Archive for February, 2010

4 comments

So much for the red tape


2010
02.20

Posted in Doesn't Fit Anywhere Else | 4 Comments »

RIGA – The following is the list of documents some teachers are required to submit to qualify for an EU stipend to improve their qualifications that this particular teacher has to collect in just one week’s time:

1. CV

2. A continuous education certificate

3. The organization of the learning process:

3.1 Study plans

3.2 Lessons evaluations

3.3 Lessons self-analisys

4. The organization of upbringing activities

4.1 Description of activities

5. Analysis of student achivement

5.1 Tests and test analysis

6. Support for students with special needs

6.1 Individual student development plan

7. Gaining experience and practice

7.1 Teaching tools – tables, schemes for the Russian language classes

7.2 Teaching tools – tests, exercises for literature classes

8. The use of information and communication technologies

8.1 The Russian language lesson presentation

9. The leading of the lesson by the methodology for the long-term ill students

19 comments

Frustration of the Day


2010
02.19

Posted in Doesn't Fit Anywhere Else | 19 Comments »

RIGA – I talked to someone last night about the grand disillusionment in the ability of the people of Latvia to govern themselves. Before Latvia joined the EU, it adopted a series of reforms with a goal of joining the EU in mind, as opposed to evaluating whether policies are good for the people of this country. After Latvia joined the EU, she appeared to have decided to take a holiday from policy-making, creating havoc in the economy, which eventually overheated and stalled. Now she’s standing on the crutches supported by the EU and the IMF who will help her along the way to join the eurozone in a few years time. But after that, she’ll just surrender most of her independence to Frankfurt, Brussels, Washington and never learning to govern herself for the benefit of her own people.

No Comments

Slesers Jab


2010
02.18

Posted in Economy, Parliament | No Comments »

RIGA – As far as local politics is concerned, the most interesting bit from the IMF announcement on disbursement of more than €200 million to the cash-strapped Latvia was this (emphasis mine):

Rigorous execution of the 2010 budget is the first step, and this entails refraining from tax cuts or spending increases, saving any windfall revenues, and using the spending flexibility allowed under the program to ensure a robust safety net for the most vulnerable.

I wonder if Mr. Budget-Deficit-Does-Not-Matter heard that.

11 comments

The Best Country in the World?


2010
02.18

Posted in Valdis Zatlers | 11 Comments »

RIGA, Feb 17, BNS – Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, who met with Latvians living in Canada while attending the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in Canada, told them that after visiting many different countries he had reached a conclusion that Latvia was the best country in the world.

6 comments

Face off in Vancouver


2010
02.16

Posted in Hockey | 6 Comments »

RIGA – My earliest memory as a child is the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. I was three years old, caring more about a giant mascot of the games, Misha the Bear, flying up into the sky at the Closing Ceremony then about the United States’ decision to boycott the games because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Politics often takes over sporting events. Boycotts are in the past, but for a country like Latvia, the first hockey match against Russia in the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver is as much about politics as it is about the game of hockey. Hockey for Latvians is like a religion, though sometimes, we’re overcome by our religious zeal. People here still talk about a 2000 Russia-Latvia game at the Ice Hockey World Championship in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ten years ago, the tiny Baltic country beat its former overlord and the all-star team.

“We are a small country, but we are tough. We have proven that over the centuries. We still exist.”

“I have the same feelings that I had 10 years ago when we stood on the barricades and pulled for independence. That was fantastic, and I think most people now have the same feelings,” people said at the time.

The inferiority complex would suffer a major blow if Latvia wins. Latvia’s victory over Russia could render Latvians incapacitated to mope in their own sorrow. Statistically speaking, Latvia is not doing too badly. The two teams met five times on major tournaments. Russia won 3 games; Latvia won two. In the last two games, Russia crushed Latvia with scores approaching double-digits. Most recently, Russia beat Latvia 6-1 at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Bern, Switzerland.

Now perhaps it could turn the same, if Latvia wins. If it doesn’t, Riga might turn into a loud chorus of “Rossiya, Rossiya.”

7 comments

Monumental Battle


2010
02.08

Posted in National Minorities | 7 Comments »

RIGA – In the aftermath of the heavy snowfall that blanketed Latvia last week, the city’s Ušakovs-Šlesers tandem had struggled to cope with tons of white fluffy stuff that fell out of the sky. Cleaning streets whose total length could bridge Riga with Prague is no easy task. But Mr. Bulldozer that task tried to complete the best he could. In the sleeping areas of the city with the population of 900,000, the snow remains not cleared and people had a reason to complain. In the town center, however, complaining about the snow took on a political and inter-ethnic conflict – much like a lot of things do in Latvia ahead of the October elections.

The former flagship newspaper Diena reacted to a complaint from a resident that a monument to the Russian general Barclay de Tolly stood snow-free, while a nearby monument to Oskars Kalpaks was covered in snow – in the words of the woman who complained – “up to his mustache.” While for some, it may that the evil city council, chaired by an ethnic Russian, purposefully ignored the Commander of the 1st Latvian battalion. While no one would deny that it’s a responsibility of the city to clean up monuments, first and foremost should probably come people who are still alive than those who left monuments behind.

Never mind a few non-historic factors about the two monuments. One stands closer to a pedestrian pathway. Another one is a somewhat poorly designed because it stands on a kind of square whose small portion near the main road serves as a sidewalk. One is a vertical statue. Another one is a form of a ship, collecting much snow.

We’re too eager to resort to our old self-preservation habits. We’re too quick to think that Russians are evil that they purposefully neglect Latvians’ monuments. We’re too comfortable thinking that someone somewhere is trying to get us. We rely on history for that irrational fear. We’re so comfortable, in fact, that when someone is not trying to get us, we feel at odds with ourselves, we feel out of our national comfort zone unable to move.