An Ikea Makeover.

When we saw signs for Ikea in Lithuania. We needed to go! Getting there on the other hand would take an hour on the bus and in below 20 degree weather. It was so cold but when we pulled up, so worth it! 

Ikea looked exactly the same as in the states and even had 1 lita ice cream. It was delicious! Walking around was so fun! Like being back in California! The real fun was that Paige took us so that we could redecorate and restock the apartment as a gift to Dima. Let the shopping begin:

It got a little out of hand. Crazy yes!? A lot of fun and a lot of litas later we were checked out and realized we couldn't get on a bus so we had to call a cab.

When we got home we were all so excited we started cleaning and decorating! It turned out SOOOO good!! So good! It was giddy excitement in our house!

Tables, rug, accents, candles, pictures, pillows... Oh my! Amazing!

Seriously though it looks so cute! And we got a Charlie Brown style Christmas tree.

The bathroom looks amazing too! And smells so good thanks to some delicious candles. Paige also restocked the kitchen with knives and dishes and utensils! Ah! I wish we had done this four months ago! I'm sad to leave our cute place now! 

Update: We finished our school makeover. Check this out! My OCD heart is in Heaven.

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A School Update

School is still going strong. The day I had the flu I missed my English level 1 class. Composed of: Ignas, Karina, Nedas, Nastia, Aleks, Slava, Nicca, Nicole, Sofia, Polina. 

Anyway I was back on Thursday and it was really hard because it was Thanksgiving and I just wanted to be home but Karina came around the door, saw me, and ran at me screaming teacher! She embraced me in the sweetest hug and said I'm so glad you are back. 

That kid makes my Tuesdays and Thursdays amazing. She is only six and so small and adorable. She is the definition of happiness and is always smiling. She loves to share her snack with me during break and just wants to be close. She's adorable.

Then in came Ignas and when I told him we had to start learning songs for our Christmas Program he said oh I know one and then proceeded to let out the most foul string of swear words to the beat of a rap. That child and his bad words. It's terrible. 

I was actually surprised how hard it was to get these kids interested in their program. They don't want to do it which I thought would be my problems with Level 2.

Surprisingly, I have level two a choice on if they wanted a program or not and they did!

I asked Dominyka to choreograph a dance for us and she picked the song All I Want for Christmas is You. She came up with the cutest dance and on Wednesday started teaching it to all the kids. She did amazing and was so engaged. 

At the beginning of the semester I wrote an entire blog post about her attitude and how she was going to single handily destroy me. I deleted that bc I became Facebook friends with her lol. But in the beginning she sat at her desk with her phone and just have me death looks. She refused to participate or listen to a thing I said and lived to roll her eyes and give me a death glare. It was scary and I didn't know how I was going to handle it. Slowly I started to put her incharge of activities and make her my helper. She realized I wasn't that bad and now we are friends :) a lot can change in 4 months. Seeing her lead this dance and get so in to it, it's amazing. Makes me smile from ear to ear and I'm so excited for this program. 

On Friday they started writing their scripts for the puppet show and designing the back drops. Friday Daniella and Nicole went crazy with the script and made this whole story about a boy who falls Ito Santa's bag and goes on a grand adventure.  I can't wait! I think they will rock it! Three weeks left! Is crazy! 

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A Lithuanian Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving in a country that is not America, is to say the least ... interesting.
Let me preface that Thanksgiving at my house has 50+ people, centerpieces, chargers, sterling silver, goblets, the whole deal. We have appetizers, dinner, and then tons and tons of desserts. We dress nicely and its a very beautiful event. It's what happens when your mother is a party planner and florist. Not many people have serving dishes for hundreds, as well as table cloths, chair covers, etc. So it's a big beautiful deal.
That being said we knew we had to make it work regardless.
First, we would need to prep.

They don't sell turkeys here in the store but by word of mouth from other Americans we heard you could pre-order one, and so Rosie did.
We headed to the largest grocery store, in the mall, in hopes of finding yams and cranberries. Even though the yams were very expensive we had success! We also found a bag of frozen cranberries, double success. The other parts were guesses and included staring at packaging hoping that what we put in the cart was what we wanted. It's a bit hard when everything is in a language you can't read. A lot of litas later we were back home.

That night Rosie tried to make a pie. I use the word tried because, well, it was interesting. We had exactly one can of pumpkin that someone shipped Paige from America. Yay! So glad we had that can of pumpkin! That pumpkin was gold to us and could not be messed up. When Rosie arrived she had forgotten all the ingredients, including the pumpkin pie spice she had shipped to her. So to the Maxima she ran. The had the pie crust rolled out and ingredients tossed around the kitchen but she also was missing evaporated milk. Long story short the poor girl tried to make her own evaporated milk, while mixing her own pumpkin pie spice, all with being late for school. The milk burned, the can opener doesn't work, the pie crust is in a weird dish we found, and she has to leave. So all the ingredients go into the fridge for me to tackle later. Paige ended up finding evaporated milk at the store with a weird name and I was able to finish the pie. Which I might add was delicious! Good job Rosie, very impressive! Very impressive! Rosie rocks.
Wednesday morning the food prep began. I got up early and roasted garlic for the potatoes, made the cranberry sauce, and started to prep vegetables. Around 9:30 Paige woke up to tackle the turkey. Well, we soon discovered that unlike in America where there is a bag of turkey parts inside the turkey, this turkey had all its parts... still attached.
What to do.
Big knife.
Wake up Mikele.

Paige and Mikele then began to dissect the turkey as I recorded and we all yelled and laughed and about vomited. Some parts of a turkey I never want to see again. It was absolutely hilarious to say the least and made for some lasting memories. Turkey goes in the oven and more prep.
Brown sugar carrots, mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and Amsterdam cheese, sweet potatoes from Heaven- seriously Paige makes the richest, sweetest, sweet potatoes ever, mormon wine, lol, and on and on. Rachel arrives with stuffing (get her recipe, it was the best stuffing ever!) and Rosie arrives with rolls and another pie. BY the way it was the first stuffing I have ever had that did not come out of a box.

(If my mom saw this plate she would not be happy because it is not color balanced. I would have to agree but come on now, it's Lithuania!)

Got dressed in school clothing- skirt and sweater, as is tradition in our family to look nice for Thanksgiving. The other girls didn't quite understand but I like that tradition. I also like eating off sterling silver and drinking from crystal goblets. But let's not ask for too much here.
Mikele and Paige are in bed and Hannah and I decide to set up and decorate to the best of our ability. We tried to move the table into Mikele's room but we got all the way to her door and realized it wasn't going to fit so we had to take it all the way back to my room lol and then put by bed up, clean, and make the room large enough for all of us. Which we did! We used some of our kids creations from school which added a little fun to our mismatched table. But hey, we are in Lithuania, we made it work.

Rosie and I decided we needed to make a third pie for Paige. No concern that we had no oven, little time, and 8 things cooking. So off to the store Rosie went again and a lemon pie it was. It actually turned out great even though I swear it was going to fail. It was very tart though but lemons are tart so it works.

At 1:30 we sat around our table together and ate. By 1:37 we were done and fuller than full. The stuffing and sweet potatoes were the highlight of my day. They reminded me of my dad. We both have a sweet tooth. My mom would have hated them but he would have loved them so much. Our food really was great and I am impressed we were able to pull it together, everything was so delicious. Once we were done,  I started to tackle clean up while the girls watched Frozen. I wish that we could have sat around the table more than a few minutes and actually tried to enjoy each others company but unfortunately that didn't happen.

That night round two happen and all the leftovers were gone. Pie night. Yum. Ha! Whip cream. Ever made whipped cream without a blender? It sucks. It hurts. It takes forever. It makes a mess. Rosie was covered in whipped cream and so was our patio. Delicious though and totally necessary. Pumpkin pie without whipped cream is not a pie at all.

Oh! And it snowed, all day. That was a first.

The hardest part was having to go to work. We just wanted to cuddle up and watch a movie or play games but we had to go out in the snow and work. I did video call my family for the first time since being here and talked to my parents for awhile, not sure if that made it better or worse.
I am not going to lie, yesterday was hard. Probably why this post isn't too happy. The only thing I wanted to do was be at home with my family, in CA, outside in the warm weather, feeding leftovers to my dogs, listening to my family sing and play the guitars, eating multiple times, and being around those I love and care about. Sometimes though we have to make sacrifices. At least I will be home for Christmas.
3 weeks.
3 weeks.
I think I can, I think I can...
Until then in the light of Thanksgiving here is what I am thankful for. Really, I am thankful...

Sarah Wolf. Enough said. She is my other half
My dogs. The literal loves of my life.
My family.
My best friends! Tawnie and Michelle and their cute babies and soon to be babies. And Eric and our love for food.
California winters
My car
Travel
The cute kids in my classes
Karina and her hugs and enthusiastic greetings every time she sees me
The pre learners and their expressions
Social media and the connections it gives me to America
My Chaparral teachers who inspire me
Pictures
Pillow top king beds
down pillows
hot water
dryers
matching dishes
books
America

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The Flu.

Lithuania: 4 Jessica: 0

I'm down for the fourth time.

Lithuania welcomed me back with snow, temperatures in the 20's and a violent sickness. 

Thanks.

But really, this is my fourth time being sick here and I really hope it's my last. 

Especially since this year it's my 8th time and second battle with food poisoning. 

Ok I don't know if it is food poisoning or the flu but both make me so sick I cry.

Yesterday at the end of class I had a major headache and just felt so weak. 

Then 1:55am. I knew I was going to be sick.

I'll never look at carrots the same again.

6 hours later and so much vomiting I just wanted to sob.

The worst part is when you are that sick and it's the middle of the night. So all you want to do is sleep but all you can do is wake up to throw up. 

Then when your system is cleared the dry heaving starts which is like the world laughing at you because if it wasn't bad enough now you have convulsions that do nothing but make you cry. 

Pain.

Sleeplessness.

Chills.

Sweats.

Fevers.

And the distinct smell of vomit which I am always thankful for because it triggers the puke that's waiting to happen. 

But seriously,

No more. 

Please!

Well, it's 8pm. I have literally been in bed for 24 hours. I have moved to throw up and just a few minutes ago to get food. Yes, it took 23.5 hours before the thought of food didn't make me puke. I downed a little soup and am feeling much better. I am glad it's over. I am also thankful for my amazing HT who taught my class for me tonight so that I could lay in bed and cry. 

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London Rain

At 5am our whole room was awaken to a screeching fire alarm. My ear plugs did little to dilute the terrible sound. The funny thing is in an entire room of people Rosie was the only one with the reaction to evacuate the building. The rest of us sat there and complained about the noise. Turns out it was something to do with the rain and a leak that set it off. Doesn't make sense to me either. 

By 9am the girls were finally ready to go and we got breakfast and then tried to figure out how to get to the airport and time it. Of course it took forever to make a decision and figure it out. When we finally did make a decision and arrived at the metro the metro wouldn't even sell us the ticket we needed. Instead we bought umbrellas and went back to the hostel to order a bus online.

Then finally got our hop on hop off tickets. But we missed the bus and had to walk for twenty minutes to the next stop. There we couldn't find the bus. It's literally 11:30 by this point. A bus finally came and we started our tour.

We got off on Kings Cross station to see platform 9 3/4. Let down.

It's literally just a sign on the wall and a line of people. We continued on our rain bus to see all the big things in London. Problem was it was freezing and raining. So we didn't get off the bus very often.

I totally rocked that poncho. Then we went I Harrods. Why? For this:

When I saw they had a Laduree in London I freaked out! The vanilla bean macaroon they have here is the best macaroon I've had in my entire life. They didn't have the big ones here like in Paris but the little one was just as good. When you pay $3.50 for a cookie smaller than an Oreo it better be good. 

I want more already! 

We missed our bus to the airport but we caught a later one and made our flight. Phew.

I don't feel good. 

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London Love

London.

I've fallen madly, deeply in love with you. 

Even though it took 3 hours from pkave landing to walking through the hostel door. We will just call that a hiccup in our relationship. 

Our hostel was located in beautiful Hyde Park is an adorable building. 

With awesome light fixtures but really squeaky beds. Afte dropping our luggage  we headed to find Oxford street. 

It was surprisingly warm in the 50's so it was a nice night walk. We walked for awhile until we saw the beautiful lights in the distance.

It was spectacular. I would say it was like walking down time square and rodeo drive. Tons of people, gorgeous buildings, high class and the lights. Oh the lights. You had me at hello. 

Every alley just got better. 

So if the lights and fun atmosphere wasn't enough the red busses and phone booths were the cherry on top. 

BUT it gets even better and here is why:

My favorite two initials. Ever. This place is my own personal heaven on earth. My love affair with a grocery store may seem weird to many but you obviously aren't a foodie. This place is beyond description and this one was huge!

I need this place in America. I was finally able to eat real healthy food like home:

It was the freshest and most delicious food I've had in 4 months . Even if that juice came out if a bottle and not my juicer. It was happiness for my soul. 

We used the tube and it was slightly confusing. There are ao many tunnels to choose from! 

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ABC Amsterdam. Bikes. Canals.

First, look how cute our hostel cafe is. 

Second, look how delicious my breakfast is.

More chocolate flakes of course but hey there is banana in there too. Besides it's a pretty photo. 

Check out time. We see a sign saying the train is closed on weekends. Ut oh. After 30 minutes trying to figure it out with the lady we finally decided we would just pay a lot and take a taxi so we could have more time

Riding bikes!

Get bikes. 

Attempt to ride.

Remember when I attempted this in vilnius. Okay it wasn't as bad but it was still funny.

Thanks Mikele for letting me borrow your coat. 

We road to this sign which was hard to take pictures of because of all the people. So I thought I would focus on the  better half:

And then we got back on the bikes and rode through Vondel Park. It was beautiful and I didn't fall off. 

However on the way back I was an inch away from crashing into some lady. She came out of no where and didn't even use her bell. Terrible. 

We ended our short morning in Amsterdam with stroop waffle ice cream. YUM. This is good! 

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Canals. Cheese. Amsterdam.

Breakfast& bibles

This morning the hostel fed us. And it was a great breakfast. Museli. Have you heard of it? Well the rest of the world has.  In addition they has boxes of chocolate flakes. Seriously chocolate flakes. And to balance it out a banana. 

See. Breakfast and bibles. The Christian hostel even has their own bible. Don't worry, I took a copy. Will give it to Kayla. For some reason I think she will love that the Christian hostel ten minutes away from the red light district in Amsterdam gives out bibles. 

Canals

Then it was time to walk to the Anne Franke house. We got so lost. 

But the canals were awesome. I had a really, really bad clothing & hair day. That's shouldn't be allowed. Whatever. It probably had to deal with we were so late to the Franke house and we heard horror stories of how long the line can be and while we had tickets, we were late and lost! So many people helped is find it but then we had to run. Run through the streets in the cold. It's hard. 

Made it. 

Anne Franke House

No pictures allowed inside. The annex was much bigger that I had expected. The stairs so steep. The empty rooms with the the kids height penciled on the walls. Her diary has sold over 70 million copies. I've read it multiple times. Walking through the place she hid, seeing the original bookcase that kept then safe for a time, was moving. 

What an experience. Sometimes it's hard for me to read and learn about an event or person and then connect that in my brain to something tangible. Like that it really happened. She really climbed the same stairs that I climbed and walked those halls. So glad we had the opportunity to visit this place of remembrance. 

Dam Square

Sure has a great name. Souviener shopping for the girls. Cool Dutch shoes. Lots of them. 

Cheese Tasting

Oh. My. Word. I ate so much cheese. We didn't eat lunch. But we did have a cheese tasting. In the basement. With 6 kinds of cheese. They were delicious. Okay lies. I loved the first three that were young cheeses but as they got older my facial expressions got more and more grotesque. Especially the three year old one, puke. Good for me, that's the expensive one anyway. 

But really cheese tasting with my own guillotine and different types of juices. I don't even like juice but when were tone is doing cheese and wine and you get fancy juice you drink it. Check out my rating: 

Really though, this was so much fun! I loved this experience and I love cheese! I got a huge wedge of it to bring home. America I'm bringing you some Amsterdamian cheese! Ha.

Waffles, stroop 

Of course more food to talk about. I just need to do all this good food now because once I'm in china I'm sure I will have not much to blog about except the disgusting things I come across. 

When my coworker Julie went to Amsterdam last year she brought back these waffles full of caramel, that were incredible! I knew I had to get them but I wanted a fresh one. Oh and a giant fresh one I found! Delicious! But I still havnt found a good packaged one and I only have half a day left. 

Lost

We seem to get lost a lot here. A lot. Like the red light district was literally 1 block behind our hostel and it took us 45 minutes to find.

Red Light District 

The place is so Raunchy. They have windows full of women. I don't want to know how the rest works I'm just glad it's illegal in America. But I did see a HUGE swan.

I've never seen one that big.

On our walk we saw to a of beautiful streets and there were Christmas decorations up.

Wok & Walk 

Finally we went to dinner and had some incredible yellow curry. I love yellow curry!

See how much I loved it.

We ended the night back at the hostel for Christian mic night. That was interesting but Rosie sang and did some group dance. 

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