Expat has left the building

So Latvia, it seems like our time together has come to an end. Now, now, hold it together. It’s true that we’ve had our ups and downs, but I like to think that, overall, it’s been more positive than negative. By the way, I have no idea how a last blog post is supposed to go. Should it be a summary of the last four years of my life? An emotional outpouring?

My ‘kitchen’ is going with me…

With regard to the former, it’s been… I’m not sure I can cram the last four years of my life into a pithy paragraph. It’s been pretty much every adjective you can think of, and then some.

I’ve met some great people (and some complete wankers), had good times and bad, been poor (and slightly less poor), worked hard, played hard, tried to see as much of the country as I could (or the 50% of it that isn’t covered in forest, anyway), and tried to gain some sort of understanding of, and insight into, the Latvian people. Some think I failed utterly in this; others think I nailed it – but hey, I’m on the bus now so you can’t argue with me. (Though feel free to duke it out in the comments section.)

And the emotional outpouring? Sorry, but that’s not going to happen. Not because I don’t have any emotions – quite the opposite. Right now, I’ve got so many conflicting emotions that I’m doing my best not to let any of them surface at all. Consider me in ‘numb auto-pilot’ mode.

In what may be some sort of attempt at self-preservation (or me finally going round the twist), my brain has stopped focusing on the enormity of things and is firmly fixating on the small, banal things. In fact, for the last couple of days, I’ve had a running narration of what I’m up to going on in my head. Things like:

Linda closed the door decisively and strode across her courtyard for the last time. 

Linda defiantly tossed back her long glossy mane pint and bade farewell to Riga, the Paris of the North. 

That sort of thing. That’s normal, right?

Anyway, normal or not, it’s me. Let’s hope the Germans can handle it as well as the Latvians did (cough). You can find out at Expat Eye on Germany – there’s nothing really there yet but, trust me, there will be…

So, before this becomes even more long-winded and rambling, Latvia, I leave you with this final, profound thought:

My photographer couldn’t figure out my ‘ancient’ phone – and also, thank you Lasma! Carpe that fucking diem 😉

I raise my glass to you and wish you all the best in the future.

Atā un visu labu.

Linda O’Greidija. (Snigger.)