All About Latvia

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.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 15.00 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.