tisdag 30 juni 2015

90-tals underhållning på nätet

90-tals underhållning på nätet som fortfarande ligger uppe:
http://joyful6.tripod.com/index-apehi.html

Det här kanske lite mer givande (Tider innan Google Translate fanns). Hur man säger "Grattis på födelsedagen" på olika språk: http://www.shabbir.com/romance/bday.html

Det här minnet av offren, överlevarna och deras familjer i bombningen av “Murrah Federal Buildning” i centrala Oklahoma USA 1995 får en ej att skatta: http://mrmom.amaonline.com/special/inmemoryof.htm

Eller vad sägs om mängder av ordspråk däribland ett ryskt:
I affärer finns ingen vänskap.(Ryssland)
http://www.exton.net/UPLOADS/allm-info/ordsprak.html

Det här var en tid då en dator, monitor och modem tillsammans kunde kosta flera månadslöner. Sociala medier fanns i visa enklare former men knappas så stort som dagens t.ex. Facebook. Så för att sprida artiklar, bilder, dikter, musik, roliga historier m.m. så användes vanlig traditionell e-post. Man skapade sändlistor med vänner, bekanta, släktingar och tillsammans med brevvänner. Brevvänner erhölls genom t.ex. portalen som fortfarande finns idag Brevvänsförmedlingen ( http://www.brevweb.com/ ). Det var väl långt ifrån alltid man var aktiva brevvänner, utan snarare utväxling- utbytesvänner. Vi fortsätter lite till...

Du vet när du fått nog av 90-talet när:
* du försöker använda ditt "password" på mikrovågsugnen,
* du inte lagt patiens med riktiga spelkort på flera år,
* du har en lista på 15 telefonnummer till dina tre familjemedlemmar,
* du skickar e-post till en väninna och frågar "Ska vi käka lunch?"  och hon skickar 'reply' "Ge mig fem minuter!",
* du mister kontakt med de vänner som saknar e-postadress,
* du känner dig strukturerad för att du skrivit upp allt du måste göra på en lista,
* du hör de flesta roliga vitsarna via e-post,
* du slår en 0:a för att komma ut på linjen när du är hemma,
* du haft samma skrivbord på jobbet i fyra år - men jobbat för tre olika företag,
* du har din CV på diskett alltid till hands, - i fickan/handväskan,
* du får veta på morgonnyheterna att du är uppsagd,
* din största förlust efter en data-krasch är alla roliga vitsar som du har sparat,
* styrelsemedlemmarnas arvoden är större än hela tredje världens budget,
* folk som anställningsintervjuas avbryter - trots att de saknar erfarenheten - så snart de hört ingångslönen nämnas,
* gratismat som blir över efter möten utgör grunden i ditt kostintag,
* "sjuk" innebär att du inte kan gå eller att du ligger på sjukhus,
* du redan är sent ute med ett uppdrag som du alldeles nyss har fått,
* det inte finns budget för de två tjänster din avdelning som så väl behöver tillsätta, samtidigt som ledningen firar de långsiktiga
  strategierna med heltidsarbetande management-konsulter,
* semester är något du väntar med till nästa år,
* du, samtidigt som du läser den här listan, nickar och ler för dig själv,
* du, samtidigt som du läser det här tänker "det här måste jag vidarebefordra till alla mina e-postvänner!",
* du raskt tänker att "de har säkert redan fått det här" men du orkar inte kolla upp det så du skickar det ändå!

What you can expect from a husband that  work as a "Computer Related" professional 
Husband : ( Returning late form work ) "Good  Evening Dear, I'm now logged in."
Wife    : Have you brought the ring ?
Husband : Bad command or filename.
Wife    : But I told you in the morn...
Husband : Erroneous syntax.
Wife    : What about my new blouse ?
Husband : Variable not found ...
Wife    : At least, give me your Credit Card, I want to do some shopping.
Husband : Sharing Violation. Access denied ...
Wife    : Do you love me or do you only love computers or are you just being funny ?
Husband : Too many parameters. Abort!...
Wife    : It was a grave mistake that I married an idiot like you.
Husband : Data type mismatch.
Wife    : You are a useless nut.
Husband : Default Parameter.
Wife    : What about your Salary ?
Husband : Access denied. File in use...
Wife    : Who was in the car this morning ?
Husband : System unstable. Press CTRL + ALT + DEL to Reboot


Finally a "smart" blonde joke!
A blonde walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. 
She says she's going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5000.
The bank officer says the bank will need some kind of security for such a loan, so the blonde hands over the keys to a new Rolls Royce parked on the
street in front of the bank.  Everything checks out and the bank agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan.  An employee drives the Rolls into
the bank's underground garage and parks it there.
Two weeks later the blonde returns, repays the $5000 and the interest which comes to $15.41.
The loan officer says, "We are very happy to have had your business and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled.  While
you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. 
What puzzles us is why you would bother to borrow $5000?"
The blonde replied, "Where else in New York can I park my car for two weeks for 15 bucks?"

Näve full med spik
Det var en gång en liten pojke som lätt blev arg.
Hans pappa gav honom en näve full med spik och sa till honom att varje gång han blir arg ska han gå bakom huset och slå i en spik i staketet.
Första dagen slog pojken in 37 spikar.
Efter några veckor lärde han sig kontrollera sin vrede och antalet islagna spikar minskade hela tiden.
Han märkte att det är lättare att behärska sin vrede än att slå in spikar i ett staket.
Slutligen kom den dagen då pojken inte blev arg en enda gång.
Han sa det till sin pappa och denne föreslog honom att dra ut en spik från staketet varje dag han inte blir arg alls.
Dagarna gick, och efter en tid kunde pojken tala om för sin pappa att det inte fanns en enda spik kvar i staketet.
Då tog pappan pojkens hand och ledde honom till staketet. Där sa han till honom: "Det var bra gjort, min gosse, men titta på alla dessa hål. Det här staketet blir aldrig mera som det har varit.
När du säger något i vredesmod lämnar det just sådana här ärr. Som om du skulle sticka in en kniv i en människa och dra ut den igen.  Det spelar ingen roll, hur många gånger du ber om förlåtelse, skadan är redan skedd.
En skada orsakad av ett ovänligt ord gör lika ont som ett fysiskt slag.Vänner är i själva verket väldigt sällsynta ädelstenar. Dom gör dig glad och stödjer dig i allt. De lyssnar till dig när du har bekymmer, berömmer dig och är alltid redo att öppna sitt hjärta för dig.


What is Poor?
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father  asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.
"Oh Yeah" said the son.
"So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four."
"We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end."
"We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night."
"Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon."
"We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. "
"We have servants who serve us, but they serve others."
"We buy our food, but they grow theirs. "
"We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are."
Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't  have. What is one person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks to God for all the bounty we have been provided by Him, instead of worrying about wanting more.


The Race
Two natural gas company service personnel, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood.
They parked their truck at the end of an alley and worked their way to the other end.
At the last house, a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two men as they checked her gas meter.
When they finished, the senior supervisor, proud of his physical condition, challenged his younger co-worker to a foot race back to their truck.
As they approached the truck, they realized that the woman from the last house they checked was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong.
Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I saw two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figured I'd better run, too!"

Fader Dator
Fader Dator som är i centralen
Helgad varde din skärm
Tillkomme Ditt tangentbord
ske din vilja såsom i minnet
så också på printern
Vår dagliga lista giv oss idag
och förlåt oss våra misstag
Trots att vi icke förlåta dem
såsom felprogrammerare äro
Inled oss icke i långa svarstider
utan fräls oss från dumpar
Ty centralen är Din och Makten
och Användarna i Evighet!

ENTER



MANAGEMENT LESSONS ..words to live by.
Lesson Number One
*****************
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.
A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?"
The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. 
All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Management Lesson:  To be SITTING AND DOING NOTHING,
YOU MUST BE SITTING VERY, VERY HIGH UP.
Lesson Number Two
*****************
A turkey was chatting with a bull.
"I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree, "sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."
"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. “They're packed with nutrients."
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. 
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.
Management Lesson:  BULLSHIT might get you TO THE TOP, but IT WON'T KEEP YOU THERE.
Lesson Number Three
******************
A little bird was flying south for the winter. 
It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field.  While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it.  As the frozen bird lay there
in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.  A passing cat heard the bird singing and came
to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered  the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him!
Management Lessons:
1) Not everyone who drops shit on you is your ENEMY.
2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your FRIEND.3) And when you're in deep shit, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!

November 1999 skrev jag detta brev till brevvänner boende utomlands.
Det var under en tid då dessa hade många frågor om Sverige. Ganska lång läsning, till och från svårläst engelska (Hade huvudsakligen ett annat sätt att uttrycka mig på) men ger en bra tillbakablick till 90-talet. Sen brevet har skrivits för nu över 20 år sen så har förstås mycket återigen förändrats.


Hi!
Örby slott någon gång under 90-talet
I will with this letter explain some things about Sweden. I think it could be an interesting reading if you wish to know more about Sweden, me and what I think. It always exist many ways to see things on, what I see and think is of course not what every one in Sweden think. In some things I maybe not always have all facts.

Sweden is neutral country. If we do anything we first wait for UN to say that it is ok.  For many years I think that has worked fine (It has been good for Sweden) and Sweden has done many good things in the name of UN. But today I and many others are starting to rethink this. Well, what we think is that things in UN is not working, as it should.

In this subject I would say that it exist a wish for a change and people and the army are giving suggestions. Until people have decided what we wish for the old way will be kept. But sometimes I think it looks little strange when I hear the government saying “This is what we wish for” and when I know that it is a very big group that thinks different and also before or later will vote different.

Sweden went in to EU (EUROPEAN UNION). We had an election about this and it was a close call but it became a yes. Personally I voted yes. I saw good and bad points in this all together it looked for Sweden like +-0, so I did understand those that said no too. But I did not see that anything should get worse by this and the thing that made me to move over to yes was that I saw that it should be easier to move around in EU.

But today, some years later, it feels like the same. We have got some neat driving licence and
Mer ifrån Örby Slott under 90-talet.
passports (Sweden had much bigger format on them before). It is easier to go over the border. Some things are different, other laws, but mainly I wouldn’t say things has got better or worse for Sweden because of EU. But it is many things that are changing in Sweden, but I can’t see that that should have anything with EU to do.


For a 10-15 years ago was things in good and bad ways more controlled by the state. Do not mix this up with anything now, Sweden are and have always taken democracy and the freedom to speak serious.  But post-office and Phone Company for example was State Company. We could not open a company and sell those services. In general it was harder to be a company owner. In general I think it was more bureaucracy and the feeling and the way people was thinking was that you should not say against the state workers. If they say one thing it is the trough, but in general things was also working good.  I can’t remember that it was any big problems with schools, we had good and cheap medical care, police had much more money/ support, it was not that hard to get a work with good pay. Well, some things has changed some is good and some is bad.

Today we have many post company’s and phone company’s. We have by law go to school for 9 years. We have never needed to go to the state school we could go privet schools. But today the money from what it should cost to go to state school is taken over to the privet school so the cost for going to privet school is today much lesser. But it is a lot bigger pressure on the kids in schools today. It is often we hear on TV today about problems in school we never heard about before, to few teachers are one reason. Also has many things for kids after school been cute down, places they could go to and so. Also it is much harder to get work and it is today lesser pay or more to say they often get lesser for there money when before. So parents don’t have the money all the time to pay as they did before for football, Ice hockey and other things kids went to before more often.  Before when it was more work parents easy could fix extra work for there kids there they worked too. Today it is harder for kids/teenagers students to get extra work. So what do kids do when they don’t have anything to do? Well, I believe you could count that out.

The crimes by kids are increasing. We are also getting allot more homeless people, something we
Passfoto gjord 1999
 innan resa till Polen.
almost not knew the word for before. The cost for medicine and doctors are getting more and more expensive and what is worse is that it starting to be more and more failures and longer waiting times for operations. In the older care it have been little too many failures on that people have protest very hard now, so on that at the least it will be a little change now. 
The crimes are increasing in same time as police are starting to get lesser money. Police are soon gone do a protest, they gone take all police for a time on the street. I mean they take even them that works on the office and take them out on street for showing how the security could be. If they show that the crimes are going down I guess the government could be in a little problem. People will then see how things should work.

For sure we hear about much more crimes today especially when sex crimes against females and children, oh gosh we have even had cases this years on the childcare, people think they should be able to leave there children safe at the least there. Police murder was also one of those things we almost didn’t know the word for. In some few years now we have had 3 police murder and also some very serious death threat on some high police chefs.

When this is happen people be afraid and do and say things that go over people that not have done anything.  When this is happen company and organisations are starting to rent guards. It is starting to be guards everywhere and it is coming more and more security companies.  But those guards have done many wrong things. My guess is for ones that they need more training. They need so much guards now and that so fast so a big risk is that they don’t have time to train them as they maybe should. Let’s say like this, we getting more guards but still are the crimes increasing. And it could in one way also give false safety. Guards can’t stop everything and if people think they have guard there nothing could now happen it is bad. The guard is a help, but people should not stop being careful for that. 

It is many that uses guard dressers also when they do crimes today. Also criminals are starting to getting over VERY heavy weapons and it getting heavier and heavier. It is like the guard and the police are standing there with a water pistol and the criminal with a fire department truck. Some cases has been there the criminals not has been a bit afraid for what could happen if police comes. It has been out in country there it not is too big police force and they have had too good weapon so they have taken very good time on them, no fear what so ever for if or if not police comes. They took their time to shut smile faces in the bank before they left.

We do army service here for one year, we more and more see that people taking some of the best training in there for when using it for crimes. Some of this training’s are very good and that skill could many times be much better when the guards and the police. Put this skill on a criminal and this weapon I am speaking of against a police that getting lesser support and you could count out the future. More and more people do not wish to become police anymore.

But people are starting to think and do things for taking better and better care of the nature. We do for sure also have a very beautiful nature here in Sweden. Also the attitude against company owner are getting better. Before it was much like that that they thought we was people that not work and being haughty/ supercilious, we for sure are not more like that when anyone else and that are people starting to understand better now.

Well, it is many countries that has it much worse when what we got on all those subjects but people do not like what is happening, the increase. Some of the problems are about cut downs other problems I guess is much about that people are changing, moral, ethic and responsibility. People are starting to see that they today can’t just agree with the state. We every single person has to start to questioning everything and learn about things and if things are wrong fight for changing it. This year I have seen a big change about this and also the media are changing and being much harder with checks. This is helping, if something goes on TV that really are wrong it dos not take more when some days before the state must start taking steps for doing something about it.

Fore some days ago I heard on TV about that the Customs Department are checking busses that has many people that not are Swedes or when just maybe people that not are born here in Sweden much more when busses that most are Swedes. This is a problem for the busses so one buss line say they can’t take more when 5 people on the buss that not are Swedes for not getting allot of problems in the custom. Well, after that this went on TV the day after they say the Custom department gone have to answer for this and they are also gone be investigated and the media gone proceed reporting about this. You could say that it is like that that when things not are working and people get to tiered about the problems they take the power back from the state.

This year you could find people that not even knowing each other joining each other in discussions on the street about things that are wrong. People are not only talking they are doing things too for changing it and it is working. This what starting to happen this year I am very happy to see. The school was also for first time in court convicted for some weeks ago for a case of a girl that has been victimised of other children. This conviction will give all school and also politicians a bigger responsibility for that things shall work in schools. If people treat people like them self wish to be treaded and doing their work and taking responsibility many problems could be solved.
Internet is I see a good toll for democracy too. Many people in Sweden do have Internet and are starting to use it for e-mail complains to government, media, friends and so on. I guess it feels easier for people to e-mail when to write letters. Well I don’t know but for sure is the Internet being used for this.

For a short time ago my mother was walking by the parliament building and out comes some high politicians, when a guy that also walk there points to them and shoot "“Here comes the idiots”. Well, most of people that also walks there are starting to join in to this tone, even 2 tourists from Finland (Many people in Finland knows Swedish.).  The politicians bend their heads down and walk away from there. This would people for sure not have done for 15 years ago. I must say I think this was a bit childish but in same time it is good that people stands up.

Me personally have not had that many problems with any of these things. But my mother had to have some operation that she had to wait dangerous long for getting. Also it was some wrong things done, it could have ended very badly for mother, but I am glad that it didn’t. That problem for US will not that lightly happen us again in our family because if we need any doctors or medical help we now days are able to go to privet doctors. Things are working well there for us.

My friend, this letter does not have any questions for you, this is just something to think about. But it is important things to think about.  This is questions we all gone have to take serious and stand up for. We can’t go around thinking that we can’t do anything when nothing will be done. The government / state big company’s they are powerful and so, but in the end are they working for us people. We gone have to fight for that world we wish to live in. That is a responsibility not only for the politician that is all peoples responsibility.

If you have any questions I will be happy to answer. I hope you will have a nice weekend!

Take care!
Conny 


Ska jag ska göra en sammanfattning så handla många utskick om att förklara riktig vänskap, få en att förstå vad som i långa loppet är viktigt i livet, till och från diskussioner med gud (Ofta i en religionslös form), rättigheter och skyldigheter samt skämt om män och kvinnor. Skämten om män och kvinnor varken mer eller mindre åt något håll, ett jämställt rackartyg. Men tror ändå inte mycket av det idag kommer att vara så värst politiskt korrekt. Också många viktiga uppmaning att se det positiva inte bara det negativa samt se möjligheter och inte bara problem. 

Lämna gärna ett bidrag / kommentar !

tisdag 23 juni 2015

Lettlands vänorter i Sverige

Det är nog bara vid ett tillfälle jag haft anledning att göra ett inlägg om vänortsarbete i den här bloggen tidigare: Vänortsföreningen Lidingö - Saldus 15 år

Liepaja - Nynäshamn
Bilden på vägvisaren till Lettlands vänort Liepaja (360 km) plåtad i Nynäshamn 2014-12-06 (Observera datumet och den milda vintern) då Nynäshamn hade en julmarknad.
Liepaja i Lettland har varit vänort till Nynäshamn sedan 1989 och Nynäshamn blev då Liepajas första vänort.
Rödakorskretsarna i Nynäshamn och Sorunda har ett samarbete med Röda Korset i Lettland sen 2004. Man har bl.a. genomfört en studiecirkel "Liepaja förr och nu” där man har lärt sig om landets historia, kultur och inte minst nuvarande levnadsförhållanden. Utbilda i första hjälpen, utveckla Röda Korsets mötesplats Kupan, ungdomssamarbete och projekt med äldre. Röda Korsets sociala arbete är i mångt och mycket lik den kommunala verksamheten. Men kretsarna tror att man kan utveckla verksamheterna både här och i Liepaja - allt till gagn för äldre och andra personer, som behöver hjälp och stöd i någon form.



Plåtad inne i Tyresös innecentrum 2004


Tukums - Tidaholm / Gotland
Vägvisaren till höger fotograferad i Lettlands distrikt Tukums 2005. 
Tidaholm var representerade igenom bl.a. Kulturskolan Smedjan 2014 vid rosfestivalen/stadsfestivalen i Tukums med ca 20 personer.Maj 2013 besökte elever och lärare från musikskolan i Tukums Tidaholm. 
Vart träpilen till Gotland tog vägen kan man undra, kanske någon som låna för att ro över på. Men Tukums har även vänskap med Gottland. Gotland kommun och Tukums distrikt är vänorter sedan 1991.
Röda korset i Tukums har en byggnad som från början kommer ifrån Gotland som en gåva. Se bild och mer information  i mitt inlägg Medeltidsveckan på Gotland 7 - 14 aug 2011. Se och läs samtidigt om minnestavlor som finns inne i  Visby domkyrka!
2005 skänkte Gotland en väghyvel till Tukums. När de varit i Tukums hade de märkt att vägarna inte var de allra bästa.  När de hade en utrangerad väghyvel och det inte fanns någon andrahandsmarknad för den så skänktes den till vänorten Tukums.

Riga - Stockholms stad / Norrköping
Få i Stockholms Stad som känner till detta, men tror inte fler i Riga vet det:
Municipal portal of Riga
City Mayor: Karin Wanngård (since 2014).Cooperation is regulated by the agreement of cooperation between Riga and Stockholm, which was signed in 1998 and includes cooperation in the areas of city development and management, environment protection, harbour operations, entrepreneurship, education, culture, sports and tourism.

Att Riga har Norrköping som vänort är däremot mer uppmärksammat.
City Mayor: Louise Malmström (since October of 2014).
The first agreement of cooperation between Riga (USSR) and Norrköping (Sweden) was signed in 1988. A new agreement of 2014-2018 cooperation was signed between Riga and Norrköping on March 26th, 2014 in Riga. In the last years the majority of partnership events and projects have involved the areas of education, culture, housing and environment.

Ett intressant tema, ett inlägg som jag får lov att uppdatera allt eftersom framöver!
Har du intressant information så hör gärna av dig!

Lettlands president 2005 Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga


Lettlands president 2005 Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga tog vid sitt statsbesök till Sverige i april 2005 emot Lettlandsintresserade vid Kungliga Biblioteket (http://www.kb.se/ ) i Stockholm.



SVERIGES KUNGAHUS - H.M. Konungens tal vid galamiddagen för Lettlands president Fru Vaira Vike-Freiberga på Kungliga slottet

Exportrådet - Pressinbjudan: ”Business Forum Lettland” - 1 april i Näringslivets Hus

 
Vaira beskådar tillsammans med dåvarande ambassadör för Lettland i Sverige Artis Bertulis teckningar gjorda av barn ifrån lettiska skolan i Stockholm.



Lettisk tilltugg


Lettlands president Vaira Vike-Freiberga besökte under sitt två dagars besök (31 mars - 1 april) även Uppsala tillsammans med det svenska kungaparet. Programmet innehöll en offentlig föreläsning och besök på Carolia rediviva / Uppsala universitetsbibliotek. Besöket avslutades med att en minnesplakett över den lettiska författarinnan Zenta Maurina som invigdes på Sysslomnasgatan vid huset där den kända författarinnan bodde under en tid.



Vaira var Lettlands president 1999-2007. Född 2 december 1937 i Riga. För att undkomma den sovjetiska ockupationen, flydde hennes familj landet den 1 januari 1945, och blev flyktingar. Vaira började sin skolgång i flyktingläger i Tyskland och fortsatte i franska Marocko, först vid grundskolan i Daourat och sedan på flickor College Mers-Sultan i Casablanca.

1954 åkte Vaira till Kanada, hon var  tvungen att arbeta ett år i en bank, och sedan gå på universitetet i Toronto och fick examen i psykologi. Under studietiden arbetade hon som timlärare och  översättare i spanska, och därefter som en psykolog vid Toronto Psychiatric Hospital (1960-1961). Hon talar lettiska, engelska, franska, tyska och spanska. Hon har skrivit ett flertal böcker, artiklar och givit över 250 tal på engelska, franska eller lettiska. Sedan 1957 har hon varit aktivt engagerad i samhällstjänst, med fokus på frågor om lettiska identitet och kultur, och den politiska framtiden för de baltiska staterna. Sedan juli 1960 gift med Imants Freibergs. Deras son Karlis bor i Riga, Lettland, och jobbar som tolk och frilans översättare, redaktör och journalist. Deras dotter Indra, chef för Lettlands investerings- och utvecklingsbyrån representationskontor i London, Storbritannien.  I juni 1998 återvände Vaira till sitt hemland, Lettland.  Hon har aktivt utövat sina befogenheter som president för Lettland och har spelat en ledande roll för att nå landets medlemskap i Nato och EU. Sedan 1999 har hon fått många medaljer och utmärkelser. Tre biografier om president Vaira Vike-Freiberga har publicerats på lettiska, engelska, franska, spanska, italienska, finska och ryska.

Jag har inte upplevt så många lettiska presidenter, men vågar ändå säga att Vaira var en av dom bättre. En av anledningarna till att jag tycker det är viktigt att göra det här inlägget trots att det gått lång tid sen händelsen. Vaira hade både språkliga och kulturella kunskaper att brett göra Lettland synlig och förstod utomlands. En viktig och svår uppgift de här åren då Lettland / Baltikum brottades med mycket okunskap och fördomar.

Vaira medverka till att ge Lettland verktyg för att säkra landet och dess kultur i en lång tid framöver!

fredag 19 juni 2015

Utomhusutställning i Sabile med halmstoppade figurer





Denna fantastiska dockutställningen finns i småstaden Sabile (Rīgas iela 17 ) som ligger i Talsi distrikt. Utställningen är ett privat initiativ som är öppen varje dag. Här finns över 200 dockor stoppade med halm klädd i olika stilar som sångare, polis, idrottsmän och familjer.
Bilderna är tagna 2010 men utställningen fanns kvar även 2014.
Mer om Sabile: http://www.sabile.lv/











tisdag 16 juni 2015

Riga

Eftersom jag har ett antal intressanta bilder ifrån Lettlands huvudstad Riga tagna ifrån 2004 fram till idag så får detta bli ett blandat inlägg om Riga.

Staden grundades officiellt år 1201 och hade 1 juli 2013 totalt 695 539 invånare.

Bilden till vänster hade jag som startbild i många år i MSN Gruppen om Lettland "Letter i Sverige". Sambon är ifrån Lettland och på den tiden i början av 20-talet var det få letter som hittade varandra i Stockholm/Sverige. Kunskaperna om Lettland och Baltikum var låga. Därför startade vi MSN gruppen. Idag finns inte tjänsten MSN grupper längre.

Förslag finns att i Stockholms stadsdel Rågsved också bokstavera på detta sätt.

Läs gärna också om Rigas årliga hantverksmarknad på friluftsmuseet.


The old grain elevators / Vecais graudu elevators / sädessilo av äldre modell:
http://andrejsala.lv/114/
Fotograferad 2006.



Färjan ifrån Stockholm till Riga plåtad 2014.



Sveriges ambassad i Riga på Andreja Pumpura Street 8 plåtat 2005.


Radisson SAS Hotel


Zviedru Standarts  - Svensk standard
Loppmarknad som sålde begagnade kläder till kg pris.
Butiken finns inte längre.



Lettlands Kulturakademi
Ludzas iela  24 



Lido 2005
Lido 2013
I bakgrunden till vänster syns små bodar där lettiska souvenirer och hantverk säljs t.ex. muggar, tavlor, bärnstenssmycken och dukar av lin.




Rigas radio-  och TV-torn plåtad 2005.


Rigas internationella busstation plåtad 2005.




Centralmarknaden plåtad 2005.
Läs mer om lettisk varor och matrecept som jag skrivit om här.



Spårvagn i Riga 2005


Cats hostel direkt utanför ett vandrarhem plåtad 2013.


Laimaklockan plåtad 2004.


The Blackheads house



Lettlands Radio 


Lettlands Universitet
http://www.lu.lv/ 


Lettlands nationella opera



I bakgrunden Radisson Blu Hotel Latvija


Frihetsmonumentet


Park i centrala delen av Riga plåtad 2006.

Riga en stad nära Sverige värd att upptäcka!