The 157th day of February

It is April 29th, it's rainy and gray outside, the central heat has been turned off for over a week so it's cold inside and we are desperately waiting for spring. We are in spring jackets but only because we can't bear to wear those winter coats. Gloves and scarves are still a necessity, most days. We do have hints of spring - the trees are showing buds, crocuses are peeking up from the ground and bits of green grass are making an appearance. Our long dark winter days are rapidly disappearing. The sun rose at 5:57 this morning and will set at 9:10, which would be fantastic if only the clouds would shift and let the sun shine through.

April has been a busy month - we celebrated Easter and my birthday (OK - that was the end of March)... 



 Dylan and Katie on Easter morning with their Easter baskets, which were literally, baskets...

Katie and Dylan made meatball sandwiches for my birthday meal. Here they are with their meatball hands!

 

 

 My sandwich was delicious.

 

 

They also made me a red velvet cake, YUM!

 

...we had guests from the states visit for a week in early April...

Our friends, Elizabeth Patterson and David Cecil

 

...and during that time we went to Vilnius... 

Katie in Vilnius

A bohemian community in Vilnius

Uzupis in Vilnius

A break for lunch, David tried Šaltibarščiai, cold beet soup

Gediminas Castle from the 14th century

At the top of the tower

 

and Hill of Crosses...

Dylan was inspired after our first visit to Hill of Crosses and made his own cross to place there when we went again. This is where he placed his cross.

Dylan also made a cross for me and this is where I left mine.

I chose to place my cross by this carving of a "Pensive Christ" or "Man of Sorrows." This is a traditional Lithuanian carving. I have been drawn to these carvings - Ken gave me one as a birthday gift.

...and finally, we had an outing to the beach to visit an old German fort (from WWII).



The entrance to the bunker. Katie and I found it to be a little creepy but Dylan was fascinated.

Climbing on the top of the fort's remains



The end of the semester has brought varying emotions. Ken has been energized by the connections he has made with students and he's excited to help to continue the growth of the Social Science department. We are also feeling a lot of sadness - some of the faculty/staff that we have gotten to know are ending their years at LCC and moving on. We are grieving their impending departure and pondering what next year will be like. We have been abundantly blessed with "things" as our friends have been packing - I'm now the happy owner of a crock pot, hand mixer, bookshelf, waffle maker etc. but as I have said many times, I would rather have the people here than the stuff. So as we say goodbye we know that we will think of the Millikens (Rachel, John, Chayah and Noah) whenever we make a meal in the crockpot or have waffles for breakfast, Suzi will come to mind when we light a candle, drink out of coke glasses and reach for that unusual spice and the Benthem's come to mind when we mix up a batch of cookies!

Rachel and Suzi, who not only blessed me with their "stuff" also blessed me this year with their friendship. This photo was taken the day before my birthday, they took me out for breakfast.

We will miss you!

 

 

In other news this month, we have visited the orthodontist and acquired a retainer for Dylan. He had a top front tooth that was behind his bottom teeth when he bit down. When we visited the orthodontist I immediately liked her because she said I was a "clever lady" for bringing Dylan in to have his teeth looked at. She also shared that Dylan's teeth/jaw looked European, she wondered if we were from Great Britain. When I told her we were from the USA she was surprised because his jaw didn't look American. She took a mold of his teeth and a week later we picked up a crazy retainer. It's mostly normal but has a wire loop that hangs down to help pull in a bottom tooth that was being pushed forward. Dylan has been fantastic at wearing the retainer (it only comes out when he eats and plays sports) and we can already see that his teeth are shifting.
 
We also had our first visit to the vet. Dexter has been slowly losing his vision for the past few years due to cataracts. We suspected that his vision was almost all gone due to his tendency to walk into walls and fall over curbs. One morning, just as we were heading off to school, Katie noticed that the bottom half of his left iris was red. By mid-afternoon the entire eye was red. Ken and I decided that a visit to the vet was in order, so Ken rearranged his schedule so that he could help carry Dexter to the vet (he can't walk that far anymore). Upon arrival the vet took one look at Dexter and commented that he was old. We told him that he was 14.5 and he commented that he never saw a shih-tzu that old before! He checked out his eye and shared that in addition to the cataracts he had glaucoma. The pressure from the glaucoma burst a blood vessel causing the redness in the eye. The exam and some medicine for his eye cost 50 L. which is about $20 - the cheapest vet visit we've ever had. 

We took a death picture - we thought Dexter might have to be put to sleep but he's still with us!

One of the fun things that we've been involved in this semester was a Tri-S group. We met 3 times this semester with a group of study abroad students from the US. Our group had students from Cedarville, Messiah, Waynesburg, APU,  and Taylor. Each meeting had goals. Our first meeting was a time to get to know each other, talk about cultural adjustments, and prepare the students for the highs and lows that are usually experienced when adjusting to another culture. Our second meeting was a time to share about their trip to Russia. During that meeting we introduced our group to the game of Things- good times. Our final meeting was devoted to talking about re-entry -what it's like to return to your home after living abroad. While talking about these things we ate a home-cooked meal that I prepared. We enjoyed our group of students and had a lot fun hearing about their experiences and entering into their lives in a small way.

Our Tri-S group - Spring 2013

 

Random Picture of this Post: While getting some hot chocolate in Šiauliai I came across this picture and it made me think back to my days at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Stark County! Glad that BBBS is making a difference in Lithuania as well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exploring Lithuania

We are glad to say that the sun is shining! The dark days of winter are quickly disappearing. The sun wakes us up in the morning and we are feeling a bit more energetic. In mid-February we joined a bunch of other folks from LCC and traveled to the nearby city of Šiauliai to visit a pilgrimage site known as the Hill of Crosses. The history of this site is fascinating. Crosses were thought to have been placed here as early as the thirteenth century in defiance of invading forces and has been a place of peaceful resistance of oppression towards Catholicism in Lithuania.

Eventually Lithuania became incorporated into the Soviet Union. Three times the Soviets destroyed the hill and the crosses on it. After each destruction the Lithuanians replaced the crosses in defiance of the Soviets. Visiting Hill of Crosses was amazing - and hard to put into words, so I'll let the photos speak... (of course I'd like to let the photos speak in a larger view but I'm fighting with the blog software and it seems that a larger view is not possible today!)

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Behind the Hill of Crosses is a Franciscan Monastery. After Pope John Paul's visit to the Hill he encouraged the building of this monastery. The chapel looks out onto the hill...

 

 

The picture is not too clear but the stained glass shows the history of the Franciscan's. Really I made the picture unclear on purpose to encourge folks to come for a visit and see it themselves (hint, hint).

As part of our trip to the Hill of crosses we spent the night in the nearby town of Uzventis. The family of two LCC students own and run this mill converted to a guesthouse. We had a wonderful meal, relaxed in the sauna and cooled off in the pool.

Our hosts at the mill took us to their local Regional Museum. Here you can see Dylan with one of our hosts (a glimpse of what Dylan will be like as a middle aged man I think!)

And, of course, Dylan as himself...

As the sun has returned we have been inspired to get out of the house. So we hopped on a bus, the bus got on a ferry and we headed over to the Curonian Spit. We traveled several kilometers to the quaint town of Juodkrante. We heard about some carvings there called Witch's Hill. We had a fun afternoon exploring.

The slide was lots of fun until Dylan hit the big patch of ice at the bottom - OUCH!

 

His push-ups are paying off...

 

Still in love...

 

 

So, that's a bit of what we have been up to. We are looking forward to the weather improving and spending more time outside exploring Klaipeda and the surrounding towns and villages.

 

For now, we are eagerly looking forward to Easter, my birthday and the arrival of friends from the states. My birthday falls on Easter this year and the kids are planning on making lunch (meatball sandwiches) and cake. I can't believe that they are old enough to make me a birthday lunch. It should be special. On April 1, our friends David and Elizabeth are visiting from their home universities to speak at a conference at LCC. We are so excited to have some company and look forward to a week with them. We have plans to travel to the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius (we had quite the time tracking down a rental car for that trip) and we will be going back to the Hill of Crosses (looking forward to seeing it without all of the snow).

 

We can hardly believe that our first academic year is almost complete. Classes finish at the end of April followed by finals. Our time here has flown by - we have been blessed, challenged, frustrated, inspired, tired, and energized in the past year.

 

We do have plans for a visit back to the states. We leave Klaipeda on June 11 and return on July 9. We will spend most of our time in PA visiting friends and family but do plan a quick trip to OH in June to visit our church and friends there.

 

Happy Easter... The Lord is Risen. The Lord is Risen, Indeed!

 

 

 

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!