I think I have it finally confirmed for myself, I really don’t like snow. Which is not the best thing when you’re living in a Baltic country, where it has been snowing for the last 4 weeks. Or rather, snow is occupying the streets. Of course, that comes with icy and slippery pavements, so I’m not even kidding when I say I have fallen 3 times already. So much fun…

All the kids do think it’s fun, obviously! And it makes sense, when you grow up here, with the right clothes and when you’re used to it. Where as in the Netherlands, we have to be lucky to have a white Christmas. So in our outside breaks, the kids are having multiple snowball fights, which evolves in to full wars when your not careful, and more than one huge snowman.

So especially with a white blanket outside – the highest it’s been so far was around 50cm’s – it does help to get into the Christmas spirit, with baking pumpkin cake, gingerbread cookies, hot chocolate and watching bad Christmas movies.

At school we learned about all the festivities, what advent is and to give each other compliments and be thankful for everybody. In 3rd and 4th grade we made little envelopes with our names on it, so we could make little notes with some nice words. I think it’s special to learn at an early age to appreciate and respect each other, sometimes as adults we kinda forget to do that.

I had a new challenge. On a Wednesday, Aija was not feeling well enough to come to school, and since Sanita, one of the other teachers, was in Riga, I had to take over the classes. Insert panic mode. Aija explained what was expected of me, and thankfully she prepared her math class before, so she send all the information I needed to me. I would spend most of the day with 3/4 grade, and a little hour with 5/6 grade for English, where they just had to read their books on their own. So after the weekly covid testing, the kids were ready for my math class. We would work on optical illusions, and I prepared some the night before. They could pick from multiple examples, and recreate them. Some of the kids didn’t like it at all, but a few absolutely loved it. Thankfully it wasn’t a ‘math’ math class, because I am so bad at it, you don’t wanna know. But we succeeded, so after math I had to go to the other school building for the English hour. I had some time to relax, since they were just reading on their own, minding their own business. When the hour was over, I went back to 3/4 grade, but not before I had picked up Ingūna’s laptop, or so I thought. I brought my own laptop for today, because the plan was to watch some cartoons to kill the time, basically, and maybe to improve their English a little. The only problem was that my laptop doesn’t have an HDMI outlet, so I couldn’t connect it to the projector. Ingūna did have one, so I could pick it up at her office around the corner and use it for a couple of hours. When I arrived at her office, she wasn’t there, and I forgot my phone in the 5/6 grade classroom, so I needed to go back anyways. When I got my phone and arrived a little bit later than planned back at 3/4, Ingūna told me she was at home, but I could ask her son, who is in 4th grade, to come and collect it. So, a little chaos at first, but it worked out after all. Of course the kids loved watching the cartoons, and with outdoor time there were some more snowball fights. You know it’s not fair when they start to attack you all at once, the whole class against me. But we had a good time, and I feel like we could connect more, even with the language barrier, there is more trust between us now.

On Friday, instead of going to the forest with Mārtiņš, he had the wonderful idea of taking us to the park for some cross country skiing. I believe you have to try something first before you can say you like it or not, but I can say now, not my cup of tea. Of course, first times are always difficult, and it takes practice to become better at something, but I’m not so sure I will be. Give me a pair of ice skates, and I’m a happy girl. When I was not feeling it anymore, I wanted to walk back, to somewhere, but the snow was at points so deep it got everywhere. Meaning soaked socks. Which naturally lead to another cold. Yay. Cold number 4, in 6 months. I think I am doing something wrong… Honestly, this was the worst one yet, and even though I tested negative for covid, I spend the days after the weekend at home, for I was not feeling good enough to help out at school. After a few days, Lena started to feel a bit sick too, so because of me, we were feeling just great.

In preparations for the holidays, school did needed our help, and we were happy to have something to do. There was this project, mostly for 5/6 grade, where they collected items for big gift boxes for seniors in elderly homes in the area. One of the items were Christmas greeting cards, so all of the students were making them, including us. I think we were a bit too fanatic, we putted so much time and effort in it, it took us quite a few hours to finish them. But when I took them to school, they were really happy with them. The school kids baked tons of gingerbread cookies, all for the seniors. When Dace asked me if I could make some more greeting cards, but this time for all the teachers and employees of school, I happily said yes, because I kind of enjoyed it. I don’t think Lena was all that happy about it, but I dragged her along anyways. And it was worth it, because they loved them and our little wishes in both English and Latvian. Mission accomplished.

So Tuesday was the last day of school, and with Aija and 5/6 grade, we headed out to deliver the gift boxes. With the cards, cookies, a lot of chocolate and in each box an USB-stick with audio recorded messages, we drove around the area. In the snow. One of the boys was doing the navigation for Aija, but told her to make a wrong turn, so we ended up in a small path, were we almost slipped and stranded in a ditch. After some screams and looks, we survived and were on our -right- way again. We couldn’t see the reactions of the people of course, because of the regulations, but I’m sure they loved it. And then that was it. Semester is over, everybody got their marks and reports, presents and is ready for some time off. And so am I. Lena had to help out at preschool on Wednesday too, but guess what. We took the bus to Rīga yesterday, because as I am writing this post, I am on the plane on my way home! We booked our flights with basically the same departure time, so we traveled together to spend the night in Rīga, for our planes would leave early in the morning. Before we left Preiļi, Lena got me some presents. I gave hers a little while ago already, for I ordered it for all my friends. I didn’t see it coming, so it was a really nice surprise to wake up with. She got me the unofficial Harry Potter cook book, for we just had our movie marathon, and I just love Harry Potter. But the best present was the smaller one, and I guess it has become our inside joke. I got a spoon. But not just any spoon. Engraved it said, “Roos’ spoon for everything”. Because no matter what’s for dinner, I almost always eat it with a spoon, and she always uses a fork. So that was just the best, especially because we know each other pretty well after just a few months of living together.

And there we have it. The final post of 2021. What a year guys, so much has happened. I hope you all have amazing holidays, enjoy the food, the company and each other. I’m gonna hug the living shit out of everybody at home. So be prepared.

Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus! See you next year!