Food in Lithuania

This is by no means a complete description of food in Lithuania. However, I found the bakery sections of the grocery stores to be quite colorful and enticing. The photo here is in what is actually a smaller grocery store. If we took a photo in the larger stores, we would not have been able to fit it all in close enough to see the detail. Bakeries in Utah have basically brownies, cupcakes, and donuts frosted in different colors. The stuff here isn't even as good as Western European bakeries have! Then I have included another picture of our gingerbread train from what I think is a better angle. The third picture is the menu outside a Cili Kaimas (I'm not sure if I spelled it correctly) which is the Lithuanian chain comparative to a MacDonald's or Burger King. I don't know if you can get close enough to see the food items listed. As for prices, a dollar is equal to between 2 1/2 and 3 litas, depending on the exchange rate on any given day. Things here are quite inexpensive compared to the US but they are going up constantly since Lithuania is now a part of the EU and the lita value is tied to the euro. This could possibly be our last blog from here. It's Friday and we leave Monday morning. I don't know if we'll take the time to blog again before we leave. Beyond that, I have no idea whether anybody is still reading these and whether we should keep people posted as to our travel experiences throughout the US. Let us know if anyone is interested so we can know to keep going with this! Happy New Year!

the Making of a Masterpiece!

We decided to make a gingerbread train instead of a house. We got the idea from Family Fun magazine which, if you haven't ever seen it, is a terrific magazine with lots of ideas for families. Susanne made extra dough so we had enough to make all of the cars we wanted to make as well as a depot. Susanne decorated the depot, James the engine, Louisa the coal car, Nicholas the boxcar carrying a Christmas tree on top, Jarom the car carrier with crane, and Russ and I did the caboose. Thanks to our daughter Angela who mailed us a box full of goodies, we had lots of Christmassy-type candy for decorating. You can't even get candy canes at all here! M&M's are available but rare and I don't think Hershey kisses or chocolate chips are available at all.
It took us a couple of days from start to finish but it was worth it. We have enjoyed our visit in Lithuania and we will miss our family members here when we leave. It will be nice to be back in the US where we understand what people say, can read the signs, and know what food to expect in restaurants and grocery stores!

shadows and shopping carts

What about shadows? We have been telling you in words how dark it is here in the winter. The picture of James and Mary in front of the castle was taken at about 1 PM. It was a clear day which by itself is unusual. If you look at their shadows you may get some feeling for how high the sun is at mid-day. This is as high as it gets this time of year. The picture of the car illustrates two things. One, how narrow a one way street is here and two, how dark it is at noon. The glow of the tail lights is from my camera's flash. It fires at noon outside. By the way, this car is not moving. It is parked. I don't know what traffic is supposed to do.
On to shopping carts. They are different here. I wanted to take a picture of the wheels but my battery wasn't up to it at the time. All four wheels pivot. This is good if you want to go sideways with your cart and quite troublesome when you don't. You know how hard it can be to steer a sprung cart in the states. Try to imagine this with four wheels that steer independently. Also, you can see a man with a cart going up what would be a flat escalator. He is not holding this cart. The wheels have rims that are about 3/16" wide and 1/4" high. On the sides of the wheels are rubber feet that hover 1/8" off the floor. When the rims fall into the slots of the ramp the cart sits on the feet because the contact part of the wheels is in the groves of the ramp. The cart holds itself in place until you reach the end and the rims roll out of the groves. I thought this was pretty neat!!



P.S. We will be leaving four days earlier than planned because our flight was cancelled and this was the best we could do. We will return to the States on the first of January. See you all sometime later.

Christmas trees

Merry Christmas from Vilnius, Lithuania! I imagine most of the people who might read this are still sleeping, visions of sugar plums dancing in your heads. The gifts here were opened last night according to Susanne's German tradition. The kids were up early this morning to enjoy the American tradition of stocking gifts.
Two of these four trees are huge ones set up in main parts of the city of Vilnius. One is in a rebuilt middle ages castle fortress in a nearby town called Trakai that is a peninsula nearly surrounded by lakes. The last is the tree here in the house. We wish we could pray for peace throughout the world on this Christmas day but there are people who don't have peace in their hearts and we all have our freedom to choose how we will act and react. God will force no man. Thus, there will not be peace. I look forward to the government of the world being in the hands of One for whom the angels announced long ago, "Tidings of great joy, peace on the earth and good will toward all men". Today would not be too soon.

Vilnius Lithuanian Branch Christmas Party

Friday night we went to the church Christmas party. There seemed to be more people there than we usually see at church- well, after awhile. The party was scheduled to start at 6 with a program then the food. We had not eaten much figuring we wanted to be able to enjoy the food there. We entered the chapel, which looked very different from Sundays with the podium and chairs removed and hay and a manger added. To our surprise, there were very few people there. I took our plate of brownies into the kitchen and expressed my surprise to the sisters there at the quantity of food spread on every surface. Not speaking Lithuanian, Russ, Susanne, the kids and I just sat down in the chapel to await the start of the program. By 6:30, after watching kids running amok turning on and off the music, playing with the candles (which were later lit much to our fear since they were sitting on a wooden stage covered with straw!), moving furniture, and whatever they could think of, we had decided that if it didn't start by 7 we would just leave. Our kids were trying to sit patiently but they were very hungry. Finally, at 6:45 they started with the nativity play. We didn't understand a word but it was nice that we knew the story. Next, our family played "Silent Night" on the chimes with Louisa feeling very proud of herself coming in right on schedule with the last note. Then a family acted out a puppet story of the Three Little Pigs. We weren't sure what that had to do with Christmas but it was very cute. (At the end they sang what sounded like "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" so that must have been how they tied it in.) Then the branch president, his wife, and their little girl sang "We Three Kings of Orient Are" with more verses than I ever realized there were- or maybe it just seemed that way because I didn't understand any of it and the evening was just going on and on. Then they started playing some sort of games. We tried to smile and nod and watched what was going on but a lot of it had to do with asking questions so we didn't have any idea what they were talking about. At this point, someone told the kids that there was a pinata in the Relief Society room so they ran out of the chapel with relief as well as anticipation of having some fun. There were lots of kids and they were being blind-folded and our grandkids were behind most of them. It looked like it was going to be a long time. It was after 7:30 and Louisa started crying about being hungry. Things were still going on in the chapel so we finally decided to just go home and have something to eat. We had no interest in trying to stop anywhere because it was the Friday night before Christmas and all through the town there were tense drivers and tired shoppers. The Relief Society president expressed regret that we were leaving when she noticed but we tried our best to explain the situation. Since none of us but James could even communicate much, we were all hungry, and there was going to be a Mormon Tabernacle Choir special broadcast on at 8, we thought it would be best to go. (The broadcast was filmed several months ago as a special for AFN- American Forces Network. It's an interesting satellite cluster of channels that Americans living and working overseas can pick up to watch selected taped programs from various US stations. The only time we have seen what's available locally was when we stayed in a hotel. There were a few Lithuanian channels, a German channel, a French channel, a couple Russian channels, and, occasionally, a program in English from Britain or the US.) We got home just in time for the start of the broadcast and enjoyed hot chocolate (the last of the Quik until Susanne orders more through the commissary) and Christmas cookies.

Field trip- to our house

The day after our last day at school, the Pre-K 4 class had a field trip to our house. Susanne wanted to make cookies and a craft with them and it was easier to bring them here than to bring all of the stuff to the school. We wondered how the kids would react to this huge house. They didn't seem at all intimidated and were reasonably well-behaved. Russ drove to the school and brought 3 of them back. The rest rode with their teacher in a taxi. First they rolled out dough to cut out Christmas tree shapes which we baked while they ate the mid-morning snack they usually have at school. (Each child brings their own.) Then they made their snowmen ornaments after which they went down to the basement to play. (That's the middle picture.) Then they decorated the cooled cookies and while the icing hardened they went into the living room and played the chimes that we had taught them to play at school. After a rousing game of musical chairs, with one major melt-down over a disagreement as to who got the chair, they loaded back into the taxi and car and returned to school. We were greatly relieved that it all went as smoothly as it did in the time we had.

Our Final Day at School

We went to the school for our last time. Much to our surprise, there was only one child still out with the chicken pox so we were able to finally get pictures of nearly all of the class members. This week they had school only Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. These pictures are from Monday. Many years ago, Russ and I made sets of chimes from pipes for all of our kids' families. We used the set James's family has with the Pre-K 4 class. We figured out the chime numbers for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Old MacDonald, and Itsy-Bitsy Spider. I don't think we ever got to a point that we could have given a concert but it was fun, despite repeated reminders that they could hurt people and things if they swung the chimes around. The smallest of the boys with the brown hair is Oliver, the little English lad. The tallest boy looking at the camera is Domynikas, the oldest in the class but also the newest and having the least English language ability. We have enjoyed working with these kids, despite the frustrations of the language barrier. We wonder if they will miss us....????

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum.....

We finally got a Christmas tree to put up. It was purchased at a "Maxima" which is similar to Target or Wal-Mart in the US. It's a large chain of grocery stores with a section for clothes, games, books, housewares, etc. The Maxima Susanne usually goes to is attached to the Akropolis mall which happens to be the largest mall in the Baltics. At this time of year, there are literally bus-loads of people who come here from Belarus, Latvia and who knows where to do their Christmas (or Hanukkah) shopping. The tree is about a foot short of the 11 1/2 foot ceilings on the main floor of the house and cost about the equivalent of $40. We bought a saw for about $3 so James would not be forced to resort to using his Leatherman to trim the end and branches like he did last year. (It took him the better part of the day.) Some people might say, why didn't he buy one last year? Finding things here is no small task. First you have to find out where something is likely to be, then you have to find out how to get there, then you have to fight traffic to get there. A simple errand for us in the US might take several hours here. Hence the reaction to avoid it and try to make-do. Someone we know spent several days looking for a hot glue gun simply because she doesn't speak Lithuanian and didn't know where to look. Anyway, the tree looks lovely.

The somewhat fuzzy picture is an attempt to capture the decorating theme of the hall where the school pageant was presented. There are large marionettes hanging around the walls, hence the name "Puppet Theater". The first part of the program was the various younger kids doing little songs and rhymes with a big finale that included the toddlers (2-year olds). The woman standing at the front of the stage is "Mrs. Austia" and I have no idea if that's spelled correctly. That is Louisa's teacher and that is actually her first name because her last name is too difficult for even the Lithuanian kids to say! She's a wonderful teacher and speaks excellent English. The little boy on the right of the picture with girls and boys in red vests is our grandson, Nicholas. His class sang a couple of songs. Then the second part of the program was a little play called "Elfis and the Sleigh Riders" about one of Santa's elves who starts a rock band. It was mostly songs sung to recorded music but it was pretty cute. The boy in the t-shirt in the middle of the picture is our oldest grandson here in Lithuania. The program started off with the usual chaos involved with children but ran smoothly and fairly short (just under an hour). After the program there were refreshments offered by the PSA down in the lobby during which the kids ran amuck then complained all the way home about being hungry despite the abundance of food because they were too busy playing to eat! Just like my kids did and probably I did as a kid.............

Vilnius American School Christmas Pageant

These are pictures of the class Russ and I have been working with. The cute little girl with the gold bow is our granddaughter, Louisa. The boy in the pink bunny costume is Ugnius. The kids sang two songs and recited a poem, mostly about winter and snow rather than anything religious. Louisa's classmates are the oldest in this groups of kids at 4, the others are only 3. I'll do more pictures and description of the hall where this was held, called the Puppet Theater, tomorrow.

Embassy party desserts

As you can see, the dessert table was not big or heavily laden. To the credit of those responsible for the party, they did have plenty to continue refilling the platters that were there. The cookies: chocolate chip, cut-out and decorated sugar cookies, and brownies, were "American" choices. The cake was made by a local baker and was interesting- it had a mocha layer and a layer of some sort of alcohol flavored pudding. Needless to say, I took one taste and put it on the table of finished plates to clear away.

In case you're curious, as a tax payer, the ambassador furnished the food and paid the entertainers for the kids. However, the gifts given out were purchased, wrapped and discreetly brought by parents and placed under the tree, with name tags. The party was for all embassy employees and their families. Most of the people there were Lithuanians who work for the embassy driving, providing outside security, doing some desk jobs, and maintenance work. And a good time was had by all.........................

The American embassy Christmas party was held in the "American Center" which is currently some distance from the embassy itself. It's a nice building with an auditorium-type room for holding cultural events such as this party. Since arriving here we have also been there for an orientation meeting for new arrivals and a concert of American music. The top picture is the kids with the entertainers that were hired, including a very European-style Santa Claus who danced and told jokes in English and Lithuanian. The next picture is just a nice picture of our daughter-in-law and grand-daughter looking down from the balcony area where we stood to take the first picture. The last picture was an attempt to show the feast that was offered. Other than rolls, sliced ham (imported from somewhere because it's not available here, the best guess being that most Lithuanians can't afford such a large piece of meat), sliced turkey and vegetables with dip, I can't accurately tell you what all the dishes were. There were salads of all different kinds and I'm not even sure we could identify all of the ingredients at the time we ate them. I'll tell about the desserts next time.

Chicken Pox!

Tonight is the school Christmas pageant. It involves all of the kids from the pre-kindergarten 2-year old class to the sixth graders. Russ and I have been working in Louisa's class which is the pre-K 4 year olds. Normally there are 9 kids in the class, only 2 of which are native English speakers. One boy, Domynikas, is actually nearly 6 but he just started coming to the school, doesn't speak English, and his parents (apparently a "Lithuanian thing") want him to be 7 when he is in kindergarten. About a month ago, one of the boys with limited English, Lukas, was absent for nearly 2 weeks because he had chicken pox. Two of the kids in the class, Louisa and Ugne (pronounced oognah, she's the only other girl in the class) have been immunized for chicken pox. Ugnius (pronounced oognus, he's one of the boys with pretty fair English) had chicken pox when he was younger. Well, now there will be only 4 children representing their class in the pageant because all the rest are out with chicken pox: Povilas, Jokubas, Julius (pronounced Yoo-lus), Oliver (the little chap from England), and Domynikas will all be having an extra-long vacation from school. In the US, there are some quite heated opinions about immunizing. Salk, Sabin, and others in the medical field were certainly sincere in their efforts to ease some of the tragedies of childhood illnesses like measles, mumps, polio, and even chicken pox, which are even a problem to adults at times. Many people who are opposed to immunizations are too young to have known people who have had devastating, long-term affects from these once all-too common diseases. True, there are on occasion problems with reactions to the serum itself. But I have to seriously question whether widespread illness is preferable. I don't know why these kids have not had immunizations: expense, availability, lack of awareness, or belief. But I feel bad for the kids who are missing all of the holiday festivities.

Christmas season

Lithuania is mostly Christian. The once large population of Jews was eradicated more than 50 years ago. There may be Muslims here but they're not evident. Christmas decorations are not as showy here as in the US. About the only outside lighted decorations are huge Santas and Christmas trees on big businesses. Occasionally you can catch a glimpse of a tree or something through a window. This picture is a nativity scene that Russ and I made for gifts many years ago. It was a time when I had gone from the "what am I going to get for Christmas" focus through the "what do I get others for Christmas" to the "what is the REAL meaning of Christmas" focus. I slowly started reducing the Santa themed decorations in our home. It's not that I am totally opposed to Santa Claus. I just want to remember why we have this holiday. Generally I like the Christmas season because it's a time when people actually make an effort to be like the One this holiday commemorates. It's a time of year when I can be smiling and generous and helpful and people aren't as likely to be suspicious of my motives or sarcastic about my sincerity. I truly DO want to be like my Savior. And I find it pleasant to be around others who are trying to be kind and helpful and generous and charitable- like our Savior. Sometimes they don't even recognize that. They're just responding to the feel of the "season". I wish they would recognize exactly what that means and remember they could choose to be that way all year round.

lest you think it all glamorous....

These are just ordinary pictures of the house where our son and daughter-in-law's family is living. It can be adventurous to live in a different country every couple of years and have opportunities not available to most people. I want to open your minds to some of the aspects of this life you may not have thought about. The house they are living in is huge, especially by Lithuanian standards. The ceilings on the main floor are 11 1/2 feet high! The house is rented furnished so the furnishings are also higher quality than most Lithuanians could afford. The catch is- none of it belongs to our son. When he retires from the foreign service, he will own their car and personal goods. That's what Russ and I had back in 1970 when we got married. James
and Susanne will have to purchase a home and all of their furnishings at a time when their contemporaries will probably have their home, complete with furnishings and lawn mowers, etc., all paid off. In addition, they feel awkward here inviting anyone from church over because their dwelling is far above what anyone in the ward here could afford. They would appear to be much more wealthy than they really are. It's difficult for James to visit ward members in their homes and see that their standard of life is so different. Even by American standards, this home would be very expensive- but it doesn't belong to James.

The pictures of their food storage are to show what things they stock up on that they can't get here. When you live in different countries it's rare to have access to foods that your family is accustomed to eating. Although their kids are far more adventurous in their eating habits than most American kids would be, they try to have available items that the kids are familiar with and like. They buy cases of cereal when they are in the US and have them shipped with their personal goods when they move to a new post. The down side of that is that sometimes the cereal can pass the expiration date before they eat it all. When they lived in Amman, Jordan, the embassy compound included a small commissary where Susanne could purchase some familiar foods, although the quality was sometimes lower after shipping or freezing or whatever happened in the process of getting it to Jordan, and the prices were sometimes high due to the nature of the effort involved in getting it there. There is no commissary here at the embassy. The nearest one is in Helsinki and they can order limited items from there about once a month- with some specialty items available at holiday times. Susanne is remarkable in her ability to provide food and clothing and other necessary items for her family in all kinds of places. She has learned enough Lithuanian to survive but not enough to carry on extended conversations. So with the aid of a city map, whatever hints she can glean from other English speakers at the embassy, church, or school, and her own abilities of observation, she manages to find stores to buy the kids new socks or places to purchase wheat to grind to make her family bread and pancakes. About the only food items that are easy to purchase anywhere here are potatoes, bread (mostly rye), mushrooms, yogurt (in more forms than I never knew existed!), butter, milk, and eggs. Certain spices and other items she has to just do without if she runs out of what she has. She tries to read the ingredients, in Lithuanian, Russian, or occasionally German, English, or French, on unfamiliar items in the stores and makes the best decisions she can.

things don't change

Once a fire fighter, always a fire fighter, and once a seamstress........... As you know, Mary and I have been helping out at the school. Most of the time we are there to assist the teacher with craft projects and to help the children (force?) learn English. In addition, we have taken up our roles of the last thirty years. Mary has been doing a lot of needle work on things like costumes for the plays etc. and I just did a fire safety talk for two classes. It was great doing what we have always done so well. We will also be providing the music for the Russian speaking branch of our church this Sunday. Mary will be playing the piano for all the hymns and I will be singing a special mucial number that she wrote called; "How Can I Say Amen?" It just proves you can be of use no matter where you are as long as you are willing. The weather is still "gray" but warmish for this time of year. We had a record high two days ago. I think it was nearly 50.

more on the park

The picture of the road signs is posted just as you approach the park. The red circle with the white bar means if you are in a car, do not enter. It is used also for one way streets if you are trying to go the wrong way. In this case it means no cars in the park. The lower one should be obvious. The funny thing about this one is the park seems to be everyone's first choice for a place to walk their dog. We pass several every morning. The leash laws must be fairly strict or people just feel responsible because the dogs are always under complete control. Some by voice, some by leash, and a few are even muzzled. I have never seen an aggressive dog here so I don't understand the need for the muzzles. The park has a variety of paths. The largest are lighted by street lamps. We are thankful for this because we would have to wait until eight thirty in the morning for it to be light enough to walk without them. There are various smaller paved paths that go every which way. In addition, it appears that many folks think there should be other paths because there are many dirt foot path "short cuts" going off into the woods. They all reconnect somewhere in the park but it is quite a labyrinth. Before this gets too long, the other picture is trash pick-up here in the city. Every three or four blocks you find a row of these dumpsters. Each household and business takes their trash here. These in the picture are emptied twice a week. Often there is more trash than they can hold so it gets piled up around them and the trash people fill an emptied one more than once and get it into the truck that way.

Lithuania's last stand

I don't know if we have overused our space here or what but I don't seem to have the option of posting another picture. It might be only temporary so I'll check another day. In the last (next down) blog there is a picture of the ampitheater in the park. Behind it you can see a tower. That is a very special place here. That is the only tv transmission tower in Vilnius. For those who may not know Lithuanian history that is the site of the last stand against the Soviets. There was a protest of several thousand people again demanding Lithuanian independence. As in most of those conflicts they were unarmed and staring down Soviet tanks. Sixteen people were killed at the base of that tower but it opened the way for the Soviet withdrawal and Lithuanian independence. There is a revolving restaurant in the top which we intend to visit sometime for a meal but so far there hasn't been a day that you could see anything from there due to the fog and clouds. This picture was taken on one of the clearer days.

Vilnius Park

These are pictures of the park where we go for our 40-60 minute walk each morning. It is probably at least 100 acres of woods with lots of paved paths going through it. It is shaped like an arrow or sideways "v" with the amphitheater at the point. Behind the amphitheater is an area where there are some very rusty small amusement-park type kiddy rides. I can't tell if they're used still or not. The playground is all wood- including the slides! It is just along the main path. The street we are living on basically ends at this park then the buildings end and the path narrows a little to go into the wooded area. There are two rivers that meet in Vilnius and they run along the sides of the park. Maybe it's more pleasant in the spring and summer. We have never seen kids playing there. We see lots of people walking, jogging, bike riding, and even exercising. (They always bring a plastic bag or something to sit on even on the benches because it's always damp.) There are several small restaurants or cafes there, closed now. It's kept quite clean but sunshine would certainly be welcome...........

We saw the sun!

It may seem a strange comment, but we actually got to see the sun yesterday for the first time in at least a month. At noon time it sat in a mostly blue sky very near the horizon. The temperatures here have been quite moderate, other than the week at the beginning of the month when we took the trip to the coast and it snowed. It has hovered around 40 degrees. The street lights come on around 4 in the afternoon and go off around 8 in the morning. Most of the time it is totally overcast and fairly dreary. I would think seasonal depression would be a major problem here! It was also strange to see the sun so near the horizon knowing that it was the highest it would get until spring.
Russ and I will be spending the next two mornings being teacher assistants in the school here. The pre-K teacher for the 4-year olds is taking a personal leave. The teacher of the 3-year olds will leave her class in the charge of her assistant with Russ as a helper and go into the 4-year old class with me as a helper. We love working with the children but are nearly as frustrated as the kids with the language barrier. Over half of the kids in both classes speak mostly or entirely Lithuanian. We know they are trying to learn English, at least that's what their parents want, but they are so young and sometimes resent having to try to communicate in a way that is so inefficient for them. Unlike their regular teachers, we can't get any message they may try to communicate unless they use English. For the past several weeks, we have been going in for just an hour or so three days a week. This will be for 4 hours straight two days in a row. We'll just have to see how it goes................

Driving in Vilnius

It will be difficult to describe what driving is like here in just a few words. It really needs the support of personal experiences. These experiences only take one time on the road to gain. The first image is a crosswalk. You can see that it is clearly marked by both the lines on the pavement and the road sign on the post. As in many places, pedestrians have the right of way and all traffic is supposed to stop if anyone is in the crosswalk. This has not necessarily what we have experienced. It is more like, if a person in the crosswalk is not directly in front of you and you can get through the cross walk without hitting him then why not? Most of the crosswalks here are just the usual white stripes on the pavement but some are red and white like the one shown. These are indications that a pedestrian was killed in this crosswalk. I have not yet decided if the red is supposed to draw attention to this crosswalk for the drivers or the walkers. (Hmmmmm?) The second is a picture of just one of many streets. I took this in an effort to show how congested it can be even when traffic is light. You are looking at a two way street!!! It is obvious to even the most casual observer that there is not room enough here for two cars to bypass each other. Oh what to do? You play a game of chicken combined with leap frog. Basically, you charge ahead as far as you dare. In some cases the oncoming car will find a street, driveway,or empty parking place to pull over in. In others, you will climb the curb and park on the sidewalk until he passes. This sounds very polite and giving but it is not. It is much more like every man for himself. I have been at a stop sign turning left onto a two lane street and had a car on each side of me also turning left. This is because this particular intersection is flared to provide space for right turns. If a Lithuanian driver sees a space or a chance to go by you he will. Hence three cars all trying to turn left onto the same lane at the same time. I have other stories that are much worse but I only wanted to give you a flavor of what it is like to drive here.

INTERESTING FACTOID: There are more cell phone contracts here than there are people. Some folks have more than one phone but more often it is teens with several SIM cards. As services offer different rates if you call someone with the same service, they carry cards for the services of all their friends etc. and just use the one that gives them the best rate depending on who they are calling.