, check the schedules and put us on a city bus to the Central station. We had no Polish money, so we hoped we wouldn’t be asked for our bus tickets since we had no tickets. (I’m not sure on the correct theology on that, but I am thankful no one asked to see our tickets.) We got to the Central station 5 minutes after our original train left the station. I guess it was a good thing we weren’t able to buy train tickets ahead of time. After being shuffled from one desk to another, to yet another, we finally got a train schedule from Laurie over the phone. Once again we got in line (it was around 10:30 pm by now) and handed the lady the itinerary we wanted. She looked at it confused, took our paper and left. Hmm. She came back and started to print tickets for us. There was some confusion again, but 2 kind Poles helped us out by translating for us. A friendly Aussie had recommended some hostels to us should we get stuck overnight, as well. Tickets bought & paid for, we headed for the pizza place in the train station. They had hot food and safe place to sit and keep our bags & kill time until our train left at nearly 3 am. We were all SO tired, beyond tired, really. On the train we found an empty compartment and tried to get some sleep. I’ve realized that teenagers can sleep, any place, any time. Oh to have that ability again.

After 1 train connection, we arrived in Pardubice, Czech Republic around 1 or 2pm (Friday afternoon) – about 7 hours later than we had planned. We were on the city trolleybus to Laurie & Waylan’s apartment (where we would stay for the first 3 days) and Waylan happened to jump on our bus as well. It was so good to see a familiar face! The rest of the day we pretty much crashed, enjoyed hot showers and hung out with friends. That night we all slept about 12 hours. I haven’t done that in YEARS.

On Saturday Chris finally went to Danka’s (another friend who lives in the same area, where Peteris, Elita and Marta were staying) around noon to make sure they were up. We had a band practice in the afternoon and went out to eat for some good Czech food that evening. Peteris felt obligated to use his bad, butchered Czech everywhere we went, talking to everyone… very not-Czech. :)

Sunday morning we were to be at church at 8am because our band was given 15-20 minutes to share in music and testimony. We were SO late. Not only did we leave late, but we got lost. It was nerve-racking for me, as well, since I had to drive everywhere. Chris had forgotten his wallet back in Latvia, so I had the honors. The whole year we had lived in that city I think I drove one time, so it was a challenge. But, it turned out ok. By the time we got to church we had 10 minutes to practice. The service went well, and the band was well received. I had the opportunity to share a bit with the congregation about what we do In Latvia, which was good as some of the people there knew us from when we lived in Czech. Many people came and talked to our teens and they were very blessed by that. After church we went to another church that started later. That was the church we attended when we live in Czech, and Laurie was preaching that day. We got there just as they ended and had a nice time seeing old friends again. Sunday evening Chris and I went to dinner at another friend’s house and turned the teens loose on the city. We gave them directions, bus numbers to get home, phone numbers and everything and let them go. On hearing the reports the next day, I was glad we weren’t with them, as I would have been very embarrassed (Czech & Latvian cultures are quite different), but they had a good time and there was no harm done. We had a wonderful time visiting our friends, as well.

Monday the teens slept late again. Laurie & Waylan left early that morning and graciously allowed us to stay in the their apartment the rest of the time we were in Czech. They also let us use their car & mobile phone, both of which were huge blessings. After the teens woke up, they moved into “our” apartment, as Danka was leaving the next day for England, anyway. We also had some band practice that day as we had been invited to play at an English camp on Wednesday.

Tuesday (July 1) we went to Prague. And boy, was it hot! This group of Latvians were melting. It was about 30C (86F) and SUNNY and we were roasting. Chris had a meeting with a friend and caught up with us later, so I gave them the tour. We took the metro up the hill and started at Prague Castle and walked down, over Charles bridge, through Old Town, to Wenceslas Square and back to the train station. Elita’s pedometer said we walked 9 miles (14.5 km) that day. Ugh. But it was a nice day, not too crowded (Prague can be wall to wall people in the summer). We had fun taking tons of pictures, including ones with Marta and a bag of chips. I don’t know why, but it seemed important and funny at the time. :) Highlight for me? Discovering that Prague now has STARBUCKS! I was thrilled! By the time we got to the train back to Pardubice we were all sunburned and exhausted, but had a lot of fun.

Wednesday morning we all jumped in the car and drove, and drove and drove. It should have taken 2 hours to get to English Camp from Pardubice, but it took us about 3. We went way up north, about 1 mile from the Polish border. It was beautiful up there in the mountains. The campers enjoyed the concert & Elita did a good job getting them to participate with the band. The majority of these campers were not Christians so we were able to share a bit about God’s love and personal thoughts about different songs before they were sung. Many came to us to thank us for coming and said how much they enjoyed the concert. We were then invited to join in with sports time. Chris and I were content to watch. (It was another very hot day.) These Latvians are good at volleyball, and not so bad at soccer, but when it came to softball, that was quite fun to watch. Neither Marta nor Peteris had ever played before and had no idea what to do. It was so cute. They had a great time of it, though. Back in the car, we stopped at a little restaurant in a small town not far from camp for dinner and had some of the best “crepes” with ice cream for dessert.

Thursday we planned to go to a city nearby called Kutna Hora. Our friend, Becky (who lives in Czech) had mentioned planning to go there on Thursday as well (with her roommate, friend and brother) but her phone died so we had no way to contacting her. We had to switch trains in Kolin and when we walked up the stairs to the platform for our next train, there she was! It was perfect. We all traveled together and toured together the rest of the day, which was a huge blessing as we had never been to Kutna Hora before and had no idea how spread out things were, and Becky was an old pro concerning that city. We went to the famous “Bone Church” where the bones of 40,000 people are displayed; many are the skeletons from a plague that hit the city long ago. It was a bit creepy, but also very interesting. Afterwards we went on a silver mine tour. Kutna Hora used to be a big producer in silver, as far back as the 10th century. Our tour took us down into a part of the old mines, parts were so small you had to walk sideways and or bend at the waist to fit through the pathway. (Not as tight as spelunking in the caves of western PA, but tight for a guided walking tour.) It was really interesting. The 9 of us had a wonderful, relaxed dinner at a local restaurant before we left for the train station. Our train was late and Becky’s group was concerned about making their bus in Prague to go back to Plzen, but when we connected in Kolin, they got another train that should have gotten them to Prague just in time.

Friday we got in the car and headed south. Our destinations were Pernstejn castle and Blansko, the city we lived in for nearly 5 years and hadn’t been to since 2001. Road closing due to construction sent us on a wild detour which put us at the castle much later than we wanted to be there, but we made it. It was a beautiful day (not as hot), and the teens were able to join in a tour to see the inside of the castle. There was a festival going on while we were there, so we also got to see some sword fighting and such. The unfortunate thing was Chris started not feeling well there, and he got worse as we traveled on to Blansko. It’s true, the saying that “You can never go home”. Blansko was a home for us, and wow, has it changed, and I can’t say for the good. Some parts are nicer, but it’s become a very dirty-feeling, trashy town. One of the nicer hotels and restaurants we would often frequent has become a low, low end hotel, mixed with cheap casinos and such. We didn’t stay long. We tried to find a restaurant to get some dinner, but the other 2 that we went to often didn’t seem so appealing as they once did, and Chris was feeling worse and worse, so we hit up a grocery store and headed home. Chris slept most of the way, only waking to stop for frequent bathroom breaks.

Since Chris was so sick and we were all tired, we decided to stay home all day Saturday. Everyone slept a good deal, washed clothes and the teens watched some movies. It was nice to have a light day, and as evening approached, Chris got better. We think he caught some kind of 24-hour stomach virus, but we have no idea how he got it when none of the rest of us did.

Sunday we went to our friends’ (Christer & Kicki) home. Christer & Kicki were our leaders when we lived in Czech and we’ve been happy to stay in touch with them. We had a wonderful dinner at a 300-year-old pub and spent some great time in conversation and visiting with them.

Monday the 7th was a whirlwind. We got up and started to pack and clean. Then we went into town to buy tickets to return to Latvia that night. Before heading home for last dinner in Czech, we did some shopping and stocked up on some of the things we’ve grown to love in Czech but can’t buy here in Latvia. I was also thrilled to find a blender (something I’ve been wanting for a long time) for half the price of the cheapest one here in Latvia. I can’t wait to make some smoothies! After dinner we finished packing and left the house around 9:30pm. Our train was to leave the station at 10:40 pm. We were excited because we had bought sleepers on this first train to Warsaw, so we couldn’t wait to get in there and get some sleep. A slightly drunk Polish man helped us pass the time on the train platform. I’m not sure why, but drunk guys always seem to find Chris. We jumped on the train as we walked down the hall to find our train car and compartment, we heard, “Chris? Is that you?” It was our Czech friends, Lukas and Petra! We had really wanted to visit with them while we were in Czech, but they were in England most of the time. They were on their way home from England on the same train we were going to Poland on! After we settled into our cabin we went back to visit with them for about an hour. It was such a blessing to us, one of those little gifts from God just to make us happy. :)

After a slightly fitful sleep, we woke up in Poland. We were very thankful we paid the extra $15 for a bed rather than a seat. We found out that our train was running 20 minutes late, which was not good since we only had 15 minutes for our connection in Warsaw. I started to fear that we were going to have a repeat of trip to Czech and get stuck there. We prayed and tried to relax. It turns out our train in Warsaw waited for us. We were very happy… but then started to get concerned again when our train didn’t leave… it finally left 70 minutes late. We only had 15 minutes between our 2nd and 3rd train as well. But, what could we do? We kept praying and tried to get some more sleep. Chris met a young German man on the train who was headed to Vilnius, Lithuania, as well. They talked for a long time and Chris was able to share parts of his testimony with him and share God’s love with him. Very cool! Our third train waited for us as well. By the time we got there we had made up some time anyway and were only 35 minutes late. 3 more hours on this little commuter train put us in Vilnius. We had 2 1/2 hours until our bus to Riga left, so we headed to… McDonald’s. Eh, I never eat it in America, but it was close to the station and fast, so we went for it. We headed for the bus and were happy to soon be headed home, but not before our Russian bus driver had to give us problems. He said we needed some stamp on our tickets. We went into the bus station to the office to get this “stamp”. The lady was very confused and obviously angry, walked back to the bus with us and yelled at the driver. I was surprised how much I understood… Chris said it was Lithuanian but I thought it was Russian. But it was something, “These tickets were bought on the internet… how can they have a stamp on them?” “How do I know they were bought online and not just made on a computer? I’m responsible for the people I bring on here. They need a stamp.” “They can’t have a stamp, and you need to understand that…” Eventually he told us to just get on and we were finally on our way. We slept off and on, and when we woke up 12 miles from Riga we were very happy, until we realized we were only driving about 10 mph… the rest of the way to Riga. We couldn’t understand why this was happening and it only compounded our frustration since it was 1am.

We finally made it and Elita’s dad picked us all up at the station. He then drove us to Jurmala where our car was and I drove Chris, Peteris and Marta home. We pulled into our parking spot at 3:56am. The sun was well on it’s way to coming up and we were glad to be home!