[insert your life here]

MONDAY 03.22.04

Oh goodness. I know I should be fired for the lack of updates on life and such but forgive me: there has been a lot going on.

Most SAs found their first week back from Russia to be a challenge. Mine was mostly normal, the latter half aside. Classes continued: I wrote mini papers, read books for bigger papers, drank tea, walked around, celebrated a birthday (Char is 19!).

Wednesday was a bit obscure... Esther and I left Karklu at 1130 for LCC. Stepping into the fog I got the oddest feeling and said to Esther, "this is a strange day!" That was further confirmed as we walked the cobblestone shortcuts and side streets to school. There were more men on the streets than usual (Lithuanian men are a bit strange in the first place because the greater majority of them all wear black pants, black leather coat with a black sweater with red stripes down the arms underneath and then top it off with a black toque: you got the Lithuanian style. It doesn't matter if you and your dad wear the same outfit because your uncle and brother are too and your neighbors...). Everyone seemed to move in some predetermined rhythm that was somehow off a beat. A large twisted old man braced his car door as he attempted to make himself perpendicular with the ground again. One boy crawled under the dfence, another was already through, the last struggled again, again, and again to overcome the top. But he fell to the syncopapted rhythm, once again slightly off beat. The fog through the barren trees: just branches with buds fighting for spring. The dark lines in the low grey cloud created the ideal backdrop for a Sigur Ros video -- and I felt as though I were in one as a boy quickened his pace behind us on the path: coming closer and closer in his red coat. The day was strange and so was the sight of a woman struggling to pick up potatos from behind the dumpster.

No closure.. I still don't feel like that day has closed. The rest hven't been as strange but when I reflect on these images now living in my mind the same strange feeling overwhelms me. Thankfully the night of Wednesday was excellent: we had our study abroad small group meeting at an instructor's flat. Excellent fruit pizza and superb conversation like last time. We talked about Russia and our struggles and delights with the culture and orthodoxy. It was good hearing what everyone had to say again in a new light after a few days of reflection.

At some point this weekend I decided I wanted to smile more at the people walking past me on the streets. So I did today and was pleasantly surprised at how people respond. One girl walking on the opposite side of the street actually beat me to the smile. I watched her walk away and botived the bounce in her step: so refreshing. Most people don't smile back... but I much prefer smiling at them than accepting the Lithuanian stone-face when I walk the streets. At the same time it's good to know I don't have to smile and shouldn't unless I mean it. Meaning that I care for them and more importantly that God cares for them (even if I don't know them). So I guess that's part of my witness (which I am trying to improve in my last five weeks here).

Computer lab is closing so I am going to go eat a bruised apple and prepare for moral philosophy.

More stories later...