So you’ve found me!
My name is Aila Rudzīte. That’s pronounced EYE-lah ROO-dzee-teh. But you can call me Aila Rye. That’s what my name means in Latvian anyways.
So what is this whole Latvian business? Well, Latvia is a country in Eastern Europe, located south of Estonia, west of Russia and Belarus, north of Lithuania and east of the Baltic Sea. The population is about 2 million, but there are hundreds of thousands of us around the world. Me, I’m from Canada. My grandparents came here after the Second World War to avoid the Soviet occupation of their homeland.
But enough of the history lesson for now. That’s not what you came for. You came here to learn about me and the adventures that I’m going to be taking you on. But this short history lesson is vital to that – my adventures revolve around the worldwide Latvian community. Does this sound like too narrow of a topic? It isn’t, believe me! Latvians are everywhere. American Civil War? Been there. Political upheaval in turn-of-the-century London? You betcha. Disappearance of the Russian Royal Family? There too. History has given us Latvian communities across the world, from Melbourne to the Yukon and from the frontiers of Brazil to the streets of Shanghai.
And why should this interest you, if you’re not Latvian? Besides the obvious of generally expanding your horizons, I could teach you something about your own country and background that you didn’t know about before. Like I said, we’re everywhere. I might bring a new perspective to the history you always knew, answer a historical mystery that has always perplexed you, or inspire you to seek out your own family history as it relates to a specific historical event.
Or you could be here for the action scenes. I’m here to show you that genealogy can have those too. Family lore told by cryptic ancestors could be the key to all sorts of wacky historical happenings that can have effects on the modern world. What if your family history could unearth a gold haul worth millions? Do you want to be the one to ignore that? Just a thought.
And really, aren’t you just the least bit curious about what inspires a young, tattooed, 20-something Goth to pursue an activity usually associated with the middle-aged and elderly? If you stick around, you’ll find out.