Riga, Latvia: The anti-Thai?

As you know, I recently turned 33. For many, this is awful especially considering I am neither married nor have kids. Plus I live in cold cold Denmark. I had a few moments during the weekend to ponder about this. I remember when I was 11 or so, there was a dark chubby chinese man who read palms and foretold the future. He was invited to do this at my aunt's home.

He read my palm and told my mum that I will not have a good life since the lines on my palm would've been great only if I were a boy. However, he said that if I would get a chance to go overseas, I may have the opportunity to build a career for myself. He also said I will get married very late in life and either have kids very late or not at all. He shook his head and look at me with much sympathy.

Now that I reflect upon it.. I simply do not feel half as sad as the man predicted. This leads me to ponder perhaps the very word "good" should not have been used. Of course, this man may have accurately see the future but how would he know my reaction to it? How could he have concluded if I would be unhappy being unmarried and childless? I guess in the end, the truth eludes us. All I can say is that this man died very young after having fallen ill. According to some, that was the price he paid for revealing too much of the future's secrets. It came with the profession!

Did he foresee his own death and expected to fulfill his destiny? This same man also predicted that my dad would be rich in his old age. My dad died very young and never reached old age. So what to make of it? I think my 33 year wisdom tells me to accept whatever happens but determine how I can react to it. That is all. For now, I choose to be happy. The vertical line across my palm do not sway me.

My birthday fell on the Sunday before this 3-day PRINCE2 training I was going to take in Latvia.

The boyfriend and I decided to fly to Jurmala(Latvia) on Friday after work. Since I'd read that Jurmala was and still is a popular Russian spa village, we decided to spa away the weekend. Yes..of course spa can be a verb..in my world anyway. ;-)

We stayed at the Jurmala Spa Hotel. The food was surprisingly good. The hotel has been renovated recently.

It was a very good weekend since we both left our computers behind. Let me emphasize how rare this is for us both.

Surprisingly, my boyfriend did more shopping than I did. Nevertheless, what I bought, I absolutely adore- a pair of very special red boots and a black jacket. I like this funky style in the Baltics...part sexy, part dirty, part feminine.

I love shopping this way i.e. looking in small shops for the odd beautiful items among many unattractive ones. It feels like a treasure hunt. ;-)

We both had massages back at the spa hotel. RM200 for a one hour massage. He enjoyed his. Well, I got a very weak masseur.

The room was very bright and the floor was creeking very loud the whole one hour. at least one of us had a good time. I also went for a facial but ended up having a mild allergy to the products they used.

I think the hotel is OK but the staff were very unfriendly and never ever once smiled. They were also unhelpful. Later during my training, I asked one of my Latvian colleagues why this is so.

We noticed that in Riga as well, no one smiled and we consistently had bad service at cafés and shops. His answer startled me a little. He SMILED and said wryly that it is the Russian attitude! Go figure.

So..what makes a 33 year old woman happy on her birthday?

Lots of wishes from friends and family back home, a trip to Portugal and an nano iPod from the boyfriend (which I will blog about here), gifts from the sister and home. And simply, freedom to make choices in life.

Happy Birthday To Me.