Fridays are "fun days" in homeschooling.  We do math and writing, but this day is mostly used for crafts, art projects, science experiments, lunch with dad at the embassy, and field trips.  Jamie T. and her daughter Nik wanted to do something together and have lunch, so we ventured to "Stalin's Birthday Cake."  Today it's the Latvian Academy of Sciences, but it was initially built to be the Kolkholz Worker's Building.  Kolkholz' were collective farms in the Soviet Era, so this building was built to serve as a hotel for the collective farm workers that came to Riga.

It of course is decorated with communist symbols of hammers and sickles on the exterior. It began construction in 1951 and ended in 1961.  The architecture style is what became known as Stalinist architecture, and there are 7 skyscrapers like this built in other countries that were occupied by the Soviet Union like Poland and Ukraine.  It is said that the building was going to be presented to Stalin on his birthday, but he died in 1953, years before it was completed, so it's called "Stalin's Birthday Cake."

Since the girls and I recently finished studying Russia as part of our Eastern Hemisphere curriculum for history, it was the perfect field trip.  There is evidence all over Latvia of the Soviet Union, which we have discussed, but Stalin's birthday cake was something we hadn't seen yet.  You have to wait months sometimes to have a clear blue sky to appreciate the view from the 17th floor, and on this Friday we had the perfect sky and weather.  Having just learned about the beginnings of communism in Russia and things like collective farms, the girls were able to appreciate the building, when it was built, and its history.  Savannah has decided that she actually wants to meet Stalin on the other side after she dies so she can give him a piece of her mind.  ;)

 Fun to have such a wide open view of the National library, Central market in the old zeppelin hangers, the Daugava river, and the t.v. tower in the distance.

 We love Riga's bridges and church steeples!

 The outdoor market next to Central market.

 The main train station in Riga.

 A close up of the Soviet Union era architecture.  I think Jamie said this was part of the "Russian quarter" of the city.

The "Riga Ghetto," where Jews were kept by the Nazis during WWII.  Jamie pointed this out to me, so the girls and I went to visit it after we had lunch (more below).

 Jamie was kind enough to take some pics for us.

It was very bright with the sun facing the girls in this pic, so I got a kick out of Rhea's pirate face. ;)

And Nik, our 4 year year old friend.  She doesn't look happy here, but I think that was just because she was told to stay away from the railings while mom was taking a picture for us.  She's adorable and the girls love playing with her!

 Inside stairs going down to the elevator.

 We enjoyed a little walk from Stalin's birthday cake to central market where we had lunch at their new food court.  We passed one of the many Russian Orthodox churches in Riga.

 Trying to catch pics of some babushkas. :)

 Closer to the zeppelin hangers, vendors sell flowers, fruits and veggies, etc.  Flowers are very popular here because every day there is someone having their "name day," and Latvians give flowers as a gift.

 Inside the food court, we found a table and ate our yummy chicken and noodles, and Rhea entertained Nik with stickers/filters on my phone.

I captured a few more pics as we left Central market.  This is a popular place for every kind of food, but right here, Latvians are showing their love of bread, especially rye bread.

 Notice the fresh strawberries on Savannah's mouth.  We had to buy them!  Two kilos (4.5 lbs) for 5 euros.  They were yummy too!
 Fabrics and clothes

 We saw this little corner "house" area for what looked like a family of cats.

Entrance to Riga Ghetto.  The Riga Ghetto is where the Nazis relocated Latvian Jews to live on October 25, 1941, and they evicted the non-Jewish inhabitants of the area.  Later, German Jews were transported to Riga by train to live there as well, but their stay was short lived as most Latvians and German Jews were all killed.  Most Latvians Jews (25,000) were killed on November 30 and December 8, 1941 in the Rumbala massacre.  Only 2 days, and so many killed.

One of the train cars used to transport Jews into Riga.

 Inside the train car.
 Pictures of Jewish teachers and other professionals, families, etc. with information about them.
 Inside the "housing" area that now remembers those Jews that died.

It was a somber place, but we actually were approached by a BYU professor and his wife and inlaws that heard my girls speaking English.  They wanted to know where we were from.  I didn't get a picture of them, but we enjoyed a nice visit together as we answered questions about church and things in Riga.  We discovered that Judge Jay Bybee and his wife Diana are common friends of ours.  It was fun to talk with other Americans from back home, specifically Utah.  Truly a small world!We had a wonderful day with Jamie and Nik exploring parts of Riga on this beautiful, clear, not-so-cold day.  We're getting excited for spring!

So I recently got called to be a co-Relief Society Activity Coordinator with Jamie, one of my American friends from the branch and embassy.  After a few weeks of planning the activity, I spoke with the new R.S. president and somehow she it came up in our conversation that Jamie and I were called to this calling because the Americans don't go to the activities.  I laughed inside, and explained that we didn't attend them because we've never heard of any activities through text, email, phone calls, etc.  We're all serving in Primary as teachers to our children in English or as the primary music leaders.  Anyway, I was actually grateful for the calling so I will know about the activities and I can get to know the sisters better (even though we're down to 4 months left in Latvia now).  

It was somewhat difficult trying to get inside the heads of the Latvian sisters and what they would like.  At first we were thinking "minute to win it games" would be a fun way to start, but after talking to a few Latvian sisters that had never heard of the game, we decided to scrap it.  Especially after we found out that usually about 7 sisters come to the activities.

For the activity, I collected (with Madara's help), favorite scriptures from branch members that were willing to participate, and Zane and Renate were good enough to translate the English ones to Latvian.  Branch members shared why it was their favorite scripture, and I then prepared them by formatting, printing and cutting them out so the sisters could glue stick them into the margin of Book of Mormon.  Savannah helped me prepare kits of glue sticks, Books of Mormon, the printed scriptures in order from 1 Nephi to Moroni, and then we included a chocolate bar and ribbon to attach to the book.  Here I am trying out the sizes of the scripture cutouts to see if they were the right size.  I was also trying out different colors to see if I liked them.  :)

 So after hours of prep, we finally had the activity on a Friday night.  We were pleased with the turnout since we were told that they normally have 7 sisters attend.  Jamie and I decided to start with an ice breaker activity of "what's in your purse/what's on your phone?"  We used the heart shaped cups to award a few of the winners of the ice breaker, and of course the "loser."  We also gave out prizes for a person wearing a scarf, the sister that had changed the most diapers that day, who had the birthday closest to the night of the activity, etc.  We had little prizes in each of the cups and they had fun punching through the tissue paper to obtain their prize.

We then had a "Speed Friendshipping" activity.  Jamie prepared questions for the sisters to ask each other to help get to know one another better.  Kristine F. and her husband, our branch president, helped to translate them into Latvian, so we had questions in both Latvian and English.  The sisters looked like they were enjoying the visiting, but as I've learned over the almost 2 years of being here in Latvia, the locals express their emotions very quietly and subtly compared to Americans.  Smiles are not given out freely.  They are very guarded with their emotions, so it's hard for me to read them and tell exactly how they're feeling.

The three sister missionaries in our branch attended with Liga, an investigator that got baptized a week or so after this activity (YAY!), along with Sister Bloomfield, our sweet senior missionary that is Savannah's Young Women's leader.Liga, our R.S. president in the middle with Lydia, from China on the right.Savannah and Jamie's daughter Kambell came and helped set up and participated in the activity. :)After getting to know each other better, we had a Book of Mormon focused activity.  I asked Madara if she would speak about the importance of friendshipping and sharing the gospel with love and letting people know we care about them.  She served a mission in SLC on temple square, so she's fluent in English and of course could get the sisters excited about sharing the Book of Mormon.  She's also a convert herself, so she shared her story of discovering the Book of Mormon.  I also asked if she would show a video that the BYU advertising team made where they shared all 515 pages of the Book of Mormon with 515 different people (one page per person), and recorded their responses to the page.  They were told to highlight all of the references to the Savior as well.  Great video and a reminder that people are open to learning, especially when it comes to hearing about the Savior.  Madara also served as our translator to help explain the different stages of our night and each part of our activity.  We wouldn't have survived without her!!After Madara spoke, I shared how my friend Shelly from Las Vegas and Utah, was the most active member missionary I knew.  Even in Utah,  Shelly would give a Book of Mormon away almost daily.  When she was asked how she did it, she explained that she always attached a treat.  That way, the Book of Mormon would never be rejected.  :)  She had wonderful conversion stories that came from her efforts, so I shared a few of them with the sisters so they too would be inspired to share this special book.  Then we rearranged the tables in a way that the sisters could glue and work on their books while visiting and relaxing together to the Piano Guys. ;)

 Madara, Liga.
 Kristine
 Antra
 
 Sister Bruner and Liga
 Velta and Irina
When they were close to finishing, the sisters enjoyed the refreshment table with cheesecakes and Latvian desserts.  When I was at Rimi (our favorite grocery store) stressing over the kind of desserts I should buy, I finally recruited a Latvian lady from behind the dessert counter to help me.  She didn't speak any English, so we used thumbs up and thumbs down for her to communicate which ones she liked and didn't like. The help was a success and much appreciated because all of the sisters commented on how delicious the desserts were and asked where I got them.  Phew!  There's a difference in the palate of a Latvian vs. an American, so I wanted to make sure I chose ones that they liked!Savannah had fun hanging out with Kambell.  Here they are finishing up, tying chocolate bars to their Books of Mormon.

And they were such good helpers setting up and cleaning up at the end!  Savannah earned 10 hours toward one of her YW personal progress goals!  It was a fun night.  It was one of the only times I've been able to associate with any of the Latvian sisters outside of Sunday meetings, and most of the time that hardly happens.  I'm grateful for this short-term calling.  ;)

We haven't gotten that much snow this winter, surprisingly really, but it it still VERY cold and we get a lot of winds every now and then that cut through our coats and hats.  It's beautiful.  And I'm mesmerized by the patterns of snow settling around and on our house.  It is cold, but it is beautiful to look at from inside a warm house.

Today we were on our way home from church in Riga when we noticed a man and woman trying to find coverage from the rain as they were carrying cardboard signs that said "Jurmala."  We pulled over and asked if they needed a ride to Jurmala which is the city past Pinki where we live, and they happily took us up on the offer.  We enjoyed visiting with them and found out that they were from Germany.  Savannah, our horse lover, was interested in the woman's career of being a physical therapist for horses.  The drive took us about a half hour longer than we thought it would because we decided to take them as far through Jurmala as we could to help them get closer to their destination.  We dropped them off at a gas station and said goodbye to our new friends, and headed home to feed our hungry stomachs.

On our way, we came across these men out on the frozen lake ice fishing.  I've seen smaller numbers before, but this was a large group, and there was a place to pull over for a picture.  ;)  I wanted to preserve the memory in a picture because it always amazed us that people would sit out in the Latvian rain and cold to go fishing.  Truly dedicated people!