The Real SHOW

This afternoon, we went on an independent spree and that was lots of fun. I started my journey with Kelli, Megan, and Jerome. I did not feel the need to go to a market that was said to be like Pikes Place. I am not much for markets like that and certainly not one for crowded people in one place. So Megan and I went to McDonalds to sit and wait for the rest of our group while Jerome and Kelli went to the market. I fulfilled a life-long dream of going to a McDonalds in a foreign country. To share the whole story, I wanted to go to a Double Decker McDonalds during a High School summer vacation trip to Canada with the family, but they denied me that wonderful opportunity. I was crushed. So when I found out where a McDonalds was in Latvia, I had to go. So thats what I did this morning.
Back to the story, so then, Kelli and Jerome came back and found us and we went to an outdoor festival that was selling lots of Native Latvian trinkets. I did not find much at first, but I was able to find a few things by the end of the trip. There were all sorts of items at this festival- many blankets, pottery, clothing, wooden items, and many others. I was able to find a tiny wooden carved meddalion that had Riga carved into it. I also was able to buy a piece of pottery that was created into a musical instrument of sorts. It had holes in it where you could play it in the same way as a recorder.
I also got a beautiful bowl that was decorated. I had a good time.
After all that shopping, we were ready for Lunch, again I really wanted to eat at a McDonalds (i did not eat before, it was around 10am) so Megan and I went to another McDonalds (very popular BTW) and Kelli and Jerome, again took off to find an authentic Latvian restauraunt.
Megan and I ate some good McDonalds food, waited in line for a bathroom, then headed out. I lost a "Raise Your Right Hand Bet" and Megan gloated about that. We found a festival of some sort going on at the Freedom Monument, so we decided to sit and watch that for a while. There were many people in Traditional Latvia garb and they were walking around the monument to commemorate the occasion, there was lots of music and many on-lookers. We really had a great time. By then, we decided we were bored and wanted to walk back to the BBI office. We were just waiting there the rest of the time for others.
On the way to the Bus, we had to walk about a block and a half to get to our stop for Vangazi. We were planning on getting on the bus at 4:30PM today so we started getting our stuff ready and walking to the stop at 3:45. I was among the first to get to the bus stop and Natasha said that the bus that was there was our bus. We started getting on, but not everyone was there and so we had to get off and find another bus to get to Vangazi. We, in the end, had to take a taxi with all our big bags to the Bus station, and the rest of us walked with backpacks and small items to the bus station. We got lost on the way, as our usual way here, but found it eventually and got on the bus in time.

When getting to Vangazi, we were meeted by Pastor Viktors, and he took a van with all of our stuff to the church. We walked to the church from the bus stop. (Probably about 1/2 Mi. if I had to guess) When we arrived at the church, there were some wonderful people there to greet us happily. We sat down to an AMAZING dinner at the church, and then we got the tour of the upstairs building. They showed us all of the wonderful work that others had done (including Steve and Al) in the past. It was great to see. They also showed us the beautiful new sancutary that they are working on. It is not done yet, there are still a few things to do, but they have had a few special services in it. Afterwards, there was some friendly banter, and then, our group was divided up to go to houses. Steve, Janine, and Al went with Pastor Viktors and his wife. Megan went with her new best friend, Natasha. Kelli went to Natashas parents' house. Bill went to Boris' house, Bob and Bill went to the Deacons house, and Jerome and I were not able to find a house with others, so Pastor Viktors let us use one of his son's houses here (While he is away).

It has been a very fun day, and Jerome and I both feel that now we are out of Riga, we are in real Latvia, not just a European Vacation kind of feel, but a real mission trip kind of feel. We are happy to be feeling this way. We are out of the Tourguiding and Sightseeing, we are into the real show.