When life gives you snow, make snowmen. That's what Latvians do.

It’s snowing again in Riga. Unlike Washington, D.C., which was struck by a record-breaking blizzard, and Vancouver, which is experiencing an Olympics-threatening snow shortage, another blanket of the white fluffy stuff across Latvia is not big news.

That’s probably because Latvians deal with the snow in the same way they deal with the economy. They complain, look for someone to blame and then just hunker down and start digging out.

Unlike Washingtonians, Latvians don’t start closing schools and federal offices after the first few centimeters have dusted the city. They just put on their galoshes, flip up their hoods and bring out the shovels. Granted, when nearly a meter of snow buried the coastal village of Kolka on Dec. 17, you couldn’t get out your front door, no less to a school. But Christmas vacation was beginning anyway, so the kids were blessed with a “winter wonderland” they can someday tell their grandchildren about.

Yes, it does create hardships, especially if you are elderly, need emergency health care and live in remote areas. More than half of Latvia’s territory is covered by forests and fields, and if you are among the hardy country folk who live 20 km from the nearest village, getting to a doctor can be a harrowing experience even in the middle of summer.

But most people find a way to cope. Visvaldis and Alise Zandbergs live on the Livonian Coast in the village of Saunags, which also happens to be smack dab in the middle of Slītere National Park. They were snowed in for seven days. But the fact that Visvaldis boasted to me about their experience with stubborn pride is indicative of the survival spirit of many here. When my wife and I drove up to our house in nearby Vaide for Christmas and discovered that a water pipe had broken and our house was flooded, Visvaldis and Alise were there with boots, buckets and shovels.

Here in Riga, every building has a caretaker responsible for cleaning the sidewalks and putting out the flag on national holidays (among other things). Wander out into Riga streets around 6 a.m. during a raging blizzard and you will see an endless line of huddled figures, sweeping, shoveling and shoving the white stuff out of the way so that people can get to work and kids can get to school a few hours later.

Since Dec. 2009, over 70 cm of snow has fallen on Latvia, and none of it has melted. We have had several substantial blizzards that keep adding to the mountains of snow that line the curbs and pile up in once empty lots. Bulldozers and dump trucks are working night and day to clear the streets and haul what they can to the Daugava River. (According to one expert, if the snow that has fallen in Riga were to melt overnight, it would be equivalent to the water Rigans consume in one month.)

In the United States, President Obama has called Washington’s latest blizzard a “Snowmageddon”, and in the United Kingdom citizens are outraged that the government is unprepared for another “Siberian blast” that will paralyze the country “with severe consequences for the economy”. (For Yanks and Brits spinning their wheels on icy driveways, I suggest a tip from Visvaldis Zandbergs: keep a bag of ashes in your trunk and sprinkle it in front of your tires. It works every time.)

Here in Latvia it’s snowing again, but the two biggest news stories of the moment are about possible tax reductions for hotels and the use of government cars for private purposes. (Some cabinet ministers are dropping their kids off at school before coming to the office. You will note, however, that schools are still open, despite the snow.)

Some say that the extreme climatic disparities between Washington and Vancouver are a bizarre byproduct of global warming. The global economy seems equally inexplicable. Despite the deep freeze that embraces Latvia, our economy is actually warming up. According to the latest economic forecasts, the drop in gross domestic product is slowing down, exports are up, prices are down and new jobs are beginning to appear. In the midst of this wild wintry weather, the experts at www.fxtraders.eu are saying that “Latvia’s economy and government finances are now beginning to stabilize after being severely affected by the global financial crisis in 2009. The strengthening regional economy is supporting Latvian production and exports, while the sharp swing in the current account balance suggests that the country’s ‘internal devaluation’ is working.”

So for Latvians, digging yourself out of a blizzard, or an economic crisis, is all in a day’s work. After all, they say that there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothes. Perhaps the same can be said for economic policies.

Ojārs Kalniņš is the director of the Latvian Institute. The Latvian Institute (Latvijas institūts) was established by the Latvian state to provide a wide range of information about Latvia, its society, culture and history. For more information visit www.li.lv.

Disclaimer:

Views expressed in the opinion section are never those of the Baltic Reports company or the website’s editorial team as a whole, but merely those of the individual writer.