All About Latvia

It’s my birthday…

Nov 29

AleksUncategorized 2 Comments

RIGA – Today, I’m turning 31.

Back in 1976, a slimy rosy, chunky person appeared to a screaming woman at a Riga hospital where most babies came from.

It just doesn’t feel like 31. It feels more like 27.

I was born in the year that saw the beginning of the new era of computer innovation, making to world a smaller place. Microsoft and Apple became registered trademarks in the U.S. British Queen Elizabeth II sent out her first royal email, surely mentioning the occasion of my birth.

I don’t remember much from my early years. My first memory, as a memory of every Soviet child at the time, was the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. I cried like, well, a baby, when the giant bear named Misha, a mascot of the Olympic Games, was released into the air during the closing ceremony.

Americans missed that.

I was only 13 when the Soviet Union began to show the signs of cracks and people talked about Independent Latvia. A year later, I remember cheering when the Lenin statue in the city center was demolished, causing my grandfathers to frown. I remember getting my news from Voice of America and Radio Liberty with my grandfather’s shortwave transistor radio.

I remember empty shelves, angry customers, long lines for bread and vodka – two things a man need in this country. I remember being poor and not knowing about it. Growing up in a house in Sarkandaugava without central heating, hot water and indoor plumbing among the perpetually drunk people didn’t seem to bother me until I turned 15.

The world has changed dramatically in the last 31 years.

Let’s hope in the next 31 years, the world doesn’t fall apart and we’ll manage to mature.