New School, New Birthday Celebrations, & New Hair

2013 came in with a bang - literally (see previous post on New Year's Eve fireworks in Lithuania). The kids enjoyed a nice long winter break. School resumed for them on January 10. Most kids dread the end of winter vacation but our kids definitely had the blues as they were facing another new thing - a new school. We all agreed on the move to the new school but that didn't make the transition any less intimidating. Thankfully it has been a smooth transition. The school has been very welcoming, very concerned for the welfare of the kids and easy to communicate with. Katie is one of 5 girls in her class and has enjoyed getting to know the other girls. The most challenging piece for the kids has been the temperature of the school. They are in an old building while they raise funds to renovate a new building. Their current building is hard to heat and thus the classrooms have been very cold. They wear a lot of layers!

 

The walk to school is a little bit shorter and that has been a nice change. The kids have not enjoyed the funky smell in the air as they get close to the school. The best that we can figure is that is is fumes from the local beer brewery Svyturys - you can check them out here -  http://www.svyturysusa.com/ . We've enjoyed noting the return of the sun as we walk to school. We used to go in the pitch dark and today at about 8:10 we noticed the sunrise. We are rejoicing at the return of the sun!

 



Dylan & Katie on the first day at Vaivorykstes Takes

 



For my observant readers - you'll notice that Katie is in a uniform but Dylan is not. Dylan has to wear a checked vest (same color as Katie's blazer with some black) every day. He is not a fan of the vest and has requested no pictures - so you'll have to imagine him wearing a vest. If you would like to learn more about the school you can check out their website at http://www.vaivorykstestakas.lt/ They share a bit about their school project along with ways to donate to help with the new school. As far as I know this is the only private Christian school in Klaipeda. We have been impressed with their outreach to families who have low incomes as well as to the local orphanage. The school subsidizes the cost of the schooling for low income families and has several students from the orphanage on scholarship. We are so pleased to have found this school.

 

Another new thing in 2013 was our first Lithuanian birthday celebration. Dylan had the honor of celebrating the first birthday from our family in Klaipeda. He was bummed that his birthday fell on a school day but I think he ended up with a special birthday. The day began with some french toast topped by real maple syrup (courtesy of my dad and his wife - loved that package!!) We sent a birthday treat along with Dylan (snickerdoodles) to share with his class. I had checked with his teacher a few days before to make sure that it was ok to send a treat. She must have shared with the kids that Dylan's birthday was coming because several students had gifts for Dylan (some gum, candy and homemade cards). The class sang happy birthday in English and Lithuanian and then did the birthday chair lift. Dylan sat in a chair and the students lifted the chair up 11 times counting for each lift...Vienas, Du, Trys, Keturi, Penki, Sesi, Septyni, Astuoni, Devyni, Desimt, Vienuolika. He was lifted up on each number. I'm fairly certain that would never happen in a school in America (an accident waiting to happen) but I think Dylan loved it. Then each student gave Dylan a birthday wish - I wish you health, I wish you a good year... It was fun hearing how birthdays are celebrated here and fun for Dylan to participate.

 

In the evening we had Dylan's birthday dinner, he requested ribs and then of course presents!

 

 



Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Icing!

 We decorated with balloons outside of his room while he was sleeping.

 

Our final new adventure was a trip to the hair salon (kirpykla) for me and Katie. Katie's hair was getting LONG and she was tired of all the brushing, knots and static. I was due for a haircut and thought we would have a girls afternoon together. I found a hairstylist who has cut hair for LCC staff/faculty before (she spoke a little bit of English). I made the mistake of showing up without pictures but we managed to explain to her what we wanted.

 

 

Before...

 

 



After...

 

 



Katie went short...I noticed on this photo that she has a stray hair but I think that's from her hat messing up the new do.

          I opted for layers. It was quite a surprise to discover the crazy things my hair did when the length went away. Ken and the kids agree that I look a little like Medusa! I'm ok with that as long as I can turn them to stone. The hairstylist did make a point of noting my many gray hairs and encouraged me to dye my hair red. I declined but felt better when she thought Katie was my sister and that I was in my 20's!

 

In other news, Ken and I have been asked to serve as leaders for a group of U.S. study abroad students. We will meet with them 3 times during the semester. We will share a meal and talk about culture shock, their trip to Russia (they go over spring break) and finally we will talk about re-entry to the U.S. We are looking forward to these meetings - our first one will be sometime this upcoming week. Still thinking about what I will make... any suggestions for a good meal to serve 10?

 

 

Thanksgiving...Christmas...New Year's

I ended my last post by mentioning that we were headed to McDonald's to celebrate Thanksgiving with other ex-pat's. It was certainly not the most traditional Thanksgiving, but it was memorable!

 

 

 

After Thanksgiving we entered into a rather trying time. School became increasingly difficult, especially for Katie. We had a few meetings with the school and continued to have some recurring problems. We began to explore other schooling options. We did this with great reluctance, not wanting to institute another change for the kids but also wanting a school situation for the kids that would be good long term. We all decided together to have the kids visit another school in the city (a Christian private school). The lessons will still be in Lithuanian but we found the school somewhat easier to communicate with. The classes are smaller and the day is shorter. After visiting for two days we took some time as a family to process/discuss/pray and we were unanimous that a change in schools was in order. We made this decision during the last week of school prior to Christmas break. We informed their current school that we would be withdrawing and let the kids have a few more days of Christmas break (much needed rest I think). Their old school was a good school just not the best fit for us. Katie and Dylan will start at their new school on January 10. Please pray for them as they make this switch and have more new things in their future. On a positive note...they pass a yummy bakery on the way home from the new school and are excited to stop off for treats every now and then!

 

Celebrating Christmas in a new place was a challenge  for us. For most of the kids' lives we traveled over the holidays to spend it with family in PA, CA or AZ. Suddenly we were faced with a Christmas away from family and had to figure out what our traditions would be. We decided to have a nice Christmas Eve dinner (Ribs, pasta, veggies, apple crisp) and then go to a Christmas Eve Service in Klaipeda.

 

 

We are all dressed up and ready to go to church!



 

We agreed on a 6:00 wake up call for Christmas morning - but did get to sleep in until 6:15. Dylan was the first kid up (not surprising). He was very excited as you can see!

                                                     Katie got me a backgammon game.

Ken and Dylan

 

Dylan with some basketball cards and Katie with a cross, hand carved by a Lithuanian.

 

After presents we had Apple French Toast (Dylan's request). We had Christmas cookies to munch on throughout the day (Katie worked with me on the cookies and we had 5 different kinds). For lunch we used the leftover ribs for pork barbecue sandwiches and had fruit salad as well. Our Christmas dinner consisted of  potatoes that our friends here in LT taught us to make - very yummy. You put olive oil on a baking sheet. Scrub potatoes (dry them with the skin on). Cut the potatoe in half and put the cut side down. Use a brush to oil the skin and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 230 C. for 1 hour. They are YUMMY. We also had some sausages and fruit with a little leftover apple crisp. It made the Christmas cooking chores very simple for me so that we could spend the day together without me having to spend all of my time in the kitchen. We watched a movie, played some backgammon, checked out our new Christmas stuff and skyped with family. All in all it was a lovely Christmas.

 

The day after Christmas we caught a 6:50am bus for Latvia's capital, Riga.

Ken and the kids with a statue of the Bremen Musicians.

The Rabbit Kingdom

A Christmas tree in the square that has a monument noting that it was the site of the first Christmas tree...EVER!

A Church from the 1200's

Some examples of the art nouveau architecture that Riga is famous for.

The Swedish Gate.

 

We just celebrated New Year's. We were invited to spend it with another ex-pat family (the husband happens to come from my neck of the woods - went to Fairland Elem./Manheim Central...small world). We rung in the New Year with them and it was an experience. We went outside just before midnight and there were fireworks going off everywhere. Fireworks are readily available here and we were feet away from individual firework displays. Sparks were flying, kids were running around. It was chaos but fun chaos (especially since no one got injured)!

 

I can hardly believe all the changes that 2012 introduced into our lives. 2013 should certainly be interesting! Happy New Year!