not to be rude or anything but do people judge you for being asian in latvia? im latvian and pakistani myself and i feel like people in latvia judge me for being brown
@@SandyWandy-tq5zq Hey, just my opinion... if you are part Latvian, I think you might know it yourself from your parents, but in Latvia historically we haven't had a lot of different races/nationalities... So in most cases I don't think you get judged for your skin color, it's just that you stand out of the crowd so people might look at you more. If a white person goes to small African villages etc, they also get the same attention or maybe even more for the same reason. Not saying there is no chance of getting judged (but I think that can happen anywhere), just saying, that in my opinion usually it's not a hostile thing.
I'm planning on visiting Latvia (specifically, Riga) in a couple of months, and my hope is that the positive vibes you described are real. I would definitely consider moving there, and your video really helped paint an appropriate picture and set reasonable expectations--thank you!
I like Latvia and I agree with you, Latvian people are the best. I've often thought of moving there to teach English for a while but I'm finding leaving my job in South America rather complicated. I love visiting Latvia and I think the seaside is beautiful and (happily) not well-known outside the region.
Comin to a country, where education level of english language is quite high, and every single person like 40 and younger can speak english on quite high level, as native english speaker might not be the best choice, but if you are able to speak languages like italian, spanish, french etc, then it might be a better choice.
In English family doctors usually are called gp (general practitioners). If there is only need for consultation with gp to understand what to do further than there is also universal number to call which is 24/7 available and as is described online - it is meant for cases if your gp is out of working hours. About long lines to doctors - I heard that it is common problem in Europe because of lack of doctors. About people you described very well. I also look at that in Europe when country is more in north than people are more distant till first interaction.
My wife is American, I am Latvian but live all over EU. She loves it here. Latvia is improving and changing very fast. It is starting to look much more like amazing Europe, and less like the depressive USSR. Still, a lot needs to be done, but it is visible that it is happening fast, using the EU grants.
@@rebelScience sure, bot. We are not looking for approval of any kind of foteigner for how our country looks to you. USA looks like drug war zone and shit land of trans, so take my opinion
Glad you like it here. Some points to address - Ventspils is not closer to Lithuania - more like Sweden :) Liepāja is closer to Lithuania. Ventspils has one 24/7 pharmacy yes. According to the information i checked, it should work 24/7. Family doctors are both blessing and curse. Depends. I personally am not fond of this system. Hospitals... well... again it is improving but slowly. There is a hope. Online services are more developed around Riga, but they keep improving. Delivery of goods are ok outside of Riga - pakomats, but food delivery in Ventspils - don't live there, can't comment on that. I myself do not live in Riga, i live outside of Riga but not very far. Ventspils is nice city and one of the most renovated. You already noticed. Ventspils along with Liepāja and Valmiera are leaders in Soviet-era building renovation. You can be amazed how good old "Khruschevka" (Khruschev-era multi apartment building from 60ties) can look when properly renovated.
Yeah. I'd realized that actually Riga might be even closer to Lithuania than Ventspils after I published the video 😂 About other things you mentioned it's absolutely true!
i think, there are 24/7 pharmacies in every city. with 20k+ people. Like Valmiera and Cesis has em, Riga deffo has em, but in Valmiera not a single pharmacy is closed on sunday, and most of them even on sundays work till 20.00. With hospitals, it differs from city to city, have been in hospitals in riga, and had in different hospitals different feel to it, its like, Austrumu hospital is like complete garbage to spend your time in, while Stradinu Hospital has very good equipment and personnel. In Valmiera it also, depends, if you go to hospital or health centre, both are government financed, but in health centre the doctors at physiotherapy for example are far superior. Everything differs from just how lucky the hospital is with staff, and how overworked are the doctors at specific hospitals. Family doctors, well, it depends, what doctor you have. At 1 doctor you always have to go appointed at specific times, while if some doctor is very popular with grannies, he has living lines of grannies, where you have to wait for hours to get to see him, so i like the ones with apppointments.
the whole closed on sunday's thing hit me hard in spain lol. i was in a smaller city, and everything was closed on sunday too. i needed to get food and could not find any close supermarket lol. learned real quick to do shopping on saturday
about online shop...we just a small country, thats all, the same books in bookstore in latvian are very expensive, not the same, like in russian, the same here in Latvia. so, it's normal. and we have at least somewhere 24 houre pharmacy, I dont have this in my villige, but if I drive 10 km I can reach some 24 h pharmacy. well if I am sick, badly, i am going to ER, definitely! I do not wait for family Dr.
My father was 100% Estonian by birth. My grandparents came to the US from Estonia at the beginning of WW 1. Most of his friends growing up around Pittsburgh were Lithuanians. He never made it back to Estonia but I'm going to do it. I'm planning on traveling through all 3 of the Baltic states when I make the trip. Is Latvian easier to learn to speak than Estonian? I gave up on Estonian LOL.....
why are there so few people talking about latvia? small and poor does not mean that the country has nothing to offer. in fact, latvia has the widest waterfall in europe and the biggest indoor market in europe. latvia is beautiful during all 4 seasons, and it does not need to be 40° in the summer
Hey, Im an erasmus student and I'll be there in 5th feb and I really wonder their food culture. I have been told that all meat there is mixed with pork meat, is that true? I can't eat pork due to religious reasons. I'll be so happy if u respond 🥺
In Latvia you can get chicken, beef and lamb meat too... though lamb will be more expensive and harder to find. When it comes to sausages and packaged minced meat or minced meat in stores, I wouldn't trust it to be pure one type of meat or another. If it says beef, it could have some added pork and soy products. If you want minced pure beef, then you must go to a market where the butcher will cut and mince the meat for you in front of your eyes (but you must keep in mind that they will use the same mincing machine as they use for pork, so you might get added residue of pork if the previous customer before you bought minced pork)
Online services are actually a strong point of Lithuania ;) and Poland is not too bad in these either! France has very bad and complicated online services though, as if they were done on purpose for you to be forced to visit government offices. About those flowers, that reminds me of Poland, which is a really well maintained country overall (you wouldn't recognize commieblocks anymore over there) ;). Small correction: Ventspils is NOT closer to Lithuania (178km!) than Riga (87km), it's the opposite. And btw, the biggest minus of Latvia I personally see: a bad road infrastructure (no motorways and just a couple of km of expressway near Ķekava), which makes traveling in Latvia dangerous and stressful - and that despite high yearly road taxes!
I've only visited Liepaja couple times. It's a nice city. But it really depends on your needs which city will be better. Liepaja is smaller, but on the sea bank. Riga is the capital, but if you gonna live far from the centre - I'm not sure you're gonna enjoy it that much
just visiting Latvia. well Lido,churches, architectures and public transport are good coming from Denmark it is also relatively cheap. tho people are the worst so far. well i’ve watched some youtube videos saying latvian are cold and straightforward. I’ve prepared but still shocking. drunk guy in central market touching my husband even asking for paying his groceries. a guy asking time we said we don’t speak english he just keep saying “light” loudly we thought he was asking lighter turned out he’s pointing on my phone asking time tbh not sure if he’s drunk or not. the ticketing woman in cathedral church we were asking about buying normal ticket not the concert one but not replying just staring at us not saying anything. cashiers in store not saying they don’t do hi or offering plastic or offering bills and definitely not saying thank you put aside good day also. hotel staff receptionist still friendly but catering and housekeeping are rude. what surprising me the most is Air Baltic stewardess welcoming and saying good bye to us with flat face no smilling the second flight stewardess just staring blank into the unknown. I just think like well this is their culture I have seen RUclips vlogs saying latvian people are not friendly. next 3 days we decided not to make any contact to locals not even asking questions and avoid locals talking to us. although i will still remember the grandpa selling souvenirs and an opera singer guy in front of blackhead house. they both smilling and said thank you generously. but overall I think I will not visit there again
Oh, wow I’m sad to hear you didn’t enjoy your stay. It seems as if you ran into quite a number of unwelcoming people which is a rare thing in Latvia to be honest…
I actively learned Latvian during my first year and passed A2 level exam after 2 semesters of Latvian classes at the university. I don't use the language too often, since at my work and studies everything is in English. To talk about everyday things - my native language is Russian and everyone understands it. But other then that, I started to understand Latvian very well
You're expecting modern luxuries (and dependencies) that didn't exist at all until recently. The cost of the delivery has to baked into the prices when it is "free" and unequally shared among all customers. It's normal that you go to a shop yourself, get fresh air, Vitamin-D, burn some kilojoules and see those flowers. And how are people so frail that they can't survive one day without a pharmacy? You can stock up on pain pills if you expect that you'll need them. Something stronger for toothache you won't get at all without a prescription. People in rural areas far from the city don't have pharmacies within reach either. There was talk of closing supermarkets on Sundays like it is normal in some other countries. For the most part, you can stock up on regualar necessities for days or months ahead. Even something as perishable as milk lasts 4 to 7 days. This would reduce power consumption of stores and give employees a day off. My opinion of the healthcare system is not great. Because it is mostly free for citizens funded by taxes, you are the product, and they can push you around. I haven't been to a doctor for years and years.
I was just sharing what I got used to before vs how things worked in Latvia. I now live in a different country where nothing works on Sunday and It’s absolutely terrible. Yeah, of course I can buy all I need before that day. But I can be busy and work everyday until Sunday and just have no possibility to do all these things before Sunday and in addition - human factor. I can simply forget to do all these things on time. And I am really sorry for the people in villages who don’t have pharmacies and stuff. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have to expect these things in a developed city 🤔
@@AnnaSandersonEng yea. Welcome to my friends. Zaman Australia Sydney. please I’m Love ❤️ your video. Very very good video. Thanks for so much zaman. Australia Sydney
If you find my videos useful and want to support me - you can buy me a coffee ☕
www.buymeacoffee.com/annasanderson
Who cares about a talking head?
I am a Vietnamese and I lived in Latvia for almost 5 years. I love this country. You should visit Riga Old Town.
not to be rude or anything but do people judge you for being asian in latvia?
im latvian and pakistani myself and i feel like people in latvia judge me for being brown
@@SandyWandy-tq5zq Hey, just my opinion... if you are part Latvian, I think you might know it yourself from your parents, but in Latvia historically we haven't had a lot of different races/nationalities... So in most cases I don't think you get judged for your skin color, it's just that you stand out of the crowd so people might look at you more. If a white person goes to small African villages etc, they also get the same attention or maybe even more for the same reason. Not saying there is no chance of getting judged (but I think that can happen anywhere), just saying, that in my opinion usually it's not a hostile thing.
My heritage is Latvian, but never been there (maybe one day) - your insight intowhat you've experienced is wonderful
Definitely visit it!
I'm planning on visiting Latvia (specifically, Riga) in a couple of months, and my hope is that the positive vibes you described are real. I would definitely consider moving there, and your video really helped paint an appropriate picture and set reasonable expectations--thank you!
Happy to hear that. Good luck!
Watching from Texas! Thank you for the information!
Oh, wow! Happy you find it helpful
I like Latvia and I agree with you, Latvian people are the best. I've often thought of moving there to teach English for a while but I'm finding leaving my job in South America rather complicated. I love visiting Latvia and I think the seaside is beautiful and (happily) not well-known outside the region.
Where are you from?
Comin to a country, where education level of english language is quite high, and every single person like 40 and younger can speak english on quite high level, as native english speaker might not be the best choice, but if you are able to speak languages like italian, spanish, french etc, then it might be a better choice.
Very very helpful video thanks
Myself Ravi from Berlin
I like your videos very much. God bless you 👍
Thank you!!!
In English family doctors usually are called gp (general practitioners).
If there is only need for consultation with gp to understand what to do further than there is also universal number to call which is 24/7 available and as is described online - it is meant for cases if your gp is out of working hours.
About long lines to doctors - I heard that it is common problem in Europe because of lack of doctors.
About people you described very well. I also look at that in Europe when country is more in north than people are more distant till first interaction.
This is helpful, as I am considering coming there.
Good luck!
She is so gorgeous,high spirited,jolly & a lot more ❤❤❤
My wife is American, I am Latvian but live all over EU. She loves it here. Latvia is improving and changing very fast. It is starting to look much more like amazing Europe, and less like the depressive USSR. Still, a lot needs to be done, but it is visible that it is happening fast, using the EU grants.
Haven't seen latvia improve yet😅.
😂😂😂 it is not exactly as if we need your approval. Do not like it, do not come here
@@MrsUnderwriter Approval for what? Did you even read what I wrote? You are a bot, or you jump to conclusions after 2 words.
@@hujvzope Well, that is your own limitation, not Latvia's.
@@rebelScience sure, bot. We are not looking for approval of any kind of foteigner for how our country looks to you. USA looks like drug war zone and shit land of trans, so take my opinion
We absolutely need a 2nd part, lets goooo
I'am a Vietnamese. I have seen many videos about Latvia. Latvia is beautiful.i wish to come your country. So i am learning Latvian.
Good luck!
Glad you like it here. Some points to address - Ventspils is not closer to Lithuania - more like Sweden :) Liepāja is closer to Lithuania.
Ventspils has one 24/7 pharmacy yes. According to the information i checked, it should work 24/7.
Family doctors are both blessing and curse. Depends. I personally am not fond of this system.
Hospitals... well... again it is improving but slowly. There is a hope.
Online services are more developed around Riga, but they keep improving. Delivery of goods are ok outside of Riga - pakomats, but food delivery in Ventspils - don't live there, can't comment on that. I myself do not live in Riga, i live outside of Riga but not very far.
Ventspils is nice city and one of the most renovated. You already noticed. Ventspils along with Liepāja and Valmiera are leaders in Soviet-era building renovation.
You can be amazed how good old "Khruschevka" (Khruschev-era multi apartment building from 60ties) can look when properly renovated.
Yeah. I'd realized that actually Riga might be even closer to Lithuania than Ventspils after I published the video 😂
About other things you mentioned it's absolutely true!
i think, there are 24/7 pharmacies in every city. with 20k+ people. Like Valmiera and Cesis has em, Riga deffo has em, but in Valmiera not a single pharmacy is closed on sunday, and most of them even on sundays work till 20.00. With hospitals, it differs from city to city, have been in hospitals in riga, and had in different hospitals different feel to it, its like, Austrumu hospital is like complete garbage to spend your time in, while Stradinu Hospital has very good equipment and personnel. In Valmiera it also, depends, if you go to hospital or health centre, both are government financed, but in health centre the doctors at physiotherapy for example are far superior. Everything differs from just how lucky the hospital is with staff, and how overworked are the doctors at specific hospitals.
Family doctors, well, it depends, what doctor you have. At 1 doctor you always have to go appointed at specific times, while if some doctor is very popular with grannies, he has living lines of grannies, where you have to wait for hours to get to see him, so i like the ones with apppointments.
the whole closed on sunday's thing hit me hard in spain lol. i was in a smaller city, and everything was closed on sunday too. i needed to get food and could not find any close supermarket lol. learned real quick to do shopping on saturday
It's definitely annoying 😭 I felt the same even more in France
Amazing information ,superb video,with brilliant presentation.
Hope U fantastic time
Thank you!
Pharmacies are not closed on Sundays, the ones in shopping malka are Open.
Your English is beautiful. Very fluent. Great vocabulary. I cannot believe English is not your first language.
Thank you for your kind words! 🖤
i live in latvia nad i was born in latvia so love this vid:)
Happy to hear! ❤️
about online shop...we just a small country, thats all, the same books in bookstore in latvian are very expensive, not the same, like in russian, the same here in Latvia. so, it's normal. and we have at least somewhere 24 houre pharmacy, I dont have this in my villige, but if I drive 10 km I can reach some 24 h pharmacy.
well if I am sick, badly, i am going to ER, definitely! I do not wait for family Dr.
My father was 100% Estonian by birth. My grandparents came to the US from Estonia at the beginning of WW 1. Most of his friends growing up around Pittsburgh were Lithuanians. He never made it back to Estonia but I'm going to do it. I'm planning on traveling through all 3 of the Baltic states when I make the trip. Is Latvian easier to learn to speak than Estonian? I gave up on Estonian LOL.....
Latvian is definitely easier than Estonian. However, it depends on your native language, of course
Where did you learn to speak so very good English. I'm from USA
Thanks!
School, university. Nothing special
why are there so few people talking about latvia? small and poor does not mean that the country has nothing to offer. in fact, latvia has the widest waterfall in europe and the biggest indoor market in europe. latvia is beautiful during all 4 seasons, and it does not need to be 40° in the summer
Hey, Im an erasmus student and I'll be there in 5th feb and I really wonder their food culture. I have been told that all meat there is mixed with pork meat, is that true? I can't eat pork due to religious reasons. I'll be so happy if u respond 🥺
Don't worry. You can find other meat as well. At the cafes you can always make sure what meat was used in a dish, so)
In Latvia you can get chicken, beef and lamb meat too... though lamb will be more expensive and harder to find. When it comes to sausages and packaged minced meat or minced meat in stores, I wouldn't trust it to be pure one type of meat or another. If it says beef, it could have some added pork and soy products. If you want minced pure beef, then you must go to a market where the butcher will cut and mince the meat for you in front of your eyes (but you must keep in mind that they will use the same mincing machine as they use for pork, so you might get added residue of pork if the previous customer before you bought minced pork)
Hi good evening
No it is not. Clearly you can find chicken or other meat seperately. For sausages yes, need to read label. Or cook ar home
Online services are actually a strong point of Lithuania ;) and Poland is not too bad in these either! France has very bad and complicated online services though, as if they were done on purpose for you to be forced to visit government offices.
About those flowers, that reminds me of Poland, which is a really well maintained country overall (you wouldn't recognize commieblocks anymore over there) ;).
Small correction: Ventspils is NOT closer to Lithuania (178km!) than Riga (87km), it's the opposite.
And btw, the biggest minus of Latvia I personally see: a bad road infrastructure (no motorways and just a couple of km of expressway near Ķekava), which makes traveling in Latvia dangerous and stressful - and that despite high yearly road taxes!
Is liepaja a nice city to live in? Or is Riga clearly better?
I've only visited Liepaja couple times. It's a nice city. But it really depends on your needs which city will be better. Liepaja is smaller, but on the sea bank. Riga is the capital, but if you gonna live far from the centre - I'm not sure you're gonna enjoy it that much
Actually Ventspils is further from Lithuania than Rīga (110km vs 70km). Liepāja is the one that's close to Lithuania
Yep, it's true 😅
I live in Latvia
How can i come to
My dream is working in Latvia
why
@@n.p.8826 Because I have to follow people there I think they are nice people and they welcome expartrate in good heart
i was my favorite !!!
Do u think the business in Latvia beneficiary? particularly in food investment,i'm glad to get u reply.
With pleasure
I’m not sure about the food investment. When I still lived in Latvia - the prices for food grew very much. I think they’re even bigger now…
Thanks for swift replying
May be there soon!
Have a nice trip!
Thank You 😊
Hey , I am coming from latvia for rtc study , how's good or not
Hey!
I haven't studied there, but I think the uni isn't bad
just visiting Latvia. well Lido,churches, architectures and public transport are good coming from Denmark it is also relatively cheap. tho people are the worst so far. well i’ve watched some youtube videos saying latvian are cold and straightforward. I’ve prepared but still shocking. drunk guy in central market touching my husband even asking for paying his groceries. a guy asking time we said we don’t speak english he just keep saying “light” loudly we thought he was asking lighter turned out he’s pointing on my phone asking time tbh not sure if he’s drunk or not. the ticketing woman in cathedral church we were asking about buying normal ticket not the concert one but not replying just staring at us not saying anything. cashiers in store not saying they don’t do hi or offering plastic or offering bills and definitely not saying thank you put aside good day also. hotel staff receptionist still friendly but catering and housekeeping are rude. what surprising me the most is Air Baltic stewardess welcoming and saying good bye to us with flat face no smilling the second flight stewardess just staring blank into the unknown. I just think like well this is their culture I have seen RUclips vlogs saying latvian people are not friendly. next 3 days we decided not to make any contact to locals not even asking questions and avoid locals talking to us. although i will still remember the grandpa selling souvenirs and an opera singer guy in front of blackhead house. they both smilling and said thank you generously. but overall I think I will not visit there again
Oh, wow I’m sad to hear you didn’t enjoy your stay. It seems as if you ran into quite a number of unwelcoming people which is a rare thing in Latvia to be honest…
Did you manage to learn Latvian language during the 3 years?
I actively learned Latvian during my first year and passed A2 level exam after 2 semesters of Latvian classes at the university. I don't use the language too often, since at my work and studies everything is in English.
To talk about everyday things - my native language is Russian and everyone understands it. But other then that, I started to understand Latvian very well
Learn latvian and use it if you want to live here for longer time. Not everybody understands russian and it’s not ok to expect it.
@@Lea-kk9zb no one said we expect locals to understand Russian
Respect people and speak with them in latvian.
Same in other countries, who have native an most usage language.
Very very good information 👌 😊
Thank you!
Guess someone will have to decline the job offer from Accenture Baltics. Thanks for the heads-up.
Do you think Latvia isn't for you?
Are you living in Riga??
I don't live in Latvia anymore
@@AnnaSandersonEng Ok
But riga is Beutiful
I'm trying to come there ❤
Good luck!
Please your video very very good 👍 zaman Australia Sydney
Awesome
Thank you for suffering for this video. I hope you're doing better.
😂
You're expecting modern luxuries (and dependencies) that didn't exist at all until recently. The cost of the delivery has to baked into the prices when it is "free" and unequally shared among all customers. It's normal that you go to a shop yourself, get fresh air, Vitamin-D, burn some kilojoules and see those flowers.
And how are people so frail that they can't survive one day without a pharmacy? You can stock up on pain pills if you expect that you'll need them. Something stronger for toothache you won't get at all without a prescription. People in rural areas far from the city don't have pharmacies within reach either.
There was talk of closing supermarkets on Sundays like it is normal in some other countries. For the most part, you can stock up on regualar necessities for days or months ahead. Even something as perishable as milk lasts 4 to 7 days. This would reduce power consumption of stores and give employees a day off.
My opinion of the healthcare system is not great. Because it is mostly free for citizens funded by taxes, you are the product, and they can push you around. I haven't been to a doctor for years and years.
I was just sharing what I got used to before vs how things worked in Latvia. I now live in a different country where nothing works on Sunday and It’s absolutely terrible. Yeah, of course I can buy all I need before that day. But I can be busy and work everyday until Sunday and just have no possibility to do all these things before Sunday and in addition - human factor. I can simply forget to do all these things on time. And I am really sorry for the people in villages who don’t have pharmacies and stuff. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have to expect these things in a developed city 🤔
You have an amazingly calm spirit. If people are like you in Latvia, count me in.
How can I live with latvian if i am black how they see me
We’ve had several Afro American students at the university- everyone treated them well. I didn’t hear about any bad situations
Anna...lovely bird,touch my heart.shamim zahuri from bangladesh🇧🇩👫✈🧚♂️👏🤝
Hi Anna 😊👋
Hi
Hi
Hello. I’m from Australia Sydney please your video Very very good. My name zaman from Australia Sydney
Thank you!
@@AnnaSandersonEng yea. Welcome to my friends. Zaman Australia Sydney. please I’m Love ❤️ your video. Very very good video. Thanks for so much zaman. Australia Sydney
i love latvian and russian women
Happy for you
Hai my name is Suga from India you like my friendship
Izsau ātro palīdzību
Hello Russia bb I like your video u have nice voice.
Thank you! 🙏🏼
How can I follow in Facebook or IG
Links are in the description
Okay
@@AnnaSandersonEng nekaitina. Culture shock
I love u
i speak latvian i just dont live there
Hello dear I have need a girlfriend
And what?
Lol... That is not exactly how you go about it.
You are far behind your neighbours by all means. Sorry to say.
LET US BE FREE ,US CITIZEN AT PRESENT IN INDIA KERALA.COMMING TO LATAIVE FOR 4 WEEKS.LOOKING TO HAVE FRIENDS GIRLS ONLY.❤