EVIE IN BETWEEN: An update

Besides the youth camp in Estonia, life has been moving very quickly here in Latvia. Last week our new territorial leaders came to visit. Vic and Ros Poke and Kristine Frisk - I helped to host them, which included in one afternoon and evening coffee and conversation at the training center, dinner at Big Lido (of course) and at the conclusion of that we drove them to Leontines' Children's Home. We were stuck in terrible traffic and I was responsible to get us there, which was a little problem as I'd only taken public transportation there - never driven. After a couple of redirects we arrived and of course were given coffee and sweets. So basically their first day was spent eating. The next day they met with our leaders and then in the evening was the welcome and installation for the Larssons. It was a really good day but exhausting. I got to bed around 11 p.m. and had to get up at 4:30 a.m.! I met our guests at their hotel and took them via taxi to the airport where they headed for Stockholm and me to Estonia at 7:30. Fortunately there is a very nice coffee shop at the airport which we all gratefully took advantage of. I think these leaders are going to be good for Sweden and Latvia. I enjoyed the few hours we spent together.

When I got home from Estonia, we were on holiday here because of the NATO summit. They closed the city of Riga which meant our 5000 guests saw a dead city. I'm not sure that was the wisest thing but most people were probably happy for the days off. The down side - some have to work on Saturday, including RHQ. So, I had 2 quiet days with some nice fellowship added: Dinner with Chris Larsson, a walk to Coffee Nation with Smiths (I had to have some pecan pie to replace my missing Thanksgiving dinner) and a concert at the Opera House with Dana and a friend. The concert was great - a Latvian violinist and an Argentinian pianist. The played Schumann and Bartok and I confirmed 2 things about myself. 1. I'm not the biggest fan of violin, but with a piano I can enjoy it. 2. I'm not a great fan of modern classical music - I prefer Schumann to Bartok, especially if it's a choice of a piano solo or a violin solo. But, just to sit in that beautiful concert hall and listen to exceptional musicians and beautiful (most of it) music for a couple of hours was so peaceful and renewing. Just what I needed.

Here are a few unofficial pictures of the leaders' visit and Larssons' welcome. The 'official' ones will be published somewhere else if I ever get around to writing an article. (click on photos for better view)