Broken Escalators Are Simply Stairs

Well this has been quite the week! Earlier this week, I was really considering flying home. I just didn't feel like myself. Its rough being shy and being in a new culture where people aren't extremely outgoing, but I'm managing. I talked to many people, and we decided I would stay, obviously. I think I decided this when I was thinking 'If someone walked up to me, right now, and handed me a plane ticket to Traverse City, would I take it?'. I never could bring myself to think I would say "Yes" right away. As a result from this, it has been noticed that I have been spending too much time on Facebook and emailing. I am now taking a break from talking to people over a few hours away from me on Facebook, and drasticaly slowing my Facebook messaging and emails. Hopefully this will lead to more blog posts! I did have a lot to talk about, but I'm too tired so I'll just explain the title of this post. About one block away from my school, there is the second biggest mall in Lithuania, first in Kaunas! Its called Akropolis. When I have a free lesson I'll go there and go to Vero Cafe (pretty much Starbucks) or wander around. Twice now, I was going to go back down to the first floor, and I realized the escalators were 'broken' and I had to walk down them like they were actual stairs. Not many people do that in their lifetime! Its just something I had to share. More soon!

FAQ

Lucky you guys! You get two posts in one day!
I thought a Frequently Asked Questions page might be entertaining, and maybe also informational! The following are mostly questions that I have recieved here, not the ones that I got in America like "Now where the hell is Lithuania?" or "What language do they speak there?" or "Is that in Africa?".
Why Lithuania? On my first post I answered this, but I'll answer again. I met a girl from Lithuania through my exchange program. She made it sound interesting and it was different so I put it 4th on my list of 40. People normally get into their top 5.
Do you like the food? Yes. I love the food! I've tried a lot, and I've liked everything I've tried. From the national dish of Cepelinai, to the beetroot soup, to the pancakes that are at least ten times better than the ones in America.
Do you have a boyfriend? I have to keep from laughing at this one, just simply no.
(sometimes this follows the previoius question) Why not? Well, I can't explain it, I just don't!
So do you like American guys or Lithuanian guys better? I can't choose. I think there's the same ratio of good looking ones to not so good looking in both locations. They guys in Lithuania do dress differently, but that doesn't influence me much.
Do you live in an flat or a house (directed for here and America)? In both, a house.
Do you know any Lithuanian yet? Just a little bit, or 'mažas'.
What words? Random ones, obuolys (apple), šalta (cold), nesepratu (I don't understand), ir (and) iš Amerikos (from America). Those come to mind first. I also know numbers 0-11, and yes Rachel Amalfitano, they have the same numbers here. :)
Where do you live (here)? Vilijampolė. It is a suburb, for lack of better word, north of the city center. A lot of people make a face or comment on how its a bad neighborhood, but I haven't seen anything and I live close to a main road.
In America, do you have four seasons? Yes, I am used to the snow, to get to the point of the question. Apparently it gets really cold here, but I'm not sure how cold. I'll have to find out!
What do you do during school? Mainly I just sit there, and try to pick out words I know. I don't understand much!
Thats all I can think of now, but feel free to ask me any questions you may have!

Labai gerai (Very well/good)

I'm sorry it has taken so long to make another post! Thankfully, I've been busy! Where I left off however long ago, I said that I was kind of homesick still, and I didn't know much of the language. I still am kind of homesick, but its getting a lot better! The thing I miss most is just talking to people that I'm close with. It doesn't help that I keep seeing people that look familiar too! Out of the corner of my eye, I'll think I see someone I know, but when I look it's not them; of course. I am picking up more of the language, but I don't know what kind of conversation I could have. Not one of good quality that's for sure. It will take time, but I'll get it.
Some points of interest from the last few weeks:
I went to the Rotary Olympics here in Lithuania. It was pretty fun. Two of the other exchange students were there. We wanted to watch some of the games, but we couldn't find where at leas 150 Rotarians disappeared to! We ended up wandering around the town which was very nice. Druskininkai, a resort town very close to Poland.
I also watched the Lithuania vs. U.S.A. basketball game! That was quite the experience! I also watched the next game against Serbia where Lithuania won 3rd place! After Lithuania beat Serbia, my host dad took me to the city center and we were caught up in traffic where there were people yelling out of their cars and horns honking like crazy. On the sidewalks, people were everywhere. They were yelling and running. It was awesome to watch.
I have been sick for a few days. It started with headaches and now it turned into a cold. I'm feeling better each day though. Nothing sleep and a little ancient Chineese medecine can't fix!
School has been going well also. I still don't do much in most classes. I just sit there and listen to the language. The classes where I'm 'active' are English, duh, and math. A lot of the math we're doing is either something we did last year in geometry, or based on it where its easy to figure out. Today, it was one kid's birthday, so some of us put on party hats and gave him a sparkling juice and I think it was a cupcake. It was really fun! He ended up passing the juice around for everyone to drink, our teacher had to smell it to make sure it wasn't alcohol!
Right now, I'm done with school for the day, and I'm at home until I go to basketball training (practice). Currently, I'm eating chocolate, something that is AMAZING here! I love it, probably too much. I also am drinking chocolate milk! Its called Miau, like Meow. I was drinking it at the bus stop on the way home from school and some little kid that passed me, meow-ed at me! I wasn't sure what to do. Being here, it is really difficult to think that if I were in America, at St. Marys, I would be in Stratford, Canada right now. I can't even picture myself there! On Thursday, I will have been gone one month. Time is flying!
With love,
Elsa

Pictures

I've been meaning to upload some pictures, and now I have a chance! Here are some:


A church in Old Town Kaunas


A castle in the countryside


I don't remember what/where it is, but its pretty


My room!


My mom thinks this is a classic Rotary Exchange Student picture... blazer and airport.

Things are going better here, I'm a lot less homesick, I'm settling into a routine, and I'm picking up occasional Lithuanian words once in awhile!

Click; Starring Adam Sandler

So many people have seen the movie Click with Adam Sandler; the 'comedy' about one guy who gets a universal remote that "remote controls his universe". It surprised a lot of people that the ending was a tear jerker, for most. At one point in the movie, during a meeting at his work, Michael (Sandler), changes the language on the remote. Everyone is speaking speaking Spanish, even him. I wish I had something like that for Lithuanian. It would make things a lot easier. Lithuanian is an extremely difficult langage to learn, I think I'm doing decent. I still don't think I could have a legitamite conversation with someone other than "Hello. I'm good. No, I don't understand you. Bye!" but, I'm recoginizing words in conversation. When I try and think in another language (kind of weird, I know), I automaticaly think in Spanish, but lately a few Lithuanian words have been popping in. Such as taip (yes), ne (no), gerai (good), and such.
On another note, I've been pretty homesick. It was really bad when I woke up on both Saturday and Sunday. I've been having very realistic dreams about doing random stuff with my friends at home, and one vivid dream that I should be in Spain instead (?). It sucks that I love everyone at home so much! I've been keeping in touch with a lot of people but everyone is at least 24 hrs by plane away. It also doesn't help that I haven't really made any good friends at school either. Everyone is pretty nice there, but the class I joined is probably similar to mine in St. Marys. In which everyone is so close and have known each other for years, I'm just the new kid who doesn't speak the same language. I'm really glad I'm playing basketball every day though! The girls are nicer and talk to me in English more. Also, its something normal for me. The practices are very similar to what I'm used to which is nice. I love that I'm not trying to make varsity, play against my friends, or play against someone I don't like. I don't know any of these girls yet. I did my best not to judge their playing ability on the first day, and I think I did well. Another familiar thing is math. I am liking math here. I know how to do most of the problems so far and its easier to understand things because a lot of words are similar. Plus and minus are the same, just pronounced a little differently. Its comforting.
I know my homesickness won't go away in one day, and I won't make awesome friends in one day. I have to make this happen over a peroid of time. Thats part of what exchange is about; see what you are capable of. I miss home a lot but I'm glad that I am here.

School is School, Unless it's School.

A few days ago, I was excited for school. September 1st, the first day of school, I was extremely nervous. Now, I'm almost overwhelmed. The first day of school here is awesome. I went to school at ten, after eating minimal breakfast because I was too nervous, and stood outside with my 'group'. In each grade, there are different groups. I ended up talking to a few girls who knew a fair amount of English, that was nice. I think there was a ceremony up by the entrance but I couldn't see anything or understand what I could hear. There was a marching band though! That was cool. Then, when whoever was done talking, we all went into the school and to our class' classroom. While we were walking in, they were playing music, not just any music though. They were playing the theme from Indiana Jones first, then the Mission Impossible theme! It was, well, epic. After we got to our classrooms, the teacher went and talked a little, then we went to the audotorium so last year's students coud get their diplomas or something. After that, we got our schedules and left! This took about two hours at the most. I liked it. Some girls invited me to lunch with them which was cool. We went to Pizza Jazz (there are pizzerias EVERYWHERE) but only one girl got actual pizza. I got Makaroni su vištiena, pasta with chicken. It was very good. The restaurant was on the Laisvės alėja, freedom avenue, a very long pedestrian mall in the center of the city. It's two or three blocks from my school! One block away is a huge mall, Akropolis! Its pretty awesome. Today was the actual 'start' of school. I went to four of my classes, but there were no lessons, teachers and students are still trying to figure out who is in what class and such. Since it was the second day of school, there were only a few classes. It was nice. The only one I understood a fair amount in was English, of course. Since English was my fourth class, I was able to leave right after! I like this set up. It eases you into school instead of what its like in America. The first day, you just might have actual homework! Especialy if its a block class. Now about my uniforms, I really don't know! There are green blazers that I think you're supposed to wear, but only a handful of students were actually wearing them. I just wore jeans and a flannel looking shirt. And back to the school part, I think it will really help me learn the language. I'll get to hear it all day, every day, and I'll have homework in it, so I can translate words and remember! I really hope this works out. I don't see why it won't!
Well, thats it for now, if you have any questions or anything, just email me or something!
<3 Elsa