WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO COME 'HOME' TO CESIS

We feel like we now have two homes -- one in Athens, Texas and one in Cesis, Latvia.

When we arrive back in Cesis from a trip to Texas it can take several days before we really feel 'adjusted'. Some of that adjustment is due to jet-lag but most is just due to the differences in culture and our life-style. Some of the more noticeable changes might be:

 

-- Availability and selection of food products -- Now you can look at either of us and know we are not on the verge of starvation. BUT, coming from a small town where there are restaurants, fast-food places and grocery stores on every corner, the change is striking when you reach Cesis. There are about 5 places to eat in Cesis but they all serve the same type of food (Latvian). Unlike Texas, there are no Mexican, hamburger, Chinese, Italian, deli or any of the other myriad types of food choices. Accordingly, the grocery stores have a limited selection as well. A couple of choices for your main, everyday products and that's it. When you are used to Wal-Mart or Brookshires with all of their choices, the Universal Veikal just doesn't have the same appeal.

 

-- Lack of television -- We firmly believe that we accomplish more in Cesis because we don't have a TV to monopolize our time. After we return from the TV occupied world of our Texas home it is a big adjustment to go cold-turkey on the TV watching.  It probably takes us a couple of weeks to forget about flopping down in front of the TV to waste an hour or two on the latest Cops/CSI/Dirty Jobs/DIY network/reruns of Andy Griffith shows. Now if I could just get a remote control to carry around and click then maybe my addiction could be contained more easily.

 

 

-- Loving on our dogs -- As hard as I have tried I can't get Laura to let me have a dog in Cesis. In Texas, we are crazy about our dogs and enjoy being with them.  I shouldn't tell this but Laura actually lets them have a small scoop of Blue-Bell Ice Cream on special occasions. We can always email and phone the boys but even though we have the smartest dogs in the world, we can't get them to send email regularly. It looks like I will just have to continue bugging Laura until she gives in so I can have a Latvian dog as a pal. [Zoe on the right and Jasmine on the left.]

 

-- Weather -- The Indian Summer was really nice (80's as highs / 60's lows) when we left Texas. When we arrived back this time it was  late fall. It just seems like we had put up our winter clothes yesterday and now we are wearing coats, scarves and winter caps again. We have had a couple of nights close to freezing and only into the low 50's during the day. It is kind of like missing a couple of months...going from very warm to very cool overnight. Plus, we have already begun to build daily fires for heat in our stove.

Don't take any of the above in the wrong manner.

We enjoy the cultural differences, we enjoy the difference in people and we enjoy trying new things. We are blessed to be be here and experience all that we have.

God has made it clear He doesn't want His church to be just one culture, one race, one color or one nation. Living here has helped us to understand that idea on a daily basis.