About Renagle

Status:

Expatriate  

Currently Lives:

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Citizen Of:

United States

Some Forum Posts:

Latvia: Swine Flu - H1N1:

The embassies have made some arrangements for their personnel, but overall, we're not worried. I do know of a few families who have had H1N1, but our school, ISR, did not need to be shut down. The other international school, ISL, was shut down for some time for H1N1. We all have access to Tamiflu through our doctors. No one is particularly worried but we are all aware to take care and watch hygiene.

Latvia: What are Your Favorite Kid-Friendly Activities in Latvia:

Riga is a very child friendly city. There are parks everywhere with safe playgrounds and modern equipment. For indoor activities come snow or rain, there are also the LIDO restaurants. In the SPICE Mall found on the ouskirts of Riga heading towards the airport is a LIDO with train, indoor playplace and fantastic buffet. There is also a larger LIDO center which is a major tourist site: http://www.rigalatvia.net/lido/ There is the city's zoo, nearby Jurmala a beach community (make sure you remember to buy your parking permit before entering the city. Tickets can be found before the crossing the bridge on the side of HWY A10), and plenty of forest trails to hike. Overall, because the city isn't too large, it is very easy to get around on foot/stroller. Kids are everywhere and fortunately, public bathrooms many of which have baby changing stalls and even separate rooms. We love it here. Our kids are 3 and 5 so it's been a relief to find Riga so easy after a year in the madness of Mumbai.

Latvia: Adjusting to Expat Life in Latvia:

The hardest thing about Latvia is the language(s). Both Russian and Latvian are used and English can be difficult to find when speaking to people older than about 40. Shopping in a foreign language is always a challenge, but it can be overcome. The only ingredients that I can think of that Americans may miss would be some spices, but there is Mexican food and other ethnic items that can be found in the groceries such as Stockman or Skye, however Rimi and Maxima are catching up on the more obscure US things. I have not found it difficult to adjust other than it may be a bit slower pace of life if coming from London or NY or Chicago. Movie theaters show current films, many in English with Latvian/Russian subtitles, and even children's movies will come out for a period of time in English before being voice-overed. Mail service is good. You cannot drink the tap water here so buying all bottled water may be annoying, but you can cook with the water (pasta). There is a lot of calcium deposits left over so I recommend bottled water for tea/coffee pots. It's not that hard but be prepared for a cold, white winter!

Latvia: International schools:

There are two that I am aware of: The International School of Riga (where we have our children) http://www.isriga.lv/ and one out in Jurmala http://www.isl.edu.lv/ Right now, ISR on the island of Kipsala has school up until Grade 5. I am not sure what the ISL offers. Most of the embassy people put their children in ISR due to its location in the city. We are very happy with this school for our 3 and 5 yr old boys.

Kenya: Cost of Living: basic utilities:

Hello, all: My husband has been offered a contract for Nairobi and we are looking for information to compare what the package will or won't offer and at what price. Specifically, we are hoping to find out a rough idea of what monthly utilities can cost if renting a house. We're looking to be close to the international schools either up in the Runda/Gigiri or southwest in the Karen/Langata area. I can only guess these would be appropriate places to live from from looking at the map where the schools are located and surrounding suburbs: 1) electricity 2) water 3) land telephone line 4) gas? (for stove) 5) other that I'm missing? As I'm writing this from India, I don't know what may be typically covered by rental fees. For example, we pay for electricity and gas, but not water as it's included in rent. Thanks to anyone in advance for their response.

Date Joined:

3/3/2009

Total Posts:

8

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