G’day! I’m Laef, the newest intern.

Всем привет, I’m Laef, a student from Australia. This is my second time studying Russian in Latvia with Liden & Denz; I was here in Riga for the summer and, despite some cautionary tales, I felt I had to see this magical city during the winter. This evening I am writing beside the Christmas tree in my apartment in Riga, having last night returned from the Christmas Liturgy in the beautiful Orthodox Cathedral at 2:30am. In other words, winter here has not been the question of survival which I imagined; it has been meticulously joyful.

1.  Why Russian?

Russia and all which that word calls to mind; forests, lakes, and brutal winters; traditions reaching far into antiquity; a uniquely beautiful literary, musical and theatrical culture; a language which to an English speaker is sombre, perhaps intimidating, but still nonetheless something of a mystery which one feels requires investigation… all of this is very far from the sand of Freshwater beach in Sydney, Australia, where I spend most mornings with my brother and a surfboard.

I picked up Dostoevsky by accident, I read him first with agitation and immense confusion, but it was in the company of his wonderful and bizarre mind that I walked first into the larger halls of Russian literature, and soon thereafter to the table to study the language itself. I was 21 when I first read Dostoevsky, but his books are as familiar to me as childhood, and have been just as instructive.

Anyone who has studied these Russian masterworks in translation will tell you that the proper verb is ‘studying,’ and not ‘reading,’ since the sinews of good and evil, beauty, and suffering, are better worked out at a desk with a pencil and various bookmarks than in the five minutes before sleep. It is natural, then, that many students I have spoken with at Liden & Denz were brought to the study of this language for the same reasons as I was, and have discovered, as I have, various other beautiful consequences along the way; a question answered in RIMI (one of Latvia’s main supermarket chains); instructions for preparing for a date at the central market (including the expected number and colour of flowers); overhearing a conversation between two babushkas by a fountain in the city centre. Yes, if it’s a strange choice, then strangeness must know something of beauty.

2.  Why Riga?

Тhe five weeks I spent here over summer- the morning saturated with Russian grammar, midday occasioning a large portion of potatoes, chicken shashlik, and kvass, afternoons spent by the sea, and evenings with fellow students at one of three or four regular bars- were wondrous, life-changing. I was able to speak with locals about the winter. Some warned me, others encouraged me, but I think ‘different’ is the appropriate word. Mornings and lunches remain unchanged, afternoons are spent walking in the snow-laden parks, and evenings more often feature tea and a soviet film, or warm mulled wine at the Christmas market. That is not to mention the rapid improvement in Russian that comes with listening and speaking, both inside and outside of the classroom, in a cultural environment familiar to the language.

3. Winter plans

I’m here until the end of the month; I want to use my internship to introduce you to, among other things, some orthodox holidays that you can witness and partake in here in Riga over the winter, the language spoken by Orthodox priests, the wonders of dining at LIDO (if you don’t know this word, you soon will), the outer suburbs, where you can enjoy a beer on a bench while looking at dozens and dozens of soviet apartment blocks (visit and you’ll understand Russian post-punk immediately), and, of course, a glimpse into studying Russian in Latvia with Liden & Denz. 

За здоровье!

Laef, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz Riga