Latvia: First Impressions

I have arrived without a hitch. So little in the way of hitches, in fact, that I am feeling very lucky.

The arrival in Amsterdam from Boston was smooth sailing, as was the flight to Riga on AirBaltic. Entering the European Union in Amsterdam was a breeze, too, despite the fact that I didn't have a work visa -- it will be arranged in Latvia proper. And the minute I left the airport in Riga after picking up my bags, there was a taxi waiting that took me immediately to my hotel for about 10 euros.

I met fellow Fulbrighter, musicologist Justine Koontz, for dinner that evening (chicken in mustard sauce; cream cake and coffee following). She's been in Riga for four months and has an impressive command of the language already. We walked around Riga a bit that night, and it's clear that I will need to spend more time there; it's a lovely city.

The next morning, the U.S. Embassy representative Ingrida Bodniece introduced me to my driver who then took me to Daugavpils, about 225 kilometers away. There I met my new landlord, Jans from Poland, at my flat, and he and Jeļena Tamane from the University's international office translated the lease for me. So in the course of three days, I settled into a flat, met my new colleagues, went to the American Center at the Latgale Regional Library, secured a speaking engagement on this Friday, have gotten an invitation to an international conference next week in Daugavpils, and have explored the many grocery shopping options in my new 'hood. It's been a whirlwind. (Until I secure a cell phone and internet service at the flat, I won't have photos, though, so you'll just have to wait. But not for long.)

So far, I am very kindly disposed to Latvia. And why not? It is a modest and lovely place, very flat, very forested, and very friendly. A few observations:

1) It looks a lot like where I grew up in the broad Saginaw Valley of Michigan -- flat farm fields edged with woods and pine groves. The snow and weather are almost exactly the same as that of Maine, so when my new colleagues ask me how I am dealing with the winter, I assure them that I am on very familiar territory.

2) Everybody offers you coffee, which is always accompanied with chocolates. This seems to be an eminently sensible system to me, and I can't imagine why America has not adopted such a reasonable practice.

3) The language is really cool to hear -- Russian but not really, Nordic but not really -- in a word, Baltic. I have been asked if I'd like to take a Latvian language course. There are only about 2 million speakers, so I feel that I should just to up the numbers a bit. Plus it's fun to say stuff in Latvian. I am reading lots of signs just to get the sound of it in my head and on my tongue.

4) The language is also phonetic, so once you get the diacritical marks, things are actually easy to pronounce. And when you pronounce them, you can often guess what they might mean. Šokoladņa, for example, is pronounced "shaw - koh - LOD -nyuh": chocolate. (It's the name of the local chocolatier.)

5) Speaking of, Laima chocolate is the Hershey's of Latvia, or maybe the Godiva. Laima chocolates are everywhere you look in the grocery stores, and you are apparently expected to buy lots of them. Which is OK by me.

6) I was told that Latvians are relatively reserved. This seems to be the case on the street, where people generally do not make eye contact, smile, or acknowledge you. On the one hand, this might be off-putting to the average American, while on the other hand, six months of nobody saying "Have a nice day" at the drop of a hat will come as a relief.

7) Latvian pizza is recognizable but somehow a little off, though I suspect a Latvian in the United States would say the same thing about American pizza. I have never seen pickles on a pizza before. That said, the pickles here are supposed to be terrific.

8) Dill comes with or on everything -- salads, eggs, pizza, you name it. Given that I love dill, bring it on, I say.

9) Daugavpils is basically trilingual, as is much of the country. Latvian is the official language, Russian a very important secondary language, English an international relations language. This trifecta is complicated even further by the very ancient language of the province Latgale (LOT - guh - luh), Latgalian, which is also spoken, though not widely. There's also a Belorussian and Polish presence here as well. Linguistically, it's a very interesting stew, none of which I currently comprehend.

10) So far, it's been great.