Labdien, mani draugi! ☺ It’s me, Timo and one thing are very clear to me these days: Time flies, and it often feels like I’m in a fight against it. More than eight months passed since I came to Latvia, and even though with the virus the situation today feels quite similar to the one when I arrived, everything is different. I’ve made many friends along the way, some are still on their journey here in Latvia, others are missed and live quite different lives again already. And it’s not so easy saying goodbye anymore, as it seemed to be in summer. Three bigger projects that each lasted more than two months are over or in a different phase now: Two cover bands, first with Anya and Aynur, then with Ovi, Jakob, Hannah and Lea, and the “Volunteer Exchange Latvia”. In all of them there were highs and lows, new and routine experiences and they all pushed me in new ways, for some in ways I would not have thought possible. And currently I am again deep in a project that started with the last one: The writing, producing and recording of about six songs in the duo “Paldiesland” with Jakob. Its strange to write those songs about this year, some of them provide me with answers to old questions, even if for some an “answer” is that some things never change, and that some questions are supposed to come back all the time.
I was looking at some pictures and videos from the first months here in Latvia recently, and it was so strange to see how different I was back then. Both in the pictures and in my mind, the man I was half a year ago seems like a stranger to me. By now it is quite clear what I do, what I don’t, who became a close friend, and who didn’t. The seemingly endless openness I had in the beginning is gone, I guess I don’t have the time for that anymore. Or is it too exhausting? Or am I scared to lose what I focused on by now? I don’t know.
Apart from the bigger projects and the friends that are close to me, I’m excited and grateful for the countless times life surprised me with the little things, little not because they don’t mean much, but because they were short-lived. Some of the people I’ve met, I haven’t seen them often, but the moment they shared with me was priceless and make me really happy today. Same thing with little projects, things I haven’t tried before and didn’t take much time, but they made my life richer. So I ask myself: Why am I often so scared to “lose” the big things? The close friends, the projects I dive in. Does it matter in the end anyway, if it was something short or something long? I believe we are here to collect and to share moments, that is all – labi brīži (Latvijā). I also believe that art in all forms is the way to share them and to make us human. That’s why I think my purpose is to share art, as unreasonable and wasteful the amounts of time I spend on it seem. Even though, honestly, I’m not so sure. But I’ve tried to quit music, and it didn’t work, so it must be true I guess.
Last but not least, I am so grateful I am able to volunteer in the legendary BaMbuss youth studio J I still can’t believe sometimes, and neither can other volunteers, that I can do what I do in my volunteering project, and have the support of my organization for it.
