I'm Coming Home, Again.

I feel like it was forever ago that I was writing this same post, but in Fiji. Weird how it has been 5 months.
This post though has a different attitude to it.
I'm ready to come home. I am excited. I cannot wait.
One thing I wish it that I could have lived in Fiji for 5 months and Lithuania for 7 weeks. Just a note to self for future references.
What have I learned? How have I grown? What have I learned to be more thankful for in America?
I think the reason I have struggled so much these last 5 months is because Fiji was the biggest service high of my life and coming off of that with changing, growing, and learning so much to coming here has been anti climatic.
I almost don't want to write this post but I feel it is important to reflect even if it is not always great. These 5 months have been an adventure. I have traveled to 14 countries. 14. I have been able to see and do so much. I am eternally grateful or all the experiences and travels I have been able to have while here. I wish I had been able to volunteer more and feel fulfilled though. I go home not feeling as though I have grown as much as I have wanted to or in the ways I have wanted to. This is good to recognize however because I will work harder in China.
This to me has not been a volunteer experience but it has been a life experience. However, I miss the service. I miss helping those in dire need, I miss being able to devote myself to service, every single day.
So for those who are wanting to go on a service abroad, this is not the right program.
For those looking for a semester abroad, this is the right program. I think that is a very important distinction to make.
I have had an incredible time exploring Europe. In these months I have traveled to: Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czech Rep, Austria, England, and the Netherlands.
I have danced on the streets, visited the Harry Potter set, biked the canals, walked Anne Frank's house, bathed in the Budapest baths, explored underground caves, walked through ancient European buildings, ran in the pouring rain, explored islands, met fun people, sumo wrestled on the streets, walked through Auschwitz, licked salt off the walls of a salt mine hundreds of feet underground, attended mass in a graveyard on All Souls Day, painted orphanages, quilted for orphans, drilled holes in frozen lakes and on and on. It has been 5 months of adventure. Living in Europe has been beautiful.

What have I learned to be grateful for? Dryers for one. It's been 6 months since my clothes have been properly dried. I miss when clothes are clean. Heck, I am thankful for washers. For the first few weeks we had to hand wash everything, in the bath tub. I am so grateful for these modern conveniences we have. I am grateful for my friends and family and that they are close by. I am more grateful for the love my animals bring me. Boy, do I miss them. I have learned to be grateful for my car. Public transportation is not the funnest thing around. It takes forever, is slow, schedules get changed, its cramped, you're stuck standing, it is not fun. I am so thankful to be able to go home and go where I want, when I want, without having to coordinate a schedule and taking an hour to get there. Having that freedom and ability is something I will not take for granted. I am grateful for my bed, bedding, pillow, and so forth. At first, I had to share a fold down futon with one and sometimes two girls. I've slept on the pull out couch and the couch. They are pretty miserable. Yes, they are better than the floor but I am so happy to go home to a bed. I am grateful for heat and walls made of wood. Living in a concrete box makes it cold and hard to decorate. I am grateful for neighborhoods and houses. I am grateful for open floor plans where not every room has a door that closes you in. I am grateful for my own space where I have control over the cleanliness. I am grateful for the technology in classrooms in America and my students there. I am grateful for my Mac, my real camera. I am grateful for a country where I speak the language. I am grateful for CA weather. I cannot wait to come home to sunshine and warmth. I am grateful for stores where I can read the ingredients and know what I am buying. I am grateful for "American food" and by that I mean American, Italian, Indian, Thai, Mexican. I am grateful for appliances like a blender, my kitchen aid, crock pots, cookie sheets. I am grateful for a closet bursting at the seems with outfits to choose from. I am grateful for shoes and variety.
I cannot wait to come home to these things and appreciate them so much more.
What have I been grateful for in Lithuania?
I have been grateful for Dima and his family. I am grateful for Rosie and her love of life and chocolate. I am grateful that she shared the same love I have and can get pure joy from walking into a bakery shop. I am grateful that Hannah loves taking pictures and always documents where we go, even if there are a lot of tree photos ;) I am grateful for Paige's laugh. I am grateful for Mikele's patience. I am grateful Rachel's ability to be happy about anything. I am grateful for Marijuanas hugs and love and energy. I am grateful for Karina and Lukas for making me smile every day and for feeding me snacks on the daily. I am grateful for Danielle, Nicole, and Dominkya for their English abilities and way they always helped in class. I am grateful for Karina's love. I am grateful for the babies and the way the mimic us and make me laugh on the daily. I am grateful for old town and how beautiful it is. I am grateful for the cooks for making me pancakes and Lithuanian man and cheese. I am grateful for varske cheese and for homemade bread. I am grateful for the apple trees. I am grateful for the Swiss' for providing us the opportunity to sever on the weekly and for feeding us.

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A Christmas Program

Wednesday and Thursday were my last days in the classroom and they also were the EL2 and EL1 Christmas programs.
Wednesday.
I had only 3 kids no show which was a relief. For our performance we put on a puppet show. The children wrote their own scripts, made their puppets, and some even learned a song. Dominyka choreographed a dance to All I Want For Christmas Is You. Before parents arrived we set up this cute set and took some photos. At this point Marijuana and Dominkya were already crying because they knew we were leaving. I will miss Marijuanas energy and love for life and that I actually grew closer to Dominyka then I ever thought possible. Once parents came we went through the 4 puppet shows and they performed their dance. They nailed it. Really, it was beautiful. I am so proud of them.

Thursday my level 1's had only a 5 minute segment in the other kids show. The one the other girls were performing with all their bajillion kids. The theme was the Polar Express and my students were decorating a tree and talking about Christmas. Then they sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town and then sat by the tree to read the Polar Express. End scene and new kids come on. I had a lot no show but they still pulled it off. On a side note cute little Karina brought Mikele and I these chocolate shaped mushroom things we love. YUM!

Then I had to hurry and get into a Santa Suit for part of the performance. Problem was I couldn't find the hat, the beard was ripped, and the bag had nothing in it. I frantically found a safety pin to fix my beard, threw boxes full of thing from the classroom in my bag, and grabbed a hat off a child as I ran down the hallway just in time to burst through the doors saying HO, Ho, ho but at this point I was laughing and sweating. It was pretty funny.

After the first set we had another performance with the second set and this time with out three year olds. All they were supposed to do was sing Jingle Bells. Right. Basically it was Mikele and I singing a bad duet trying t coax the babies to come to the front of the room. It was pretty darn funny though. Those babies... so darn cute. 

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The Three Year Olds

After I teach my elementary classes I teach a handful of pre learners. This consists of 3 to 6 three year olds. 

Let me tell you when Mikele first told me I had to do this, I wanted to cry. I had my experience in church nursery and I hated it. In the beginning I would switch off half way with another girl and we tried open play.

It was a disaster.

A complete mess.

The kids were insane. There was no structure.

I still remember the first time when in desperation we decided to have snack time. 

Mikele took control of the snacks and ran it like a bigger kid SPE.

Life changer. 

The kids were seated and engaged and even said a word! It was like watching you child with their first word. 

From that day on we decided to run everything in the method we had been trained in.

Now, 5 months later. We have this down! 

Class starts with story time. Our kids now say: this one, read it to me, open it, turn the page, show me, the end. 

Then onto arts and crafts. Mikolas loves to cut, they all love glue, Anree loves to draw all over the table and put glue on people, and the girls love crafts. Emilia is obsessed with making a mom, dad, and a small baby- especially making snowmen families.

Snack times comes next but not before pulling up our sleeves and washing our hands. The bathroom is next door to the class and in the beginning the babies would not go without their parents in tow. Now they line up at the door, arms folded, and walk quietly to the bathroom. They wash their hands and then say: paper towel please. Anree still likes to steal the entire paper towel roll and throw it into the toilet though. 

Snack time. We have learned they are obsessed with Nutella and pretzels. They do not like popcorn. At all. 

Phrases: I want one. Pretzel please. Fish! Yum, yum. 

Then onto a fine motor activity like stickers, clips, stacking. Emilia loves cups so much and now she even gets them out and puts them away. They also love cars. We end by reading another book. 

Emilia loves to sing and has quite a few English songs memorized. 

Monica is obsessed with the color yellow and birds.

 Mikolas loves to repeat everything you say with your expression and hand gestures. He also loves to cut paper. Julia is so quiet but loves snack time. Anree loves to throw everything into the trash can, crumple paper, and cor all over the table. 

Is my last hour my easiest? No. But going from my most dreaded time of day to my favorite time of day? Yes. 

Even when I get bit. 

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A Lithuanian Christmas

We decided that on Saturday we would have a Christmas party before our trip to see the Nutcracker.
Thus began preparations.
We would recreate our Thanksgiving feast just in more massive proportions so that it could feed us until we go home. next week!

Two turkeys were ordered, two huge bags of potatoes mashed, pounds and pounds of sweet potatoes cut, pies prepared, and so on and so on.
Saturday morning we got up to finish cleaning and decorating.

Set the table with what little I had to work with. We put finishing touches on food. Which by the way I made a lemon curd, which I thought rocked. I love that stuff.

Anyway Dima and his family came over around 1 and we spent the afternoon feasting, playing games, and chit chatting in what was our last outing together.

We then hoped aboard the bus and headed to the ballet.

We had pretty rockin seats, in row 6 and seeing a Lithuanian ballet was beautiful.

The selfie stick makes groupies much easier. 

Made me want to get to work on my body as soon as I... get home lol.

But really, the warm weather, house, and ability to move around will assist in my workout regimen. The dancer's arms though, those will always be an envy of mine. They were prefect.

So as we are sitting there during the ballet I realize that Rosie and I never took our apple pie out of the oven.... which has now been cooking for 3 hours! Dima and Rosie had to run back to the house and remove it before... who knows what could have happen. I felt terrible that they had to miss the last part of the ballet but thank goodness our apartment was okay. The pie however, was not.

On and we did a secret Santa. However my secret Santa thought it would be hilarious to wrap each of my chocolate bars individually and then in tape. Then tapes together. Do you know how hard it is to untape that many candy bars. It was hilarious. Everytime I thought I got it there was another layer underneath. The video is too funny too.

The video of the wrapping

People keep asking me how I feel about coming home. It's a lot to put into an answer. Of course I am excited. More than anything in the world I just want to be with my dogs again, of course you knew that. The part that weighs on me the most is that I am going to China in exactly one month. It makes me sick. I feel, if I wasn't going to China then I would not be so eager to get home. 7 days California, 7 days.

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An unUZual Stamp

So I was about to type up a post on the trip to Uz to get a passport
stamp. When to my shock and surprise Mikele had already posted!
 This never happens people. Usually my roommates are weeks
 behind me in blog posting but Mikele one upped me today and
I thought well... if she already wrote out the whole thing, and
she is a great writer... she will just be my gust blogger today.
So here is our adventure, and my lazy way of telling you
 about it, in her words

The link is here: Show her blog some love:
http://mikelemcgregor.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-country-that-doesnt-really-exist.html
THE POST
"

9.12.14

The country that doesn't really exist.

This is the story about the time I got a passport to the country that doesn't really exist.

Let's begin. 

Inside precious little Lithuania is a precious little republic called Uzupis. ( We like to call it Uz.) It is a tiny little republic that declared itself independent in 1997. Though it isn't big enough to be it's own country, Uzupis has it's own fun personality and even has it's own president. On the side of one of the main streets is it's constitution which includes laws like:

"A dog has the right to be a dog."

"People have the right to have no rights."

"People have the right to be unhappy."

"Everyone has the right to be idle." 

and my personal favorite,

 "Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat."

This place is just full of silly things and oozes charm. We have gone there a few times and we had heard that some of the previous girls had gotten their passports stamped. We did some online research, and the google practically made it sound impossible to get your passport stamped in this place. All of us girls are pretty much obsessed with passport stamps, so we decided we would do whatever it took to find our stamp. 

We started with locating the post office. We read online that there is only one man in Uzupis who can issue the stamps. We heard that he just wanders around and you have to hunt him down to get a stamp. We also heard he likes to hang out at the post office. That seemed like a much more plausible thing to search for than some elusive man, so we rode a bus right into Uz and started our search. 

After trekking up a big hill, we finally got to the post office. We showed the woman at the desk our passports and asked for a stamp. She just shook our head. Dang. We weren't at the right place. Luckily the woman was kind and she gave us an address to find. We said our thanks and went on our way. The next destination was Uzipio 2. That is where the stamping man illegibly is and you bet your bottom dollar we were going to find him. 

We walked all the way back down the hill and there was still no sign of Uzipio 2. We were really confused. Finally Jessica spotted a 2 on the side of a restaurant. We were even more confused. The girls had just about given up and were starting to walk away while Paige and I went inside. We asked the bartender if he knew where we could get a stamp. He slowly reached down, opened up a drawer, and pulled out a stamp. Paige and I just about died. We were so excited. We yelled out to the other girls to come inside and we got the infamous Uzupis passport stamp.

Here she is in all of her glory. 

Major score. Thanks Uzupis.

XO Mikele

P.S. If you want to find the secret passport stamping location, just walk over the lock bridge and go into the restaurant on the left hand side. The internet says you can only get stamps on April fools day. So don't listen to the internet kids. Listen to your homegurl Mikele and your Uzupis dreams will come true."

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A Frozen BBQ.

Today was spectacular.

I wish I could have more Sundays like today.

It started early this morning when we went to church. We missed our bus and had to stand in the cold. That was not spectacular. It was also not spectacular when I missed my bus coming home. There we were walking out of church and we see it. The 2g. I swear to you this always happens. We always miss the bus by a minute. Right now when it is freezing and the bus now only comes every 20 minutes, when you see it drive off without you... that's pain. 

So we start to run. Problem. I'm wearing rain boots. Problem. My joints don't work in the cold. Problem. When the only tights you brought are your mothers and are way to big in that they fall down during normal walking... they really fall down when you run. 

Problem. I missed the bus but my roommates didn't.

Stink fest.

Whatever I made it home and got to admire the snow covered Earth on my walk. 

Now let's get to the good stuff.

At 2:00 we met with Ignas' family in front of the school. We had been told we were going to do a BBQ by the lake but we really didn't know what they meant. When we saw them all in their full snowsuits we were a bit worried. There was us: jeans and jackets. Oh boy. We got into two cars and started a drive through some beautiful forest. Eventually we started doing a little off roading and then we saw the frozen lake! There were people ice fishing and a man walking across it. I got very excited. 

We pulled up and their cousin was there with a fire. This was going to be an adventure. 

Step 1. 

I needed to walk on that lake. I've never walked on a frozen lake before, let alone in Lithuania. So we did. It was sweet! I was a bit nervous at first. It got even better when the cousin brought a hole making drill and we got to make ice holes on the lake. 

Then Ignas took us into the forest with an ax. I don't have much skill with an ax. 

We headed back to the fire to try and warm our freezing bodies and numb toes. Boy my feet were cold! I have to solve this problem before China.

Now came the food.
They started putting sausages on sticks. Luckily I had told them I was vegetarian. Phew. Not another repeat of yesterday. So they had caprese for me which was so sweet. They kept bringing us food like pickled onions, pickles, bread, and on and on. After we were stuffed they told us that that food was just to hold us over and then they pulled out the chicken and veggies.

It never ended!
I ended up eating a mushroom, eggplant, tomato chopped dish covered in a sauce made from ketchup and spicy salsa. Um.
It was not the easiest thing to stomach but I appreciate them making me special food and taking time to do it. It was very sweet of them.

They also opened a whole can of green olives.
Then there was more bread and more juice and even raw bacon. Ha. Thank goodness I didn't have to try that one. Poor Hannah, taking one for the team.
Their family is so nice and so awesome for taking us on this adventure.
I want to have more real Lithuanian adventures before I come home!
After this fun we headed to down town to Cathedral square to attend Latin mass. It was really neat being able to attend in the large Cathedral.
The Christmas tree is set up and lights glisten down the streets.

I love Christmas time.
But it's so cold!

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A Lithuanian Lunch.

Lithuania has some food I like and some food I really don't like. Nevertheless I've managed to gain all the weight I lost in Fiji and then some. Darn those good foods. Don't worry, China will heal this.
Anyway. Remember the days when we used to get food from the school? The first few weeks we loved it and thought it was delicious. By the end of month one we were sending food home with Hannah to her host family. By the end of month two I dreaded going to lunch and breakfast got more boring. By the end of month 3 I was begging Mikele to cancel all the food and let me cook for myself. However in all of this sometimes we got dinosaur eggs. There is no way to describe what a dinosaur egg is, but I will try. It is the shape of an egg, and huge. It is like the texture of playdough and slime mixed together. Chewy and slimy. There is a surprise pocket of meat in the middle. It's also stretchy. You totally want some right now don't you?

We thought maybe this traditional cepelinai would be better if it came from a restaurant or home.... One time Rachel ordered it in a nice restaurant... it was a step up but... we still didn't like the dinosaur eggs.
So today... when we got invited to lunch and found out we were making the eggs. We were nervous.
Apparently they take a very long time to make and it is a huge process. It is. We learned first hand. It was also fun.
The first problem though was that they didn't know I was vegetarian. Oops. I have now learned to make it very clear that I don't eat meat before I go to anyone's house. Especially in Lithuania. So when they found out... it was no bueno because this dish relied on the meat. Their dad literally went to the store to buy me varske (cheese) to go inside. I felt so guilty! He said let me go get some milk products. Then he brought back mozzarella, Parmesan, cottage cheese, and string cheese. He cut them all up and had us sample them and even showed us how to pull apart the string cheese. By this point I felt so guilty. I hate being an imposition and I really don't like when people have to cater to me.
We played with Kamila and Julia and then helped to cook. We started by juicing the potatoes and then straining them through mesh. You take the liquid and drain that in order to pull the starch off the bottom of the bowl.

This is what creates the outside of the dino egg. Then you have the meat mix for the middle or for me the varske. You flatten this thing out in your hand, fill it, and then squish it all together. Then you boil it for 40 minutes. It was quite the process.
While they cooked Daniel came over and we all played Monopoly, in Lithuania.

Then we ate.
I don't have much to say.
Except then they tried the cheese one and said it was really gross and I needed to eat the meat one. I felt so bad but I stuck with the I'm full.
More games.

They had the cutest yorkie!
Then tea time! With a full tea set and everything. It was so cute. We had a traditional cake that in English is Johnny cake, chocolates, cookies, tea, and oranges. I was so full I was going to puke. They were so nice though and kept giving us food.
After that we played some more and then headed home.
They gave us boxes of chocolates and our own Johnny cake. They also gave us dinosaur eggs to take home.
Oh! And it was my first time in a Lithuanian house! That was neat!
When we got home we were supposed to go into town and do all the Christmas fun at the markets but the girls were already on their way home.
Talk about sad! I want to see town so badly! :( I hope we can go next Saturday before the ballet. Fingers crossed.

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38 Planes Later

38.

The number of planes I have boarded this year. 

And I don't have frequent flyer miles. ✈️

Epic fail.

Some people don't even fly 38 times in their whole life and I've done it in one year. Crazy. Crazy I tell yah.

That is boarding a plane every 9 days for a whole year!

Sheesh. 

I should calculate how many hours I spent in the sky. That would be sweet. 

What's even more crazy? 

8 countires I visited this year didn't even use planes. They used trains, buses and boats. 

I've been on literally hundreds upon hundreds of buses.

Taken public transportation for 6 months straight.  

It has made me so grateful for public transportation and even more grateful that I don't have to use it when I'm home. 

38 planes.

January 12 I start the count again. 

1. China. Maybe 1,2, and 3. We will see how many times I have to board and change flights. 

Secretly, I hope this years count is a lot less. I'm done with airports for awhile. 

Over and out. 

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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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