Billboard in Riga

This was a billboard we saw in the central part of Riga. During the Russian invasion of Georgia there was at least on protest in support of Georgia where many locals placed white roses at the door of the Georgian Embassy. The white rose stands for peace. Since Latvia is part of NATO there is not much fear right now of a Russian invasion of Latvia.

An the the band played on ......

Here is a group of people you don't see very often in Iowa.

Lady in Red

Here is the famous lady in red. She is a street performer in Riga. She will dance for you for some coins. Locals say she has been doing this for a long time.

Cookies Anyone

I think this is where some of those keebler elves live. I knocked on the door but no one was home. I guess they were out picking chocolate chips.

Dungeon

Here is a picture of the torture chamber in the castle. I don't think these are the actual people but only wax figures. The other picture is an actual iron suit.

Segulda Castle

Here is another castle located near Segulda. The first two pictures were taken from the tower.

Amber Hunting

Here is Rhonda looking for amber on the beach after a storm. Amber is tree sap that has been solidified by the ocean. The Russians dumped a lot of phosphorous in the Baltic which looks like Amber. The problem is when it dries the phosphorous reacts with the oxygen and starts on fire. Lots of people have been burned. Amber is made into jewelry and sold to the tourists.

Moved In

We finally have move into our new house. It is located in Jurmala, Latvia. We are about 1 mile from the school. ISL will start on Monday morning. This past week has been very busy with faculty meetings and preparing for the start of the 2008-09 school year. Rhonda will be working as the academic advisor for ISL. She will be helping the juniors and seniors who are planning to attend college. She will also be working for the University of Latvia in the Social Work department. Finally, she will conduct research for the Soros Foundation. It will be a very busy year for both of us.

We haven't been traveling too much lately. Once school starts things should get into a routine. Rhonda will be traveling to Monaco for some additional training in November. I will be posting more pictures in the near future.

International School of Latvia

This is a picture of our school. ISL rents this facility from the Horticultural College of Latvia. We have increased our enrollment so much that we need a larger building. We are in the process of meeting with local authorities in order to build the school. We hope to have the new school open by 2010.

Contact Us

If anyone wants to call us here are the numbers.
Larry's mobile: +371 26100603
Rhonda's mobile: +371 28378962

Another way, and it is free, is to download a service called Skype. It is located at Skype.com You can call anyone who has a skype account for free. Our skype contact is: LarryJJM or RhondaMF. It is simple and easy.

Hope to hear from you soon.