The busy week

Once the daylight hours started lasting longer than the school day, it seemed like there was much more going on! It was nice after the long winter, but sometimes the weeks just felt too crazy!

Like the week of my birthday! 

There was something going on after school and in the evening every night! The last volleyball practice, workout class, checking out apartments, checking in on a friend who had surgery, reports and end of the year work. And of course, the internet went out in my apartment. I like to do fun things, but I am also a person who needs quiet time at home every once in a while. (okay, more frequently than that :p ) I hadn't really planned anything for that reason, but my friends insisted we celebrate on the day of. 

The day of my birthday was a half day at school! The room moms came in with flowers and chocolates and a gift for me. Also a cake, which the students were very excited about. At noon, the students left and the teachers went to various PD activities. I used to be part of the PE committee. Now I am joining the science committee instead. I truly don't know which one is better. haha

After work, Rorey and I ran (literally) through the local park and to the grocery store. We picked up some snacks and another cake-- technically it more of a cheesecake, but it was frozen so I am counting it as an ice cream cake! The plan was to all meet in the park for picnic and play some games. Which you can do on a Wednesday night here because it is never dark. However, it does get windy, rainy, and cold. So the party moved inside. 

We ate all the snacks, played a hilarious round of Cards against Humanities, toasted with a shot of fireball, and ate cake! It was a great way to get older! 

Latvia LOVES Potatoes

Thursday, the day after my birthday, was the beginning of Riga's Beerfest. The fest lasted all weekend and so did the cold and windy weather, but there was still a big crowd. I am not a beer lover, but my friends here very much are! I was able to find a raspberry beer, cranberry beer, honey beer, and a hemp-ginger beer that are pretty great though. And obviously, taste very little like actual beer. 

On Saturday was graduation at the school. It was a graduating class of 15 students. The ceremony was a bit different than when I graduated with 350 others! The students each gave a brief speech after receiving their diploma, several of them even spoke in multiple languages to communicate with all their loved ones. I wasn't excited to be going at first, and I was still ready to leave as soon as it ended, but I am also really glad I went. 

By Sunday, I was event and peopled out. But it was a great, busy week.

Run, Riga, Run!

This City Is Beautiful

Spring weather wasn't really a thing that happened here. We had a few nice days, but I feel like it went from freezing cold and dark, to cold and rainy, to warm and rainy, and then summer! Which is really more like spring, but I love it!

Back in mid-May a few friends and I decided to go for brunch and do some shopping at the different second-hand stores here. They found some nice things. I found some pretty awesome things as well! There was also a craft market in one of the parks, so we went through there as well. We decided it was time to find our inner-Latvian and get some flower crowns. Now we're official ;)

Skye, Rorey, Bekah, Me! 

The same weekend, and maybe even the reason for the market, was the Riga marathon. To make it a bigger event it was a marathon, half-marathon, 10k and 5k all on the same day! I hate running. But I know it's a thing many people love and enjoy. Good for those people. My friend, Bekah, decided it would be a fun activity for us to participate in and registered all of us for the 5k. We figured the flower crowns would be fun for that too.

Just before the finish line

Saturday was beautiful. Sunday, the day of the marathon, was rainy and cold. But there was still a big turnout for the event. The path for the 5k went along the river, up near my street, down the main street in town, and then right through old town.

Skye, Rorey, Bekah, Me, Done! 

Flags from all participating nations

The four of us started together. We decided against the crowns and went for hats supporting the school instead. I dropped back to stay with Skye and sent Bekah and Rorey ahead. Skye and I were quickly separated and so I continued ahead. Actually running.  I was surprised myself. I think it was mob mentality though. I kept looking for the others but never spotted them. Skye made a little shortcut and caught up with me half-way through, but we got separated again. The wet cobblestones for the last km were a fun challenge, too. I ended up finishing just before Bekah and Rorey... I have no idea how to pace myself, so I spent the 5k Running, and then fast walking, and Running again. I think they took the slow and steady idea. In the end, we all finished, found each other, and met up for celebratory drinks and snacks.

Not how I typically spend a rainy Sunday. but not too bad either.

Volleyball

Cathedral Saint
Alexandar Nevski

We are required to lead an after school activity for at least one term at the school. I put it off as long as possible, but knew I would have to lead something. It's not that I am against after school activities, but after teaching all day staying for another hour to plan, prep, manage, and teach again isn't ideal.

I was placed on the PE department team this year, because of my expertise in that field (or maybe it was because that was the only vacancy. whatever). The Athletic Director at the school was also on this team and mentioned his need for volleyball coaches. I very clearly explained I had never coached volleyball and stopped playing early on in high school. Like I said, expert in the PE department. He seemed okay with my sorry qualifications and I agreed to be an assistant coach for the middle school girls team. The one who shows up at the practice but doesn't do much... that was the role I was going for! :p

Internationally known

Team sports at International schools are pretty interesting. We aren't part of a district and there aren't many other teams in the area for us to play. But we are part of the CEESA conference, which includes most international schools in the Eastern European area. So instead of several little matches or a tournament featuring local schools, we went to Bulgaria. The high school girls went to Serbia. The MS boys went to Helsinki.

I knew there would be international tournament involved, which is completely normal for all of the students- they acted as if it was another Friday night football game. I realized pretty soon into the practices that the 'assistant' part of my title would be dropped since the boys were headed north and the girls south.

Fancy view with my fancy breakfast

So, the first ever volleyball match I coached was for a team of middle school girls from Riga, Latvia at a tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. ..... sometimes, I still don't believe my life.

In the end, the tournament and experience was good. We only saw a bit of the city before heading to the school. But I did get to stay in a super fancy resort/hotel. The first day of the tournament, the girls lost every game. Some by a lot, some only by a little. One they lost, but only because they had terrible attitudes and didn't work as a team.

Watching the boys' team dominate
in Helsinki via live-streaming

On the second day of the tournament, they came back with better attitudes and a more can-do spirit. They were able to beat the first team we played, only to get beaten up by the second. But we knew that would likely be the outcome and they put up a decent fight. We played the first team again to figure out who would be final place team and who would play again for 5th place.

It went into a third game, but the girls won. That meant competing against the Helsinki team, whom we should have beat on day 1. Outside of the games, all the girls have been building friendships, mostly with the Helsinki team. They were super nervous for the game and being friends with the girls on the other side of the net wasn't help them. But they were able to put on their game faces, and after winning the first set and losing the second, they were able to win the third. Meaning they took 5th out of 7 teams.

The Sportsmanship trophy was
the biggest of them all

They also got the sportsmanship award, which I may not be in full support of them receiving because I heard a lot not-so-nice things from them about the other teams. But, I know I wasn't exactly a reasonable little angel at that age either so....
 
Congrats, lady Lynx! 

Language matters

We were doing an activity in class where students were given a scenario like this one and had to write down two responsible actions and an irresponsible action. I peeked over the group to read their response and it was something along the lines of: 

I would check inside the bag next time to make sure the dog wasn't there. 

Also, the bag would have been heavy and probably moving a lot.

But I would definitely check for the dog before tying the bag. 

I quickly realized that they read 'got into it' as the dog literally climbed into the trash bag. I giggled a bit and had them reread the card and explained the phrase, which they really should have already known. My class is all about the speed reading, but the idea of reading carefully hasn't quite caught up yet. 

Hockey

No surprisingly, hockey is a big sport here. I went to a Riga Dinamo game earlier in the year, but more recently (or late April) I went to game featuring Latvia's national team. While the NHL playoffs are a big deal in the US, here it was all about the IHF World Championships.

National teams from several countries, even the US, compete to be the world champions! Here in Riga they set up a tent dedicated to showing the action- at least the Latvian games. Of course, the US and Latvia usually played their games at the same time, so we had to go to the sports bar to see both games.

Latvia didn't do so well, but the US won several of their games. The US made into the finals and played Russia for the championship game but lost. So in the end, Canada took first, followed by Russia, US, and the Czech Rep.

The games were fun to watch, but watching hockey while listening to commentary in Latvian is certainly a new experience! There was also one point when US played Russia and Latvia played Sweden that Sweden and the US scored At the Same Time. Naturally, I cheered! Only to glance over and see what happened while also hearing the rest of the bar moan and groan. I caught a few dirty looks until they realized what screen I had been looking at!

Scotland

Yikes. Once again, time has gotten away from me.
WAYYYY back in April, I once again traveled to a generally cold, rainy, gray place for spring break. I do like the rain. Thankfully, there wasn't much of it in Scotland the week we went! It was a preview of summer and that was okay by us.

I traveled with Rorey (grade 5), Shaun (IT guy), and Cal (PYP Principal) to the Cairngorms National Park in the middle of Scotland. We stayed in a old hotel in Braemar and spent the better percentage of the trip outside.

On our first evening, we ate a full Scottish dinner! Then climbed the big hill behind the hotel. Rorey and I should have known then what we were in for! Day 1 featured a hike. And by hike I mean we walked, then hitchhiked to the trail head, then walked, and walked, and walked. The boys had in mind they would climb a mountain. Rorey and I thought a nap at the base of a mountain sounded equally interesting. Sadly, neither happened because the mountain was farther away than anticipated. We did still nap though :D Followed by more and more and more walking. Close to 20km total. My legs were tired.

Day 2, we thought we would give our legs a break by renting bikes. Better, but not much of a break when the journey is mostly hills! However, the beauty of Scotland does make it easy to the burn and screams coming from one's legs. We biked to the Queen's place where we were treated to a lovely lunch (at the tourist cafe). Then ventured to Royal Distillery for a bit of whiskey tasting. When in Scotland ;) The bike back was somehow more uphill than the trip there. Not kidding.

Day 3, Rorey and I were serious about that rest. We sent the boys to a mountain while we perused through a bookshop (or three!) before resting at a cafe to read! We had also found a favorite lodge in town --one of three places to select from-- tough choices ;p So we played cards and truly let our legs rest.

Day 4, we headed back to Aberdeen. Checked out a castle. Ate some Thai food, watched a terrible British movie, and went to bed early!

Day 5, Mexican food! And then back to home sweet Riga.