Grand Rapids Children's Museum

Located in downtown Grand Rapids, the Children's Museum is a perfect destination for those cold winter days. My mom and I took my niece and nephew there the morning after Christmas Day; going relatively early was a wise decision, as the museum quickly became quite crowded with many children and even more adults.

The museum has a variety of different play areas, some meant for very young children, others suitable for slightly older kids.

The yellow VW bug is popular with all ages!

The area that attracts the most children is "Little GR" -- a small city, just like Grand Rapids, with all of the requisite services one needs in town.

The post office

The library

Properly checking out library books is serious work!

The pizzeria

The chef at the pizzeria

The bank

This supermarket shopper apparently loves fish!

Small selection of supermarket items

The friendly supermarket cashier

The museum has numerous other areas, but this is where our kids wanted to spend the most time. It's also where we ran into other Latvian-Americans -- because it's a small world when you're Latvian!

A Thought-Provoking Article

I enjoy reading and learning about many different issues, including personal finance. The article "Why You Should Tell Your Children How Much You Make" is incredibly thought-provoking, and I urge you to read - particularly if you have children. Financial education is practically non-existent in schools, yet it seems most parents don't make a conscious effort to educate their children about finances, including how far their salary goes. Some of the ideas set forth in the article sound like excellent suggestions to help kids understand money and prepare them for their own lives. The writer's forthcoming book also seems like a worthwhile read.

Book Recommendation: "White Field, Black Sheep"

Being Latvian is a funny thing sometimes. Earlier this month I was reading a book titled "Bad Feminist: Essays" by Roxane Gay, who spent time on the faculty of Eastern Illinois University. In one essay she mentions her colleague and friend Daiva. Naturally, I know Daiva to be a Lithuanian name, so I immediately wonder who this person could be and search for "Daiva Eastern Illinois University" online. Quickly discovering that the woman's last name is Markelis and that she is also on faculty at the college, I also find out that she is the author of a memoir called "White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life." The title seems vaguely familiar - maybe I'd heard of it somewhere previously. Regardless, I add it to my "must read" list. While looking for books to take on a trip, I remembered this one, and bought it for my e-reader. From the moment I began reading it, the memoir resonated with me and my experiences of growing up in the Latvian-American community.

(Source: Amazon.com)

Markelis' parents fled Lithuania at the end of World War II, spent time in Displaced Persons camps in Germany, and eventually ended up in Chicago, a city with the largest number of Lithuanians outside of Lithuania. Her parents spoke only Lithuanian to Daiva and her younger sister Rita, and tried to instill in them pride in their heritage. She grew up in a Lithuanian neighborhood, was friends with many other Lithuanian-American children, attended a Lithuanian Saturday school, and so on.

This memoir of growing up in the Chicago Lithuanian community is a must-read for any Baltic American! However, the book is also a worthwhile choice for anyone who grew up in the U.S. in the 60s and 70s or in the Chicago area, or who has experienced misunderstanding their parents' actions and motivations, as well as readers interested in immigrant experiences in the U.S. 

Being the child of Latvian immigrants who also arrived after WWII, I was familiar with many of the themes the author addressed and explored including: a patriotic upbringing, pride in one's language/culture/history, the vast yet often silent disappointment and frustration of dreams and futures deferred or stolen, longing for home and familiarity, a deep love of all things cultural, the misunderstandings and confusion brought on by a new culture and country, the ubiquity of alcohol as a social lubricant and drowner of sorrows, lack of understanding about mental health, and the fear of disappointing one's family. 

The 1960s and 70s were a vibrant period in the Baltic American communities, and we can be grateful that at least one person has crafted a well-written memoir which does an excellent job of describing that period.

Valoda / Language / Sprache

A few years ago I was given this old letter by a relative to whom it had originally been sent. I am so glad that snail mail was a big deal when I was growing up, and that - I presume in an effort to get us to write in Latvian - my mother often sat my sister and me down to write cards and letters to various family members who lived in other cities. Luckily, some recipients of my cards and letters kept them, and I was quite touched to see this one.

Translation:

Dear xyz and abc:
I had good grades. We will go to Great America and Garezers. We will go to camp. I know how to read, also in German.
Daina
13 June, 1982

Explanations:

1. Great America was an amusement park a couple of hours from our house, and clearly planning on visiting that was a big deal. Naturally, the thing that I remember best from that visit was not being allowed to go on many kids' rides because I was too tall. This would not had been as problematic had my younger sister not been more average-sized and thus being able to enjoy the rides while I watched from the side. Nope, not one of my fondest memories!

2. Garezers is the Latvian camp and cultural center at which we spent most of our summers. Our family lived there for about eight or nine weeks each summer because my parents worked at the camp, and at the appropriate ages my sister and I attended the two week long kids' camp and later the six week long summer high school.

3. Although we spoke only Latvian at home, my parents decided to send my younger sister and me to a German immersion elementary school once we began kindergarten. Our city was one of the first to have public language immersion schools; founded in 1977, the school was only a few years old when we began attending. From kindergarten through second grade students were immersed in the foreign language 100% of the time. From third through fifth grade, half the school day was in German, half was in English. Both my sister and I continued studying German for many years, including spending time in Germany as university students. Interestingly, although the language is considered less useful than others nowadays, both of us have used our German skills in at least one job.

Lessons:
A. Bi- or multi-lingualism = good.
B. Writing old-fashioned letters and cards = good.
C. Keeping certain mementos = good.

Best Ever Note to Tooth Fairy

Thank goodness my mom saved and even dated this!

Translation:
Dear Fairy,
Because this is one of my last teeth, I would like more than 25 cents (75 cents would be good).
Thank you very much,
Daina (fake middle initial and real last name - more on that later)

Observations:
1. Clearly, handwriting has never been my strong suit.
2. I have loved parentheses from an early age. (And - really - who wouldn't? Such a great tool for those of us who are wordy!)
3. For a child born in the United States, I had damn good Latvian skills. Paldies, mamma un tēti!
4. Although, unlike my father, my mother does not save many papers and mementos, she made an awfully good choice with this one. She and I actually cracked up with laughter when she gave me this little note to me about a year ago.
5. I need to find the note again to see what (if anything) is written on the backside, as the many arrows on the right seem to indicate that the reader needs to flip the paper to check out the back!