otrdiena, 2009. gada 8. decembris

Just another clip blog

Now if you know your TV history you know that whenever you have a long running show you will always get a shitty clip show, a sort of recap of all the "best"bits from that particular series. Well I don't know if its been done before but i am going to write a "clip blog" this is going to be a way of just recapping certain adventures Ive had in My Latvian adventure.

Now Im creative but unfortunately Im not as creative as I would like. I wish I could be some sort of artistic poet, or maybe a painter or a hobo musician from 50s America traveling across the open country on fright trains. One of the first jobs I ever wanted was to be a cartoonist and even today I have fantasies about being In a band, not selling any records and then in twenty years time some artist wants to make a documentary about the Impact that my small band had on the music industry. However with all this passion for art, music and to certain extent performing there was one thing always in the way.........my lack of talent.

Now in the last two months Ive been here I have had the opportunity to show my creative side and even practice certain skills and talents.

Drawing.
Now Man loti patik Gloznot. This in Latvian means , i really enjoy drawing ( I know your Impressed) and I do enjoy it but when it comes to art I've had a wall in front of me, I can get to certain point then everything turns to shit.....my peak is cartoons. I think its the child in me but Ive always been able to draw cartoons or doodles but when it comes to actual reality, i struggle my brain and my hands just stop co operating with each other. At the beginning I had spare time to practice my gloznot, and I even tried to draw something real....the picture of the parrots. The usual happened and it turned into some surreal childish doodle and then I started drawing Uncle Ben eating jars of KoK, maybe My art teacher was right that my approach to art was always too childish.......actually fuck him...being childish is my artistic style and for me well sometimes reality needs to be altered.

Music
For those who know me well, know that I have been practicing harmonica now for around five years, and its probably the only musical Instrument i have ever been average at.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to perform with the amazing new band "the Milk Tits". Ive played in front of my friends and small groups of people but never to a big hall, and I wasnt always on the harmonica I had to play guitar and the drums too (not at the same time, though that would be hilarious) which took me out of my comfort zone a little. The best thing was that we playing music for the theater workshop, so we didn't have to play a song just make some atmospheric sounds and If it was out of key or if it didnt have any rhythm well thats ok because it was art and improvisational and we could just say it was meant to be like that. However after we finished the next band was running late so a few of us went back on stage to do a performance of creep.....now I watched it the other day and all I could think was fuck, im really bad at the drums. Though every band has one bad performance and we have to start somewhere I think that im just going to stick with my harmonica. Undeterred I have plans to write the "milk tits" Christmas album.

Acting
Well some of you may know that about six weeks ago I went to watch some improvisational theater, and I was thoroughly confused by the whole thing, Partly due to it all being in Latvian and partly due to the double whiskey I was drinking.
Now for the last three years of my life ive been a student..and one of the quintessential elements of being a student is day time TV. Now yove got to be smart,too much is bad, if you wake up too early then you may get enticed with the E4 morning schedule.Smallville, One tree Hill , now this is bad enough but its ok at 12 45 scrubs is on but what to do before then well unfortunately on E4 its the fucking Gilmore girls so dont get stuck in a rut, shop around try different channels and for me Dave can help at these vital moments even though youve seen that episode of Top gear far too many times before...what else are you going to do get out of bed and study. Now one of my favorite day time television shows has to be Who's line is it any way USA (which can be found on channel Five USA) now I used to watch it thinking to my self If I ever got in a position where I could have a go at doing what there doing then Id do it, however I never thought that I would be doing it in Latvia.
Well last weekend thats exactly what I did, I took part in Improvisational theater, and I have to admit i was quite nervous, I mean we had a practice before people arrived but I never though that there would be so many people, and it was mostly In Latvian. We had to work in teams and luckily for me my team had good English skills and we had a plan for the first game kill me off, kill me off early. So the first thing I had to do was pretend to get shot in the head...another great role for my CV.
As a child I starred as a cabbage In Jack and the Beanstalk, Ive been in two short movies in Latvia, my roles being Random guy and waiter and now Im pretending to get shot in the head....im moving up the ladder of success me thinks.

All in all, I still haven't found that special artistic skill that i have but I do try.....maybe thats my special skill, some people are good at football, some are good at maths ...Im good at trying haha

svētdiena, 2009. gada 29. novembris

The Big One O

Well here it is, the tenth blog of my great Latvian adventure and it´s put me in a somewhat reflective mood. I never thought that I would make it to ten. Firstly I thought that I would get bored of writing all the time (which sometimes I do) and secondly, I thought that things would start getting more, you know.....normal, and that I would run out of stories to tell. But writing these blogs have been great for me to tell you all about the strange, the mad and the weird. What´s funny is that the blogs themselves have now become internationally known, they are read in parts of Europe, Asia, South America................................ and they all agree that my spelling is awful. Though I have had some really nice comments from others. I have even spoke to the first EVS volunteer that stayed here in Gulbene and she told me the origin of all the pictures of animals in the flat and the reason why there is a huge plant in the corner of the front room.
However for all you critics I now have an editor to help keep the spelling and grammar in check, this is just the start of bigger things, although when I say editor it´s probably fairer to say a lovely friend who is willing to help me.

Last weekend I hosted a party for all the people that I met on my on-arrival-training in Riga about a month ago. The party was organised by my new mentor Justinē, which was good as she did all of the organising, as I´ve been so busy lately with work and joining various projects. At the time I probably wasn´t in the party mood for several reasons. One being the fact that I was starting to get a bit tired of all the partying I´ve been doing, I love to party but I also need time to rest and be on my own. The second reason was that on that weekend, thousands of miles back home In Plymouth my ex-classmates from Uni were all celebrating their graduation. This put me in a bit of a sombre mood. It´s quite hard to give yourself a goal, work really hard for three years and achive that goal, especially at times when I didn´t think it was possible. I´m really pleased with how I did but I haven´t been able to celebrate with the people who helped me along the way. I couldn´t celebrate on the day we got our results because I was In India, but that ended ok with a sneaky beer on the rocks next to the river by the house.
But graduation is a chance to celebrate together, but as always Pa short had some great advice, "the awards are great but at the end of the day they are just trinkets and baubles". I know he´s right. You give your self personal goals and that´s what they are personal and you may forget the rewards that you have over time but the things you learned and the experiences you gain will last forever.

Well thats a bit too deep for this story. Let´s get back to the reasons I don´t like hosting parties. Here´s the big one: If it´s shit you can´t leave.
But thankfully it was a great and I think everyone had a great time. It was interesting to get their perspective on the flat, some were shocked with the smell of the water and the sleeping arangements and the pictures of random animals every where. One guy was saying that if im not happy I should do something about it, but I suppose I am happy, very happy, its not perfect by any means, but I have two choices - whine and complain, or just get on with it. There are times when it can be difficult here but the work is perfect for me and the opportunities are amazing, I’ve met so many people and already seen a lot and its still very early in my journey. Next year I´m going to travel across the Baltic countries and then see how far I can get after that.

I had a great time meeting the guys once again and I will meet them again soon somewhere else in December. But for the week it was back to work, I have created a couple of new interest groups at the centre and recently bought a really old manual camera, which I can´t wait to learn how to use because then I can develop my own pictures in the bathroom, which would be great as the red light will distract people´s attention from the orange stains and mould on the wall.

Plus I joined another project at the end of the week with people from Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. The centre was hosting a project that focused on the importance of young people being polictically active and there were workshops on how to make videos. So I even starred in my second short film in Latvia and my roles are getting higher, first I was just a random guy but in my second role my character had a name which was .................................waiter. Hopefully that film will also be on YouTube.
At the end of the week the group went to the capital, and in Riga we went to the Latvian parliament and even met the ex-Minister of Finance. This was fun, as Latvia is in a current economic crisis and also spent two million Lats (which is close to two million pounds) on a bridge that hasn´t even been completed yet. I donned my serious face, and gave him some hard-hitting journalistic questions about these issues.....worryingly he sort of just laughed the issue away and said this, I quote,
"when I was starting out in Politics a superior said to me you can make two types of decisions when you´re a politician a bad one........or an even worse one".............Knob.

Riga is a great place and the hostel I stayed in was awesome. Any place where they greet you with a free beer is going to be a good place especially when they have the Beatles, Rolling stones and Dylan on the video juke box. The nightlife is active in Riga, but they don´t start until quite late and as I was in English party mode, I started drinking at eight but it´s ok, people caught up, and me and the Lithuanian guys even managed to sneak into a night club full of cheesy euro trance music and Russians.
I learned a lot from these guys: They are currently squatting in England and have made getting stuff for free into an art form.


Once again I had another great week in Latvia and drinks with some new international friends.
But next week I think I´m going to take it easy with a new book, a cup of tea and some biscuits. It´s coming up to two months of being here now and the time has gone fairly fast, I´m going home for Christmas in December but after that I might have to do a full seven-month stretch away from home and whether it will be easy or not, who knows, but I´m sure I will have some stories to tell.

svētdiena, 2009. gada 22. novembris

Danger Danger, High Voltage

Me and electrical goods have been having slight disagreements lately. About three weeks ago my apartment had a blackout and now and again the electricity would just cut off. I think it was because one of the sockets is a little dodgy, Usually this would nt be a problem but always seems to be when Im cooking and using the oven, I had to wait till 11 in the evening one night just to have an egg sandwich. The flat wasn't just struggling with electricity but the heating was on blink too, It was OK for me because Ive been going away and staying at other places which is lucky because for about five days we had no hot water neither.


But the worst was about to come.....since Ive been here evenings can be a little queit sometimes, without a laptop to keep me occupied I have to rely on the Four books that I brought, ( three down one more left) and the DVDS that i brought with me. Some classics (blade runner, The good, the Bad and the Ugly and some more of my favourite films. I was lucky enough to get a TV from the youth Center and I was given permission to borrow the centers DVD player in the evenings. It was a good time, Films a cup of Tea and some of the finest Oatmeal biscuits that Latvia can offer.......but that has come to pass, as the other day my Latvian TV.......died.
I was in the middle of watching a film in the morning and then i could hear this strange ticking and then I heard a soft boom the screen went blank and then smoke began to rise from the doomed Television set. I am still able to watch films in the evening at the center but that means that Ill have to remember to take the biscuits.

On the 18th of November It was the celebration of 91 years of Latvia's Independence. To celebrate there was a party being organized across the street from the center, we had to all dress smart and bring food. I got my party on with some potato salad mother fuckers.
During the afternoon the center was open and the boss thought that it would be a good idea to use the light installations which were made last week at the seminar. The light installations use multi coulured bulbs and look really good in the evening. The only problem was that for some reason they were not working, they were in a chain so, I tried other bulbs to see if it was any better, the new bulbs worked but the coloured bulbs were being stubborn bastards. So I thought maybe I should see if a coloured bulb would work inside, I took the bulb and put it in to one of the rooms, as I put turned the light on I could see that shining glow of yellow, the image of success for about a second then the bulb blew, and there was only darkness, not just in the room but I fucked the electricity in the whole building. It was bad timing as the center was full of young people listening to decks, going on the computer and even the boss was in the middle of having her nails done. Its another thing to add to the list of fuck ups and mistakes Ive done at a job (not this one, but just in general) Most fuck ups and mistakes were probably in the bar that i worked in for two years, but they never got mad if anything I think they encouraged that type of behaviour, and I have to respect any job that wouldn't mind employees flashing their pants at other employees in the wine cellar, Mouthing off to policemen, uncomfortable encounters with Frank Bruno and being on the whole a bit of a lazy twat but thats whole different blog altogether.
The fuse box was the tricky part located in a separate building next door, completely pitch black in a warehouse type building with obstacles all over the floor and even a spiral stairway which has no banister and a drop that can be easily mistaken for a black hole. It was so eerie walking down the stair case with a candle as our only light to reach the fuse box looked like a scene from a 30's horror movie.

In the end everything worked out fine, the electric came back on, and I got to share my Potato salad with the good people of Latvia, Ill just be staying away from any electric goods for a while., and stick with books............................I just hope I dont get any paper cuts catastrophes.

I would like to Dedicate this Blog to My Latvian television


Latvian TV
08/10/09- 17-11-09

otrdiena, 2009. gada 17. novembris

Away I go

well I have changed my mind I was going to write a blog titled "game over" which was going tell the account of how I got my ass kicked my six people aged 13-20 at ping pong (Latvians love ping pong who knew) but as I didn't have any similar stories Ive decided to write about my recent travels and the people Ive met along the way.

In the last three weekends i have met, had dinner with and consumed alcohol with people from-
Morroco, Spain, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, France, Italy, Hungary, Palestine, Algeria, Estonia, Tunisia, Molidivia, Bulgarian, Greek,......not all at the same time.
A couple of weeks ago i went to France to attend a training seminar, the seminar was about sustainable development, actually a lot more interesting than it sounds.
To get to France I had to go to Riga first, I was little worried and tired. I had to leave for Riga at six in the morning and then i found out that we wernt taking off until 3.30 then we land in Prague and have to stay in Prague for 4 hours and we wont land until 11.00 which worried me a little as everyone else was meeting at 7, and when we did land we had to get on this bus for 35 mins and then when we were on the bus ring a number that we were given, but because of the international block on the Latvian sim I have I couldn't make any outgoing calls and nor could my traveling companion.
So at this point she had the idea of going to get some food at her Aunts, so were on are way getting further and further away from the airport, and im starting to worry about time, walking through a strange town and then we got to a really old building and then at the apartment i can hear her dog bark,.....................as we went in , I saw that the place looked nothing like the outside it was like the Tardis , and there was a sweet old lady who could not speak a word of English sat me down, and then created a mini feast, massive cups of coffee, three boiled eggs, cheeses, breads and waffles. Its been said by someone before that I can be a bit of a hobbit but all my worries were gone with a nice full belly.
I had to use the communal toilet at the apartment and as i walked into the small old fashioned toilet trying to be funny and clever thinking oh i could write how this toilet looks like the one from trainspotting in my blog............i broke the pull handle.......fuck...when i thought the day was going to get better. I fixed it in the end, after three boiled eggs I was at the top of my game and only panicked a little.


Got to France quite late and found out I was sharing my room with a elderly gentleman from Morocco that looked just like Barrack Obamma's dad, who was nice enough guy but kept asking me if I was asleep when I had my eyes closed.
The week in France was great, and even got the chance to walk around the streets of Aix en Provence, which was full of rich yellows and browns and has a strong Mediterranean vibe to the place. Also got to go to Marseilles for the evening, went to the Notre Dame le garde at the top of this hill and you can see the whole of Marseilles, and it was very impressive.
Most of the guys went shopping but a few of us decided to have a look around the smaller areas and I even found a small independent cinema. It was funny because I was talking to this Italian girl about how much i miss watching films and going to the cinema than we find this one, and it was showing the Sam Mendes Movie 'away we go'. Absolutely brilliant one of the best films Ive see this year........and one of the best sound tracks ever, you cant argue with a film that has Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground.
It was nice to meet these people and will hopefully get to work with some of them soon for new projects i was even given a nick name from one of the Palestinian girls.....'Mr Smileyface. I'm not sure why Im getting these types of nick names I thought i give of the impression of a serious mysterious poetic young man ......................................................................................... but its probably closer to a permanently grinning rodent.

When I came back from France I had another seminar to go to, this one though was being held in Gulbene the place I'm living in which makes traveling a lot easier. This seminar was called 'Ā million reasons light is better than dark' and I already missed some very creative work shops and making some light installations because I joined the group of Estonians, Austrians, Latvians and Slovenians about five days after the rest of them arrived so i didn't have much time left to get to know everyone but I was lucky because they were all very friendly and sociable and on the first night i was with them I even learnt about Slovenian poetry.
On the last two days their were four workshops Fire juggling, Music, Theater and Synography. I decided to join the music work shop and the four of us decided to play the music for the theater guys. It was great jamming with them, we had around two days to practice and we all swapped instruments and I learned some new tricks on the guitar.
One of the funniest things was when i asked one of the Slovenian girls what the band should be called......and she came up with the 'Milk Tits'....even stranger was the dance that she made for the band which simply put just looked like she was milking her tits.?

Before the night of the big performance we had a party at a sauna house, which is as cool as it sounds, got very drunk and had some great Estonian Quiche and various fruits, as the party went on I got into a very philosophical chat about time, with an other Slovenian girl who is currently studying philosophy and then astronomy...... you cant beat drunken philosophical chats whilst at a party.
The sauna was hot, really hot at times I could hardly open my eyes. I shared it with some of the Estonian gang and they were telling how they like their saunas hot and how they also like to hit each other with branches....hard,................ so What else could I do I got smacked with a twig and maybe it was the heat or maybe it was the alcohol but I really enjoyed it....but they were taking it a little easier on me the next day one of the guys still had marks where they hit him so hard, Its also custom to roll in the snow after but as they wasn't any there Id just hang outside in my pants drinking a nice cold beer watching all of this steam just roll of my body, but then a few minutes later it got very, very cold.

Back at the party, people were drinking and dancing to Nick Cave.....so it was very good night. I forgot how much fun it is to dance to good music when your pissed, I havnt really drunk much since ive been here in Latvia, so it was nice to get my dance on....and oh believe me I can dance with the best of them, it was like I was back in the dance room in mielleinium ( a refrence to all my Plymouthian friends).
Through the night people were being picked up at various times, I was in the last group to leave. One thing Ive noticed about young Latvians is their dry sense of humour and when something goes wrong a lot of them just say 'fail',
when i was getting in to my seat in the car, the door got closed on my hand...it didnt hurt and my hand is fine but what was funniest is the fact that the guy who was driving us just said in a really dead pan way "ultimate fail"......it was funny at the time.

The next day we had the performance, I played the drums, guitar and the harmonica and I really enjoyed my self, it was only the third time Ive ever played in front of an audience and one the most sober times. I was once played in a Bar but I was pissed out of my face dressed up as "the dude"from the Big Lebowski....as i recall a very good night indeed. The performance was being held at the cultural center, and the group of us did a lot of rallying people and informing people the night before, at times it looked like the circus has come to town with a group of foreigners roaming the streets of Latvia holding posters, waving flame torches around and having a quick exhibition of the fire jugglers doing their stuff, all the while the band was making as much noise they could with the drums and shakers. Quite a number of people turned up at the cultural center and it was great night of music and entertainment and the place looked fantastic with all the light installations put up and the lanterns that everyone made.
The theater was great as it starts out with using shadows only, inside a huge white cube then the guys come out of the cube and you notice the fantastic face paint their wearing and then the music and the dancing start to work together. Hopefully Ill be able to show you all a video of it soon.


Its been a very busy couple of weeks and Im probably forgetting lots of stories. Its also been very culturally diverse and I have learnt lots of things from lots of different people in such a short amount of time ....but if i take one thing learn from it, well ive learnt this. THE MILK TITS ARE THE BEST BAND EVER!

pirmdiena, 2009. gada 2. novembris

What line is being said any way

well I start this blog with a big congratulations to My mentor Maris and his wife Ilena as two days ago they had a baby girl named Nora, I did originally spell it wrong but thanks to edit mode its all perfect now.

So I have to let you all know that I can not understand the Latvian Language what so ever, I'm trying but its just not happening, its just too difficult and Im slipping in to bad habits.
I have two Latvian lessons each week, but Ive only been to about five, (the teacher was poorly, or Ive been busy with work and training programmes) and it really is like a lesson. I was never a bad student at school academically, but I was a bit of a day dreamer and the truth is I still am, and its something that wont change. I remember as soon as i walked into French class in school my mind would already begin to drift and then i would cover at least half a page of my work book in nonsensical nonsense and doodles. It wasn't just French but History and Art too, At parents evening My history teacher said "Sonny has the unique ability to look like hes working but not do any thing productive"and my Art teacher "If sonny worked at his very best and only concentrated at Art .......well the mos the will get is a D"which I thought was particularly harsh, as he always was. He once shouted at me because I wanted to use cotton wool on one of my paintings as a cloud he looked furious and shouted "what do you think this is Nursery" well I showed him three years later and I was working in a nursery for a living.......all the cotton wool for clouds a young man could hope for.
Even in Later eduction My mind would drift and I would do doodles, I tried at the start of every year to keep my books clean and to resist the urge to draw but these attempts would always be a waste of time as I have the attention span of a baby chimp.
However Ive also learned during my time here that if I don't learn the language then Latvia will just become stranger and more surreal, and its strange and surreal enough.

Its my second Saturday night and I haven't got any plans to drive around in the evening and drink alco pops but instead I'm off to the theater to watch some Latvian Improv.
The show was being held at the local pub and the actors were an Improv group from Riga, there was about 4 guys and 4 girls and then the audience (mostly young people around 18, some from the center and some were colleagues of mine). The premise was pretty much Who's line is it any way, the host would ask the audience for situations and different styles and the actors would then continue with "hilarious"results.
Well I could tell one thing even though I didn't understand the language, and this was the fact that the actors were rubbish, every person held something in their hand and Ive never seen so many people pretend to sweep in my life. The weirdness probably wasn't helped by the double whiskey i was drinking ( with no coke may I add), This went on for two hours and By the end I was extremely confused. But not as confused when for no reason in particular the actors started gyrating on their pretend brooms and started to lick the walls.

So I carried on with my lessons on the Monday after the weekend, and as usual I continued with my doodles. I have a stock of doodles that I usually do, these are
Trees
The Aliens from Futurama and the Simpsons
Lines
Shapes
Water
Clouds with far away Birds
Cartoon Rabbits
The Rolling Stones Mouth Logo
and Cartoon eyes, none of them of any high Quality. I was once drawing at the flat and my room mates mentor commented on my pictures and said that I had a soul of an artist ( She may of been using the famous Latvian sarcasm I ve learnt about) and as I looked at the pictures she didnt see, one of me and Uncle Ben sharing a jar of KoK, Im sure I have more the soul of a Man/Child than artist.

But My attitude has to change and on the Thursday coming I knew that I would have an opportunity to see how other volunteers from other countries were doing with the Language at On arrival Training.
This was being held for four days just outside Riga in the Latvian Country Side. There were Seven/Eight Volunteers there and about 5 Latvian Mentors and Two Latvian Trainers.
The volunteers were a mixed bunch, we had for the boys Two Spanish, 1 Austrian, 1 Turkish1 British (yours Truly) for the Ladies there were 1 French, 1 German and 1 Italian don't think I forgot any one I shouldn't of as it was two days ago I came back and most of them are now friends on Facebook so they will be able to see this.
The training was focused on the EVS programme and the reason I'm here, it was interesting at times but it was more interesting to get to know the other volunteers and it was worth it because all the food was free with as much tea as an Englishman can drink. In the evenings we got to know one another, without any alcohol we still had a laugh. I wasn't alone with problems of mastering the Latvian Language as most of the people here have been in Latvia for around a month everyone was at the same level. But for some the problem was English, the Italian girl struggled at times but could still communicate, sometimes through purrs or during a game outside you could hear her shout one English Phrase she knew"Ī Kill You". I learned in these four days that not only could I speak Latvian but I also need to master Continental English as it would be easier for people from other countries need to understand me too.

The Turkish guy knew the least amount of English and found it hard to communicate with the rest of us. He would sometimes say something completely out of context which could be funny at times or beweildering. The next day his mentor turned up and was able to communicate for him and these translations showed me that you really cant get a grasp of somebody if you cant speak their language, and that here is an intelligent and thoughtful young man with valued ideas,...........or maybe his mentor just did a very good job of translating his thoughts. Later on that evening me and the Turkish guy were talking in continental English and I mentioned that young people in Latvia looked older than they were and his reply with a straight face and extend hand over his head and said "17 18...... big bitches" ...you can make up your own minds.

the food at the retreat was good but they were a few problems 1, no biscuits for the tea. One day we had tea and cake and next to the cake was some sort of diced meat sausage roll ( these Latvians love the meat), and 2 the veg they had would be next to slabs of meat and the veggies
in the group would have to make sure we got the veg on the edge of the tray. The concept of veggie is really not known here and one Latvian girl even gave me the nick name "British Bunny". Now I don't know why but Ive never had very Impressive nick names, and they mostly end up being animal related and always close to the rodent family. This girl was also took back my doodles who didn't think I was drawing eyes but actually nipples.

On the last day we were all sharing our experiences and thanking each other for a great time. Then when it was my turn I satrted with a little bit about how I usually dislike these sorts of things and that i can be quite cynical about these training methods but i was going to carry on and mention what a great time I had but I didn't have that opportunity as I could see opposite me the Latvian girl was doing something with her hands so I stopped my speech and finished off with "I'm sorry but I cant carry on that girl seems to be Playing with my nipples"
Even though it wasn't profound, or maybe not even true (it could of been my imagination) i thought it was funny, which Ive learned most of all, no matter what language you speak, Funny is funny, you can still have a good time not knowing the language you just neet to find other methods whether that is Purring, Making jokes or lot of noise because the language will come in time.
Later on the bus home I was contemplating my time away and then the nipple playing Latvian girl said "British Bunny I have a Present for you"and pulled out of her bag three carrots!
Latvia may be strange and surreal at times but its also very, very funny!

Next week I will be tackling the concept of competition in "Game Over man, Game Over"

svētdiena, 2009. gada 25. oktobris

Every One Knows Chuck Norris

So, im cooking in my apartment, as usual the only one cooking as my room mate does not cook and hardly eats. Im trying to boil some rice, one of the more difficult carbohydrates in my opinion. Im never sure on how much waters your supposed to put in and it always ends up with a thick film of starch on each grain (and for someone who has supposed IBS thats not too good, but its only supposed becasue I dont trust my doctor). As im cooking the fire alarm of the whole building starts to go off, the only thing I can think to my self is FUCK not again, as this would be the third alarm now thats been set ofwhilst ive been in the building. The first was the security alarm mentioned in the third blog, the second time was only a couple of days before this incident, something to do with the security at the apartment which incidently gave the whole building a balck out right in the middle of me boiling some eggs, and then this incident making it the third. I ask my roomate whats going on and he said "don't worry , it happens all the time" īt has nothing to do with us"
Now ive learnt one important thing about my room mate is that for about 90 per cent of the time he is completley wrong or quite ignorant of the enviroment around him. For example he didnt notice that the bath was orange because of dirt but because of its oldness??, the doorway light was broken and needed repairing??, but in truth the lightbulb was gone (which I changed) He does not cook because does not know how too ?? now I do like my roommate but sometimes its wise to question what he says but on this occasion I believed him, I just carried on cooking with the alarm ringing, not doing the usual waving of a towel at the alarm or opening the windows to let the smoke/steam out. So the alram kept ringing and ringing for around twenty mins and then there was another massive Latvian authority in my doorway, speaking to me in Latvian then stopped talking completly when he learned I was just a stupid Englishman he just pointed at my rice and then the alrm, explaining two things to me, One it was my fault and Two dont trust Thibaut.
Even the moring after there was strange goings on, as I leave for work a bit later than Thibaut I was surprised to hear someone in kitchen when I was in bed, I was going to stay in the front room becasue there was nothing in the kitchen that I cared about and if someone was going to steal then they could help themselves to as many shitty national geographic pictures on the wall, and spoons as they liked, but as the noises were getting louder I became more curious I open the door and instead of the usual huge latvian there to meet me there was a sweet old lady..........which was good becasue if I got a good punch in I m sure I could of floored her, serves her right coming into my yard. The truth is she had a key and was checking some numbers on some metres or something plus she wasn't that small so it would of been a much more even fight then I would of liked.

Now as the weekend was coming up I knew one thing I could not stay in that apartment it was getting too strange, spontanious and unpredictable , what I needed was a night out, I needed a drink.
This weekend was going to mark my first saturday night out in Latvia, as i finish work around 8 in the evening i get call from one the guys from the centre around 9, asking if i fancied going out. This was good timing as I wanted to see what young Latvians do on a night out................as it turns out its the same as being 17 in England....not a lot.
The thing is with most young people in Latvia they all look older than they actually are, so i meet my friend from the centre i meet his friends and sister. The thing is they are 18 but they look older and Im 25 but i dont feel 25 and i certainly didnt that night.
It turns out that there not many clubs in Gulbene, well there are actually no clubs at all so we go for a drive and before we drive off, we go the shops and buy a little alcohol. I actually end up buying some sort of alco pop which was coke flavour and tasted like shit, and two others bought some brandy and a bottle of coke. A swig of brandy than a swig of coke, it was great it was like being 17 again, driving around in my mates car finding a place to hang around, and plus driving in the night in Latvia is awesome, the speed limit here is 90 miles per hour in the country roads and its completley black as there hardly anylights, plus it was snowing too which for me (as i was sitting in the middle in the back) looked like scenes from star wars ( when the millienium Falcon hits hyper space) unfortunatley I have such confidence Issues I didnt imagine my self as Han solo or luke, the most i could muster was fucking R2 D2.......but it still felt like Star Wars and that was good enough for me.

The night was good fun, I got to meet new people but we didnt find a place to go to, as many places were shut after 11, so we drove around for a while and then we had probably the best conversation Ive had with anyone here in Latvia.................... we talked about Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris is an American matrial artist who has starred in some very cheesy and rubbish action movies over the years, plus a really awful T.V show "Texas Walker Ranger", but most of the time there so utterly shit, that there genius. For a few years now Chuck has become something of a cult legend and an interent pheneomenon happened...called Chuck facts here are some of the best
1 when Chuck Norris is Late, Time better Slow Down
2 When Chuck Norris does pushups, he doesn't lift himself up. He pushes the world down
3 There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live
4 Chuck Norris can Kill two Stones with One Bird
5 Chuck Norris Does not sleep. He waits
6 Chuck Norris does not wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
7 Chuck Norris is the reason why Wally is hiding

I think you understand and there are loads of facts on the internet, so when i said in the car "I cant believe you guys know Chuck Norris" ont of the best qoutes I have ever heard back was simply "Ēveryone Knows Chuck Norris"

Meeting new people in Latvia is great and one thing that ive noticed that the humor here is very black which suits me as I love funny sereal things. One day i had to go to a new youth centre which was getting small finishing touches done, but on the way we had to pick the centres camera from one of the young people. On the way i made a joke that we should take his money for being late and then my boss replied "yeh then we should kill his cat"........which I found funny any way.
It turned out to be one of my favourite days here, it was good to ge tout doors and do some hardwork. I had to cut bark of a log which was great fun, as I said before i hate confronation with people but give me an axe and im going to fuck your tree up.
The new centre is the great building which used to be a school and its located in quite a rurual area, and out side the building is this great stretch of land, near the back of the building is this lake and in the lake is a little island, it was are job to make a bridge then a path in the middle of this small island and then to help make a bonfire.
It was great that a team of people from Riga came to help ( this team actually turn out to be some of Latvias most famous musicians) at the time I had no idea, so I kept talking to them about youth work and what centre there from which In reply I got some very strange looks.
After the bonfire we go to a bread factory and we see how latvian black bread is made at the end of the tour we are offered some bread, to take back to the building with us, where we will all share the Bread with some Honey and Cheese, It was quite funny as all these people were taking the bread to be shared but my roomate Thibaut had other plans he was taking the bread and was putting it in his pockets. I asked him why and he replied that "I antcipate that there will be laods of bread left on the table so i can take home" which he did.
It was a great and very bohemian evening, we ate the food and then listened to some acoustic music from the musicians and even though I didnt understand it there were still some moments that were fantastic. After the music we watched a film on youtube made by the kids of the youth centre to show the musicians what kind of activities they do there, they even used on of the muisicans songs, I was stood next to him to see if if he was pleased or embarresed by this but the song choice seemed to not effect him, then the second song comes on and its only fucking David Hasselhof asking us all to jump in his car, if I was the musician I may have been deeply offeded by following my art and passion with the Hoff......or maybe its a great honour.

After the music finished we were all getting ready to go home, a woman who was one of the musicians asked what I was doing there, I said "im volunteering in Latvia" she said 'Interesting choice"and I suppose at the begening it was, bit now i feel more confidnet that it was the right choice.............................. even though yesterday (at the time of writing this) I'd set of the fire alarm again, Im now four and counting.

Tune in next week folks as we see our plucky hero tackle the language barrier at an Improvisational theatre show, called "what lines being said Anyway".

ceturtdiena, 2009. gada 22. oktobris

Oooh it takes a Montage

Well Rocky had a montage and the way I see, i want one too, this will be one of the shorter blogs as for those familiar with montages will know they don't take long at all.

Now the plan is the blog to be popular with friends and family, then I get home and send it to a publisher and then it turns into a book. The blog gets changed by the editor to make a beginning, a middle and an end to make sure that the protagonist goes through some sort of journey. Then the book gets taken by an up and coming screen writer all the names and events that happen in the book will be changed and the location will move into America and they will add new people into the story, there will be a love interest also a hapless to bring in a best friend to bring in some light relief and then the end product will be nothing like the original blogs.............but I promise you this there will always be time for a montage.
Now all this is a reference to the film Team America, and if you have not seen it well shame on you, because its fucking hilarious. In the film there is a scene where they take the piss out of montages in movies particularly the Rocky movies where there is a Montage in each one (everyone has their favourite, mine is Rocky 4 where hes training in the Russian wilderness carrying a cart on his back) and in this part of the journey I have to face certain challenges and at the moment im doing Ok but I need a montage to speed the whole process up.
The first and biggest challenge is the bath, my oragnge bath. When I first saw it my flatmate told me that it was supposed to be that colour as a result of it being so old, on closer insepction (and scrub) I saw a gleam of hope, a white streak in the middle of a world of orange. So I bought some cleaner stuff and wnet to it. Unfortunately for me, years of being a lazy bastard when it comes to claening has taken its toll and it doesnt help that im buying cleaning products in Latvian as i don't have a clue what im buying or what the directions of use are, so i gave it go....................It took me a whole fucking WEEK to clean that bath. And to be honest its not perfect by any means, I mean i look at my dads cleaning credentials and they are good, the man knows how to clean, he cleans everything. He even used to go his friends house (James) along with my mum and give his house the Short treatment, and everytime i look inside that bath and see my murky reflection looking back at me I dont see triumph but only my fathers bitter disappointment.
But I wont give up, I wont give in i will clean that bath tub if it kills me, it will be whiter than white, this will be my 16th chapel, my Mona Lisa, my Sgt Peppers, my bathtub masterpiece. All I need to do is find a mentor every good montage has a mentor, I need my own Micky, Mr Myagi or best of all I need a yoda...............................Actually even the two blokes that dress up as women in the bounty adverts would be a blessing,
The challenges keep coming here in Latvia and I suppose all you can do is take them head on. I cant speak the language, there is no good veggie food, its freezing now its time for the montage, clips of my Latvian lessons, Clips of me chopping onionš, at first its shit but im gradually getting better, I burn the rice when i cook but after getting some advice from a friend (thanks Nat) It starts to turn into edible food, there will be a scene like in Rocky where hes in a meat locker punching raw meat but instead ill be in a field punching raw turnip. There be short clips of me trying to clean the bath, swearing nearly being defeated by this cold metallic batsard, Mr Muscle will put his head around the door and shout get up you BUM...............and clean it I will .

As i said this was a quick blog this time around because I have many tales to tell but with all different types of themes, the next blog will be the Epic "Ēvery one knows Chuck Noris' this will deal with my first Saturday night out in Latvia plus my Interaction with people and even meeting some of Latvia's most famous musicians and not having a clue who they were.

sestdiena, 2009. gada 17. oktobris

Would you be Concerned if you urinated bright orange wee

Well before I start I have to tell you that I am fine and that there is nothing wrong with me physically. I spoke to my Dad yesterday and he told me that along with my Mum, he was a little concerned about the title of my next Blog and wanted to make sure if I was Ok and If I was eating healthy food. Well dont worry Dad because ironically it was me trying to be haelthy that made my wee bright orange in the first place. It only happened twice and it was on the same day. I dont exactly know why, but I have an idea...............
Once upon a time my Auntie Tam insited that I took vitamin tablets, I tried to tell her that Im sure there would be food in Latvia, but she was having none of it. What could I do, she outranks me, not only is she my Auntie which makes her some type of authority figure I suppose(which in a matriarchal family like mines doubles in position) She is also a Paramedic in training. I would try to challenge her medical knowledge but Im only an EX-first Aider, and the only reason I got the certifiate in the first place is because the Lady that was marking and testing us, found out that I was related to Tammy and the rest of the Duckett
clan( Ma, Claire and Bernie and of course my wonderful Gran). Plus if I argue too much she would litterally crush me like a grape.
So i have decided to take them, the best vitamin tablets Morrisions has to offer. First of, their huge, as big as.................................................i dont know my ear lobe and for people that are familiar with my ears they will understand my problem. secondly they are a horrible rust colour and they taste like shit and Im pretty sure that they were the reason that my piss looked like lucozade, thankfully this has stopped but Unfortunatley I am finding obstacles on my hunt for a healthy diet.

Now for those who do not know, I am a vegetarian and i have been a veggie for about three years. I have been asked why many times and I have given many explanations, "because i felt like it" "I dont want to eat something which has been killed" "one time under the influnce I watched Watership Down and it had a great effect on me to change my perception on life itself".
Well their all true (even the watership down one to a certain extent). I dont miss meat but I do miss one thing, My Grans Lasange, It is the best meal that for some of you have never had, so it was sad for me to say goodbye to it but now my Cousin Alf has taken the mantle of number 1 fan, its better of really......................................... its a young mans game.

Now to find veggie food here has been difficult, mainly because the concept of being a vegetarian itself is completely mad to your avarage Latvanian, they love the meat.
At the beggening of my trip to find food at all was difficult as my flat mate Thibault doesnt eat in the flat and if he does its a peice of bread with a slice of ham (he doesnt even put butter ont bread). Thnakfully the next day he showed me where the stores were, there are three similarly priced stores in Gulbene there is Maxima, Alviva and my favourite store Super Netto (its my favourite only becasue it sounds like Super-nintendo).
The first one we go to is Alviva, this was my first chance to look around to see what I will be cooking for the next 10 months of my life, and I tell you what there are a hell of lot of pickels!
Luckily there are your basics Pasta, rice bread, cereal and eggs and then it gets a little difficult theres veg but some of it I dont recognize and havnt got the first clue where to start cutting or even what top do with it, Thank fuck for the onion.
Next of is the brands, now there food items here that I recognize but not the manufacturers,Things like cereal is ok i mean Tony and the rest of the kellog gang are all here but savoury items are tricky. We have Butter made from the company Valdo, there is Vici Pizza, Spilva bread and my favourite Kok sauce. Kok (pronounced cock) makes pasta suaces (tomato, Oninon and garlic ect) and i cant wait to go to someones house and see it there, I have already planned what to say "I see you have some Kok on your shelf" ī perasonally like to keep my Kok in the fridge" and of course "whats your favourite falvour of Kok"
I may not be eating a wide range of food but at least it makes me laugh.

The thing is even the restaurants here are against vegetarians. There is a restaurant over the road from the centre, one day i skipped breakfast and lunch and decided to get some food there but unfortunatley its shut cos it doesnt open till 12, so I go in to work and I have a job to do which makes me busy untill 3 by this time Im getting really hungry and tired as the cold just saps your energy levels. I walk in ask for the english menu and go to the veggie section which said at the top "Vegetarian/kids speciality men". Us veggies dont even get our own section of the menu to ourselves. On offer was-
Carrot and PeaStew
Grilled Aubergine w/sauce
Potato Rosti with parmazan cheese
Dumplings with Sour cream
Pancakes with jam
Oats and ceral

There was no section marking off where the kids special menu started so i guesed it was the pancakes and oats. I ordered the dumplings as I like sour cream and I was even planning what to have for pudding, I had a coke (my first in about a week) and i was feeling quite happy about the whole situation.........then my meal came, these little dumpling things looked good on the outside so i popped one in my mouth and im sure i dont need to explain but i spat it back out again in about 3 seconds, Latvia is trying to fuck around with my food. I look inside and all i see is meat and not good meat but the kind of meat that makes turkey twizzlers look like a fucking T bone steak with peppercorn sauce in comparrison. I was angry, well as I angry i can get (which is not that angry). I stormed or realistically walked gently to the waiter. Now he was only a young red haired fellow, which by knowing many red haired gentlemen knew that they are quick to anger when startled, so I politely told him that there was no way at all that I was paying for this meal and that how on earth could they have a meat dish in the vegetarian section, that showed him....................I payed for my coke and left.
Later I told this story to one of my Latvian colleagues who said that they probably didnt have much meat inside which in Latvia is the closest you could get to a good vegtarian meal.

Now I went to a new store (maxima) and had a look and all the similar things were there, plus lots of things looking at me through hundreds and hundreds of glass jars, each thing as indescribable as the last. I walk to the pasta sauce section and there it was looking at me...it felt like a heavenly vision, at my lowest there was one person that was by my side, one person to look to, we all know him, weve known that hes been around us for years, we all know his name we call him BEN..............Uncle Ben.
There that sweet old man was looking at me on a jar of sweet and sour sauce, a brand that I knew, a brand that i could tolerate, I dont even like sweet and sour sauce that much, but thats not the point, Wheres the homepride cheff, wheres the annoying Dolmio puppets wheres the man from Del Monte......fucking no where to be seen.
And whenever i feel down about food again I will always smile and know that in My fridge Uncle ben is placed right next to a jar of Kok.

Next week join me on an me my next adventure "Oooh it Takes a Montage". This will see how i deal with the challenges that Latvia is making me face

and anything that we want to know from just a beginner to a pro, you want a montage (montage)
Even rocky had a montage (montage)




otrdiena, 2009. gada 13. oktobris

Raise the Alarm

Well, here is part three of my latvian adventure, now at this point I feel I have to tell you that as crazy as some of this may sound, all thoughts, feelings and events actually happened at the time.

Its saturday night and I am at my mentors house, we have just had dinner and finished watching a movie (yes man) and i know at this point that soon I will be walking home. Latvia is still very new to me and I dont really know if its safe or freindly and the walk home is at least 20-30 mins, so im beggeining to worry. Only a little of course.
Unfortuantley physical confrontation is another thing that I dont excell at. If i am involved in a conflict I have three methods to deal with the problem. The first is to run. The second is to act mad and slightly insane, I saw this work in the cartoon Hey Arnold. Arnold was getting bullied so he decided to baffle and scare his foe by acting completley insane, he used the dancing to James Brown technique. My technique would be something basic yet effective....maybe I'd start to eat my shoe or something. The third and most effective method is to offer food and try to tame your foe, this actually worked once back home and has made me believe since that anyone looking for a fight has really only got the grumps because they havnt eaten today.
As im leaving the apartment I asked Maris if it was safe and he assured me that it was, he said "šure, sure its safe, i mean it is for me". That didnt feel me with total confidence but i have to get used to my surroundings and it wasņ't that late anyway. Option 1 was out because i could run, but whereto I dont know where I am, option 3 was out because i had no food on me, so it looks like the acting slighlty mad option it was going to be.
The thing is Maris was right I had nothing to worry about at all, because there was no one in the streets,because no elese was dumb enough to be walking outside because it was fucking freezing.

Gulbene has a strange beauty in the evening, with the lack of street lights and the cold crisp air it can make the place very atmospheric. As im walking to my apartment, i have to walk through country lanes and on each side of the road are lots of trees and on the left is a wide river, with old style wooden houses and there is even a well in one of the gardens. I look up and I see the most fantastic evening sky Ive seen since I saw shooting stars in India. The stars were so clear and it gave me a great comofrting feeling, I got the same feeling in India and even Blockhouse park, a park which is around the corner of my house and is the highest natural point in Plymouth dont you know.
As Ive turned the corner there is a street light right by my place but it sort of put too much light on everything and I could see this really eerie mist coming from around the corner and everything started to look like the eastern european viallge from the game Resident Evil 4, where the hero has to face against a group of zombie peasents and farmers and this massive bloke with a chainsaw and a brown bag over his head, my walk turned in to a fast pace. Then I started to hear a noise i turned off my I pod and it was the dogs barking and then my fast pace turned into a lazy mans run and i was home in two mins.

As i got home i still had nothing to do, though I am starting to get a routine, My flatmate was in his room watching movies, I decided to put the radio on and read a book. The radio here is fascinating, there is one station called Star FM which plays a lot of recognisable music but its always the same songs, it starts with Beyonce and then Rightsaid Fred, Green Day, the Jai Ho song and then as Im feeling a little vulnearble comes on everybody Hurts by REM, the Irony was not lost on me.
I was feeling vulnrable because of the book I am currently reading which is called Slaughterhouse five, this deals with issues surrounding life and death, and when faced with these issues you cant help but be a little reflective about the decisions you have made and along with the REM song, it occured to me that Im far away from my loved ones, Im cold and Im not sure what kind of project Ill be doing...maybe i rushed things slighlty (i didnt though). Then in around an hours time and Im being completley honest with you here, it was like the light at the end of the tunnel , a sound through the fog, as I was reading I subconciously started to listen to the song and what i heard was -
Here is a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy......


all I could do was laugh, turn off the raido and i knew that tommorow was going to be a good day.

Now the next day was sunday and on sunday the centre in which I work at BAZE , is closed but me and Thibault are allowed to go in there and use the facilities like the internet and the DVD player
All we have to do is lock up and put in the alram code. Now before I carry on with this tale you have to know that the language barrier can be a litle difficult some times, all the workers at the centre and my flatmate speak English but they cant understand a word im saying because of my accent. It seems like the Aviva adverts have not made it to this part of the world yet and the concept of Janner is wasted on them. For those who dont know, I am from the south west which may give me a slight accent when i speak certain words, and over here it seems to have baffled my Latvian friends. Especially my French room mate, who seems to ask me to repeat my self an awful lot, I too have difficulty sometimes understanding people sometimes but I tend to act very English and poilite and rather than ask people to repeat themselves i just nod my head and smile which I thought would be fine and not get me in any trouble.

Back to the tale there are two alarm codes one as you first come in and one on the third floor where the office is and the Computer room. As there was no one there apart from Thibault who goes to the centre very early at 8 every day (working times are usually 12-8 in the evening) i thought that it would be ok to go in as the codes would of already be put in (as i didnt want to do it as Ive never used an alarm before) I got a phone call from Thibault saying that the door was open and the 1st floor alarm was deactivated but the office on the 3rd floor was armed, i thought to myslef thats fine because im not going in the office im going to the computer room, so i go upstairs not a problem and then im on the 3rd floor there are three rooms the TV room, the Computer Room and the Office the alarm is right next to the office so thought ill be safe and go no where near it. I go into the computer room to find it empty but evidence showing that Thibault has just left, cos his laptop was still there, so i guess hes over the road having lunch, great i can use the internet to write my 2nd blog in peace and then all i could hear was _PEEP_PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP .Ive set the alrm off, I started to panic I and I try to remember the code, I did have them on a slip of paper but I lost it, none of the codes im putting in are working PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP, fuck fuck fuck fuck, but its ok ill Ring Thibault and he can tell me the code....................... my phone is out of battery, so I do what anyone else would do, ill put on my boots and Iļl get the fuck out of there and as Im leaving I notice that the front door is open. My Initial thoughts were great Thibault is back or one of the other Workers heard the noise ..................but no, it was a 6ft2 Latvian policeman that looked like Ivan Dragoš (from Rocky 4 people) skinnier brother, Luckly he wasņt holding an AK47 but a massive walkie talkie that still could of done damage if it was busted over my head. I started to talk to him hoping that he could speak English......he didn't. Ok I thought what can I do...........................well I could always eat my shoe.

The Policeman seemed to be ok and did not look at me as an intruder, we went to the alarm and randomly pressed buttons, i said "Ill be back to him" (which made me laugh to myslef of course) and I went to find Thibault, which was quite easy as he was on his way back, he said that he told me about the alarm, he may well of done, I dont what Ive been agreeing to in the last five days. He also found this terribly funny and at the time I wasnt to ammused with the whole situation.
So just another day in Latvia, the rest of the day was long after that excitement and I had to make jobs to do to fight the boredom, I drew cartoons of the parrots that stare at me...whos mocking who now eh.
I cooked a meal and then when it was late i once again put on the raidio. Star FM was putting on the usual,
Beyonce and then Rightsaid Fred, Green Day, the Jai Ho song and then as Im feeling a little vulnearble comes on everybody Hurts by REM... Do you know what.................FUCK the radio i have Tetris on my phone.
And I knew that tomorrow was going to be a good day.

Well Latvian fans Tune in next week to find our reluctant hero battle the huge viatamin tablets that aunty Tam gave him and the difficulties of being a veggie in Latvia, in the next exciting tale titled "Would you be concerned if you Urinated Bright Orange Wee"


svētdiena, 2009. gada 11. oktobris

Thank God for the Brian Jones Town Massacre

Well it turns out that on the weekends I have nothing to do, and as I still don't know many people and I have lots of things to get of my chest the only thing i can do is write, but please don't worry i will not be writing one every day its just that i felt i left the last one half finished, i need to tell the tale of my first night in the flat.

I got to the apartment around 11 at night, the first thing i noticed was the darkness, there are few street lights in Gulbene which can make it a little unnerving at times. When we arrive at the flat Ieva the co-ordinator who was dropping me off took my 22kg bag with such ease it made re-evaluate my own masculinity.......it didn't take too long. I know being strong is not an asset that i particularly have, who needs strength when you have ..............matching socks, i dont know im sure i have a few more........who am i kidding my socks don't match.
My new flatmate Thibault was waiting outside. What can i say, well not a lot as he will be reading this and is behind me as I write this down, but he certainly is a fascinating character. We go into the flat, i wasnt expecting a penthouse suite but it took me by surprise.
The first thing was that there was only one room, and i was lucky enough to have the couch! it wasnt till the next day that i found out not by my flatmate but by one of the volunteers that the couch was a pull out bed and that there was a second heavy blanket in the bedroom.
But on the first night the couch it was with a thin blanket, my sleeping bag and two pairs of socks on my feet.

So back to the flat, there was no food in the fridge as Thibault does not know how to cook and does not want to learn, so he eats out regularly, also there was no Television at the time, only a radio and a massive plant bigger than me in the corner of the room. One of the strangest quirks of the flat is the random A4 national Geographic pictures of animals randomly placed around the rooms and corridors, I literaly wake up looking at two parrots and i turn to the left and there are a group of penguins on an Iceburg.
The most irritating quirk is probably the fact that, and i dont want to sound crude here but its the only way of describing it, the water smells of fart...........................on closer inspection its probably copper which explains why the bath tub is orange.
So the first night was hard, i was cold, hungry, alone and had two parrots staring at me when i was trying to sleep. Thank god for the band the Brain Jones Town Massacre, a band that ive just put on my I pod, a fantastic band that sound like the early stuff from the rolling stones, which just put me in a better place.

Next morning i spoke to Ma and Pa short, they seemed concerned, fantastically i got a text of mum later saying 'were not happy with the sleeping arrangement do you want Dad to ring up Bruce ( he is the guy in charge of the organisation that sent me to Latvia) I rang them back up said thanks but no thanks iļl sort this out and as a matter of fact i had a great first day, sorted out the bed, got a heater for my room went shopping for food, asked for a TV and im allowed to borrow the DVD player, i have a quilt and im going to put up my massive Indian Om sign that i got from well.....India and a Beatles poster that my gran gave to me years ago.
I also met my Mentor Maris, a good guy who is here to help with things like getting a sim card for my phone , setting up a bank acount ect ect. He intoduced me to some of his friends asking me to pretend that im Latvian by just saying Ja (yes) alot and nodding my head when i felt it was neccesary, lets just say i got some funny looks, consequently Maris inivited me to his and his wifes (who is expecting a baby in November) home the next day, we had dinner and then watched a movie.............the movie was YES man with Jim Carey.
Its going well so far but i have a lot comfort in the fact that my dad is at home waiting for the sign to ring up Bruce and to give him shit on the phone, who knows maybe he could get me a penthouse suite but at the moment I love the quirks too much.........even the parots that stare at me when i sleep.

Tune in to the next instalment "raise the alarm"this will deal with me being stuck at the centre not knowing the code and the police showing up.
PS feel free comment on facebook i would love to know what you all think

sestdiena, 2009. gada 10. oktobris

Feel free to Laugh

Well, welcome to my Pictureless blog. I would like to put a picture on there but because everything is in Latvian im not too sure what im doing and i only got this far with lots of help.
I
was'nt going to write a blog at all, one of the main reasons for this as people who know me well can agree to is the fact that I can't spell. I like to think this is because I dont feel I have to adhere to the rules of spelling that at I'm an individual and that don't have to follow the crowd with correct spelling and proper grammer an all that. The truth is I'm just not that bright.

I've decided to write a blog because........well because I'm in Latvia and itš all very surreal and funny and i have to share this experience with my friends and family so that they can laugh at my misfortunes.
If you don't know I am currently in Latvia for ten months doing volunteer youth work, after i came back from India I was restless and I needed one more adventure, I applied for a placement on the EVS scheme and three weeks later I'm in Latvia changing my opinion about how blogs are a waste of time.
My tale starts at the airport, where the first surreal moment of the adventure happened. I met Tom Waits. Now if your not sure who he is, thats fine but for those who do I hope you can understand my excitment. For those who dont know who he is, he is an American singer/āctor who has made some seminal albums in his time and stars in one of my favourite films of all time "Wristcutters: A love story"
Now by living in Plymouth, you don't really get the chance to meet many famous people, before Mr Waits or for his friends Tom, the most famous person i have seen was Bobby Zamora the footballer for Fulham and even then I was awestruck and blurted out a nonsensical remark about football. So meeting Tom was strange the first thing I said was "hey i dont want to desturb you......but i love your work" i got a nod and a thank you and that pretty much made the trip worthwhile.....welll until the palne landed.

What do you picture in your head when I mention Latvia, is it cold, grey, dull, well your mostly right, its peacefull too and with some nice sights so far and soon it will be snowing which will make everything look less grey and more.......white i suppose.
The first thing i noticed about the language was that they all sounded like the characters from the computer game "the Sims". They are direct in how they speak but they are also friendly with a dry sense of humour. I was picked up from the airport in Riga and then had to walk to one of the volunteers apartment. This was made a little more difficult as i was wearing a heavy back pack and dragging a suitcase that weighed 22 kg and then i found out that the appartment was on the fith floor of her building.
The houses in Riga are small and quaint, you can tell that these are hard times for Latvia and they are also sufferring from the world wide recession at the moment. There are rough areas with many direlect houses but you can find an area like that in any city ( especially in Plymouth). I tried latvian tea, im still not sure what was in it but it tasted good i think it was peppermint and had pasta for supper than off i travelled to meet one of the project co-ordinators who was driving us to Gulbene where the project is which took three hours in the car. Before hand i had to ask her to use the toilet which she replied "you go toilet Latvia style"which meant pissing next to a tree, even thousands of miles apart english people and Latvians are not too different after all.

I have written far too much for the first part, the second blog will be about my tiny apartment with a shower that smells and my flatmate and the other oddballs and freindly people i have met so far, plus the raido staion that palys cover versions of old classic songs yesterday i heard "hit the road jack"in Latvian very odd.
I hope all is well England and look of out for Blog 2 titled "thank god for the Brian Jones Town Massacre"
From Sonny Short