Life in Riga

The apartment Sister Harper and I share is spacious and comfortable. There is a large bedroom with a double bed and a single bed. Sister Harper insisted that I take the double bed. There is sufficient closet and drawer space. The living room is large, and has a couch, two straight chairs, a coffee table, two end tables, and an entertainment center. The kitchen is small but adequate and is well stocked. The bathroom is small but has a bathtub with with a good shower.

The bedroom, living room and kitchen each have large, vinyl clad windows. The apartment and office are both heated with hot water radiators. Both are kept very comfortable. The heat in the apartment is turned on October 15 and turned off April 15, no matter what the weather is.

We walk up 4 flights of concrete steps to our apartment--good exercise. We also walk to the office--about 10-15 minutes, and walk to bus or train stops to go to Church or to the big market, called a hypermarket. I wonder if that's their translation of "supermarket" from America.

The public transportation is very good. There are buses, trains and trolleys. I've now ridden on each. We take a train to Church. The Church has built a very nice new building, which stands out in a city of very, very old buildings.

The city has trees everywhere so Spring should be beautiful. At this time, however, the skies are grey everyday. It is light about the same length of time as in Utah right now--just no sunshine.