As the leaves are falling down from the trees, which makes you wanna jump around in the big piles of them, it’s time for some updates!

All the seasons are celebrated extensively here at school. There are some ‘markets’, where the small and bigger children bring either homemade baked-goods or some small trinkets to sell to each other and to all the school staff. All the classrooms are decorated with veggies, colourful leaves and baskets. Proper autumn.

The thing I love the most are of course the colours that are changing all the time. In a couple of days, the leaves go from bright green to shades of orange, red and yellow. When they fall down, I’ve noticed that it is a common Latvian habit to collect them on your daily walks. You would see them walking by with staples of differently coloured leaves.

I asked Rasa what they do with it afterwards, because it was a little mystery to me. You apparently just dry them in between books, and then when time passes and you open a random book, you are surprised by one of your leaves and are reminded by the good time and feeling of autumn.

There was again a little celebration at school, for it was the day of the teacher, but on that same day, there was a national running competition happening in Preili. Schools from all over the country came to the park to run their lungs out. I don’t know how, but by some miracle with the point counting system, our school got second place.

Finally, it was the weekend to get onto the bus and get on my way to visit Rasa in Riga! Together we figured out the best way for me to get there, and on Friday after school, I packed my stuff and took the 3,5 hour drive towards the capital. I was lucky to be in one of the bigger touring busses, because you never know which bus is gonna take you.

Halfway on our journey, we just stopped at a random gas station. It took me by surprise, because of course the announcement was in Latvian. It turned out to be a bathroom or smoke break, which I found to be very funny. We drove by various landscapes and buildings, through little and slightly bigger towns. The buildings we passed by were either really nice and pretty, abandoned and forgotten farms, or just straight out of the Soviet time and never been modernised.

When we reached the outskirts of Riga, it was already dark, for the days are getting shorter and shorter. The final hour in the bus was not that much fun, when you’re getting hungry and stiff from sitting in the same position for a long time. But when we finally arrived at the station, Rasa was waiting for me, and together with her godfather, they took me to their home.

Riga is divided in two sides, with the river separating them. The old center and most of the touristic area are located on the right side, but we went to the left part. The house of the aunt and uncle of Rasa was pretty amazing, it was super modern and big. The whole family was waiting for us, and provided me with some great leftovers from dinner.

Whilst I was enjoying some more legroom and a full stomach, the aunt and uncle were off to the cinema to see the new James Bond movie. It was the idea of Rasa and me to go the next day, and they kinda liked that too. So when they were off, we were left with Rasa’s cousins, two little boys. And I hate to say this, because I got in trouble for it last time, but I played another game with them. That’s what working with kids will do to you I guess…

The boys were reluctant to go to bed, naturally, but I was exhausted, and since Rasa had some homework left to do, I just crashed in her bed. By the time she was done, I was half asleep, but she fell into a deep sleep as soon as she hit the pillow. Which was my pillow, not hers. That sums up how she sleeps basicly, but I still like her though! So after a long night, and not that much sleep on my part, we woke up bright and early, for we had a full schedule ahead of us. Rasa had been staying with her family for the last month, but was moving into her own flat today. So after breakfast, she packed her stuff and we were on our way. Since they live on the other side of town, it took us quite a bit to drive to the flat. I didn’t mind though, it was like my own private tour through the city. When we dropped off our stuff at the flat – it was the plan to spend the night there- we got back into the car and drove to Rasa’s grandmother’s flat. Her younger sister Tina lives with her during the week, but they both spended the weekend in Preili. We just left some supplies there and went to the city center. The idea was to do a little shopping at some vintage and antiques stores, but a couple of the stores we wanted to go to were closed on Saturdays.

So we just walked around town, admiring the amazing architecture. We found the vintage stores we wanted to, and my favourite one was the second hand bookshop in a hidden alley. Outside stood a bookshelf with books for just €0,50, with some tables around and next to it to enjoy a nice and warm beverage. It happened to be a little café as well, aka heaven. When we chose our victims to take home to read, we went back to grandma’s flat to have a quick dinner and a nap, and to go to the cinema after, to finally watch James Bond on the big screen! It was amazing, not just the movie, but to be in the cinema after quite a while. I went to the cinema back home when they opened up again, but I used to go almost every week before COVID, so this was a joy.

The movie finished around 23:00, and by the time we got back at Rasa’s flat, we decided it was better if we went to spend the night at grandma’s flat, where I could sleep on the couch. The only problem we faced with this idea, was that there was no public transport between the two flats, so we had to walk. With our full backpacks, in the middle of the night, to walk 35 minutes, is not the worst, but also not my favourite thing to do. Especially after a long day when you’re tired, but we survived.

The next day, on Sunday, we woke up a bit later than the day before, had some breakfast and went to one of the shopping malls to buy me a proper winter coat. I did bring one with me from home, but it’s not one you will survive the Latvian winters with I’m afraid. When we accomplished our mission, we went back to the flat for some ordered sushi for lunch, and waited for Tina to come home. Together with the three of us, we went to the center, to stroll around Old Riga. All the small streets and alleys were super cute, and the weather worked in our favour too.

When it was time for me to go back, the bus took me home again, in another long drive through the countryside.

During the week at school, I spend a lot of time outside. The kids collected all the leaves in the schoolyard, to jump in it and to be covered in them. With Mārtiņš, we took the schoolkids for a walk. He wanted to see if there was another route to the forest, to not go through town, but more of a detour through the woods. We took the 1st and 2nd grade first, and although they did a great job, it was just a little bit too far. To be honest, after my boxing training on Monday and then having to walk the next day on their (slow) speed, was a bit much for me too. But the next day, we went again, this time with 3th and 4th grade! Yay. I mean, the walk was pretty, I just like cycling more.

I was so happy when the day after we took the preschoolers by car to the forest, where we took them looking for some autumn flowers, which we collected and presented on some cut out paper circles.

I took Friday off, to go Riga again! I was so excited, because I found out a while ago that there would be a football match between Latvia and the Netherlands. So of course I needed to go, and together with Rasa, we got tickets for the game.

Rasa’s parents brought me to Riga with their car, which saved me from a bus ride. I was met by Rasa in the city center, and together we were on a mission to find me some orange clothes. The only item we found was an orange beanie, but it turned out to be perfect, since it was quite too cold for just a sweater.

So after a quick improvised dinner, we decided it was best if we took a Bolt, the Latvian version of Uber, to the stadium. It would take us almost an hour by public transport, and this was not too expensive. We thought it would be okay to arrive around 21:30, when the game would start at 21:45, but when we arrived at the entrance, we were surrounded by basically half the stadium. I don’t know how long it took for us to finally get in, but the game had already started and the Netherlands scored their first and only goal while we were still waiting to get in. When we did get in, we were once again surrounded by supporters, but only the Latvian ones this time though. So there I was, in the midst of the enemy, with my fellow countrymen on the other side of the stadium. Even though the Dutch team scored only once, and with my Latvian friends not being too sure about their national team, it was a nice match to watch. I am really not a football fan in general, but to experience something like this, was pretty cool.

When the game was over, we hurried out of the stadium, to find ourselves another ride home before all the cars were claimed. It took us again quite some time to get out of the traffic jam, but once the road was cleared, we got home safe and sound.

The next morning, instead of making breakfast on our own, we took the bus to the city center, and after a small tour ended up at this little french bakery/cafe, for a delicious brunch. We got our food outside and on the terras above the bakery, with a lovely view of the big park, there was a man playing some French sounding tunes on his accordeon, so the setting was perfect.

When we finished our brunch, we went of course for a walk through the park, where we spotted some lost, or just on their touristic route, Dutch football fans, admiring Riga.

After we walked around aimlessly through Old Riga, it was time to go to the bus station and be on my way home, so both Rasa and I had some time to either study, or just to relax and enjoy the weekend. Thankfully this bus had only one stop in between Riga and Preili, so it took me a bit less time than usual to get home.

So after two wonderful weekends in Riga, it’s now time to get ready for Halloween!