Will be in Latvia for 11months!

Hi Justin !

Welcome to Expat.com!

Armand

Hey Justin,

I'm not in Česis, rather in Rīga, but Česis is pretty cool.

I can't confirm, but it is rare for any decent sized town to not have a gym.  Česis has a pretty strong outdoor sports emphasis, but in the cold people train indoors.

Try searching for the LV works: sports klubs fitnes
Some popular gym franchises include: city fitnes, atletika, ... ?
Also note that some hotels will offer you a membership at their gym (the larger ones.)

About the weather, you're correct about the temperatures.  Make sure that you bring a decent winter jacket.  You can buy anything here, but popular brands etc will be more expensive here than in EU (maybe not compared to the UK though.)  Go for something waterproof with a hood, with a decent insulation layer.  If your sporty then get one of the skiing type jackets which deal well with sweating in cold weather (but isn't as warm overall.)

The rest you can get here:
- You're going to want decent gloves, but wool mittens will suffice if you're not going to be outdoors much.
- sweaters (wool works if you can keep it dry, like the standard Irish wool sweater) and hoodies;
- long underwear: bring them if you have them, buy them here if you need to;
- decent insulated high-top boots (something to keep your feet warm and dry, with space for socks;)
- A toque or insulated hat.  It's easy to get one of the Russian hat's with the flaps on it here.  You can fake the hat if you wear a hoodie underneath a jacket hood, but it's not as good as a good winter hat.

In Rīga we get more humidity than in Česis.  Here it's better to wear more layers, than thicker layers (until it gets to -30 or so.)
I have a pair of felt shoes, some insulated Timberland boots and some other shoes, a spider snowboarding jacket, and a thick hoodies to go under it when it gets really cold, a thin toque, and a thick flap hat, some good thick wool socks (very easy to find here), some thing mitts, and some thick skiing gloves.

One important thing to note would be to take great care in traveling home after going to the gym, if it is colder than -10.  Make sure that you really dry off, and give time for hair to dry, and then wear your long-johns home.  Your circulation will be flushed after working out, so you skin will lose heat very easily, and you can get messed up (sick or worse.)

Hope that helps some.

About social life in Česis:

It's not much that I am familiar with, but there is a decent amount of English there, especially with the youth and in the downtown restaurants.  Once a year they have a good music festival with lot's of attractions.
As there are lot's of outdoor sports etc you should be ok if you can be social, and take a few failed attempts.

Try to keep down the Irish accent, even when a few pints in, and watching the game   

Thanks for the advise

Hi Justin,

Still lots of time for winter sports. Near Cesis is Žagarkalns, one of the best ski/snowboard areas in Latvia. If you've never done these activities before I highly recommend learning in Latvia as they are comparatively cheap. The pistes are floodlit and usually open well into the night. The runs are very short of course (Latvia is relatively flat) but good for beginners with cheap tuition (by French or German standards). The main deterrent to skiing at night is the extreme cold after sunset (skimasks and serious clothes are essential). The best thing is the Riga Black Balsam and hot blackcurrant afterwards!

Cheapest activity is x-country skiing (classical style), and many areas across Latvia support this activity for free also. With your own equipment, you can also x-country ski all day very cheaply at Žagarkalns on graded runs (from beginners to intermediate).

Scott