Trafika Europe 3 - Latvian Sojourn

During her boarding school days, no boys ever looked at her. Or, if they did look, they turned away in disgust. The kinder-hearted called her tsarevna lyagushka – a frog princess, while the more callous named her zhaba – a frog . After graduating from school she was fortunate enough to find work in a canning factory in a small town. While meagre, her earnings were sufficient for her to get by. No one particularly befriended her, but they also did not ridicule her. Nadezhda Mihailovna learned enough Latvian to satisfy her daily needs and soon felt like a full-fledged local. Shortly after she also found a room with a kitchen in an old house with the bonus use of a small garden. Thus in the fall she could store enough vegetables for the whole winter. Whatever was left over, she sold at the roadside. In the nearby woods she came to know every path, each tiny track, bog and marsh. Often, even before she went to work, she managed to do a quick tour of the woods to gather flowers, mushrooms or berries. The chanterelles, king porcinis and orange-capped scaber stalks she sold. Of all the mushrooms she herself liked the honey gilled mushrooms the best, although the locals never picked these. And she loved cowberry jam. Nadezhda Mihailovna tried not to look in a mirror. Having brushed her teeth and washed her face, she instantly reached for a towel and turned her back to the mirror. Only occasionally, by chance, she caught glimpses of bits of herself. Now and then a flash of a slanted eye, then the

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