[insert your life here]

Four weeks in, I am learning how to live here. Routines are appearing and constant onslaught of foreign languages is passe and not as much of a disturbance as it was in the first few weeks. I am finding my slot at LCC and appreciating so much the unity of the community and the encouragement behind doors 1, 2, 5, and 7. It's true not ever door in this dorm is open but a gentle knock is usually greeted with a robust PRASOM and an invitation to tea. Tea and cookies will be staples from here on out in any place I call my own.

I learned on Wednesday that I've already been through a bit of culture shock (unbeknownst to me..). Though I didn't document those low moments here, I've had a few. Things like trying to create my home away from home, distancing myself from the people around me, and stereotyping. Yeah, I did all that and more. I found myself empty, communication with home wasn't satisfying and neither was the half-hearted communication here. I saught God and He led me to understand the emptiness and reminded me to be where I am.

So, maybe that can best explain why I don't blog all the time or spend hour upon hour attempting to upload pictures. There are amazing people God has put in my life for these four months and I have got to get to know them.

After making this decision a week or so ago, things have been getting better and better. I am learning a lot about my international brothers and sisters in Christ and a whole heck-a-lot about myself. It's good and I am having -so- much fun!

More on various adventures at a later date. It's bed time now.

A little sampling of different pieces I have written for different people and publications concerning experiences and excitement here in Lietuva. enjoy:

For the Mars' Hill:

And it continues like this… On my one side is a man from Europe, presumably Danish though I don’t know for sure. What I do know is I can’t understand a word he says. On my other side is a vast sea of ice the beauty of which is numbing my fear of the language barrier between my nine-hour European travel companion and myself. Before me--I am flying into a new day, into a new way of life. Welcome to Lithuania.

My fast paced North American ways faded quickly as I traversed the Atlantic Ocean. I arrived at the Vilnius airport 5 hours late on a plane no one from the LCC study abroad staff knew I was on. A woman from the flight noticed me looking a bit perplexed and American and asked me three questions:

"Do you speak English?" .... Yes.
"Are you from America?”.... Yes.
"Are you by any chance going to LCC?" YES!

I was saved from a cold night counting floor tiles in the Vilnius airport by the academic vice president of LCC. Small world? Welcome to Lithuania.

I wouldn’t call the Lithuanian way of life slow. I would be quicker to call it appreciative. A Russian orthodox nativity scene set up in the center of town puts an old woman’s life on reflective pause. An opportunity for tea with a friend at a nearby baras puts a three hour hold on homework. Long conversations are expected. Walking is prime even with temperatures well below freezing.

The appreciative way of life suits me just fine. It gives me a good excuse to sit down and take in the beauty of the crooked towers of an old soviet apartment block. It gives me time to soak in the history seeping from cracks in brick walls. There is the balcony from which Hitler himself gave a speech to the Lithuanian people. There is the vacant square where Lenin used to stand in cold stone. There is the building that used to be part of a castle. The cobblestone streets take you back in time only to be brought back by the sudden shower of slush from a passing pocket rocket (mini bus). Welcome to Lithuania.

As a LCC study abroad student, I have been told to expect the best and most challenging semester of my university career. Already I am struggling with cultural differences. How do I best connect with the people here when their first language isn’t English and mine isn’t Russian? Why do our understandings of the Church and its importance differ?

I look forward to the struggle. I look forward to appreciating the beauty around me. I look forward to the intimate family that is LCC. I look forward to this new way of living.

Welcome to Lithuania


For the LCC study abroad newsletter, Remembering the Sauna:

A flesh cooking 120°C sauna followed by a blood freezing dip in the Baltic Sea: it’s a local Lithuanian tradition, and I was fully prepared to let the locals have all the fun. But I came to experience Lithuanian life first hand so soon enough I found myself trapped in a little 3x5m wooden box with 10 seasoned locals and 15 over cooked North Americans.

So there I sat in bathing suit and board shorts making friends with the sweaty Speedo-sporting Lithuanian man next to me. The sauna reeks of burnt salt and baked human flesh. Fifteen minutes in the oven followed by a mad dash across the sand to the frozen Baltic Sea. The run is easy. Crossing four meters of ice and diving into the Sea takes a little encouragement. The hardest part is running back to the sauna: your feet turn to ice and shatter with each step. But then it’s back into the welcomed 120°C oven for a few more minutes and a few more memories.