Senamiestyje (In Old Town)

The Cathedral in Vilnius

Notice how this street suddenly becomes narrow...

Last week we started exploring Old Town, which is one of the largest medieval Old Towns in Europe (for more, see Wikipedia here). It is absolutely beautiful, even in early spring. On Sunday (aka April Fool’s Day), we set out to find the “independent republic” of Užupis, which is on the other side of the Old Town from us. Since I don’t like to walk around with a map in my face, we got lost a few times, but that gave us a chance to see more of the city. Many cobblestone streets narrow down to one lane, and some even turn into pedestrian areas unexpectedly (we’ve already decided there is absolutely no reason for us to drive this area – it looks like a nightmare to navigate!). At times there are wide sidewalks, others only a couple of feet or less. There are several large Catholic churches, and one Cathedral in old town.  Last weekend we walked by crowds of people out for Palm Sunday, many of them with evergreen branches (the equivalent of palm branches) – we got some handmade ones of our own. 

The flag of Užupis, at one of the bridges over the Vilna River.

Back to Užupis: once a year, this little area of town (re)declares its independence and stamps passports with their own immigration stamp. They also hold a ceremony every time their constitution is translated into a new language, often with Ambassadors from other countries in attendance. The constitution includes such articles as: "People have the right to live by the River Vilnelė, while the River Vilnelė has the right to flow past people."  Good stuff, constitutionally speaking! The diplomatic community is welcomed there. In fact, I found out later that I could have been appointed an Honorary Consul, stamping passports myself if I had alerted the authorities to my diplomatic status. If only…

There are lots of good beers here, although J has already insisted that we strike one of my favorites from our fridge. Evidently, the union that works for a subsidiary of a Carlsberg brewery voted to strike, but a Lithuanian court ruled that beer production is of “vital importance,” like medical supplies and drinking water, and therefore it is illegal for workers to walk off the line. You can read a bit more here. J. is standing in solidarity with the employees. I suppose there is a lot of German influence in beers here. The beers are usually listed in either light or dark varieties, and last night we found a third option of “farmhouse ales” – also quite tasty!

One of many churches in Old Town

We have yet to go to a traditional Lithuanian restaurant here, but surely that is on our list to try soon.  In the grocery store, we’ve found several interesting items that we’ve yet to try, such as forest mushroom flavored potato chips. Others, though, we’ve tried and liked, such as the spinach and cheese pastries and various types of sausage (the selection of meat is disproportionally large compared to the rest of the store!). Also, almost every restaurant serves fried bread, shaped like french fries, which usually comes with cheese sauce or garlic. It’s without a doubt unhealthy, but pretty tasty.

We’re going to see our first movie here soon – The Hunger Games, subtitled in Lithuanian. I’ve been looking forward to seeing it since I read the books last summer!

We have arrived!

We have spent all of five nights in Vilnius at this point, but I think I can give you a few first impressions now while they are fresh. Basically – it’s pretty awesome here!  Our housing is nice and spacious; the Old Town is literally around the corner; and I think my job will be really interesting and enjoyable. Of course, we’ve already made several missteps (“Oh, so what I’ve been using for laundry detergent actually is actually fabric softener?” or “What? No I don’t have children. Oh, this check-out line is for parents with young children only? Sorry, didn’t see the sign”).  But in general, we’re adjusting, and looking forward to living here!

About our apartment – you know us, and most of my (limited) readership has been in our last apartment in Missouri. We had enough space, but not much more.  Here, that is definitely NOT the case. We have three bedrooms, but since we don’t need them, one has been turned into an office/den, which means J and I have plenty of room to spread out.  The kitchen is also much fancier than anything we would ever have on our own. For example, the dishwasher and fridge are actually hidden behind the same paneling as the cabinets, so they just blend in. I had to ask ahead of time if we got a dishwasher, because I couldn’t see it in the pictures! The bathroom floors are heated (I haven’t tried this perk yet, since until today we weren’t sure what it was, but I’ll will tomorrow!). 

On the flip side, considering that we are in a post-Soviet country, there are still some remnants of the old system. One of them is that the decision to turn on the heat in the fall or off in the spring is made by the government. At least city-wide, if not country-wide, one blessed day in October (hopefully!), the radiators kick on. Before that, even if it is really, really cold in your apartment, the best you can do is to go buy an electric heater, because your heat won’t work. And you better buy it early, because there will be a run on heaters that first cold night. Also, I understand that residents often have little control over how much heat their apartment receives, even though they are responsible for the heating bill in the apartment. Unfortunately, it takes time and money to update these systems, and many buildings just haven’t been updated yet.

The Old Town looks beautiful!! We haven’t had a chance to really explore it yet.  I promise to post some pictures next time. I’ve heard that it is one of the largest preserved “old towns” in Europe, and I believe that a large swath of it is part of a heritage site or something like that. It’s worth checking out. The skyline is filled with beautiful burnt orange rooftops, church steeples, and white walls against a backdrop of evergreens in the distance.  It’s really hard to describe, but hopefully I’ll do a better job as I get more accustomed to it. It reminds me of a thought I used to have frequently in Oxford as I walked down ancient cobble-stoned streets: These buildings have been here for ages – they are older than my own nation. I like history and being in historical places. I’ll read up on my history of this area and have some good stories to go with pictures next time.

Overall, after one year of training (literally!), we are thrilled to be here, and I think we can say that it was worth the wait. When I’m over the jet lag, I’ll try to keep a mental note of the amazing and quirky things I see or hear, and also get some good pictures. Suffice it to say now, things are going well and I’ll have more to say when I am back to my normal sleep schedule. 

P.S. I counted 3 yarn stores when we walked around a small portion of Old Town yesterday. I’m still waiting for my knitting needles to arrive, but I can’t wait to go pick up some new yarns and get started on a new project. I’m not usually a spring knitter, but perhaps since it has snowed the past two mornings, I just don’t feel like it’s spring yet here. That is in stark contrast to DC, which was 80 degrees or more when we left.

Aš išlaikiau savo egzaminą!!

For the second time in as many years, I have spent 7+ months studying for a two hour test. For the second time in a row, I can say that I studied successfully! I even passed this time with a little room to spare. Passing my test this week also allowed me to check one more requirement for tenure off my list: I am now off of language probation. After nearly 12 months of training and preparing to go overseas, it’s finally going to happen! J and I  have been making preparations to leave over the last several months (let’s be honest, J has shouldered the majority of this work). This included stocking up on essentials, packing out, getting legal documents in order, and lining up all the technology logistics (why yes, you can use Tivo with the American Forces Network, and you can often buy the equipment for such things from previous tenants… which, of course, we have already done).

When we weren’t madly planning, I was studying or in class. Sometimes, I felt like I was going in reverse, losing what little ability I had to speak the language. But other days, my classmates and I found that we could, in fact, argue the merits of voting or discuss Rawls’s veil of justice in Lithuanian. Whether either of these topics will help me do my job remains to be seen, but they do sometimes spice up the classroom conversation. I imagine teaching a foreign language can be both tiresome and frustrating. I think our instructors spend the better part of 5 hours a day correcting grammar errors in every single sentence we utter. It takes a lot of patience to help us improve, and I can’t say enough about their efforts to get us all up to the required level without pulling all their hair out!

After seven months of spending every work day with a small group of classmates and two instructors, I was the first to leave this week. Even though I passed, I feel like I’m still going to have a hard time communicating in Lithuanian. I bet next time I post, it will be to tell you that I told the cable guy our salt needs replacing, or some other such nonsense.

T minus one month (T for test)

Just one short month before I spend two lovely hours with a couple of straight-faced examiners, who will decide my fate and either confirm that I have learned this language to a limited proficiency level, or reek havoc on all the plans we've just put into place. Of course, plans are made to be changed, and in the end, we will reach our first destination! Speaking of plans, we've been extra busy taking care of all sorts of details: flights booked, consultations and pack-out scheduled, luggage purchased, passports acquired (----->). Sounds like we should be ready to ship off, right?  Wrong!! I feel like I've hardly scratched the surface of this to-do list. Now... all my classmates who have already reached their posts and have been working for the last month (or eight), can all attest that there is light at the end of the tunnel and one really can make this move to the other side of the world. Of course, when I take a deep breath and quit fussing over details, I know that I really only have to pass this test and get on a plane. Both of which I am completely capable.

J has been busy figuring out VOIP (phone) preparations and technical gadgetry, in addition to all the regular planning that goes into a move. With all the energy these preparations take, I feel like we haven't done anything else. But of course, that's not true. We survived a trip to Ikea together this weekend, and we went bowling for the first time ever together! Final score: J - 100, D - 101. (ha!) I suppose we're a little rusty from over a decade out of practice... A couple of weeks ago we went to visit Mt. Vernon, Washington's home (see photos). J's last game of the winter soccer season is tomorrow - and rain is once again in the forecast. I hope to get a few more blog posts in before we head out, but studying should probably take priority... Once we're in Vilnius, though, I hope this blog gets a little more interesting!

Photo class - some preliminary results

As promised, a couple of amateur photos that I showed in class yesterday. We're off to take some pictures in class this evening, but I have low expectations for my night shots. I learned a couple of new techniques last night that I haven't gotten a chance to try out yet. Maybe the next time we go sightseeing, I'll be able to use my new skills! ;)

This shot is of the paper flowers that my good friend Rebekah helped me make last spring. We get a lot of afternoon light in the apartment and I wanted to play with the shadows.

I took my camera on a run last week and took a few shots of the bridges over the Potomac. I was trying to use the lighting to get a good diagonal in my picture. I also tried capturing the Washington Monument in a few photos, but I just didn't have a good angle to make it look interesting.

Va. ;)

More classes

This is proof that persistence pays off. J has been trying to get me to enroll in an auto maintenance class ever since my car’s battery died the day we got back from our wedding. Well… 3 years later, I allowed him to enroll me in a course, and I just finished it last week. While I think I’m probably more knowledgeable than the average woman in minor car maintenance issues – I have replaced tail lights, I check tire pressure and oil regularly, etc – it was useful to practice jacking up the car and replacing air filters. I must say, one woman in my class didn't know how to pop the hood, and another put air in her tire for the first time (oh, to have never needed to air up my tires!). And, J even learned a few things from me, such as how to easily access the headlight in the car he’s owned for 7 years!

In addition to the auto class, J also insisted that I take a point-and-shoot photography class. Again, I’m not convinced that I couldn’t take better pictures if I gave it more thought and effort, it’s just that I typically think that the reason for having such a camera is to be able to simply 1) point and 2) shoot. Indeed, that’s often what I used to do, without really looking at the settings before I handed the camera off to someone else to snap a picture. J got so frustrated with my lack of attention to the matter that he felt compelled to tape the camera setting to “automatic,” which I had to admit to in class when I pulled out my camera and the tape was still there! Absent-mindedness is not the same as a lack of understanding, but I think a little more explanation and advice on technique will do me good. Now that I am required to take and share five new photos with my classmates in two weeks, you may get the benefit of seeing a few more shots from around the District from yours truly.

These classes are, of course, in addition to the 25 hours of Lithuanian class and corresponding homework that will soon give me a “limited working proficiency” of the language.

Wow - what a year!

One year ago today (1/13/11), I took a 15 minute phone test that proved I had learned enough Russian to get into the Foreign Service. Since then, we’ve moved to DC, met tons of wonderful people, started learning Lithuanian, and found out we’re also going to Moscow as our second post. I’ve also managed to forget 95% of the Russian I learned, although I continue to believe that it’s somewhere in my brain, just tucked behind Lithuanian for the time being.

January 13^th is also an important but sad day in Lithuania’s history (in 1991, to be exact). That day was the beginning of the end of Soviet occupation in the country. Lithuanians declared independence about 10 months earlier, but the Soviets largely ignored it and few countries recognized their independence. In fact, it took the US another 9 months after January 13^th to formally recognize them.  So, back to January 13^th: Lithuanian leaders took full advantage of Glasnost in 1990, declaring independence and electing their own leaders. By the end of 1990, Gorbachev had had enough of this “anti-Soviet agenda,” and ordered tanks and military to go into Vilnius.  On the night of January 12^th, 1991, the Soviet military tried to cut off Lithuanian ties to the outside world (and to audiences at home) by taking down the Vilnius TV tower.  Soldiers also fired shots into crowds of thousands gathered in public squares and near the parliament building. Fourteen non-violent protesters were killed and over 1,000 were injured, but the Soviet aggression backfired and only served to garner international support for Lithuania, the Baltics, and the rest of the former Soviet republics. If you want to see footage (with English subtitles) of the night, you can watch this YouTube video.

While you may be thinking that I’m just late in reflecting on 2011, it seems to me that January 13^th of last year was a much bigger turning point for us, and really the start of this adventure that we embarked on just a year ago. Only two short months before we take on the world! I really do intend to be better about posting this year, and I think I’ll have more interesting things to write about. Stay tuned!