Latvian Elections in Dublin

As most of you know, I have dual citizenship with both Latvia and America. I consider this a blessing because I consider myself to be as much of an American as I am Latvian. Therefore, when the time came to vote whether or not Russian should be the second official language of Latvia, I obviously had to go vote for my country. I believe that voting for Latvia to keep its unity as a country is just as important as voting for the next president of America. 

This is what the line looked like when I got there, at 5 pm.

To be honest, I did not in my wildest dreams think that I would be spending close to 3 1/2 hours on line waiting to vote. Boy, was I surprised. I got to where the embassy is in Dublin and was completely shocked. I even asked someone in the crowd, "šis ir lai balsot?" which translated means, "this is to vote?" He looked at my like I was a crazy person and just said yes. The embassy is located in the middle of the street bordering one of the ends of St. Stephen's Green. The line reached all the way to the end of the block and probably continued around the corner. I got there relatively early, so I didn't have the opportunity to stand completely at the end. 

This is what the line looked like when I left, close to 8:30. 

The first couple of hours I spent standing, turning my iPod on and off - I couldn't decide if I wanted to listen to music or listen to the people around me speaking Latvian (and in some cases, Russian). I ultimately decided to eavesdrop on as many conversations as I could. I haven't heard Latvian being spoken, outside of my immediate family and members of my church, in a while. It was an experience that made me extremely excited to head to Latvia for half of my spring break! 

I've had this picture for a while, just wanted to include it.. 

I ultimately made friends with the woman who was standing next to me. I honestly felt like a shiny new toy - I was the American studying music abroad in Ireland who spoke fluent Latvian, but still had an American accent while speaking. At times it was difficult thinking of the correct translation of words, but that was mostly because I was trying to explain the different monuments in Washington or how universities work in the states. 

The one question that really stumped me (that she had asked me) was whether I considered myself to be Latvian or American. Like I said in the beginning, I consider myself to be both Latvian AND American, but when she asked, she was implying that I had to pick one or the other. That was difficult. I have grown up and lived in America for my whole life, but I was raised learning the Latvian culture, language, music, etc. Being Latvian was second nature to me. I never thought that I would have to choose one or the other (which makes dual citizenship perfect for me). I bounced back between my answers like the indecisive person about 5 times before I ultimately told her that I am both Latvian and American. To that, she said she understood. Thank God. 

If y'all didn't notice.. this is in Latvian, yes. But essentially what you need to know is that people voting AGAINST Russian being the second official won by a landslide - 74.8%! I knew that standing in line in the cold and rain, singing Latvian folk songs, seeing people in traditional folk costumes and ultimately getting sick was completely worth it! Sarauj, Latvija!