Since the Baltic countries are small republics with relatively few native speakers of the local languages, learning a major language such as English is deemed important and mandated in school from the early grades. Russian is also still encouraged in some places, but responded to with far less enthusiasm from the students.

Sometimes, the local people speak English to me even before I've uttered a word. I'm not sure what gives me away as a foreigner.   Perhaps it is partly my attire, which is a bit lighter and brighter on this day than what the average local person wears.   Black clothes have been the principle fashion here in Europe for at least a decade, and these days, that often means black leather.   Both men and women, particularly the young, are often covered in it from head to toe.

Looking tough probably serves a useful purpose in these parts.   Many of the young men are big, broad and carry themselves in ways that give the impression they are something akin to bar bouncers or perhaps what the locals refer to as "biznessmen", meaning that if you don't watch yourself, they could end up giving you the business, so to speak.

My biggest concern has gone from how to program myself out of my self-inflicted jams (out of a paper bag) at work to how to find a seat at one of the local beer gardens.   It's a sunny, mild Sunday, but the Latvians here in Riga occupy every seat within sight of a television showing their team in an ice hockey tournament.

Speaking of significant concerns, here's one from the things-have-gotten-much-better department. I visited a Russian couple in Lithuania, relatives of my friends in Washington.   Aside from giving their take on how things have been changing in their country, which is decidely negative in their view, they introduced me to a Lithuanian woman who, as a young child, was forced by Josef Stalin, along with her family, to move to Siberia and, in her parents case, to perform hard labor.   Her father opend his mouth a little too much, his so-called friends turned him in to the authorities, and the family became listed as "enemies of the State" for five years. A few years after Stalin died, they were "rehabilitated" and moved back to Lithuania.

I had imagined that it was mainly a Russian perspective, but it seems that many Lithuanians, once anxious for independence, are questioning the benefits that have derived from it. Unlike Estonians and Latvians, who seem to be doing better on the whole than they did under Soviet domination, many Lithuanians (though perhaps not yet a majority) feel that things have gotten much worse for them.   Never mind the store shelves filled with goods, most feel they lack the money to buy much of it. Unemployment is well into the double digits (perhaps over 50%, my Russian acquaintances tell me, once underemployment is taken into account), and there's a huge brain drain of young people to the West, mostly to the Scandanavian countries, where their dreams are also often shattered and where, in some instances, they turn to crime -- or at least the media seems to be turning this into stereotype.

The principle problem is that Lithuania, once among the largest and most powerful countries in Europe, now is something of a backwater, and has few of its own resources to offer the world in trade.   Meanwhile, they were among the most militant of those opposing their former principle benefactor, the Soviet Union, and the Russians responded by giving them what they seemed to be requesting with their wishes for complete independence.   Fuel oil supplies from Russia were briefly cut off in the early '90s, and otherwise prices have gone up significantly. These days, a monthly heating bill in winter may be $75 out of monthly pensions as low as $125.   Consequently, although they are warm, welcoming, friendly and extraordinarily hospitable, the spirits of the Lithuanians whom I've met so far have seemed rather low.

In my travels, it seems to me that Eastern Europeans on the whole vie with people of the Middle East for being the world's most hospitable. Sorry, Americans!  By comparison, in my experience, these other folks tend to put us to shame.

The Latvians apparently won their hockey game.  There's a lot of lively revelry in the streets right now.

My train from Poland into Lithuania pulled two wagons and carried one passenger -- me!   Meanwhile, my needs were attended to by at least a dozen government officials -- the train engineer, Polish and Lithuanian train conductors, customs agents, border guards and their supervisors -- all for me alone!   Had this been another part of the former Soviet Union, such as the Republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan, where in 1996 I was summarily harrassed by officials for bribes (and, I am told, also in nearby Belarus), this might have been another situation where I was ripe for being extorted of -- how shall I call it -- my kindly donated gratuities.   As it turned out, although my train ticket listed a correct final destination, but incorrect intermediate destinations, just the excuse an official might need to extract something from me, the Polish conductor kindly let me slide, but not without some discussion.   I paid a little extra for the mistake on the Lithuanian side.

Once into Lithuania, the train functioned as a rural school bus, making whistle stops to drop off school children seemingly at every agglomeration of three or more farm houses, while otherwise clipping along at 20 MPH tops.

Small town life here remains quaint and trapped in a time warp -- but what's this I see -- golden arches!  What McDonalds and other franchises did for small town America back in the 1970s, they are doing now for small town Earth.   Damn those Americans -- corrupting the world again! It's a good thing that McDonalds was closed for breakfast or I might have succumbed, since the next place to eat was a mile further down the road, and I was walking with my backpack.  (McDonalds benefits well from finding ideal locations -- thanks to my profession of Geographic Information Systems, no doubt).

I don't mean to pick on McDonalds (even as a vegetarian), but I often bemoan the trend toward "sameness" in the world.  What's the point of traveling half way around the world only to see the same thing you can see up the block?  The old saying is that you can never go home again, but I think that it's beginning to feel as if you can never LEAVE home.  We're becoming one big look-alike, sound-alike homogenous glob (and globe) -- all tuned in to CNN, the Simpsons and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  Oh, I recognize that I am hypocritical because as a traveler to far off places and as a globe trotter via the internet, I am partly responsible for this trend toward sameness since I create demand for a comfortable and convenient level of tourist infrastructure -- i.e. I still prefer the McBathroom over a typical crouch-type toilet in the developing world.  Meanwhile, I'm sending you this message from a 24-hour internet cafe.  I'm surprised that Starbucks hasn't bought them out yet and placed one on every street corner on the planet.   I'm sure it's the goal -- corporate totalitarianism -- this coming from a caffeine addict who willingly gives 2% of his after-tax income to support his Starbucks habit.

Enough soapbox.  It's after 9:00 PM, still light outside (and light by 4:30 AM), though it is only the end of April, nearly two months before the summer solstice.   Some parts of this region receive fewer than 40 days of sunshine each year, and the root of the name Lithuania literally means "rain".   Still, the weather has been rather cooperative, running the gambit between hot and cold.

Eating and sleeping is cheap here.   I'm staying in a centrally located and comfortable hotel for a mere $7 a night.   I'm not sure if Eastern Europeans have completely got the hang of this thing called capitalism yet.   Not one, but two vegetarianbuffets are steps away from my door, where one can gorge oneself on under $4.   Where my stomach and wallet are happy, I am happy.

These photos are probably not all that interesting for you, so I recommend that you view them
only if you're bored and have time on your hands OR if, glory be, you actually are interested.
Note that some browsers may not be prepared for viewing these JPG files directly.

Memorial to those who attempted to escape over through the Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany
http://deanoman.com/0401/berlinwalljumpers.htm

A Greenpeace demonstration at Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, observing the 15th anniversary of the
Chernobyl nuclear accident
http://deanoman.com/0401/greenpeace1.htm

A Greenpeace demonstrator
http://deanoman.com/0401/greenpeace2.htm

Eastern Berlin
http://deanoman.com/0401/eastberlin1.htm

Marx/Engles monument in Eastern Berlin
http://deanoman.com/0401/marxengles.htm

Hot dog man, Eastern Berlin
http://deanoman.com/0401/hotdogman.htm

Kaunas, Lithuania
http://deanoman.com/0401/kaunasmall.htm

Old town, Riga, Latvia
http://deanoman.com/0401/rigalatvia1.htm

Deano

Happy May!

Deano