Ligo and Jani (midsummer)greetings to all Latvians
I haven't kept up with my posterous postings but I have uploaded my pictures to picasa so now I'm going to do what will probably be my last posterous posting for a few weeks and add those pictures. Thursday, June 25, will be my last day in Rezekne. A car and driver have been arranged to take me to Ikskile which is about 3 hours from Rezekne. I'll spend one night there with relatives. The next day I'll go to Riga where I'll spend the time until my Lufthansa flight Riga-Frankfurt- Dulles on June 29. This experience has been very good. Fulbright provides such wonderful programs. I've been fortunate to participate in two - this Fulbright scholar program and the Fulbright Japan program. I encourage you to take a look at the website and take advantage of this opportunity if you are eligible or pass it on to someone else. http://www.iie.org/Template.cfm?section=Fulbright1
Before I needed to start seriously thinking about packing up to leave Latvia I took a trip to Kiel, Germany to visit two women I had met at a conference in Rezekne. I left Rezekne on election day (local and EU elections) http://picasaweb.google.com/mara.mranders/ElectionDay# I hadn't been to Germany for about 6 years so it was good to be back again. It was very interesting to spend time in Kiel and other parts of Schleswig-Holstein since most of my time in Germany has been spent further south. I love Kiel. I was so fortunate to have such gracious and generous hosts there - Annelore and Uta. My Kiel pictures are not organized well enough to post yet but I will do that soon. I think that the pictures I am posting here have explanations with them or at least brief captions so I probably don't have to say more here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mara.mranders/IneseSGraduation# Inese's graduation
http://picasaweb.google.com/mara.mranders/LeavingRezeknesAugstskolu# goodbye Rezeknes Augstskola
http://picasaweb.google.com/mara.mranders/LolitasPirts?authkey=Gv1sRgCNn4uMWP44ijaw# Lolita's pirts (sauna)
I thought that being in Latvia for 6 months would give me an opportunity to see and do everything on my to-do list but unfortunately that was not to be. I was here to work, to teach and that I did and feel good about the results. The things not done will just have to wait for the next trip. I arrived with heavy suitcases full of books and other teaching materials in addition to the 4 boxes I had sent through the US Embassy diplomatic pouch. I thought that going home would be easier but here I am in the midst of trying to figure out how to pack everything. I'm trying to get everything together during Latvians' biggest festive celebration - Ligo and Jani (see midsummer celebration explanation below on Latvian Institute site).
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