Post by Net and Sarah K
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we were lucky enough to have three free days, before our final weekend of project. We took the opportunity to be tourists, to soak up the culture, and generally explore Latvia more!
Monday found us at the Occupation Museum in Riga, learning more about the last hundred years in Latvia, and the turbulent past that the country has been through. After an hour or so wandering through, reading and learning how little we actually know about the wars (Who knew the Berlin wall went ALL the way around West Berlin?! Maybe we should have paid more attention in History lessons!), we headed back into the cold of Riga, and straight to a cafe (of course!). This was followed by a wander around the Russian Orthodox church, with it's ornate images and decorations, and a second trip to the Radisson hotel skyline bar - for the sunset views, honestly! The evening was a little bizarre to say the least - we ended up playing Uno and Bananagrams by the light of glow sticks. GOLD is a strange world to live in.
Monday also brought the news that Sarah K's sister-in-law had gone into labour, but by the time we went to bed, there was STILL NO BABY! Sarah and Net went to sleep with the phone on loud in between their pillows so that when the phone did eventually ring (2am!!), we were both woken up with exciting news - Lauren Elizabeth had arrived :D (We're all a little confused when Lauren's birthday actually is now, as she was born on 26th UK time, but 27th Latvia time!!) Laura also popped her head in to celebrate at 2am - turns out none of Team Latvia had much sleep on Monday night.
Tuesday, we headed out to the Ethnographic museum of Latvia - lots of old buildings in a rather large forest. We had a great time wandering around the buildings, and running up and down hills, as well as playing some frisbee, and making a congratulations video for Alice - the team leader from Latvia 2014 who got married on Tuesday! We headed back to Riga, making a detour via a memorial for the victims of the Latvian holocaust that we had learnt about the day before.
Just as you thought Team Latvia couldn't get more bizarre than glow in the dark Uno, we ended up having a glow in the dark Baby shower for Lauren - we had light up balloons, glow sticks and bubbles, and ended up dancing the evening away with YMCA, Macarena and the Cha Cha Slide all looking particularly good in glow form!
Today has been very relaxing, starting with Sarah cooking scotch pancakes for breakfast, and Net cooking a fry up for brunch. In the afternoon, the team split, with Sarah S and Laura heading for some spa time relaxation, and Net, Katie and Sarah K heading for the shops!
Tomorrow, we are back to project with our Ranger/Rover evening, and also packing for camp on Friday :)
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