BASKETBALL TRAVELS . . .

One of the neat things that I get to do here is to travel with the boys' basketball teams. It is very different than when I was coaching in Texas for all of those years.

First, we basically take five teams on the trip: 7th, 8th, 9th, JV and Varsity (although it is broken down by ages, not grades here). We put all these boys on the SAME bus with two coaches and myself. The last travel was an overnight trip to Ventspils and Kandava. I would have never taken these different age groups on the same bus but they really don't think anything of it over here.

When I was coaching, I often would invite a Special Education student to serve as a manager, helper, etc. I often would assign an older, responsible player to be in charge of the Special Education student when we were on the road. He was to make sure the other student was on time, knew where we were leaving from, what time we would eat, etc. Now, I'm the one that feels like he's a Special Education student on these trips. I have to have one of the players that speak English to translate what the coach says in regards to schedules, meetings, etc. The coaches speak very, very little English, so I have to rely on someone else to get me where I'm supposed to be. The coaches surely don't have time to babysit me with their other responsibilities.

The coaching here is good but most of the coaches are not teachers in the school system. There are no organized athletics in the schools. They have a physical education program but all competitive athletics are only offered by the Sporta Skola, which is completely separate from the academic schools. They also have Music Skola and Makslas Skola (art) which offers instruction in the fine arts.

So, we take a two day trip to the other side of Latvia for the basketball games. We traveled four hours, played five games, got back on the bus, and traveled two more hours to Kandava.

When we arrived in Kandava, I found my dream gym. This Sports Halle had a small cafe to feed the teams and an attached hotel. I could literally hear the horn in the gym from my hotel room. From the door of my room it was exactly 21 steps to a seat in the bleachers. Now that is a nice set-up...nice bleachers, nice hotel (think Motel 6) and some good basic Latvian food in the kafenica. I could have stayed there for days: eating, sleeping and watching basketball.

The kids all took care of themselves and each other. We had no problems unless you consider the 7th grade boys that brought hair clippers and shaved each other's heads. Other than that, all was good.

I never missed the bus, never made too big of a fool of myself in trying to speak Latvian and never once told the Latvian coaches how they should coach. It was a great trip that I truly enjoyed. The Latvian kids are well behaved and accept me pretty much as just an old, weird guy hanging around the gym ... which is exactly what I am.

DIGGING OUT!

After about four days of snow, the sun is SHINING! For an East Texas boy, this is more snow than I've seen in my entire lifetime. According to the locals, it is about three months late. We have had snow off and on since November but I think this storm surprised even the Latvians. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

LATVIAN COMMEMORATION DAY - March 25

March 25
Commemoration Day of Victims of Communist Terror

On this day in 1949, a total of 43 000 people were deported from Latvia to Siberia - mainly prosperous peasants, regarded by the Soviet occupation regime as alien to communist ideology and the principles of collectivism.

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There was a short ceremony today unveiling a plaque on a building near our flat. Basically, it states that starting in the 1940's this building was the location of the Soviet secret police "Cheka". There were numerous people tortured, humiliated and killed there.

We sometimes wonder why the Latvian culture seems so different to us. When you see and hear of the things that went on during the 'Regime', you understand a little better.

I knew that the street we live on had some type of importance during Communist times but I wasn't exactly sure to what degree. I will try to find someone to help me understand more of the history of this location.

Today, this building is used for the prosecutor's office of the justice system.

 

 

The plaque that was unveiled:

EASTER HOMESICKNESS -- EASTER LATVIAN STYLE

Although we miss Texas and our family, it is not often we get homesick. But, the holidays always seem to make us more prone to really wanting to see our boys and be back in a familiar place. We were lucky enough to spend Christmas and New Years with them but we have missed out on Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and now Easter. Our family is all in this adventure together and they have never once complained about the sacrifices they have to make with us being in Latvia. So, we hope they have a good Easter weekend and that they know we wish we could be with them and celebrate this holiday with them. We love you.

We are noticing several differences in the Latvian Easter celebrations. Not too many major differences, just some minor things such as:

• No egg hunting outside ... since there is already about 2 inches of snow on the ground and it is supposed to snow most of Saturday night, it is kind of hard to effectively find the eggs! The city-wide egg hunt for kids is scheduled (inside) for the Kultura Nams (Culture Hall). Forecast on Sunday is for a high of about 29 degrees.
• Worship service at 5:30am ... yes, 5:30am! Many churches world wide have 'sunrise' services. Since Cesis Baptist Church shares their building, the owners get first crack at the sunrise service. So, the Lutherans will be celebrating a sunrise service and the Baptists will be celebrating a 'pre-dawn' service. We will have regular service at 2:30pm also. It will be interesting as I don't think I have ever been to church this early. Walking to church, in the snow, at 5:00 am on Easter morning ... who would have thought this Texas couple would be doing that?
• Since flowers have not made an appearance here, there seems to be less emphasis on greenery and flowers in the decorations.
• No Easter ham, deviled eggs, ice tea, mash potatoes, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes, fried chicken or soft dinner rolls BUT we will eat at our friends' house and I'm sure we will have cabbage salad, boiled potatoes, black bread, pickles, karbonade, hot tea and honey cake for dessert.
• Last but not least, I'm thinking I will see a lot more fur coats, ski jackets and parkas rather than Easter bonnets and spring dresses.

Even with the differences, the Christians here have a very strong sense of the meaning of Easter. They understand that the entire Christian religion points to this one holiday as the make or break idea behind our beliefs. We look forward to celebrating Christ's resurrection tomorrow no matter how different the surroundings. Maybe with less emphasis on the standards of man-made success we can focus more on the true meaning of this special day.

We hope you celebrate a glorious Easter with your friends and family.

DIGNITY AND THE SOUP KITCHEN

The soup kitchen in Cesis is staffed by three churches, taking a month's rotation each. March is Cesis Baptist Church turn so we have been helping there during lunch. There are usually between 10 and 20 people there, all at different stops on life's road. Some are struggling mightily with alcohol, some with mental problems and some with age related or health problems.

As a man, I see us provide them soup, a warm place for an hour or so and maybe an orange for dessert. I know it is not enough but I am almost overwhelmed when thinking what else could we do for them with our limited resources.

Thank goodness Laura does not think like a man! She looked at the people and saw the same things but she looked deeper. She saw that these people not only need food but also a band-aid on their dignity.

She bakes cookies now for them each day that we serve. Of course, they just loved them. Then she went even further. She decided we needed to 'class' up the place a little. She worked it out so that we could brew up tea and coffee for each of them. You cannot imagine how that small act was appreciated.

The first day the ladies' table was just sitting there, drinking their tea, having a big conversation about something. Inese started laughing and told us one of the ladies said "Now, this is my style! Drinking tea and eating cookies...this is living!".

We take so much for granted in our own lives and we can't even begin to understand the problems that these people face. Yet, every day they don't leave without telling us 'paldies, paldies' (thank you, thank you). It doesn't matter that we don't speak the language ... they are going to talk to us in Latvian anyway! Today, one woman keep chattering and I could understand 'sirds' which means 'heart' and pointing to me .... that about says it all!

I'm so glad that Laura can see beyond what I see ... and that she could understand that dignity is just as important as food.

Have a good weekend!

MARCH SNOW #2

MARCH SNOW

An early March snow storm blows into Cesis. The 'birthday girl' is hanging on in some snowy and windy conditions!