My Day

Have you ever woken up and thought, "today's my birthday!"? I have. But not today. I wasn't reminded until I checked my email. Either I'm getting old or finally turning into a man, or both. So here I am, 24 years old. I don't know what's more odd, that I'm 24, or that I'm in Latvia? You tell me.

There was practically no work today in the office. We're waiting on pending requests to interview American businesses here and can't do much until we get those done. So, I took off early, made a few calls to find a place to live (I'm still searching), and then I was off. I spent the majority of the day in 2 museums. The Musuem of the Occuptation of Latvia was a thriller as far as musuems go. It's fittingly housed in an unproccessed Soviet bunker. As far as bleak 20th century histories go, Latvia takes the cake: Soviet oppresion with mass deportations to Siberian work camps for a decade, then Nazi rule for a few years, and then back to the Soviets for 45 years. These guys never caught a break.

The Latvian Museum of War was also a good place to get lost for a few hours, which I did.

In the middle of the city lies a massive Russian Orthodox church which I pass most days. On my way back this eveing, since I had time, I decided to venture inside. I hit the jackpot as far as being in the right place at the right time - I had just walked in on their mass, I think. It was totally different than anything I've ever seen as far as Christianity is concerned. At first I thought, "man this is wierd," and then I realized, "I'm Mormon. Everyone thinks I do wierd things." haha. Even-Stevens.

It being my birthday, you might ask: I wonder how Josh celbrated his birthday? If you didn't ask that: shame on you. If it weren't for those who wished me a happy birthday in emails, I wouldn't even have remembered myself. What if they hadn't cared either? I'd most likely be sitting here alone doing nothing. Oh wait...
For those of you who did wonder, here you go: