cats, crosses, and crazy

I’m not really sure where or how to begin. It’s hard to believe I have been here for two weeks, because it feels more like 2 days!  Four months here already doesn’t seem like enough.  I am finally starting to develop more of a schedule here. Monday through Friday is devoted to teaching. We teach from 3:30 to 7:30 every day and when we aren’t teaching we are spending a solid amount of time preparing and planning for our next lesson. Hopefully, as I get better at teaching, I spend less time with all the preparations and such. Teaching is actually pretty difficult, and more than that it’s exhausting. I guess you can expect that with 5 and 6 year olds, but it’s like crazy town times 10 working with 5 and 6 year olds who can’t understand you. They really are so great though.

The weekends are my absolute favorite, duh. That when we get to EXPLORE! Last Friday night we bussed on down to old town for dinner, and for Vilnius Music Festival 2013! I’m just gonna say, I killed it on the dance floor. Haha. But it was so fun. The music was great and all the people there were so cool and hip. I love.  I also ate the best Hawaiian pizza that night. There wasn’t really anything special except that it really tasted like pizza. I don’t really know if I can explain, but everything that I have eaten here, even McDonalds, has just been a little off, like with a little different (but consistently different) flavor. I have just resorted to saying that everything tastes like Lithuania. That’s not a bad thing, but I guess I feel like I’m eating pretend food a lot. It’s just gonna take some more adjusting I’m sure. 

https://vine.co/v/hJjLOpTLAm0

Dancing in the streets^

Saturday we rented a van and went on a little roadtrip with our Head Coordinator, Dima, his wife, and his two daughters Nikole and Sofia. First let me just say that Dima is the coolest and kindest in all of Lithuania. I got to sit nest to him in the front and since everyone else passed out, we just had some great conversations. We talked about his grandmother who was a prisoner for 12 years during Soviet times, about communism, about the concept of freedom, and he even taught me some more Russian. He grew up in Russia and I loved listening to him tell me what it was like for him growing up under such a controlled environment. Like I seriously couldn’t get enough of it. I have learned all about these crazy dictators and historical events in school, but listening to him, it was like I really knew nothing. Hearing about life through the perspective of someone who was actually there was just so awesome. People have the capability to be so happy despite any circumstance. I think there are definitely circumstances that we just can’t really be happy during, (we are only human after all) but just because one bad thing happens to us doesn’t mean we are destined to be miserable for the rest of our dayz!

Alright, so we actually got to stop and visit Dima’s grandmother in a quaint little village called Ukmerge. She basically had a grill with all her blangin gold teeth. I only say that because she was literally smiling the whole time we were there. Then we went to The Hill of Crosses. UNREAL. I don’t know who counted, but apparently this little hill has over 100,000 crosses, and when they say over, I think they mean they stopped counting after 100,000 because there was millions. The hill had such a presence of history. While walking through all the crosses, you couldn’t help but feel apart of something big. The hill was destroyed by the Russians several times, but was built up by the people almost the day after each time it happened. A physical testament of faith, and as my host dad said, a symbol of freedom.  

After the hill of crosses, we went to St. Peter and Paul’s cathedral, which was beautiful for real. And then, if you can believe it, we went to a cat museum. Now how many people can say they’ve been to a cat museum, and then say they’ve been to a cat museum in Europe? It was hilarious. After the cat museum, we visited Chaim Frenkel’s Country House, which is now a museum. This guy was loaded out of his mind. The massive building was used as a house, a hospital, and a gymnasium at different period of time. I was full of all sorts of treasure. We grabbed some lunch at classic McDonalds, and then headed home.

Sunday we had Church at 2. The missionaries translate for us, and sacrament meeting was so good. The people at church were so friendly and it was nice being able to talk to the missionaries who can speak and understand English. Sunday school was just hilarious.

So yes, I cannot believe it has already been two weeks, but I also feel right at home. All I can say is I am already trying to think of where I want to travel next. I just need to see as much of the world as I can and talk to everyone in it!  

Bonus clip: I taught Davidas how to say Crazy this week.