That's kind of what it feels like this week. I'm going through the motions, but there's absolutely no Me Time. Before I jump back to last week's events, let me outline what THIS week is like for me:
M: work 9.30-6 p.m., operetta 7 p.m.-10ish, home by 10:45.
T: work 9.30-5 (although because of traffic I only got in at 10), English teaching 6-7.30, home by 8:30, bed by 10.
W: work 9.30-5.30 (but once again due to traffic only got in at 10), English teaching 6-7.30, babysitting (a.k.a. hanging out with some super cool kids and their rabbit) 7.35-?, home by ??.
Th: free day? if so, then family time with my cousin, but not before I sleep in until at least 9. Then English teaching sometime in the evening. Also at some point in the day I need to swing by the post office and pick up my Amazon.de book order.
F: work 9.30-5.30. If I don't pass out by the time I get home, I may do something that evening. But I also may not. Seriously, it's only Wednesday and I'm dragging.
Sa: maybe more family time with some extended cousins.
Su: if weather permits, beach ultimate frisbee!!! I really need to go out and use this pent-up energy. Monday we had to run to the trolley, and it was maybe the best 20 seconds of the day. So the obvious remedy to pent-up energy is to chase a plastic disc around the beach in 40-degree weather. Hah! Like there's a better option!
Last Week
Thursday: Last week was normal except for morning traffic (of which there was none due to the fact that it was fall break for grade schools), and the Thursday-to-Friday time span. Thursday after work I went with the other two women to the new language school facilities opening of a translation company. It was good to see where the building was, as I have an interview with them next Monday, and also good to spend some time "off duty" with the others. The only down side of the part was that there were two -count 'em, TWO - mimes roaming around the party. For me, mimes fall in the same category as clowns. They don't scare me, per se, but the make me extremely uncomfortable. Every time the mimes ended up in the same room as we were, I'd get really quiet and avoid looking up. Needless to say, my kind-of-boss and others we were talking to figured out what was up and tried helping by saying things like "Don't turn around any time soon." On the plus side, there was free wine. So you take the bad with the good, am I right?
After the opening, I headed back home, took a quick nap, got ready, took the wrong "mikrins" (=that mini-van/bus thing), got off the wrong mikrins, got on the right one, and met two friends in the center to go to a concert. The concert started at 12 a.m. and was, sadly, over in less than an hour and a half. The band playing was Astro'n'out -- they're good stuff, but it's a shame it was over so fast. Then we sat around the club until 4 a.m. to avoid wandering around in the cold, hit up a cafe at 5 and waited until the first public transport started rolling. So I made it home on Friday by 6:20 a.m., said good morning to my flatmate (who was getting ready for school), and crashed until about 2 p.m.
The Riga club experience wasn't what we had expected--the venue could be partly responsible for that. One of the friends was asked to dance 12 times (we finally decided that seating arrangement had nothing to do with it, and that one of the deciding factors could have been the eye-catching white and black pattern of her blouse. In truth, it might have been the most noticeable in the entire club :p ), the other was asked by a man who looked like a logger, and I was just quasi-moelsted by a creepy old drunk man asking for the time, and who without permission picked up my arm to look at my watch. I just kept telling him in English "WHAT? SORRY, I DON'T UNDERSTAND. WHAT?", while he slurred back and forth from Latvian to Russian.
Friday: I took the day off (durr) and did some laundry.
Saturday: Saturday morning I went to what was supposed to be a live graffiti art show down town, but turned out to be two hours of standing in the cold while one artist slowly set up his area and then started spraying. Four artists were supposed to "perform" - two from Riga and two from...another big city somewhere. One of them I kind of know by his work, as I've seen it around Riga many times and have come to like it very much. He, unfortunately, seemed to have hit up the exhibit area earlier in the day or maybe even over night (possibly to remain anonymous?), because his "piece" was already complete. I think the problem was that the guys had all the time in the world to work on what they were going to paint, and so they did take their time. I thought it would be done faster, as they might paint on the side of a bridge or a building. But no. I eventually left without seeing the second guy finish his picture, because I couldn't feel my toes anymore.
Later Saturday night I went with a new acquaintance (a now Latvian-American from Montana [she basically grew up in Germany but has been in the U.S. for 10 or so years]) to see "Good Luck, Chuck!" The movie wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. It was run in English with Latvian and Russian subtitles. A very interesting experience.
Sunday: Ah, yes, the night of the George Armistead anniversary event. Since it was a Christian Businessman club organizing it, I had imagined a darker room with velour drapes and a huge fireplace, with a cigar in each person's hand - kind of a stereotypical "men's club." It turned out to be a well-lit sit-down buffet dinner while several businessmen explained why or how they had become Christian Businessmen. Very little was said about Armistead's accomplishments (just that he had many).
Monday: spent the day at work and then headed off to Riga's Musical Theater to see a performance of "Die Bajadere." It wasn't as glamorous or superb as I had expected it to be, but hey, the tickets were complimentary, and at least I got out and did something!
Tuesday: arrived at work 30 minutes late due to stupid traffic and with a fuzzy, heavy head. I think the cold weather and wind messed me up. Got home after 8, went to bed at 10.
Today (Wednesday): I'm once again alone in the office until the other two get back from a lecture-breakfast and short meeting. And I once again arrived 30 minutes late - I left the apartment at 8:15, which guarantees that within half an hour, at least one of the right buses will leave the depot (usually about 5 are supposed to go through the stop between 8:15 and 45). The bus came as it should, but then the traffic... Words cannot explain. If it was warmer I'd ask to use my flatmate's bike, because this is RIDICULOUS. If I take the train it's a 20+ minute walk to the office... I think I have to make a decision soon.
p.s. Happy Halloween. They don't really do that here. It's Kekatas, thankyouverymuch.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Not So Manic Monday
I have a visitor in the office today!! One of the two bookkeepers decided to come in to work today, so I'm not completely alone anymore. Although, I have to admit that I liked the solitude. So today I'm working *ahem* on the Burns Supper article (which I might just write at home since I work better with my own computer, but at least I can write up an outline and print off notes here), and entering email addresses and birthdays into the database.
Yesterday and today the weather is considerably better: no rain, but it's colder. This morning it was 21 degrees outside. We're not supposed to get any rain at all this week, which will be nice. People were scraping frost off of their car windows--gaaah even though a car offers certain comforts, I'm SOOO glad I won't be spending 10-15 minutes of my morning transition to work scraping car windows.
Last night I had dinner with the relatives (excellent chicken marinated French-style, mushrooms, wine, melon, oranges, chocolate, baked apples...it was like Christmas, I'm telling you...) and came home thoroughly stuffed and barely able to move. I haven't eaten that much since...probably since the last time I was at my grandparents' house, where one must mandatorily stuff oneself because the food is just that good and none of it must go to waste. I even got to take some leftovers with me from last night, which saved me from having to go out and buy lunch. Other times I can bring lunch from home if I wake up in time to throw together a salad (which I definitely didn't have time to do today...someone learned to shut out her new alarm tone too quickly and overslept by 45 minutes, giving her only 30 minutes to get ready and make it to the bus stop on time), or if my flatmate's mother whips up a massive amount of food the one time a week she visits and I'm left with a quasi-box lunch (mostly it comes in jars).
So after researching this Burns Supper, I really hope I'll be in the country to attend it. The exec. director already said that if I'm here next year, I'll for sure be able to get an invite and be updated on the info regarding the event. If I do get a job in LV for the next year, and do attend the Burns Supper, I'm going to need a dress. A fancy one. I don't work well with fancy dresses. Honestly.
I'm off to input data.
Yesterday and today the weather is considerably better: no rain, but it's colder. This morning it was 21 degrees outside. We're not supposed to get any rain at all this week, which will be nice. People were scraping frost off of their car windows--gaaah even though a car offers certain comforts, I'm SOOO glad I won't be spending 10-15 minutes of my morning transition to work scraping car windows.
Last night I had dinner with the relatives (excellent chicken marinated French-style, mushrooms, wine, melon, oranges, chocolate, baked apples...it was like Christmas, I'm telling you...) and came home thoroughly stuffed and barely able to move. I haven't eaten that much since...probably since the last time I was at my grandparents' house, where one must mandatorily stuff oneself because the food is just that good and none of it must go to waste. I even got to take some leftovers with me from last night, which saved me from having to go out and buy lunch. Other times I can bring lunch from home if I wake up in time to throw together a salad (which I definitely didn't have time to do today...someone learned to shut out her new alarm tone too quickly and overslept by 45 minutes, giving her only 30 minutes to get ready and make it to the bus stop on time), or if my flatmate's mother whips up a massive amount of food the one time a week she visits and I'm left with a quasi-box lunch (mostly it comes in jars).
So after researching this Burns Supper, I really hope I'll be in the country to attend it. The exec. director already said that if I'm here next year, I'll for sure be able to get an invite and be updated on the info regarding the event. If I do get a job in LV for the next year, and do attend the Burns Supper, I'm going to need a dress. A fancy one. I don't work well with fancy dresses. Honestly.
I'm off to input data.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Bo(red) and 2 hours from Weekend
Right now I'm sitting in the office I intern at, doing relatively nothing. I've finished the top three things they wanted me to do while they were gone in London (oh yeah, I should mention that--they went to London for a thing and I stayed here to babysit the office and plants). I've spent so much time staring at the director's computer screen that I'm getting sick to my stomach, my vision is swimming, etc. I had to send out individual emails to each member, asking them to double check the contact information on the website (which I corrected if it was wrong or needed updating) and asking them when their birthdays were (so they can, in the future, receive birthday greetings. Some people were happy someone asked when their birthday was (ex: "P.S. does this mean I'll get a present?") while others weren't pleased at all (ex: "...this is a personal matter. Please respect my wishes." etc.).
Then I got to call EVERY SINGLE foreign embassy in Riga to ask for the ambassadors' personal contact info for future invites. Wow. That was...interesting. I had my speech so memorized that I literally stopped thinking about WHAT I was saying and started listening to HOW it sounded. It was an interesting skill to put to use, I guess, listening to yourself talk. I even got to speak to the personal assistant of the German Ambassador--in German. We started out in English, but then I decided to switch and she goes, "Oh, you speak German." and continued in German. I was so excited that I got to speak German again that my hands were shaking when I put down the phone.
I also had to update the website, check it for grammatical errors and so on. That was easy.
The last task I'm saving for Monday, otherwise I'll have to sit here alone again with nothing to do. Luckily, yesterday, a relative passed on another translation job to me--this one was a booklet on Development Cooperation (big UN and EU aid effort thing) that was supposed to be done by Wednesday, but somehow wasn't. So at 3 P.M. on Thursday I get a call, take on the job, promise it will be done by noon today (Friday). But after work I had English lessons again, and there's always traffic to consider.
Can anyone guess how many hours of sleep I DIDN'T get last night? I'm not exhausted yet, but I'm toying with the idea of curling up in a corner on the floor and taking a quick nap.
But the booklet (6 pages plus last minute search-and-find revisions courtesy of the organization) is finished and sent off, I feel pretty good about it, I guess. They can always cross check the information on all of the English language websites listed in the booklet. Kaija's rolling in the money, it seems. This week I was paid for last week's and this week's English lessons, plus one conversation workshop lesson--a total of...36LVL, which in a way is just like $36, but is actually more like $72. SHAZAM! It definitely pays to make some money here and then convert it to $$ later, if necessary. These puppies are going to the bank, though. But, oh, goodie, I have some kind of income!
Since I didn't get a day of at all this week, I'm hoping I can convince them to let me take at least 1.5 days off next week. Especially Friday. Because there's a concert I'm going to. Yes, going to, I've made up my mind. But this weekend will be absolute relaxation weekend. No grocery shopping (unless absolutely unavoidable, which I don't think it will be), no other stuff shopping, no nothing. Sleep and books and sleep.
Then I got to call EVERY SINGLE foreign embassy in Riga to ask for the ambassadors' personal contact info for future invites. Wow. That was...interesting. I had my speech so memorized that I literally stopped thinking about WHAT I was saying and started listening to HOW it sounded. It was an interesting skill to put to use, I guess, listening to yourself talk. I even got to speak to the personal assistant of the German Ambassador--in German. We started out in English, but then I decided to switch and she goes, "Oh, you speak German." and continued in German. I was so excited that I got to speak German again that my hands were shaking when I put down the phone.
I also had to update the website, check it for grammatical errors and so on. That was easy.
The last task I'm saving for Monday, otherwise I'll have to sit here alone again with nothing to do. Luckily, yesterday, a relative passed on another translation job to me--this one was a booklet on Development Cooperation (big UN and EU aid effort thing) that was supposed to be done by Wednesday, but somehow wasn't. So at 3 P.M. on Thursday I get a call, take on the job, promise it will be done by noon today (Friday). But after work I had English lessons again, and there's always traffic to consider.
Can anyone guess how many hours of sleep I DIDN'T get last night? I'm not exhausted yet, but I'm toying with the idea of curling up in a corner on the floor and taking a quick nap.
But the booklet (6 pages plus last minute search-and-find revisions courtesy of the organization) is finished and sent off, I feel pretty good about it, I guess. They can always cross check the information on all of the English language websites listed in the booklet. Kaija's rolling in the money, it seems. This week I was paid for last week's and this week's English lessons, plus one conversation workshop lesson--a total of...36LVL, which in a way is just like $36, but is actually more like $72. SHAZAM! It definitely pays to make some money here and then convert it to $$ later, if necessary. These puppies are going to the bank, though. But, oh, goodie, I have some kind of income!
Since I didn't get a day of at all this week, I'm hoping I can convince them to let me take at least 1.5 days off next week. Especially Friday. Because there's a concert I'm going to. Yes, going to, I've made up my mind. But this weekend will be absolute relaxation weekend. No grocery shopping (unless absolutely unavoidable, which I don't think it will be), no other stuff shopping, no nothing. Sleep and books and sleep.
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