My Life and Times · Chapter 5 of 10

Pharmacy and the university

When I finished high school, I wondered what to do next. I really had no major talents. Someone had told Māte that I should go into pharmacy, which apparently turned out to be good advice because it was followed by my son and my son’s son. What his son will do, the future will show. In order to study pharmacy, I had to take a course in the Latin language. I had not taken Latin in high school because it was not obligatory. So, I had to stay at home and attend evening courses in that same Bērzaine high school. I and my friend Irmgarde both marched up and down the hill in the dark twice a week. I had finished high school young (at 16) so it was not a big problem to stay at home another year in the care of Māte.

The summer after high school graduation, I had to go for 2 weeks of confirmation instruction to the minister Pēteris Apkalns. We learned the fundamentals of Christianity such as the 10 commandments, Jesus’ teachings and the liturgy of Lutheranism. Then on Sunday, dressed in long white dresses, holding song-books, with a throng of people watching, we walked around the church and went inside to the altar. The minister performed the ceremony, placing his hand on everyone’s head and reciting a Bible verse by which we should try to live. I remembered it for a long time, but now have forgotten. After the ceremony, we were received by friends and relatives with bouquets of roses. Now we were full members of the congregation and could marry in the church.

After the ceremony, the minister invited us to his manor house (a country minister received a large house with land. He maintained a servant staff to take care of the house and land. Town ministers received a small house in the town.) We all sat in the minister’s garden drank tea, chattered and laughed. Then the minister asked what we wanted to do in our future life, now that we were “adults”. One girl was already engaged, and her future was clear, others said this or that. With the idea of being original again, I said I wanted to go to India and be a missionary. Minster Apkalns became wide-eyed and asked “Elvīra, have you seen some kind of vision?” The minister clapped me on the shoulder and said “Go ahead and go to India, there are lots of handsome young English officers there.” He looked on this as a joke, which I guess it actually was. Now, looking at the life of Mother Teresa, I am thankful that the minister did not support me in this plan. I would have fallen into this ill-advised situation like a cricket into hot ashes (colloq."kā circenis karstos pelnos"). The conditions there were too awful for an unprepared person to cope with. What stimulated these kinds of thoughts was that the Archbishop’s daughter Anna was working there. Once in a while, there was an article about her in a Rīga newspaper. Nothing like Mother Teresa, but “horrible skin diseases, crippled joints, etc.”

In the spring of the year I spent taking Latin lessons, I traveled to Rīga to take an exam required by the ministry of education. This was an entrance exam to get into the pharmacy section of the chemistry department at the university (University of Latvia). There were more applicants than available spaces. However, I was successful and so in the fall, I traveled to Rīga as a full-fledged student carrying a satchel of food prepared by Māte. In the first year, I lived with father’s sister Anna. This had its advantages. I did not have to worry about food preparation and other daily chores. In the second year, I moved in with my friend Anna Sproģis-Hābermanis. We split the expenses half-and half. There was freedom to receive visitors – friends and acquaintances – but of course I had to take care of myself then. Every day I went to the chemistry lab, first inorganic, then organic chemistry. In the morning, I went to lectures. I slowly bored my way through the required program. Once a year, I allowed myself the luxury of attending the masked ball or carnival in the officer’s club. The masks could be rented. In the last ball, I went as a sultan’s harem slave. I had yellow satin pants and blouse and loose hair. On my head was some kind of jewelry. The music played and the lighting changed continually. It was not customary to go with dates. The ladies chose their dance partners themselves at the ball. The masks had to be removed at midnight. It was a great time. So it went until 1937 when I met Papa. Before that I had joined the student association “Ausma.” We organized literary evenings and dances and the young women were taught social skills and manners.