So I managed about 40 minutes of sleep time in the mall toilets, until a security guard found me, and took me outside. I wasn't scared of getting into trouble; I was too focused on Agnes. He just checked my bag to see if I had anything harmful, sent me outside, and that was the end of it. That plan was foiled.
I walked around and sat myself in a bar. I decided to have a coffee. Eventually though, I was asked to leave. So I just went to the next bar, called Fenikss. Here, I greeted some locals, who didn't know English. We became acquainted nonetheless, and I had a chance to practice my Latvian. There was one guy, and two women. The guys name was Valera, who was Russian. After all of my studying of the language in Greece, it seemed to pay off well. I was able to understand and get into a conversation, though, it was very difficult. But I was so happy, and it definitely made my bad day a lot better.
So, all in Latvian, I told them where I'm from, what I'm doing here, and also about what had just happened to me. I explained that my girlfriend's dad had kicked me out of their home. We got pretty far with this conversation. It wasn't really just a basic one. I was proud. It felt great to be able to understand and speak another language, even if I wasn't very good at it at all. There were some words I had to look up in my Latvian learning book as well, such as 'girlfriend'. I didn't know that word. But I told them that's why I was here, and about everything that had happened.
It was about 3am, and they asked me for Agnes' phone number. I didn't exactly want them to ring her, so as not to wake her up, but they rang her anyway and told her about me. They found out a bit more. They arranged for me to get back to her suburb, and told me to take either the bus or mini-bus. I said goodbye to these people, and left them some of my Australian pens as gifts, so they would remember me.
So at about 5am, I headed out and took the bus, without a ticket. My money was scarce. I tried to find somewhere to relax for a bit, and maybe catch a bit of sleep, until it was warm and sunny enough to just lay down on a park bench, near Agnes' apartment block. I arranged to meet her for a while. She came out, and we just stood there and hugged for 10 minutes. I was just very happy to see her after what I went through. She told me that her dad had gone drinking and driving, and had he put the car in a ditch somewhere on the outskirts.
She then arranged for me to stay with her mother, who lives in the city. She gave her a call and explained the situation to her. She told her everything. We headed there, and went inside to greet her. She was much more welcoming. She understood, and decided that she'd let me stay there for the night. She's separated from Agnes' dad and lives on her own, obviously because of the way he is, not to mention he's an alcoholic. So he really is pretty far in the wrong.
Well, tonight, I got some food, and a good night's sleep. I was thankful, and took extra care to say 'thank you' before and after my meal this time.
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