C is for Cookie (and Christmas)

That was one of my favorite songs growing up, C is for Cookie sung by Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. Those were the days. The days when Oscar lived in a trash can, not a recycling bin and Cookie Monster scarfed down cookies instead of vegetables. I love my cookies too! I have one recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I've been using as long as I can remember. I have the whole thing memorized. It's quite excellent. Well, it had been awhile since I've made my cookies so my host mom let me make them! It was great. They turned out just fine. They were a little different, but still amazing! At the bottom of this post is a picture of them. I can say they didn't last long, maybe 18 hours! They were just too good.
That now brings me to Christmas. You know how Christmas is a great time to be with family and friends? Now imagine yourself away from them, in a foreign country, not being able to wake up Christmas morning and be with some of your most favorite people on this Earth. Doesn't sound very fun now does it. Well, it was certainly different. I woke up Christmas morning pretty sad. I wanted to wake up in my mom's new house and have cinnamon rolls and go through stockings and presents and have that feeling. I didn't get that this year, but I ended up having a good Christmas anyway. I woke up and my host family had already opened all their presents (mind you this was by 7:30 in the morning. Way too early for me.) but I went downstairs and found I had three presents! One was a sweatshirt, one was a PJ set with monsters on the shorts, and I got some blank certificates. I had asked for stationary, but apparently that's not common here so these certificates will do. If you think you finally got your bachelor's degree in the mail, it's more than likely a letter from me! It was great. I didn't get my cinnamon rolls, but I got Cinnamon Toast Crunch which is pretty dang good. It was nice to be with a family. I got to watch my host siblings play with their new toys while I was warm in my new sweatshirt. Later, there was a party with more relatives. This was really great for me since my host cousin is my age, really nice, and good in English. We did the same thing cousins do at most parties, hang out and do our own thing. We watched some videos, played some games, and ate. It was really nice. Now this sounds like a normal American Christmas party, but wait! Santa made an appearance! And he brought more presents! We all danced the Chicken Dance with Santa and then he handed out presents. I got a Lithuanian language CD with basic phrases for getting around. I know some of them, but it's really helpful! I also got tights (yes tights!), a bath set, a book in Lithuanian and English, some warm socks, nice earrings, and a ton of candy. It was a great Christmas and I got to video chat with my mom, brother, and uncle and voice chat with my dad and Laura!
So that was Christmas. Christmas Eve is also a celebration. For Christmas Eve I was at my host grandma's flat and Indre (my host cousin) was there with her family. The tradition is you can't eat meat on Christmas Eve and there are twelve dishes on the table and you have to try everything. I didn't try everything, but I had a lot. My favorite was the mushroom caldoons. Caldoons are like ravioli. There was also a very nice tradition where each person got a wafer that was exactly like the host at church and you had to go to each person in the room and wish them a great new year or just say something nice about them and take a piece of their wafer and they did the same to you. It is a great tradition.
Now as for me: I'm just getting over being sick. The week leading up to Christmas, I didn't go to school because I had the worst headache I've ever had, the flu, and a cough/cold. It wasn't fun but I'm almost completely healed now! I'm extremely glad to be on break. For the first part of this upcoming week, I'll be in Latvia skiing! I don't know how many days we'll be gone, but I'm excited to travel more and go skiing. I'll do my best to take more pictures. I'm terrible at getting out and using my camera most of the time, but I'll do my best! I'm also becoming happier and happier for some reason. I am definitely more relaxed than ever. It's a great feeling. I'm getting back into writing more often too. It can help clear my head. In a nutshell, I'm great. I do wonder why I got this country sometimes (mostly with the weather. Lithuania was, by far, the coldest country in my top 7 or so...) but I'm having a good time, living a life, and being myself.
Below are my scrumdiddlyumptious cookies!

Latvian Hockey and an Old Lady's Life Story

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I've been meaning to post for awhile, but I either am too busy or get sidetracked.
So, two weeks ago I switched host families. With the Rotary Youth Exchange program you will live with three families during your exchange. You'll spend about three months with each family. I'm now with my second one. It was hard to leave my first host family. I had been there since the beginning, but it is nice to have something new. This family has three kids all younger than me. There is a girl, Ana, who just turned one yesterday. There are two boys, Lukas who is 4 and Valteeris who is 9. I've never exactly had younger siblings. I do have a 13-year-old brother, Scout, but we get along fairly well and he's not high-maintenance. Here, there's always something going on. My host parents are extremely nice and welcoming. My host grandma is also around a lot, helping take care of the younger kids. She barely knows English so I get to practice my Lithuanian. It's actually not too bad! I can understand a lot more than I thought, and I can say what I need to. It's great! Also, the past two weekends and this weekend, my host dad's friend has been staying with us. My host mom is having seminars with her work and he is part of it. Here's the thing though: My host dad is actually Latvian, but he knows Lithuanian. His friend is also Latvian, but he doesn't know Lithuanian. So they will speak in Latvian. When he talks to my host mom or host grandma, they will speak in Russian, and when people talk to me, they speak in English. It can get pretty confusing, but it's really fun too.
That brings me to Latvian hockey. Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in many European countries, but not Lithuania and Latvia. In Lithuania, it's basketball; in Latvia, it's hockey. On my first weekend with this family, I got to watch a Latvian hockey game online. The Latvian team is part of the KHL, the Russian hockey league. I got my hockey fix! While it wasn't enough to make up for watching the Red Wings at least once a week, it was nice to watch good hockey.
Since I switched houses, I now have to take a different bus to get home from school. It's a long ride, so most of the time I will take my old bus and walk a little farther. When I did ride the long bus one day, an old lady sat next to me and started talking to me. I did say I can speak some Lithuanian, I didn't really know what she was talking about. I picked up a few things, she's lived in Kaunas for eight years, something wasn't working for 15 days, and she likes chocolate. This lasted about ten minutes. During that, I just smiled, nodded, and made sounds of agreement. I was determined to not let her know I was foreign, and it worked! To quote a famous penguin, "Just smile and wave...". That's what I did, and it worked!
We're getting really close to Christmas now. And yes, they do celebrate it here. It is a Roman Catholic country. We have a Christmas tree at my house, all you hear is Christmas music, the malls are packed with people buying gifts, and each kid has a Christmas concert with their school. I went to both of my host brothers' concerts yesterday. It was definitely better than the St. Mary's concerts. Each class just had their own concert. Lukas' class just sang songs and was visited by Santa. They were dressed up in costumes too. He was Eyore! Very cute. Valteeris' concert was a play of an old Russian fairy tale. So in a nutshell, at each concert, the kids performed then they got to eat cookies, cake, and pizza. Pretty normal. Santa visited each kids' concerts too. In Lukas' class, each boy got a Lego race car and each girl got a mixer. Yeah, a mixer. The thing that has two whisks and is used to make brownies or cake, in the kitchen. How very stereotypical! Come on, at least go with a Barbie or something. I just found that a little funny.
Well, to wrap up before this gets too long, I'm excellent. It's snowing, the holidays are very close, and I'm just doing well overall. I would like to take this moment, while I have your attention, to say something though. I may have talked to you about where I'm going to school next year. Please disregard anything I've said. I have NO idea where I'm going. There are pro's and con's of wherever I choose and I'm going to wait until the summer to make my decision. Also, if I start to get bothered or influenced by people, I'll go to an all-girls boarding school in Idaho where we only learn about things that have to do with potatoes! Well, maybe not, but you get the idea.
-I'm Elsa Finch and I approve this message.-

P.o.I. Points of Interest

So lately, my posts have been roughly the same length as a romance novel. I had an idea where I could just post some random things and follow up with a sentence or two for easier reading. Enjoy!
-Today is my 100th day here. One third of my year here gone already! It's so hard to imagine.
-Exchange students love letters! Especially ones with robots on the envelopes and with drawings of tigers, pickles, and whales on a sheet of paper on the inside. Thanks Char and Julia!
-In Lithuania, people drink coffee and tea a ton! Also, the coffee isn't filtered. The grounds are scooped into a mug and you add water. Of course you don't drink the grounds, filters were a considered a luxury.
-Sandwiches are open-faced. There's only one piece of bread so it's not technically a sandwich by my 'American standards'.
-I haven't seen a squirrel here! I've been told they have them, but they're in the countryside, not in the city.
-Looks are much more important here. Outfits and everyday clothes are more put together and nicer than what I'm used to in the States. People aren't superficial though. It's just the way the lifestyle is.
-Jewelry (Corey, this is for you!) is also nicer. There are no Sillybandz, friendship bracelets, or Brasilian wish bracelets. It's nicer, simpler jewelry like a ring with one stone or pearl-like earrings or a nice necklace. People don't wear the same necklace every day too. I still wear one of mine almost ever day, it's from my mommy!
-School is much more advanced. It seems like they learn a lot more before university here. In biology for example, they seem to learn much more about the structure of cells. We learn the basics and if we want to study more, we can take an advanced class or learn more once in college.
-Its cold. It's about the same as Michigan winters though.
-There are no snow days. There are 'cold days' though. If it's -25 C, there's no school.
-Public transportation. I miss driving so much, but having public transportation is really nice. The busses can be extremely crowded in the morning and smelly people like to ride the bus, but it's definitely nice to have.

And to keep this short and simple, I'm going to end it. I tried changing the comments section so anyone can comment, but I don't think it worked, so you can send me an email at browneyedgirl.ekf@gmail.com if you wish!