It's a party!

Last week, we threw a 1950's theme party - it was a blast! We went all out, got dressed up, found a recipe for "authentic" 1950's vodka punch, and I even made deviled eggs (Grandma: you make it look so easy!). But the fun didn't stop there. One of my colleagues has some mad DJ'ing skills and he volunteered to put together a playlist and bring over all his fancy mixing equipment for the night. I'm terrible when it come to knowing music, but it turns out I recognized almost everything he played. And to top it all off, another colleague brought over his fog machine. What 1950's party is complete without fog??

Trakai's medieval festival

Last weekend we ventured out of the capital to one of the most well known tourist destinations in Lithuania: Trakai Castle. This castle sits on an island in the middle of a lake, and if you see more than a couple pictures from Lithuania, this castle is bound to be one of them. The castle shown here was actually built during the Soviet period, but the original castle is thought to have been built in the 13th century. This area has been home to a variety of nationalities. In addition to Lithuanians, Poles and Russians, the area was conquered and settled by Tartars and Karaims at various times.  For a while, Trakai was the home of Lithuanian rulers, such as the Grand Duke Vytautas in the late 1300's.

After we checked out the castle, we headed over to the medieval festival being held at the site of the old castle ruins. For the festival, lots of handmade items, such as musical instruments, knives and pelts were on sale. We didn't buy any, but we were happy to take up some target practice. J and I both shot some arrows, but J also used this contraption below - and you can see that he managed to hit his target!





Finally, we watched some play fighting...

Sidenote: here are a couple of "Welcome to Lithuania" videos - in English - to give you a sense of the main attractions. Feel free to come visit!
- An official welcome
- A silly song: "Welcome to Lithuania" (with pretty pictures of the country)
- Same silly song, but with strange cartoons

For individual sale

After a while of living in a new place, little differences start to present themselves. We make enough trips to the grocery store that those oddities stand out the most for me. For instance, there are several types of items that you buy individually, such as soda, beer and ice cream bars. In one sense, this is pretty handy, since most people seem to walk to the grocery store, and only buy as much as they can carry. We usually walk to the store ourselves. On the other hand, it seems silly to buy individual cans of Coke or Nestea when you really want to stock up. On the whole, though, J and I agree that this situation gives us plenty of opportunities to try new things. For me, that means I get to taste all different types of ice cream on a stick - with chocolate, or caramel, or almonds, or hazelnuts, or "biscuit" (Queen's English for cookies)... and there is a wide variety of brands to chose from as well. Let's just say, I consistently fulfill my daily dairy dietary requirements. ;)

Vegetables are a bit more illusive. We have all the cabbage, onions, cucumbers and potatoes you could dream of, but we seem to just eat a lot of salads in order to get greens on our plates. At times, we'll hear that something is in the store on a given day (i.e. green beans), but it's gone by the next day when we get there. Don't get me wrong, there certainly is a vegetable section in the store, so maybe we just need to adjust our preferences or develop more cucumber recipes...

All in all, we are able to find plenty of good food to eat. At times it's hard to find exact ingredients to make certain things. I think I'm about ready to try to make J's family rice crispy treats, although I'm going to have to experiment with a substitute for corn syrup (right now, I'm thinking either sugar water or watered-down honey...).

Come on out!

In other news, I do believe our guest room is ready for company - so make plans and come on out!

Outreach

What a busy week! On top of my regular work, I was asked to go on an outreach trip yesterday. J came with me, and we went about two hours away from the capital to a small town of around 2,000 people called Lukšiai. A group called the Young Americans were there to lead about 500 youth and children in a music/dance workshop. We were there for the opening ceremony - it was a blast! I'm still no fan of public speaking, but my remarks were a small part of the event. It really is amazing to watch this group of talented young people with unbelievably high energy working with and teaching so many children. In just 10 hours of rehearsal, all these children will learn an intense hour-long performance of everything from choral music to hip hop, jazz, and modern dance. But for us, even in just the two hours we spent with them, the music and dance lessons almost seemed secondary. I think we were more inspired by the cooperation and rapport the teachers developed so quickly with their students. The Young Americans are so encouraging - their energy is contagious. In just a few hours you could see a difference in the participants; their enthusiasm and confidence were growing. The workshop is spread over three days, so that in addition to rehearsal, there is time for team-building and other creative outlets. The Young Americans have tours in the US and different parts of the world - I think they are a really impressive non-profit organization. You should check them out!

Cross country road trip

This weekend, we finally ventured out of Vilnius and all the way across Lithuania to its southwestern-most point: Nida.  We crossed the country, drove onto a ferry, and then drove 45 km down one giant sand dune to within sight of Russia (Kaliningrad, that is). The whole drive took about 4.5 hours, with a couple of pit stops. Along the way, we learned to interpret all the road signs we passed, including this one to the right. I believe it means "picnic area", but should be more aptly subtitled: "Danger: falling trees!" or "Picnickers beware!" or, maybe "Timber!!"

Nida is the southernmost city on the Curonian spit, which is the Lithuanian end of a peninsula that juts out from Kaliningrad (the Russian exclave in the middle of Eastern Europe - on the far left of the picture above). It has the Baltic Sea to the west, and a body of water that they call a lagoon (not the same as a lagoon in the US) to the east. The whole Lithuanian section is about 20 miles long, and less than two miles wide at its widest. Its population is only about 2500 residents, although that number swells in the summer because it's one of the most popular beach locations in Lithuania.

Preferred mode of travel for the weekend

This land mass is actually a sandbar, and as such, it's constantly changing. Entire towns have been buried by the sand. In the Middle Ages, the trees that had been growing in the area were cut down for timber, destabilizing the dunes. It took an international conference in 1768 and a coordinated effort to reforest the area, thus keeping the dunes in place.  Driving down most of the spit, it looks like a normal forest of evergreen trees, except the forest floor looks like it was laid down over sand, with ripples and mounds rather than rolling hills or flat lands. There are a few exposed, "moving" dunes that remain, but according to our travel book, these could disappear in a few hundred years.

We stayed in a cute little B&B guesthouse with the traditional fisherman's cottage exterior. I didn't get a picture of where we stayed, but here's a similarly-decorated house in a different village. The owner was very friendly, and quite patient with me as I tried my best to communicate in Lithuanian. All in all, I think I got along quite well!

One of the main things to do in the area is go to the beach. We visited a little before the summer season started, so it was a little on the cold side (highs around 65 degrees F). I've had several natives tell me that they enjoy swimming in the Baltic Sea, but I couldn't make it any farther than this!  Maybe later in the summer we can try again.

 In addition to riding around the town and along both coastlines, we climbed up one part of the sand dunes to this sundial. I've never been good at reading sundials. The shadow fell between the numbers 8 and 9, but it was almost noon - go figure. All in all it was a good weekend and a nice first excursion around the country.

Update

View from Gediminas's Tower above part of Old Town Vilnius

I've thought of a hundred things to blog in the last month, but I haven't sat down to tell the stories. We're about to hit the two month mark, and it's really starting to feel like home for us. We're also staying busy and having a great time getting to know other folks in the community. Forgive me for the random thoughts and notes, but I just wanted to post a few pictures to catch up, so that then I can get back to a regular weekly (hey - what's wrong with some optimism?) blog.

J participated in a soccer tournament back in April. Sadly, our team didn't place, but they played hard and had fun. Don't their uniforms look great? Check out Jason catching a goal he blocked  (sorry for the fuzzy picture!)!

We've just done a little exploring around Old Town so far, but there are some amazing sights to see. Also, we've found a lot of great little restaurants that are relatively inexpensive. We took this photo from the site of the old fortress/castle from the 1500's, that originally protected Vilnius and the Grand Duchy. The tower that stands there now is a replica built during the last century, but it seems to be built to historical measurements, including the low stone ceiling that yours truly bumped into on the way up the small, winding steps to the top. We walked up the hill this time, but I believe the funicular is the way to ride up the hill in style!

I love seeing the hot air balloons that take off from somewhere in Old Town every clear evening - they are beautiful!!  I'm still getting used to the long days here. Twice this week I've gone to bed before it's dark outside (aka, before 10 p.m.), and let me tell you - that feels weird. I hear that when the weather is nice, people spend the evenings on the sidewalks and balconies of outdoor cafes, and the Old Town is full of people and energy. We've had one pretty warm week already, and I can attest that it is much more comfortable outside than in the apartment. It can get a little stuffy without air conditioning. This week it's been much cooler, and rather rainy (in Lithuanian, the phrase "The rain rains in Lithuania" has quite a ring to it).

We've had our share of little hiccups lately as well. Two weeks ago, we decided it was perfect weather for a bike ride. We put our bikes back together from the move, drug them down the stairs and we were ready to roll, right? Wrong. J's tire turned out to be irreparably flat, no matter how much air we tried to put in it. I managed to find a rental/repair shop who's manager spoke English, so we decided to take it to her to put in a new inner tube. Three hours and two stops later, I declared our mission a success. But sadly, just moments later, all the air had seeped out again. After 4 hours of effort, we gave up that weekend and went for a run instead.

But I'm happy to say that today we took the tire back today and had a second inner tube installed. Even with my poor Lithuanian (and the mechanic's limited English), we got it right this time! And so we were able to take our first bike ride around Vengris Park this evening - this giant park holds a large amphitheater in the center, and all trails through the woods to lead there. The amphitheater opens up into a large, flat grassy area that will hold thousands for major concerts. Today the field was full of people playing, reading, and soaking up the sun, with rollerbladers and bikeriders like us riding along the paved perimeter.