After so many negative experiences with locals lately, I had the great pleasure today of meeting Kristīne, a native Latvian who writes the blog, "Your Friend in Riga". Kristine has written this excellent and comprehensive blog for almost two years now and provides useful, free information about Riga to any curious tourist. After reading Kristine's blog I decided to message her, and she kindly agreed to meet with me in the city!
Kristine arrived at our meeting location in Old Town and she was a beautiful young lady with a friendly and casual demeanor. She was a few minutes late, so I spent the free time asking every dark-haired girl in the Old City if her name was "Kristine". As usual the locals greeted me with a cold stare. After meeting Kristine and I decided to walk towards the city center and explore some parks. I was very happy to have a knowledgeable guide in the city for once! I paid attention only to our many conversations as Kristine navigated the city. As usual I was impressed with the serenity and beauty of the numerous parks in Riga. We also saw some architecture and museums.
We decided to stop at a Double Coffee and have some drinks while we talked about many topics. Naturally I was curious about the Latvian culture and wanted to know more about regular life in Riga. Kristine told me that most Latvian's do not travel to restaurants often and prefer to cook at home. Some typical dishes consist of potatoes, salads, and meats. She joked that women preferred to boil dishes while men liked to fry dishes.
Kristine told me that she was a freelance and ghost writer, and that blogging was simply a side hobby. I was impressed with how much work she had put into her blogs. It was clear that she had quite a passion for writing. She had also worked several jobs recently, such as at a call center. Many American companies apparently outsource their call centers to Latvia.
I was extremely curious about the situation with Russians and Latvians in the country. This is certainly a complex topic and is not easily explained. There are many Russian who immigranted to Latvia while it was under Soviet control. Today these Russians and their descendents continue to live in the country, without too much trouble. However the Latvians view the country of Russia as a threat. Additionally, Latvia is part of the European Union, so it only complicates the issue.
I asked Kristine if it was possible to tell the difference between Latvians and Russians, and she laughed, saying that it was difficult. Some Russian women like to wear lots of makeup while Latvian women want a plainer look.. but it's just a stereotype and varies. Kristine actually lives in "Little Russia", which is a district of Riga. It has a reputation for being dangerous, but she thought that this was an exaggeration of the truth.
I wanted to show Kristine the excellent restaurant which I had discovered yesterday on Lacplesa road. We traveled there under her guidance, and I was again very happy to know where I was going for once! Once we got to the restaurant, I learned that the name translated to "Festival for Stomach" or something similar. Hilarious, but accurate! We ordered some meat salads and main courses, and like yesterday received very large portions with an excellent presentation. A nice private restaurant such as this one has very reasonable prices, and you can get a very high quality meal for under $10.
During our meal Kristine and I talked about politics, marriage, and life in our countries. She was very fluent in English, so communication was never a problem. I learned that "ciao" was the primary greeting in Latvia. I heard this many times last week as well at the couchsurfing.com meeting. Kristine has also done some traveling, and spent almost a year in Romania! This was very fascinating to me, since I also visited Romania for a few weeks. We both agreed that the country was very interesting. She knows the Romanian language as well. It seems like everyone here knows 4+ languages!
Although I spent plenty of time complaining about the attitudes of locals, Kristine gave me a different point of view. Many of the locals were struggling to survive, and seeing wealthy tourists running all over the place simply aggravated them. She certainly had a good point, and life is simply taken more serious in such a situation. Jobs are hard to find here and the people that hold them are overqualified in general.
Kristine told me that she was planning to take a 3 week trip to central Europe. It sounded like quite an adventure, and she would be going with group members from other European countries. They would be making a documentary on the differences between Eastern and Western Europe.
After our dinner Kristine and I headed back to Old Town, where we saw an interesting music act consisting of several men dressed in women's clothes and playing band instruments! She told me that the act had been around for quite a while. In fact, Kristine was a street musician herself several years ago, playing a violin in a duo with a guitar player! She said they were one of the first acts of their kind in Old Town.
The night was now coming and after an excellent day with Kristine I said "ciao" and headed back through Old Town to catch the tram. I was very happy to have finally met a local from Riga and somebody who could answer my 500 questions about the city. As a bonus Kristine and I had a lot in common, and I certainly hope to meet her again. Back to the hotel I wandered, and I finally felt good at the end of a day in Riga. Wow, not a single negative event to talk about today!
