I've been living with my wonderful host family kind of on the edge of town where i walk to and from school everyday. The buildings are almost all apartment complexes and each looks the same so that if i turned down a wrong street i could hardly tell. The first few weeks i hated it. Everything was exactly the same, built before the soviets left in 1991. But as i've adjusted and seen more and more of the life over here, i've grown to see and appriciate the smaller differences. Each window is worn or cracked differently with different colored siding and window panes. I don't know... i just appriciate each little difference.
When i came here, i wanted a new experience. I wanted a whole gigantic change before me in another country to make me think and feel different. I was almost dissappinted when everything felt the same. People in lithuania are still people. They still live in houses and eat around the table, they drive to the grocery store and fight with the cashier. Some of their mannerisms are different but they are still people. The place feels the same. The sun still doesn't always shine, it snows ALL the time, there are cats and dogs and fruits and vegetables and even peanut butter and ramen noodle soup if i want. Sure, everyone speaks in a language i don't understand and there are a couple social cues i've learned, but nothing is incredibly different. Grass is still the same color everywhere.
I finally realized that if you want something different, the place to start is yourself. It doesn't come from me witnessing changes, so its okay that all the buildings on my way to work are the same.
I think for all this i am grateful. In this respect, it is impossible to say one people is better than another because we all share similar experiences. Also, it means that you wont end up drastically changing simply because you are surrounded by a foreign culture. It's just sort of a relief, after all the anxious waiting for the different-ness to take over, i now have the rest of my time to put all my effort into making the differences in myself. To learn to better serve the kids i teach, to learn to better communicate with those around me, to appreciate the things i take for granted back home, to learn some beautiful things in a new language, to become confident in my abilities, to be adventurous and have fun.
I've been working hard to get the adventurous thing going and not passing up opportunities to go out of my comfort zone. So far one small way i've found to do that is by having "What Pizza Wednesdays." There is a little pizza shop on my way to teach and my roommate and i decided to go eat there one day. There were all these pizzas to choose from but everything is in a different language so we decided to just point to the first one and try it. It ended up being hawaiian, which neither of us like, so we diceded to make it a weekly adventure. The last one we tried ended up being pickle and bacon!
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| Seriously, who thought of this? |
It was interesting :) Not sure i'd try it again, but i'm excited to try the next one! I've been able to try some native food mostly because i live in a host family. We basically eat lots of potatoes, crepes, and tons and tons of soup. Milk and beet and cabbage and sometimes just a whatever we can find soup. It's been fun. But i finally got to try the infamous "cepalinai" because i went to old town! All European cities have a center in their city where all the buildings are old and authentic and there are churches and cathedrals everywhere. It's the parts of town you see when you google "Vilnius" or "Lithuania" There are cobblestone streets and beautiful alleys. Finally getting to see it really made me feel like i was in Europe.
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| My roommate Kerry, Head Teacher Liz, and Me in Cathedral Square |
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| The Biggest Cathedral in Vilnius |
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| Clock Tower in Cathedral Square |
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| In the middle of Old Town |
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| We saw a tour group and followed them to this "Older" old town :) |
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| This is a square of luck in the middle of Cathedral Square. I don't know the history about it but it you make a wish and spin 10 times on it, it's supposed to come true :) |
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| Authentic Lithuanian food right here. Cepelinai. It's some sort of potato substance that is rubbery and chewy covered in onion-y, bacon-y cream deliciousness and in the middle is some kind of meat. It's weird, but good. |
Yeah, that was a cool adventure we'll be repeating more. Everyday life is still the same, some days are good and some are less good. I wonder if i'm doing my job right and being beneficial and if i'm making the most of my time here. I saw a quote on facebook, "We will be successful when we act in love instead of obligation." This gave me so much to think about! I felt like i kept doing this or that, treating the kids a certain way, speaking a certain way to natives, taking pictures of specific things, not doing this or that offensive thing, all because someone had said thats what i HAD to do. I felt obligated to do and act so much! When i read this quote i stopped. I need to just love the place i'm at, the people i'm with, and my choices! I love these kids and i'll teach as best i can because i want them to be successful, not because i want the parents to be happy. I'm gonna enjoy the moments and just take pictures when i can, because i love the experiences i get, not because i need to have a daily catalog of events. I'm sure this is all rather long winded and weird for most of you but anyone else who feels me on this, life is so much easier when you find your own reasons to love everything! Try it out :)
One of the things i recently recognized how much i love is missionary work. Being out here on my own, trying to interact with people who dont understand what i'm saying, i've got a tiny glimpse of the daily struggles missionaries go through. As i attend church each sunday and visit a bit with the missionaries and people here i see how much selfless service they are giving and i am so greatful to know so many honorable people who are serving, going to serve, or have served missions. You are all amazing and i look up to you! The people in the church here are mostly converts and they have such amazing faith with a great desire to learn more and share the gospel with others. Thanks for helping other people in the world find that kind of happiness!
Well the whole point in me being here is to teach :) I love these kids so much! They are so cute with their accents and so happy to be with us! Just look at some of them!
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| Who doesn't love cootie catchers? Haha, these kids are crazy! |
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| My little lover boy. He likes to steal kisses from me :) |
As much as i love them, there are somedays where they just go insane and it's all i can do to keep them from tearing the wall down. Literally. One day after teaching i just came home really discouraged leading to all kinds of other worries and homesickness. Everything just seemed hard. I was telling this to a friend who gave me some advice i want to leave with you. "It is hard and it will always be hard but the sooner you change your attitude and and get lost in what you're doing and stay busy you'll find it will get easier."
This applies to everything. When you let yourself get lost in your work/school/purpose you learn to love it. And it does get easier. I promise :)
Love you all!
