Ludza and Grey Peas

Yesterday I went with a friend to Ludza, a town not far from Rezekne. It is only 30 km from the Russian border and is one of the oldest towns in Latvia. According to Wikipedia, it was mentioned in the Russian Chronicle in 1173! Here is a picture of the castle ruins.

And here is a view of the town from the castle:

It was kind of wet and cold, but we walked around the town anyway and had lunch at a cafe. I had grey peas and ham. According to everyone I've talked to, this is the quintessential Latvian dish. It was good. The dish reminded me a lot of the black-eyed peas and ham soup we have at home, but much less soupy. I also had a cold strawberry soup for dessert. Anna had warm cherry dessert soup. I'm a big fan of this soup as dessert idea. Here is a site about Latvian cuisine: http://www.latvia.lv/library/latvian-cuisine.

I was going to take some nice photos of Rezekne this weekend, but missed the morning sun and decided to wait. Of course, Inta told me that the sun might not come out for some time.... I think I need to buy some vitamin D!

Tonight I'm headed to Rezekne Augstskola to help Inta out with her Business English class. The students are quite great at English, even though this is their first year in university to my knowledge. It makes me wish we emphasized language learning earlier in the US. Here, they start formal language training in the first grade. Many people in Rezekne know at least two languages (Latvian and Russian). The younger people tend to have had English in school as well.

Oh well, I'm sure Congress will read this blog and decide to pass funding for public school language education. I'm pretty important, you know.

Today's post is brought to you by The Killers "When You Were Young" and Peka, Liliya's adorable kitten. (Liliya and Peka let me stay with them for a little over a week while I found an apartment.)