When it rains, it pours...

Rain - I think I mentioned the abundance of rain before! We get a lot of rain here in Klaipeda and along with the rain comes gusts of wind. We had one rainy/gusty day recently and both my umbrella and Dylan's umbrella broke -they couldn't stand up to the wind. Needless to say it was back to the store to buy new umbrellas (Ken just mentioned that his is bent and needs replaced as well)!

We also had a an exciting mail day. I will say that I don't miss sale flyers, bills and other assorted junk that comes in the mailbox but at this point any mail is cause for excitement. Imagine our surprise when we recieved a package (thanks Jenny Kramer) and a letter for the kids on the same day (thanks Lena Stoltzfus). It was like Christmas at our house, the kids in particular were so excited by those reminders of home!

It has been quite a while since my last post - I find the days are going by so fast (which I suppose is a good thing). We've had an up and down couple of weeks. We had fall break (a week off of school and work for Ken and the kids). Post fall break we all fell into a bit of a slump. We had some things to work out with schooling for the kids which took some time and a lot of effort due to the language and cultural differences. Two main changes that we made are that Katie will no longer be taking Russian and we are doing some language tutoring at home instead of at school during the school day. We are only about a week into these changes but so far they seem to be positive changes.

I could continue writing and writing about all that we have done, but pictures are so much more fun!



October 12, our 16th Anniversary - We went out to dinner.

Katie getting ready to run a race through school. Her friend Ruta is to her right. The race was for kids in various schools in Klaipeda and Katie was selected as one of 5 girls from her school to attend.

 

Katie finished in 4th place in her heat but was the top finisher (girls and boys) from her school!

 

Katie has wanted to ice skate for a long time. We took the kids skating over fall break. Our local mall has an ice skating rink. Katie, who loves to roller blade, did great. Dylan had a harder time. We were very proud of him though, he didn't give up and kept trying and eventually was skating without holding on to us or the wall. He even said that he would go again sometime.

 

 




Katie having fun posing on a street near our home!

During fall break we went to the nearby town of Palanga for a few days away. Palanga is a seaside resort town. It was very quiet in the off season but we had fun exploring the town. In the above photo, Ken and the kids are posing in front of the Amber Museum. Lithuania is known for it's Baltic Amber. We enjoyed touring the museum and learning more about amber.

 

Ken and the kids in Palanga

 

We discovered a yummy treat - warm Belgian Waffles dipped in chocolate. Labai Skanus!

 

We hiked in the forest and came upon a chapel at the top of a hill. This painting was inside the chapel - the photo doesn't do it justice.

 

Ken and the kids on a hilltop, looking out to the Baltic Sea.

 

The Sea Pier in Palanga

 

An odd photo - but here's a glimpse into our life. Breakfast has been interesting to figure out. Cereal is available here but expensive in the quantities our household consumes it. We don't have time in the morning to prepare a hot breakfast, so I have started making a triple batch of pancakes on Sunday afternoon to supply our breakfast needs during the week. We had apple, apple/sausage and strawberry pancakes.

 

Ken and the kids ran a race on the Curonian Spit. Here they are doing a crazy pose with the other LCC folks who participated.

 

There is a sculpture park near our home. Katie has enjoyed looking at all of the sculptures and is pictured here with her favorite sculpture.

 

Today happens to be Thanksgiving. We are not having a traditional American Thanksgiving but will be celebrating. It is an LCC tradition to eat at McDonald's. So after school and work (feels weird to be doing those things on Thanksgiving), we will go to the most American thing in Klaipeda, McDonald's, to celebrate with other ex-pat's. So enjoy your turkey and I'll enjoy my Big Mac and fries. Don't feel too bad for us, we will be celebrating a traditional Thanksgiving with LCC faculty and staff on Saturday (complete with turkey and pumpkin pie).

 

Let me know if there are any topics you would like me to address in future posts - things you are curious about, questions that you have etc. As always, I'll try to do better at posting.

Happy Thanksgiving!