RIGA – Two young Russian men climbed aboard a bus that I was taking back home from a busy work day. Both are in the late 20s – one was carrying around a one-year-old boy. The two guys spoke loudly to each other, which is an abnormality in the country where everyone is trying to keep to themselves, especially on public transportation.
On the next stop, three young girls boarded the bus. They were probably around 15 or 16. Their faces soiled with heavy makeup. They spoke Russian.
“Hey, girls,” said the man with the child.
The girls ignored him and suddenly switched to Latvian. The man left them alone. When the two guys left, the girls switched back to Russian.
True story.
I was watching ETV two nights ago and they were interviewing teenagers in Paldiski, which is home to about 4,000, more than half of whom speak Russian as a native language. And the kids had names like Aleksei and Andrei and Valeri, but they all spoke Estonian like native speakers, like they were from somewhere in the countryside. It was truly an odd moment.
I liked the fact that at the Baltic Pride event, both sides switched their chants to English every now and again just to make it clear that there was no misunderstanding.