One Month

How in the heck have I already been in Vilnius for one month?! Time is flying by!!!! We are starting our 5th week of teaching today. Which is actually only a 4 day week because we don't have school Friday! We have our first 4 day vacation to Poland! Yay!! Then the next week is only a 4 day as well because no school the following Monday! Anyways...

So far, I've learned a lot and have learned to be grateful for a lot in the past month since I've been here.

#1: Everyone hates you. Especially the older people. No matter what.

#2: Say "laba dienna" to everyone. Especially the older people. They'll get mad if you don't. If you don't say "laba dienna" to them, they WILL yell at you.

Example: Annie and I were walking past this older lady, and we were not making eye contact with her, and she was walking very fast so we didn't want to bug her and say hi. So, we didn't. We pass her and she starts mumbling something and then we turn around and she is raising her fist at us and yelling something in Russian or Lithuanian. We don't know. Either way, they'll hate you. Just learn to smile and say hi.

#3: Homeless people WILL come UP to you and ask you for money. Ignore them, ignore them, ignore them. We have had multiple people literally tap us on the shoulder, and stick their hand out at us and beg for money. Half the time I feel like an idiot because I have no idea what they're saying so I just say "ah.. uh.. english?" and walk away. Then they get angry because you don't understand Lithuanian... again back to number 1 and 2, everyone hates you.

#4: Attitude is literally everything. You will have people start talking to you in lithuanian, and just have to smile and just hope they walk away. Kids will NOT listen to you and disrespect you, and you just have to smile through it and be nice and take a stand. Lesson plans will never go how you want them to, but making the best out of it and having a positive attitude will make your day better.

#5: Be grateful that you can flush toilet paper down the toilet in the United States.

#6: Be grateful for the dryer you have to dry your clothes. We are not given a dryer here and so we have to air dry our clothes and the humidity here makes them dry SO slow.

#7: Half the time you won't know what you're eating, so just hope its something nutritious

#8: People will start coming up to you and assuming you speak their language... just walk away and smile. Walk away and smile.

#9: When you ask for 3 scoops of ice cream, not expecting it to be that much and the lady asks if you're sure you want 3...listen to her. You will end up with actually the equivalent to like 5 scoops of ice cream and an upset tummy later.

#10: Expect the unexpected with what food you're going to eat. Sometimes you may just get potatoes for dinner in two different forms. Mashed and boiled. Not kidding.

#11: Be grateful for peanut butter.

#12: Get outdoors and explore more. You'd be surprised at the beauty surrounding you. I've found more joy in the little things life gives me than the bigger things.

#13: Live in the moment because you don't know when a child will bite you or lick you when you're doing a craft project... true story. Happened to me. Be happy, smile and roll with the punches... literally.

#14: Half the time your translators won't work in church so just read your scriptures or pretend you know what their saying. Either way, the spirit will speak to you.

#15: Read your scriptures every day and it will help you have a larger amount of patience for things that will happen to you through out the day. Heavenly Father loves you so much and wants to help!

I've learned a lot more and have learned to be grateful for a lot more things than I ever have before I came here. But, in the end I couldn't be happier and I couldn't be more grateful for this opportunity to be here. I continue to learn more each day. I love my kids I teach and I love Lithuania. My patience has grown a large amount. My attitude for things to not let them bug me has changed.

I can't wait to see what I will learn these next 3 months, and how much I will have changed.

I miss a lot of things and people, like my family, my dog and American Food. But right now, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here!

Heres to the next three months! 

culture shock is real.

So, this week was hard for all of us. It started out great! We all got flowers from our students on Tuesday, because it was National Learning Day and every teacher gets flowers. But, then the week just got harder. The biggest culture shock I have seen here, is the lack of respect the younger kids have for adults and teachers.

We had one student rip up her paper and say to the teacher "I'm not doing this. I don't have to do this." Then walking out. I've had several eye rolls, and students just not writing the things down. One girl came into Annie's classroom in the middle of class talking to her friend in Lithuanian and Annie said to her she can't do that and you need to go back to your own class. Her response? "No you can wait. I need to talk to her. She's my friend". That happened to Annie THREE TIMES. I've even seen some parents disrespect Dima our Local Coordinator. I teach pre-language and Dima asked some of the parents to leave the room and they just stared at him and didn't leave. I've had kids make one of the other teachers cry they were being so rude. One student was pushing and shoving Annie and I out the door. They throw fits like they're 2 years old in the middle of class. So many other things too.

The thing is, we found out that it's not just us they do it to. We were riding the bus into old town on Saturday and these boys I'd say around the age of 11 or 12, were kicking each other and messing around and there was this old man that said something to them, probably along the lines of "be careful you'll get hurt." The kids just crossed their arms and did like a "whatever" kinda look and laughed at him. THEN, the girls and I who go to church was talking to this couple who lives here for the husbands job and HE asked US if we've had trouble with disrespect. They said that it is terrible and their kids see it all the time in their school. Kids here think its normal and the parents think that their children would never do such a thing.

I know I might sound like I'm complaining, I love it here and I love the kids but teachers should never ever get treated with disrespect. Especially here when your parents are paying a lot of money for you to come and learn and for us to be here as well. I have been gaining a new found respect for teachers I've had and teachers in general. I love the kids here with all my heart don't get me wrong but some weeks are harder than others and this was one of them. This is the biggest culture shock for me.

I'm grateful I get to be here and help these children. It's just hard sometimes. Attitude is everything. Being positive is everything. Showing them and leading by example will help them, I know it. It just takes time. I can't believe I'm already starting my 4th week here!!!! It's crazy.. I know time is going to start picking up faster and faster.

The weekend was fun though! We were all mentally and physically exhausted from this week that after we got done Friday we just came home, made dinner, laid in bed and watched movies. Saturday we slept in and went out to lunch for McCall's birthday that was on Sunday with Dima's family at this yummy Brazilian restaurant. Then we came back and all bought our tickets to POLAND for this month!!! I'm so excited. We're going to Krakow which is where Auschwitz concentration camp is and we're going to do a tour of it. Then we're going to Zakopane for a day too. Then Saturday night there was this big festival in old town called "Capitol Days" where theres music, food vendors, and people selling art and stuff on the streets! It kind of reminds me of a derby days almost! We went and got ice cream and just walked around it was nice. Then Sunday was McCall's birthday and after church we got invited to the break the fast at the senior missionary couples apartment! We had delicious food. Chicken cordon bleu and veggies and pasta! It was so so so yummy. After that we came back to our apartment and Annie made McCall homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from scratch. We couldn't find canned pumpkin so, Annie ROASTED A PUMPKIN and scrapped it all. Made the cookies everything. They were so so so good.

Overall, even though the week was hard there was definitely some high lights. One of the kids I work with who has been struggling reading/sounding out words read a word on the board on Friday!!! I was SO happy!!!!!! Its those little things that make me so so so happy. I love it. I miss my family, my dog, America and the mountains and everything about home some days more than others but, I love the kids I really do. I'm so grateful I get to be here and I know there will be tough days or weeks, but the good days/weeks will out number the bad. Attitude is everything. Positivity is key. You get to decide how you act, think, do. In the words of Al Fox, "Don't let a bad day, make you feel like you have a bad life. Just relax, enjoy life and enjoy it being completely true to who you are and who God wants you to be."

Tallinn, Estonia

So, this past weekend we decided as a group to do a little mini-vacation to Tallin, Estonia. It was so incredibly beautiful there and I had SO MUCH FUN!! Friday night after school, we got all packed, and headed to the bus station to catch our 10:30 pm, 9 hour bus ride to Estonia! Luckily on the way there the bus wasn't that full so we got to kind of have our own two seats and spread out a little. I took some dramamine to knock myself out but also not get sick. I surprisingly got a lot of sleep.

We arrived in Estonia at around 6:50 AM. Let's just say, Tallin is not a morning-person city. Or should I say, people were still in their clothes/partying from the night before. Not a lot of people, but there were a few! It was funny. So, we walked to our Hostel which was about a 30 minute walk from the bus station. It wasn't a bad walk at all. It was quiet nice to walk compared to sitting/sleeping on a bus for 9 hours! We got to our hostel, and check in wasn't till 3 pm so we all got changed, brushed our teeth and left our stuff in the "luggage room". The Hostel we stayed at was SO NICE. It was insanely clean and was just so fun! So, then we were all starving and decided to go searching for some food. Well, like I said, Tallin doesn't really get going till later in the morning. We found this cute little cafe but it didn't open till 8:30 and we got there at 8. So we decided to just sit outside and wait hahaha. The breakfast was super delicious though.. I HAD EGGS! YES!! I got scrambled eggs with bacon :) I was so so soooo happy!

After breakfast, we walked around the town, our whole group kinda just split up and decided to meet back at the place we were going to eat for lunch. So, McCall, Annie, Shelbie and I went off to go find the baltic sea! We ended up taking the long way but it was so worth it because the park we walked through was so cute and soooo green! I love how green it is here. I love all the pastel colors of the buildings or how the buildings are white with the red roofs. Ah, I just love it all so much. Anyways, we got to the port and there wans't a beach or anything so we just sat on the cement wall and looked out at the sea. It was super relaxing and windy but fun! Finally we met up for lunch and this pancake house called the Kompressor. The pancakes were HUGE. It was only 5 euros and you could barely finish them they were so filling! After lunch we just went and hung out back at the hostel/rested and got all unpacked. For dinner we went and walked back down in old town and I got a BACON CHEESE BURGER WITH FRIES. You don't understand how happy my tummy was this weekend. That night we went to the port again because there was this big celebration going on that I guess is a tradition with all the baltic states where the last weekend in august is when all the fishermen come home so they light big bonfires along the coast to "help guide them home". There was music, folk dancing and a bonfire of course! It was fun :) Then, I was so dead tired, the moment my head hit the pillow, I was knocked OUT!

Sunday morning we just basically walked around their Old Town more and explored and explored. Annie bought me a sunflower which I was so happy about. She's the best, and love her so much. We're the same person, I kid you not. I've already made a life long best friend here and its only been 2 1/2 weeks. I am so so lucky and am so happy to be here. Plus I love teaching the kids. Anyways, Sunday afternoon we went into this big cathedral tower thing where you could climb up, 286 steps and has a 360 degree view of Tallin! It was breath-taking. We met this cute old couple who decided to buy a van and travel across all of Europe for 12 months! They were adorable and so fun! They were from New Zealand. For the rest of the day we just walked around and found this panoramic view of Tallin as well. All the views here are soooo breath-takingly beautiful!!! I had so so so much fun in Tallin, Estonia. It is one of my all time favorite places. I could just walk around their Old Town for hours and look at all the buildings, doors, people and everything! SO many dogs everywhere too. I LOVE IT. I am so glad we went this weekend and I can't wait to go back.

Second weekend in Lithuania

Well, I had so much fun making the first video that I decided to make a second one! Its just footage from this weekend in Old Town, Trakai and maybe the cutest little girl ever... Yava!!!!! Enjoy! :)

Trakai

Today we decided to visit Trakai, Lithuania which is a little city surrounded by a lake, about 30 minutes outside of Vilnus which has an 11 century castle in the middle of it! There is another ILP school in Kaunas, Lithuania so we met up with the girls from there too! The castle is SO PRETTY. We got there and it was such a beautiful perfect day for it.

It was a big group of us. 11 total. So we decided to all split up and do our own thing and then meet up by the castle at 5 to go back to Vilnius. Annie, McCall, Shelbie and I all stayed together. We first walked around and looked at the little vendors on the sidewalks. Then we went and had lunch at this yummy pizza place. There is pizza places everywhere, I love it. During lunch we were talking about wanting to ride a sailboat but wasn't sure how much it was. So, we walked out and the cutest old man starts speaking Lithuanian to us so of course we ask if he speaks english, he did (YAY!) and he told us a sail boat ride was only 30 euros for 50 minutes. So, we of course said yes and got on! I have never been on a sailboat before so I was really excited. It was so beautiful on the lake around the castle! We also got ice cream after which was yummy. It was perfect weather. I took a billion photos of course so I think I'll just let the pictures speak for itself.