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Thu 22 May, 2003 03:01 am
When I think about Latvians, this is what comes to mind:
* Pointy noses and small chins.
* Mousy quiet people who walk along the sidewalk, blending in with the buildings (so as not to be followed by the KGB?)
* Old cobblestone streets and black-market vendors (turned Capitalist now!)
* A flat land, dairy, forest, bakeries, a few MIG's and not much else.
* Good beer. No. Really good beer.
* Everybody looks and sounds just like ... my Dad.
* Technically educated and motivated people. For pretty cheap too!
* One point on the Triangle of Triumph: Lithuania, Estonia, and the indominatable ... Latvia!
* Amber. Need I say more? Baltic Gold!
* Janis Vakars, Midsummer Night's Eve. Ah, the ... the... well it was something I tell you.
* Did I say good beer?
To those of you who have lived in or near Latvia or who have just visited the country, is any of what I have said true? Help me to understand the Latvian people.
(No stereotypes, please).
[I'm just wondering: do you get money for every 'click' on this thread? :wink: ]
You've nailed it CodeBorg. A perfect description of every Latvian I've ever met, keeping in mind that Merry Andrew and I did not quite connect the last time he was in New Mexico.
I have to wonder if they don't share an interesting trait of Native Americans. Each one of them, of course, walks in single file.
Re: I NEED HELP IN UNDERSTANDING LATVIANS
CodeBorg wrote:When I think about Latvians, this is what comes to mind:
* Pointy noses and small chins.
* Mousy quiet people who walk along the sidewalk, blending in with the buildings (so as not to be followed by the KGB?)
* Old cobblestone streets and black-market vendors (turned Capitalist now!)
* A flat land, dairy, forest, bakeries, a few MIG's and not much else.
* Good beer. No. Really good beer.
* Everybody looks and sounds just like ... my Dad.
* Technically educated and motivated people. For pretty cheap too!
* One point on the Triangle of Triumph: Lithuania, Estonia, and the indominatable ... Latvia!
* Amber. Need I say more? Baltic Gold!
* Janis Vakars, Midsummer Night's Eve. Ah, the ... the... well it was something I tell you.
* Did I say good beer?
To those of you who have lived in or near Latvia or who have just visited the country, is any of what I have said true? Help me to understand the Latvian people.
(No stereotypes, please).
I'm still trying to understand New Englanders!
To understand New Englanders you must first understand Latvians.
<Is that deep, or what?>
Ahhhhhhh, sweet Latvia.
Never been there. It sounds like somewhere with good bread.
goodness - I haven't even understood Finland yet!
Nobody ever thinks about the Island of Yap, do they <sob>
I can speak to one point. My tech company has a few ISP contracts in Latvia. Any contact I have had with them are incredibly pleasant and they are very technically savvy and have a great work ethic. It's always a pleasure to deal with my contacts there.
Maybe that sound a bit 'stereotypical', but that's just my professional experience.
I visited Latvia in May 1990, three months prior to having left the USSR. At that time the separatist trend there was very strong, and the fact of my speaking Russian made me some problems: the salespersons in the shops tended to ignore me pretending to having not understood (this was not true, since in the Soviet time everyone there knew Russian). The similar situation happened when I needed asking the way: I could not get an answer until I met the local Russian man. But, a positive point: unlike savage Chechens, the civilized Latvians never resorted to violence (I am not talking about 1944-52 when there were several foci of guerilla activity in the forests), either verbal or physical. They just ignored Russians.
steissd wrote:But, a positive point: unlike savage Chechens, the civilized Latvians never resorted to violence
Unlike vice versa, the year after ('91) ...
And what exactly happened in 1991? Did Latvians commit any terror attack against the USSR?
steissd
Since you like -as you said on another thread- to hear the opinion of people, living actually there:
January 1991: A dream came true.. by Irina Jakovleva
Well, I never opposed Latvians' claims for independence, even when I was a Soviet citizen (I did not support this either being a loyal citizen of the USSR, but I did not have any principal opposition to such an idea). Unlike Chechens, they are mature and civilized enough to have a self-rule without becoming troublemakers and terrorists.
Before they broke up with Mother USSR, I thought Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were the names of the mean step-sisters of Cinderella.
baez, there's only two of them: labia and lungia.
Well, not really.
I knew they spoke different languages and were forced to "Russification", following Stalin's linguistic theories (steissd, you can find that sort of stupid reluctance to understand in Catalonia, Spain: some of them "forget" Spanish untill they realize you're not Castillian and suddenly remember it, and turn nice).
I knew Latvians like wrestling, Lithuatians like basketball and Estonians like nordic skiing.
Latvians like ice hockey as well. In the Soviet period they had quite a decent ice hockey team in Riga.
By the way, do Catalonians respond when they are being addressed in English? And who are Castilians? Are not they just "regular" Spaniards, since Castilia is an area in Spain?
I could get into nekkid skiing, too . . . no doubt about it . . .
Oh . . . nordic skiing . . . never mind . . .
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