I really do not know what Del and I would do anymore if we were unable to find out most anything, even the most trivial things, or maybe especially the most trivial things, in only a few seconds. We can hardly watch tv or read without searching for something online. In fact, at home, we most often watch in our recliners with lap boards across our laps so the computers have a place to sit. Del is often working, but since I retired, I'm just at the ready for a search. Yesterday during breakfast, we read that Duke Snyder died, so I looked him up. That led to my commenting, just randomly, that I had always liked listening to PeeWee Reese and Dizzy Dean, which led to my looking them up. That led to my reading that PeeWee Reese, a Kentuckian, had been a strong supporter of Jackie Robinson, which led me to read all about them both. That led me to a book called TEAMMATES about the 2 men that is used to foster understanding of race relations among school students. It isn't on Kindle, but I plan to read it when we get home. Teachers might want to check it out, if you aren't already familiar with it. Yes, now that we are dependent upon online news, we treat our computers as though they were newspapers and read them at breakfast- added benefit - no ink smudges. At least we don't eat in shifts as we did on week days before we retired, so this is an improvement. And just as when I read the newspaper, I feel the need to read anything I find interesting to Del. After all, he might skip over something.
Watching shows or movies on tv almost always makes us go on a search for who some actor is. One of us will ask and the other will say that he/she was in that movie with so and so, so we look up so and so, figure out which movie it was and that leads us to the name we were looking for. I generally also say that it starts with __ or some other letter.
Such a long way from the World Book Encyclopedia. We got ours when I was in 4th grade, I think. I wish I could remember the name of the lady who came to the house to sell them. I do remember that they were quite a serious investment for our family. We bought them on the installment plan, and one volume arrived each month until we had the complete set. You could also buy an update each year, but I'm pretty sure we never did. I remember that the teacher I had that year used to always ask the people who owned encyclopedia to raise their hands. Seems a thoughtless thing to do. When David got into school, our resident librarian suggested we get a cheap used set so that if a teacher asked, he could raise his hand, and then we would take him to the library to use current information. I don't recall if it ever came up.
Del spoke to the local school librarians, today. I stayede home and made potato soup. During the coffee time afterward, the subject of my Kindle came up. I have used it in my English classes and Daiva brought it up. They have asked for a demonstration when he meets with the public librarians in late March. Since he has never had his hands on EHJ, he suggested that I should come to do the demonstration. Hey, I offered to buy him one for Christmas, but he declined. I did not offer to share mine with him!
Leslie Sansone and I spent some quality time together again today. I did the 2 mile walk, using 2 large cans of tomatoes as weights, again today, but plan to do 3 tomorrow. I really like her DVD.
It got up to 30 today, with a wind chill of 23, so it won't be long before we get out to walk and explore more. I love that the days are getting longer.
Sorry about the awful weather, Ohio people. How many days will you have to make up at the end of the year, teachers?
As you can see, nothing much happened in my world today, so you got to listen to me ramble on.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Day 34 Yummy Salads - Huge Salads
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/Church?authkey=Gv1sRgCNyC9oqAmPH-Qw
We spent the morning doing what needed to be done, laundry, school work, etc. Del worked on on tomorrows presentation to school librarians. Then for lunch, I made huge salads from those mixed salad greens in the plastic shells, beets, onions, cucumber, a little mould cheese (love that translation) and oil and red wine vinegar. Yesterday was the first time I had seen anything other than the occasional baby leaf lettuce in the markets, and I was so excited. It was like eating spring. I also cooked a few slices of the sausage from the bacon man at the Old Market. It was okay, but I don't know that it was what I expected - very salty and almost too smoky. It made me wonder if there was artificial smoke flavor in it. You wouldn't have thought you could get meat too salty for the Va. ham woman, would you? I'm glad I only bought a small piece. I was not sure whether it needed to be cooked. The man had offered me a taste in the store, but he also offered me a taste of bacon, and I know that was raw.
We left for church early today, because it was our turn to set up and take down the chairs, get out the hymnals, heat the water for tea and wash up after. It really isn't that big a deal, because just about everyone puts his/her own chair away. The pictures, not really good ones, are of the podium and cross from the church. They are made from driftwood, which is fitting since this is a sea community. After we were done, we went to dinner at the Thai restaurant with a couple from Texas and our neighbor from Goshen, Indiana. I had a curried fish dish, and Del had calamari in a hot, hot. hot red chili sauce. Both were quite good, and more what we had expected than the Pad Thai I had the other week.
Home to Skype the kids. Rosa was reading and swinging in the back yard, and David was sitting on the deck doing some work. Tracy is just getting over a cold. We got to see Rosa jumping rope, or as the kids at Tallmadge Primary said, jump roping. She has been studying Egypt in Target class, so the three of them went to an exhibit as Emory this weekend.
Tomorrow I will try to beat some Lithuanian into my feeble brain. I was proud that I remembered the word for price when I was at the market yesterday. Priorities, priorities.
We spent the morning doing what needed to be done, laundry, school work, etc. Del worked on on tomorrows presentation to school librarians. Then for lunch, I made huge salads from those mixed salad greens in the plastic shells, beets, onions, cucumber, a little mould cheese (love that translation) and oil and red wine vinegar. Yesterday was the first time I had seen anything other than the occasional baby leaf lettuce in the markets, and I was so excited. It was like eating spring. I also cooked a few slices of the sausage from the bacon man at the Old Market. It was okay, but I don't know that it was what I expected - very salty and almost too smoky. It made me wonder if there was artificial smoke flavor in it. You wouldn't have thought you could get meat too salty for the Va. ham woman, would you? I'm glad I only bought a small piece. I was not sure whether it needed to be cooked. The man had offered me a taste in the store, but he also offered me a taste of bacon, and I know that was raw.
We left for church early today, because it was our turn to set up and take down the chairs, get out the hymnals, heat the water for tea and wash up after. It really isn't that big a deal, because just about everyone puts his/her own chair away. The pictures, not really good ones, are of the podium and cross from the church. They are made from driftwood, which is fitting since this is a sea community. After we were done, we went to dinner at the Thai restaurant with a couple from Texas and our neighbor from Goshen, Indiana. I had a curried fish dish, and Del had calamari in a hot, hot. hot red chili sauce. Both were quite good, and more what we had expected than the Pad Thai I had the other week.
Home to Skype the kids. Rosa was reading and swinging in the back yard, and David was sitting on the deck doing some work. Tracy is just getting over a cold. We got to see Rosa jumping rope, or as the kids at Tallmadge Primary said, jump roping. She has been studying Egypt in Target class, so the three of them went to an exhibit as Emory this weekend.
Tomorrow I will try to beat some Lithuanian into my feeble brain. I was proud that I remembered the word for price when I was at the market yesterday. Priorities, priorities.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Day33 Saturday - Will There Be Fireworks?
Today was a pretty uneventful day. Del worked, and I did laundry and walked to the open air market, the Humana, and Iki. It was relatively warmer today, felt like 14 most of the day. My first stop was at the Humana, where I bought a muffler that is twice as long as I am tall. I figured it might shrink, but I threw it into the wash as soon as I got home, and it didn't. I figure it will keep me warm about the head and shoulders. When it gets past muffler weather, I will unravel it and turn it into something. Then on to the open air market where I bought a beautiful pair of hand knit mittens to wear over my leather gloves. The lady at the stall thought that was really strange. She kept shaking her head and demonstrating taking off the gloves and putting the mittens on. I kept saying the Lithuanian word for "cold" and shivering dramatically in hopes that she would understand. 16 lita later, I was off to the meat market, waving at her with happy hands. I also stopped by to say laba diena to the suspender man.
I bought bacon, a sausage recommended by the bacon man's stall neighbor and a small piece of fresh ham. I also bought a small piece of sause - the pig parts jello I talked about before. It was quite tasty with vinegar and saltine crackers. It tasted very much like it did when I was a child, except that there was neither red nor black pepper involved. This is not a very peppery country. I may start carrying a shaker of black and a shaker of red pepper in my day pack for emergencies. The food is delicious, but when you eat pepper on everything, including watermelon and cantelope, pepper is not optional. I heard Cokie Roberts, say on tv that she carries a small bottle of tabasco in her purse for bland food emergencies. I was told that saltines are a rather new thing here. These taste just like Premium saltines, and each large package is made up of little packages of 4 cracker rectangles. It's like those expensive forced moderation packages of various snacks in the US. Because there are only four crackers in the package, I can be quite satisfied with four crackers, and they stay really fresh. I stopped at the Iki for milk and toilet paper, etc. and then home.
Thank goodness we have the new Iki, because when I turned on the gas to light the eyes of the stove to make dinner, the Bic stove lighter was empty. I had seen a box of matches in a drawer, so I thought it was no problem, but there was only one left in the box. I used it to light one eye and a twist of paper to light the others. Del went out to take the trash- about 2 blocks- and then ran into Iki to get matches to hold us over until we get back to Hyper Maxima for a replacement lighter thingy. By the time he got home, dinner was ready - chicken breast, broccoli, beet salad and potatoes.
We Skyped with Daryl Lyn and Tommy, with a brief appearance from the bride to be. They have had the stomach flu from guess where, but are all better now.
Give us a Skype if you get a chance. bettymae62 We would love to hear your news.
In case you forgot, my spell checker still speaks only Lithuanian, so I'm relying on my own spelling and proof reading skills, or actually lack of them. Sorry.
Enjoy your Sunday!
I bought bacon, a sausage recommended by the bacon man's stall neighbor and a small piece of fresh ham. I also bought a small piece of sause - the pig parts jello I talked about before. It was quite tasty with vinegar and saltine crackers. It tasted very much like it did when I was a child, except that there was neither red nor black pepper involved. This is not a very peppery country. I may start carrying a shaker of black and a shaker of red pepper in my day pack for emergencies. The food is delicious, but when you eat pepper on everything, including watermelon and cantelope, pepper is not optional. I heard Cokie Roberts, say on tv that she carries a small bottle of tabasco in her purse for bland food emergencies. I was told that saltines are a rather new thing here. These taste just like Premium saltines, and each large package is made up of little packages of 4 cracker rectangles. It's like those expensive forced moderation packages of various snacks in the US. Because there are only four crackers in the package, I can be quite satisfied with four crackers, and they stay really fresh. I stopped at the Iki for milk and toilet paper, etc. and then home.
Thank goodness we have the new Iki, because when I turned on the gas to light the eyes of the stove to make dinner, the Bic stove lighter was empty. I had seen a box of matches in a drawer, so I thought it was no problem, but there was only one left in the box. I used it to light one eye and a twist of paper to light the others. Del went out to take the trash- about 2 blocks- and then ran into Iki to get matches to hold us over until we get back to Hyper Maxima for a replacement lighter thingy. By the time he got home, dinner was ready - chicken breast, broccoli, beet salad and potatoes.
We Skyped with Daryl Lyn and Tommy, with a brief appearance from the bride to be. They have had the stomach flu from guess where, but are all better now.
Give us a Skype if you get a chance. bettymae62 We would love to hear your news.
In case you forgot, my spell checker still speaks only Lithuanian, so I'm relying on my own spelling and proof reading skills, or actually lack of them. Sorry.
Enjoy your Sunday!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Day 32 Unexpected Fun!
Today was a busy day for Del. We both suffered through Lithuanian class, and it's hard - so many words, so many endings, so little memory. I was ready to put a straw in the bottle by the time we got home, but Del had a speech to give to the Young Scientists after lunch, so sobriety seemed wise. I planned to wander through the shops in the area during the serious part and show up for coffee, so we both put on appropriate clothes and shoes instead of clodhoppers and headed out. Del said the afternoon went well, and they were all still talking when I got there a little after 6. We took the bus back to Old Town and went to a restaurant we like for dinner. We each had a calamari dish and shared a banana and chocolate crepe for dessert. Del hadn't eaten since oatmeal at breakfast, and he was starving. Little did we know that we should have saved room for more food two doors down the street.
As we left the restaurant, we walked past a group of families out in the street laughing, talking and launching heart shaped hot air balloons. I had never seen anything like them. They were about the size of garbage bags with a metal frame in them and some sort of wick. I happened (yes, I know you can hardly believe it) to have the camera and snapped some pictures. After a bit, Del suggested we head home and started to head toward a side street that was sheer ice all the way down it.. I said that we needed to find another way, because it was not safe going that way in the dark without boots. It never crossed our minds that anyone was paying any attention to us. One of the men in the group laughed and said that going that way without insurance was not a good idea. I also laughed and replied that at my age, it wasn't a good idea with insurance. I asked what occasion they were celebrating. It was a fund raiser for children with heart disease. We had a nice conversation and he insisted we come into the restaurant to have some of the special cake from the party. It was really good cake - sort of like a meringue tort with nuts. They are going to have to roll me out of this country.
Turns out Ramunas was a policeman for 13 years and is now a Met Life representative. His English is amazing. We tried to give him a donation for the fund, but he suggested that if we really wanted to do that, it would be better if we put the money directly into the organization's bank account and gave us the printed brochure with the account on it. I guess he wanted us to know that they were on the up and up. He then went upstairs where the art auction for the event had been held and came down with one of the pictures as a gift for us. We all exchanged cards, and he assured us that he and his family would love to give us a tour of Vilnius, where they live. It was an unexpected treat that will be one of the highlights of our trip. My cousin Marsha and her husband Bill have had wonderful encounters quite frequently in their travels, but I never thought it would happen to us.
Del looked up the organization on the web and learned that one of the income tax provisions here allows one to designate up to 2% of the tax owed to a favorite charity. I thought that was kind of interesting.
I'll take a picture of the picture once we get it unwrapped. We met the artist, and he wrapped it before we left the restaurant. It's framed, by the way, and I'm not sure how it will get to VR, but it will.
Be sure to check out the pictures. Have a great week end!
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/DinnerAndHeartEvent02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPe3zfjTguWQ_QE
As we left the restaurant, we walked past a group of families out in the street laughing, talking and launching heart shaped hot air balloons. I had never seen anything like them. They were about the size of garbage bags with a metal frame in them and some sort of wick. I happened (yes, I know you can hardly believe it) to have the camera and snapped some pictures. After a bit, Del suggested we head home and started to head toward a side street that was sheer ice all the way down it.. I said that we needed to find another way, because it was not safe going that way in the dark without boots. It never crossed our minds that anyone was paying any attention to us. One of the men in the group laughed and said that going that way without insurance was not a good idea. I also laughed and replied that at my age, it wasn't a good idea with insurance. I asked what occasion they were celebrating. It was a fund raiser for children with heart disease. We had a nice conversation and he insisted we come into the restaurant to have some of the special cake from the party. It was really good cake - sort of like a meringue tort with nuts. They are going to have to roll me out of this country.
Turns out Ramunas was a policeman for 13 years and is now a Met Life representative. His English is amazing. We tried to give him a donation for the fund, but he suggested that if we really wanted to do that, it would be better if we put the money directly into the organization's bank account and gave us the printed brochure with the account on it. I guess he wanted us to know that they were on the up and up. He then went upstairs where the art auction for the event had been held and came down with one of the pictures as a gift for us. We all exchanged cards, and he assured us that he and his family would love to give us a tour of Vilnius, where they live. It was an unexpected treat that will be one of the highlights of our trip. My cousin Marsha and her husband Bill have had wonderful encounters quite frequently in their travels, but I never thought it would happen to us.
Del looked up the organization on the web and learned that one of the income tax provisions here allows one to designate up to 2% of the tax owed to a favorite charity. I thought that was kind of interesting.
I'll take a picture of the picture once we get it unwrapped. We met the artist, and he wrapped it before we left the restaurant. It's framed, by the way, and I'm not sure how it will get to VR, but it will.
Be sure to check out the pictures. Have a great week end!
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/DinnerAndHeartEvent02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPe3zfjTguWQ_QE
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Day 31 Slow Day For Me
I stayed home today to do some laundry, do some cleaning, work on my classes and study for Lithuanian class tomorrow. The last is not coming easily. I was not a good language student in the 60's, and things have not improved in the years since. Del did read the other day that learning a language is supposed to help one avoid getting dotie, but I am afraid you have to actually learn more than I have so far. Del had a double lecture today, so he was gone most of the afternoon and until 6:30. We brought our computers but not a printer, so they have set up a little office with a laptop and printer for us to use, and he goes in early to print his materials. I confess to emailing mine to the department assistant and asking her to scan or print what I need.
I forgot to tell you that one of the phrases my advanced English class learned yesterday was "made from scratch." During our discussion time, I mentioned that I had found puff pastry in the frozen foods section and made pastries for the neighbors, and Del, for Valentines Day. One of the young women said she had made a puff pastry dessert for her husband to celebrate Independence Day. I said something to the effect that it is wonderful to have that frozen, ready to use. She said she had never tried that. I said, without thinking, "You mean you made it from scratch?" After I explained the term, and inquired about cake mixes, the cooks in the group explained that they never use mixes. It reminded me of when my mother used to come to visit and make little rounds of pie dough to put in the freezer. She just did not hold with the idea of bought pie crust, and "You never know when you might strike a notion to make a pie." Since the notion did not strike me all that often, some of that pie dough died of freezer burn.
Now, proving that BIL Tommy's philosophy that while in every family, a word in a conversation will remind someone of something and the topic will change, in our family the word is often "the", I am about to jump another rabbit. Freezer burn reminds me of a discovery Del and I made when defrosting Mother's freezer when visiting her the summer before she went to assisted living. Down at the bottom, we found and pulled out a tupperware cake saver. I asked her what it was, and she told us that it was the layer from our wedding cake that she had saved for our first anniversary. You should know that we had been married for more than 20 years at that point, but we had never been home for an anniversary, and she never thought about it when we were home. She had kept it every time she had defrosted the freezer over those years and had even moved it from the country to the Jarratt house because "I just didn't have the heart to throw it away.". We opened it and the icing didn't look as bad as you would think, but the whole thing sort of crumbled to crumbs when we touched it. We didn't have the courage to taste it, but it was really hard to pitch it. Would it be bad luck? Was it what was holding us together? Maybe I am more superstitious than I like to admit.
Something is going on in the neighborhood tonight. We can hear a drum and lots of cheering from a distance, but we can't see anything from the windows, and it is too cold at 0 degrees F. wind chill to go out at nearly midnight to check it out.
I forgot to tell you that one of the phrases my advanced English class learned yesterday was "made from scratch." During our discussion time, I mentioned that I had found puff pastry in the frozen foods section and made pastries for the neighbors, and Del, for Valentines Day. One of the young women said she had made a puff pastry dessert for her husband to celebrate Independence Day. I said something to the effect that it is wonderful to have that frozen, ready to use. She said she had never tried that. I said, without thinking, "You mean you made it from scratch?" After I explained the term, and inquired about cake mixes, the cooks in the group explained that they never use mixes. It reminded me of when my mother used to come to visit and make little rounds of pie dough to put in the freezer. She just did not hold with the idea of bought pie crust, and "You never know when you might strike a notion to make a pie." Since the notion did not strike me all that often, some of that pie dough died of freezer burn.
Now, proving that BIL Tommy's philosophy that while in every family, a word in a conversation will remind someone of something and the topic will change, in our family the word is often "the", I am about to jump another rabbit. Freezer burn reminds me of a discovery Del and I made when defrosting Mother's freezer when visiting her the summer before she went to assisted living. Down at the bottom, we found and pulled out a tupperware cake saver. I asked her what it was, and she told us that it was the layer from our wedding cake that she had saved for our first anniversary. You should know that we had been married for more than 20 years at that point, but we had never been home for an anniversary, and she never thought about it when we were home. She had kept it every time she had defrosted the freezer over those years and had even moved it from the country to the Jarratt house because "I just didn't have the heart to throw it away.". We opened it and the icing didn't look as bad as you would think, but the whole thing sort of crumbled to crumbs when we touched it. We didn't have the courage to taste it, but it was really hard to pitch it. Would it be bad luck? Was it what was holding us together? Maybe I am more superstitious than I like to admit.
Something is going on in the neighborhood tonight. We can hear a drum and lots of cheering from a distance, but we can't see anything from the windows, and it is too cold at 0 degrees F. wind chill to go out at nearly midnight to check it out.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Day 30 - A Whole Month Since We Locked the Door in Villa Rica!
The sound you are hearing is that of our cholesterol levels smashing through the roof like a rocket. Daiva, the chair of the department, and our host for the month invited us to lunch after my classes today. She wanted us to try a famous Lithuanian dish called cepelinai ( zeppelin), and she wanted to be sure we had it in a restaurant that does it well. She also believes it to be strictly a cold weather dish, and today fit that criteria quite adequately. Everyone we meet asks if we have had zeppelin yet and what we thought of them - the Americans with knowing smiles on their faces. Daiva told us that they are not healthy, and Americans usually don't care for them all that much, but everyone should try once. So it was zeppelin all around, preceeded by a delicious hot cucumber, broth based soup. Well, when the awaited dish arrived, it smelled wonderful, but the portion was clearly from the For Those Planning an Afternoon of Grueling Labor section of the menu. We each were served a casserole dish with two dumplings the size and shape of those little footballs they throw out at football games - the size of my fist, but tapered at each end - with a large amount of sauce. The dumpling part of the dumpling was made of potato - a mixture of grated raw potato and riced boiled potato moistened with potato starch water. This created a sort of shiny dough, with a texture similar to tapioca, if I remember tapioca correctly. The only person I ever knew who made it was my aunt, Stella, and that means it is close to 50 years since I ate any. They form this dough around ground pork and boil the dumplings in water. The sauce is made of smoky bacon and onion that seem almost ground up, bacon grease and sour cream. Sort of like doctored up red eye gravy, but creamy instead of runny.
I have to tell you, they were delicious, and the sauce - yum. Unfortunately, about half a dumpling would have been just the right size. This is not a country where people subscribe to my theory that half of most restuarant meals should be taken home for another meal, and leaving it might have implied that we didn't care for the national dish. Let's just say there has been no dinner at our house tonight. It is such fun to watch Del broaden his food repertoire, by the way. Speaking of broadening repertoires..... Oh, dear.
My classes went pretty well I think. In the advanced class, we were learning some general pronunciation rules for plurals and past tenses based on the spelling of words, voicing, etc., which led to defining some words. Why didn't I just say, "The meaning in this sentence is ..." and suggest they write it down to look up at home for discussion next week? Have you considered how many meanings "date" has? Too many! You teachers would have known to do that, but it took me until 9 o'clock tonight to figure it out. Fortunately, the other examples were more straight forward.
We also worked on /r/ as a vowel. (/ ɝ/). It has so many spellings - work, burn, learn, bird, etc., and your eyes would make you think you should pronounce each differently.
The beginners worked on pronouns and "be" in present, past and present progressive ("ing"). They call it present continuous. We also worked on forming and answering yes/no questions and greetings. Okay, I'm sensing glazed over eyes.
Well, folks, tomorrow is another day, and I get to sleep late, which for me usually means 7. I guess I need time to work up to my nap.
Oh, Oh! I almost forgot - I got to see the everyone drink at the same time dance at lunch today. Fortunately, Del was sitting to my left, so I could pretend I was listening to him when he and Daiva were talking library evaluation while actually watching people at other tables. So, here's the deal. One person lifts his/her glass, looks expectantly at the dining partner and waits until the partner notices and lifts his/her glass. Then they clink, take a drink and set the glasses down. I did observe that at one table the level of wine in the woman's glass lowered faster than that in the man's glass. (Just like home, Tommy.) I am hoping people who might have been observing me thought I was gazing adoringly at Del, hanging on his every word, instead of being my nosy self. Thank goodness we were drinking water. I would have perished if I had to wait for the librarians to notice my raised glass. To be fair, the same would be true if Del went to eat with the lunch bunch or the hall ladies.
I have to tell you, they were delicious, and the sauce - yum. Unfortunately, about half a dumpling would have been just the right size. This is not a country where people subscribe to my theory that half of most restuarant meals should be taken home for another meal, and leaving it might have implied that we didn't care for the national dish. Let's just say there has been no dinner at our house tonight. It is such fun to watch Del broaden his food repertoire, by the way. Speaking of broadening repertoires..... Oh, dear.
My classes went pretty well I think. In the advanced class, we were learning some general pronunciation rules for plurals and past tenses based on the spelling of words, voicing, etc., which led to defining some words. Why didn't I just say, "The meaning in this sentence is ..." and suggest they write it down to look up at home for discussion next week? Have you considered how many meanings "date" has? Too many! You teachers would have known to do that, but it took me until 9 o'clock tonight to figure it out. Fortunately, the other examples were more straight forward.
We also worked on /r/ as a vowel. (/ ɝ/). It has so many spellings - work, burn, learn, bird, etc., and your eyes would make you think you should pronounce each differently.
The beginners worked on pronouns and "be" in present, past and present progressive ("ing"). They call it present continuous. We also worked on forming and answering yes/no questions and greetings. Okay, I'm sensing glazed over eyes.
Well, folks, tomorrow is another day, and I get to sleep late, which for me usually means 7. I guess I need time to work up to my nap.
Oh, Oh! I almost forgot - I got to see the everyone drink at the same time dance at lunch today. Fortunately, Del was sitting to my left, so I could pretend I was listening to him when he and Daiva were talking library evaluation while actually watching people at other tables. So, here's the deal. One person lifts his/her glass, looks expectantly at the dining partner and waits until the partner notices and lifts his/her glass. Then they clink, take a drink and set the glasses down. I did observe that at one table the level of wine in the woman's glass lowered faster than that in the man's glass. (Just like home, Tommy.) I am hoping people who might have been observing me thought I was gazing adoringly at Del, hanging on his every word, instead of being my nosy self. Thank goodness we were drinking water. I would have perished if I had to wait for the librarians to notice my raised glass. To be fair, the same would be true if Del went to eat with the lunch bunch or the hall ladies.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Day 29 Probably Gave the Wrong Impression Yesterday
I want to be sure I explain that despite the fancy door locks, Lithuania has almost no crime, and we feel quite safe. I just like the key. Betsy from Harrisonburg was not at all apprehensive about walking to the bus stop and from the bus stop home by herself after dinner on Sunday night. Her husband was home sick, not homesick. Del and I offered to go with her since it was dark, but she pooh poohed the idea. This is her 9th year here, and she feels at ease.
This is also the cleanest place I have ever seen. We've seen the rare beer bottle or can on a wall or on the ice on the river, and I do mean rare, but no papers or bags or other litter. Del accidently dropped a campaign paper he was too polite to refuse from a person on the street while getting his bus pass out of his pocket, and I had to go running after it. The wind just seemed to delight in letting me get almost to it before sweeping it away. I finally caught up with it, thank goodness. Those Americans, don't you know. Reminds me of Mr. Silk, the black and tan dachshund (sp?) who owned us for 14 years. He would sneak out, wait until we were almost up on him and then run like a bat, over and over again. Difference being, he could not be dropped into the nearest trash can.
I studied Lithuanian this morning and then out to class. We got home about 6, after the obligatory stop at the Iki, and I started the spaghetti sauce for dinner. No Mids, here, Ohio people, so I concocted my own. The tomatoes here are sweetened, or something, so it wasn't as good as Mema's special sauce, but it was something different, and I had leftovers to put in the freezer. I made a lettuce, pear and mould (blue) cheese salad to go with it. The lettuce was a small head of leaf lettuce with the roots still attached in a little pot with potting soil. It was so tender, it had to be just a baby.
Time for last minute review of teaching materials for tomorrow. Five o'clock will be here way too soon.
This is also the cleanest place I have ever seen. We've seen the rare beer bottle or can on a wall or on the ice on the river, and I do mean rare, but no papers or bags or other litter. Del accidently dropped a campaign paper he was too polite to refuse from a person on the street while getting his bus pass out of his pocket, and I had to go running after it. The wind just seemed to delight in letting me get almost to it before sweeping it away. I finally caught up with it, thank goodness. Those Americans, don't you know. Reminds me of Mr. Silk, the black and tan dachshund (sp?) who owned us for 14 years. He would sneak out, wait until we were almost up on him and then run like a bat, over and over again. Difference being, he could not be dropped into the nearest trash can.
I studied Lithuanian this morning and then out to class. We got home about 6, after the obligatory stop at the Iki, and I started the spaghetti sauce for dinner. No Mids, here, Ohio people, so I concocted my own. The tomatoes here are sweetened, or something, so it wasn't as good as Mema's special sauce, but it was something different, and I had leftovers to put in the freezer. I made a lettuce, pear and mould (blue) cheese salad to go with it. The lettuce was a small head of leaf lettuce with the roots still attached in a little pot with potting soil. It was so tender, it had to be just a baby.
Time for last minute review of teaching materials for tomorrow. Five o'clock will be here way too soon.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Day 28 Safety In the Old City
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/SafetyInTheOldCity?
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It was colder than blue blazes today - never got above negative wind chill-, and I didn't have any outside obligations, so I've been hold up here doing laundry and reading Anne of Green Gables. I should have been studying Lithuanian, but I'll have until about 2:30 tomorrow. I also decided to start my exercise program with Lesley Sansone. It's one of those walking dvds. I did the first day mile walk today, and if I can figure out how to charge the battery on the portable dvd player, I'll do the second day activity tomorrow. Somehow the charger light never came on. I'm wondering if it only needed the adaptor plug instead of the voltage changer, but I'm afraid to try that. I read the manual, but charging it in a European country did not come up. I'll try again when I finish visiting. Of course, I could have brought the wrong charger cord. Wouldn't put it past me.
Del walked over to the University library to go through the books he sent over through the diplomatic pouches. They will all stay here after we leave, but about a dozen were books he needed for preparing his lectures. The State Department gave him a certain amount of money to buy materials to use and leave. Someone from the library went to Vilnius the other day and picked the boxes up at the Embassy. We eventually have to go and make a courtesy call at the Embassy, but I hope we can put it off until better weather. It's several hours by bus. We would like to go up on the week end and do the proticol stuff on Monday so we can spend some time in the city. It is supposedly quite wonderful.
I thought you might like to see the key to one of the locks on our door, and the locking mechanism that goes with it. I've never seen such a key, and the lock reminds me of a less serious version of the locks on the bank vaults at the bank where I worked for six months in Richmond. We use it when we go out, but to tell the truth, I can't stand to be in here when it is locked. Del locked it the first night we were here, and I nearly had a spell before I got it unlocked to let the neighbor in. I feel pretty sure that in an emergency I would not be able to get out if I had to operate that lock. You have to sort of wind the key into the lock and then know which way to turn it and then remember that the door opens out. Left handed person that I am, I don't think so. We live on the first level, but that is not ground level and means our windows are further from the cobbled street than I would want to jump. We just use the typical dead bolt when we're home.
I tried a zuchinni one more time, one more way expreient tonight. I cooked up a mixture of onion, garlic, zuchinni innards, crumbs from a leftover slice of rye toast, oregano, thyme, splash of tomato juice and lemon juice, cooled it and added feta cheese and stuffed it all into the zuchinni shells. I baked it at some degree or other until tender crisp. It tasted sort of Greek and was a nice change.
Time to get myself off to bed. I'm still loving my plug in toothbrush. Happy teeth and gums!
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It was colder than blue blazes today - never got above negative wind chill-, and I didn't have any outside obligations, so I've been hold up here doing laundry and reading Anne of Green Gables. I should have been studying Lithuanian, but I'll have until about 2:30 tomorrow. I also decided to start my exercise program with Lesley Sansone. It's one of those walking dvds. I did the first day mile walk today, and if I can figure out how to charge the battery on the portable dvd player, I'll do the second day activity tomorrow. Somehow the charger light never came on. I'm wondering if it only needed the adaptor plug instead of the voltage changer, but I'm afraid to try that. I read the manual, but charging it in a European country did not come up. I'll try again when I finish visiting. Of course, I could have brought the wrong charger cord. Wouldn't put it past me.
Del walked over to the University library to go through the books he sent over through the diplomatic pouches. They will all stay here after we leave, but about a dozen were books he needed for preparing his lectures. The State Department gave him a certain amount of money to buy materials to use and leave. Someone from the library went to Vilnius the other day and picked the boxes up at the Embassy. We eventually have to go and make a courtesy call at the Embassy, but I hope we can put it off until better weather. It's several hours by bus. We would like to go up on the week end and do the proticol stuff on Monday so we can spend some time in the city. It is supposedly quite wonderful.
I thought you might like to see the key to one of the locks on our door, and the locking mechanism that goes with it. I've never seen such a key, and the lock reminds me of a less serious version of the locks on the bank vaults at the bank where I worked for six months in Richmond. We use it when we go out, but to tell the truth, I can't stand to be in here when it is locked. Del locked it the first night we were here, and I nearly had a spell before I got it unlocked to let the neighbor in. I feel pretty sure that in an emergency I would not be able to get out if I had to operate that lock. You have to sort of wind the key into the lock and then know which way to turn it and then remember that the door opens out. Left handed person that I am, I don't think so. We live on the first level, but that is not ground level and means our windows are further from the cobbled street than I would want to jump. We just use the typical dead bolt when we're home.
I tried a zuchinni one more time, one more way expreient tonight. I cooked up a mixture of onion, garlic, zuchinni innards, crumbs from a leftover slice of rye toast, oregano, thyme, splash of tomato juice and lemon juice, cooled it and added feta cheese and stuffed it all into the zuchinni shells. I baked it at some degree or other until tender crisp. It tasted sort of Greek and was a nice change.
Time to get myself off to bed. I'm still loving my plug in toothbrush. Happy teeth and gums!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Day 27 Cluelessness Is More Widespread Than You Would Think
It felt like -8 degrees F. this morning, so we settled in at home until time for church at 5. We didn't sleep late, but decided to work and drink coffee and then have brunch - bacon, eggs and light rye toast. Even after having it twice, I'm not sure how to describe the taste of the bacon. It isn't as salty or peppery as old fashioned bacon at home, and there is a flavor that seems familiar, maybe allspice - something I associate with German food, maybe, not that I have eaten much of that in the past.
I began reading, or rereading, Anne of Green Gables. It was a free book and I remember loving it as a girl. It made for a cozy morning.
This afternoon we bundled up and walked to church where we discovered that there is quite a bit of cluelessness going around. You know the experiment that may or may not have really taken place where one person was assigned to stand on the sidewalk and look up to see how many people would join him/her? Well, as we walked up, there were about 10 people standing around waiting and wondering why the person with the key was late. We stood around in the cold chatting and waiting patiently for 5-10 minutes before the woman who is interim president of LCC walked up and asked if anyone had called whoever was set-up person of the day. Then she just pulled on the door and it opened. That's probably why she is the interim president. I assume the first person in the group pushed instead of pulled or something. When we got upstairs, there were quite a few people wondering where the rest of the crowd had gotten to.
After church, we went out to eat with a couple from Ohio and Betsy from Virginia. Her husband is working on his second week of having flu. Apparently it's really going around. People here don't seem to get flu shots, but I am trying to think positively. We got ours this fall as usual. People here put a lot of faith in thyme tea as a preventative. I haven't tried it, but smelling it sure makes me hungry for turkey dressing.
Stopped at Iki to replenish essential beverages and fruit. They had one beautiful little basket of mandarin oranges, and I snapped them up-tiny little things, but they tasted wonderful and smelled better. The leaves were attached, and I was amazed that they even smelled good.
We Skyped with the kids today. Sunday's seem to work best. Rosa modeled the pajama pants she made at sewing class. I'm so glad she has enjoyed the sewing machine while we are away. I bought it to sew for her when she ws born, but haven't really done much since she was a toddler, now she is using to sew for herself. How did that happen so fast? Her first 2 lessons were at Jo-Ann's, but she is going to start taking lessons from a lady who has a child at her school. She is a seamstress and will be teaching her daughter and Rosa together. Sounds like fun.
We have loved getting emails and comments from you all. We love to hear what's going on with you.
Hugs!
I began reading, or rereading, Anne of Green Gables. It was a free book and I remember loving it as a girl. It made for a cozy morning.
This afternoon we bundled up and walked to church where we discovered that there is quite a bit of cluelessness going around. You know the experiment that may or may not have really taken place where one person was assigned to stand on the sidewalk and look up to see how many people would join him/her? Well, as we walked up, there were about 10 people standing around waiting and wondering why the person with the key was late. We stood around in the cold chatting and waiting patiently for 5-10 minutes before the woman who is interim president of LCC walked up and asked if anyone had called whoever was set-up person of the day. Then she just pulled on the door and it opened. That's probably why she is the interim president. I assume the first person in the group pushed instead of pulled or something. When we got upstairs, there were quite a few people wondering where the rest of the crowd had gotten to.
After church, we went out to eat with a couple from Ohio and Betsy from Virginia. Her husband is working on his second week of having flu. Apparently it's really going around. People here don't seem to get flu shots, but I am trying to think positively. We got ours this fall as usual. People here put a lot of faith in thyme tea as a preventative. I haven't tried it, but smelling it sure makes me hungry for turkey dressing.
Stopped at Iki to replenish essential beverages and fruit. They had one beautiful little basket of mandarin oranges, and I snapped them up-tiny little things, but they tasted wonderful and smelled better. The leaves were attached, and I was amazed that they even smelled good.
We Skyped with the kids today. Sunday's seem to work best. Rosa modeled the pajama pants she made at sewing class. I'm so glad she has enjoyed the sewing machine while we are away. I bought it to sew for her when she ws born, but haven't really done much since she was a toddler, now she is using to sew for herself. How did that happen so fast? Her first 2 lessons were at Jo-Ann's, but she is going to start taking lessons from a lady who has a child at her school. She is a seamstress and will be teaching her daughter and Rosa together. Sounds like fun.
We have loved getting emails and comments from you all. We love to hear what's going on with you.
Hugs!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Day 26 The Search for Klaipeda University T Shirts & a Burger
Happy Saturday to you all. Sounds like at least some of you are having well deserved, really good weather.
We worked on our classes all morning and the decided to get out and about. We had several errands to run, including paying the bill for Lithuanian class. We had to pay it with cash into a university account at a certain bank. I don't think we are getting any discount.
Then, strange as it may sound, Klaipeda University does not sell everything that can be embroidered or printed or painted with the University logo. Our Lithuanian teacher was kind enough to do some research and found out that we could buy things at the mall, so off we went a hunting. We must be getting accustomed to negative windchills. It could also be that after spending years in houses, a one bedroom flat with small living room-kitchen combination can begin to feel a tad small. We eventually found the small store, after making a complete circle of the mall, and picked out the designs we wanted printed on the shirts. I'll pick them up on Wed. after class. Del also managed to find a dress shirt, and I found broccoli and zuchinni at the Hyper Maxima. We also needed to go to the book store to get an English/Lithuanian Dictionary to go with our phrasebooks
It's kind of funny. I have been to the mall here more than I did all last year in Georgia, and Del has been more than he did in the last 2-3 years combined. My little shopper.
We also found a hamburger stand in the mall and had "linner" as Del calls it. I can't say as the burger killed my beef craving because the huge amount of mayonaise on it masked the taste, and dripped all over the place. It looked like Del's dad had been in charge. That man loved the stuff. We added mustard, which probably made it taste even more like a condiment sandwich. I now know how to say "well done", however, so we may eventually give the steak house a try. It was interesting to see that Hesburger had a vegetarian option that looked like a deviled egg with french fries and drink, so vegetarianism must be quite common. Whenever we go out to eat with other people, someone asks if we are vegetarian.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we learned a bit of etiquette in L Class that would have been helpful when we went to the 20th anniversary celebration. In this country, people don't just get a drink, have a little toast and drink it at will. Everyone in your group is supposed to sip at the same time, each time. I didn't quite understand how they time and choreograph this but I will certainly watch carefully for signaling behaviors next time we drink in public. I suppose that at a large party the group would just be the couple of people you are actually talking with at a particular time. That was not brought up at orientation.
Only one burst of fireworks tonight, and we couldn't see them from the window. Too late and too cold to go out in our pajamas.
Have a good day off, if you have a day off.
We worked on our classes all morning and the decided to get out and about. We had several errands to run, including paying the bill for Lithuanian class. We had to pay it with cash into a university account at a certain bank. I don't think we are getting any discount.
Then, strange as it may sound, Klaipeda University does not sell everything that can be embroidered or printed or painted with the University logo. Our Lithuanian teacher was kind enough to do some research and found out that we could buy things at the mall, so off we went a hunting. We must be getting accustomed to negative windchills. It could also be that after spending years in houses, a one bedroom flat with small living room-kitchen combination can begin to feel a tad small. We eventually found the small store, after making a complete circle of the mall, and picked out the designs we wanted printed on the shirts. I'll pick them up on Wed. after class. Del also managed to find a dress shirt, and I found broccoli and zuchinni at the Hyper Maxima. We also needed to go to the book store to get an English/Lithuanian Dictionary to go with our phrasebooks
It's kind of funny. I have been to the mall here more than I did all last year in Georgia, and Del has been more than he did in the last 2-3 years combined. My little shopper.
We also found a hamburger stand in the mall and had "linner" as Del calls it. I can't say as the burger killed my beef craving because the huge amount of mayonaise on it masked the taste, and dripped all over the place. It looked like Del's dad had been in charge. That man loved the stuff. We added mustard, which probably made it taste even more like a condiment sandwich. I now know how to say "well done", however, so we may eventually give the steak house a try. It was interesting to see that Hesburger had a vegetarian option that looked like a deviled egg with french fries and drink, so vegetarianism must be quite common. Whenever we go out to eat with other people, someone asks if we are vegetarian.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we learned a bit of etiquette in L Class that would have been helpful when we went to the 20th anniversary celebration. In this country, people don't just get a drink, have a little toast and drink it at will. Everyone in your group is supposed to sip at the same time, each time. I didn't quite understand how they time and choreograph this but I will certainly watch carefully for signaling behaviors next time we drink in public. I suppose that at a large party the group would just be the couple of people you are actually talking with at a particular time. That was not brought up at orientation.
Only one burst of fireworks tonight, and we couldn't see them from the window. Too late and too cold to go out in our pajamas.
Have a good day off, if you have a day off.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Day 25 Lithuanian Class & Unplanned Walk
Today was Lithuanian Class. I think I must have been having language anxiety last night because I had the strangest dreams, even for me. Some of you may remember that Del asked me to stop telling him details about my dreams after I dreamed that we had dinner at Quincy Jones' California beach house and described both the kitchen and the food in boring detail. He claimed that was just too much. He is probably just jealous because he doesn't remember dreams, and I dream in vivid color. Last night was one of those where I would wake up and think that my dream was rediculous and go beck to sleep and pick right up where I left off.
Fortunately, we left early for our noon class, because we took the wrong bus and then got disoriented and ended up walking almost back home before two students got us pointed in the right direction for the bus stop. This time we took the right bus and got to class only a few minutes late. Yes, I did have a map, but I am illiterate, and Del chose not to look at it. What a pair we are. Just when I was feeling that I might be developing a glimmer of sense of direction. That extra 30 min. fast paced walk in feels like 2 degrees F. left us feeling a combination of way too cold hands, face and feet and sweaty bodies and heads. Not to mention being out of breath by the time we walked up to the third floor classroom, plus the stairs from the ground level. Once again, we were at the bottom of the class, but we remembered more than I thought we would. I should mention that it took me two hours to do only fair on my written homework. Del - not so long, seeing as he benefited from my efforts. That's all I'm saying about that.
After class we took the correct bus and stopped for lunch at a neat place near the bus stop. Del had hot wings with potatoes and a little salad, and I had soup of the day and calamari with delicious sauce - rather tart with lemon, thyme and something to make it pinkish. It had a paper thin slice of dried or baked lemon for garnish that was crunchy and puckery. The soup was curried chicken with yellow curry. It was quite good.
We got home around 3, did a little work and then claimed our favorite napping places for an hour- bed for Del and on the sofa with EHJ on my chest for me. I should have put my Lithuanian notes there in hopes of absorbing knowledge. Of course, it never worked at Westhampton.
Dinner was a slice of pork roast, left over rice and cabbage salad. I have to get the neighbors to show me how to work the oven properly. Did I tell you that the eyes are gas and the oven electric? You can't just turn on the oven and expect it to work. You must need to set the clock and timer before you turn it on and since the clock is not set, and we can't figure out how to do it, I cooked the roast by 15 minute intervals. For some reason, it would let me add 15 minutes time, but no more. Then when I turned the oven off, it pinged every few seconds for almost an hour, or forever, if you were here listening to it. I don't know what made it start the noise or what made it stop. There are all sorts of intereasting symbols on the oven dial, but I didn't recognize them. I settled on the one that turned on the oven light and sounded like a fan running while it was working. For one thing, it let me know when it needed to have another 15 min. punched in.
After a steady diet of chicken, fish and pork since we got here, I am beginning to feel a craving for beef. I think it may be because I haven't seen it in the nearby markets and it isn't so common in restaurants. There is an Argentinian steak house in the neighborhood that smells really good whenever we walk past it. Actually, I probably should take the bus out to the local McDonald's for a burger because I don't know how I would explain to a server that I want my steak so well done that nobody would eat it but me. I'd better stick to cooking my own eggs for that same reason.
Happy Weekend to all. Monday is a holiday for most of you who are too young to retire, isn't it?
Just opened the window to let in a little -2 degree windchill fresh air and saw the full moon. It is so beautiful shining through the haze.
Fortunately, we left early for our noon class, because we took the wrong bus and then got disoriented and ended up walking almost back home before two students got us pointed in the right direction for the bus stop. This time we took the right bus and got to class only a few minutes late. Yes, I did have a map, but I am illiterate, and Del chose not to look at it. What a pair we are. Just when I was feeling that I might be developing a glimmer of sense of direction. That extra 30 min. fast paced walk in feels like 2 degrees F. left us feeling a combination of way too cold hands, face and feet and sweaty bodies and heads. Not to mention being out of breath by the time we walked up to the third floor classroom, plus the stairs from the ground level. Once again, we were at the bottom of the class, but we remembered more than I thought we would. I should mention that it took me two hours to do only fair on my written homework. Del - not so long, seeing as he benefited from my efforts. That's all I'm saying about that.
After class we took the correct bus and stopped for lunch at a neat place near the bus stop. Del had hot wings with potatoes and a little salad, and I had soup of the day and calamari with delicious sauce - rather tart with lemon, thyme and something to make it pinkish. It had a paper thin slice of dried or baked lemon for garnish that was crunchy and puckery. The soup was curried chicken with yellow curry. It was quite good.
We got home around 3, did a little work and then claimed our favorite napping places for an hour- bed for Del and on the sofa with EHJ on my chest for me. I should have put my Lithuanian notes there in hopes of absorbing knowledge. Of course, it never worked at Westhampton.
Dinner was a slice of pork roast, left over rice and cabbage salad. I have to get the neighbors to show me how to work the oven properly. Did I tell you that the eyes are gas and the oven electric? You can't just turn on the oven and expect it to work. You must need to set the clock and timer before you turn it on and since the clock is not set, and we can't figure out how to do it, I cooked the roast by 15 minute intervals. For some reason, it would let me add 15 minutes time, but no more. Then when I turned the oven off, it pinged every few seconds for almost an hour, or forever, if you were here listening to it. I don't know what made it start the noise or what made it stop. There are all sorts of intereasting symbols on the oven dial, but I didn't recognize them. I settled on the one that turned on the oven light and sounded like a fan running while it was working. For one thing, it let me know when it needed to have another 15 min. punched in.
After a steady diet of chicken, fish and pork since we got here, I am beginning to feel a craving for beef. I think it may be because I haven't seen it in the nearby markets and it isn't so common in restaurants. There is an Argentinian steak house in the neighborhood that smells really good whenever we walk past it. Actually, I probably should take the bus out to the local McDonald's for a burger because I don't know how I would explain to a server that I want my steak so well done that nobody would eat it but me. I'd better stick to cooking my own eggs for that same reason.
Happy Weekend to all. Monday is a holiday for most of you who are too young to retire, isn't it?
Just opened the window to let in a little -2 degree windchill fresh air and saw the full moon. It is so beautiful shining through the haze.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 24 Post 2 Afternoon at the Akropolus
If you read the Independence Day post before I corrected it, the 16th was independence after WW1, not from theSoviets. That will come in March. Sorry I passed on incorrect info. Del read on the web that the Lithuanian community in Atlanta celebrated in a pub in Alpharetta. Maybe they will let us come next year.
Today was Del's teaching day and my day to tour the mall to see what I could see. My main reason for going was to visit the Walmart equivalent (Hyper Maxima) for a replacement alarm clock. The first one we bought was not intended to survive being violently swept off the night stand at 5 in the AM - my getting up time on teaching day. I bought a new one that even talks, in English yet, but when I got home, I discovered that the directions are written in 5 languages, none of them English. I figured out how to set the time, and we thought Del had the alarm set, but he must have asked it to announce the time on the hour. So far it has spoken at 6, 7 and 8. In just a minute or two we will know if it is also going to tell us it is 9 o'clock. We know that it's common for people to use their cell phones as alarm clocks, and that's what we have done for the last few days, but it just doesn't feel right. The clock just announced the hour, by the way. We may have to take it to Lithuanian class to get the instructor to tell us how to work it. How is it that doing what seem like simple mechanical tasks is not simple? We checked the internet, but surprise, surprise, I bought the on sale brand, and the web never heard of it.
My other reason for going was to look for an electric toothbrush. My gums will not hold up for four more months of my overly enthuastic scrubbing with the person powered kind. They didn't have them at Hyper Maxima so I made my first visit to the drug store. Success! After 24 hours of charging, I will have happy gums. It was amazing how many products might have come from the shelves of Walgreens or CVS. I'll have to make another trip (when I'm not carrying a Rick Steves day pack full of wine and rum and 2 bags of other things from the Maxima, just to sight see. Our kitchen has an odd assortment of things, but nothing to cook a hunk of meat or a casserole in. I also need to buy soup bowls, but my arms were full. Priorities.
I got to the bus stop just as my bus pulled up. Yea! It was full, so I practiced keeping my balance while carrying my hiking stick, two large reusable grocery bags and my Rick Steves bag. One teenaged boy was nearly crushed after I stumbled back into him as the bus pulled away from the stop before I got hold of a pole, but only one, and he seemed nice about it.
It had only warmed up to feels like 2 degrees by the time I got home, so I pulled bean soup from the freezer and served it with tortilla chips to warm us up. Yum! Because we regulate the temperature in the flat by opening and closing the windows, however, by the time Del got home and the soup was hot, it was stiffling in here so we ate it in front of an open window. Sure am glad the heat is included with the rent.
Time to study for Lithuanian class tomorrow. I got to practice one phrase we learned on Friday quite a bit today. It translates to "Sorry, I don't understand."
Today was Del's teaching day and my day to tour the mall to see what I could see. My main reason for going was to visit the Walmart equivalent (Hyper Maxima) for a replacement alarm clock. The first one we bought was not intended to survive being violently swept off the night stand at 5 in the AM - my getting up time on teaching day. I bought a new one that even talks, in English yet, but when I got home, I discovered that the directions are written in 5 languages, none of them English. I figured out how to set the time, and we thought Del had the alarm set, but he must have asked it to announce the time on the hour. So far it has spoken at 6, 7 and 8. In just a minute or two we will know if it is also going to tell us it is 9 o'clock. We know that it's common for people to use their cell phones as alarm clocks, and that's what we have done for the last few days, but it just doesn't feel right. The clock just announced the hour, by the way. We may have to take it to Lithuanian class to get the instructor to tell us how to work it. How is it that doing what seem like simple mechanical tasks is not simple? We checked the internet, but surprise, surprise, I bought the on sale brand, and the web never heard of it.
My other reason for going was to look for an electric toothbrush. My gums will not hold up for four more months of my overly enthuastic scrubbing with the person powered kind. They didn't have them at Hyper Maxima so I made my first visit to the drug store. Success! After 24 hours of charging, I will have happy gums. It was amazing how many products might have come from the shelves of Walgreens or CVS. I'll have to make another trip (when I'm not carrying a Rick Steves day pack full of wine and rum and 2 bags of other things from the Maxima, just to sight see. Our kitchen has an odd assortment of things, but nothing to cook a hunk of meat or a casserole in. I also need to buy soup bowls, but my arms were full. Priorities.
I got to the bus stop just as my bus pulled up. Yea! It was full, so I practiced keeping my balance while carrying my hiking stick, two large reusable grocery bags and my Rick Steves bag. One teenaged boy was nearly crushed after I stumbled back into him as the bus pulled away from the stop before I got hold of a pole, but only one, and he seemed nice about it.
It had only warmed up to feels like 2 degrees by the time I got home, so I pulled bean soup from the freezer and served it with tortilla chips to warm us up. Yum! Because we regulate the temperature in the flat by opening and closing the windows, however, by the time Del got home and the soup was hot, it was stiffling in here so we ate it in front of an open window. Sure am glad the heat is included with the rent.
Time to study for Lithuanian class tomorrow. I got to practice one phrase we learned on Friday quite a bit today. It translates to "Sorry, I don't understand."
Day 24 Post 1 Del's Sweater Did Not Shrink In Vain
This post is for the crafty among you - handicrafty, not the other kind.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/Sweater?authkey=Gv1sRgCJiTla3ZjqC20AE
Yesterday, I decided that I needed to throw away the shrunken sweater or do something with it. Inspired by David's efforts for the February Thing a Day Challenge, I decided to make lemonade, since I had already made the lemons. The attached pictures will show you how things turned out. Martha Stewart and her sort will not be knocking down my door begging me to design for them, but I had fun. Proof that it doesn't take much to entertain me.
First, Del's poor favorite $3 Donna Karan via Tallmadge Goodwill sweater after it dried. Following a suggestion from friend Tom of Tom and Sharon fame about providing suggestions of scale when I take pictures of things, I will give you some idea of the shrinkage. It went from being almost too big and slouchy on Del to 2 1/2 Earl Hamner Juniors long by 2 1/2 Earl Hamner Juniors wide. Who said a Kindle is only for reading? Why don't they mention it as a unit of measurement in their ads?
Off with the sleeves! With just a little evening up, they are now either leg warmers, wine bottle sweaters or arm warmers. I wore them with jeans as leg warmers yesterday. Deleted that picture somehow.
Cut bottom of sweater off just below arm holes and cut resulting tube into 2 tubes. Cut each tube so it was flat, leaving me with 2 thick scarves.
Cut the remaining piece down the middle front, cut off neck ribbing, because it did not felt well, and I had a shoulder cozy. I trimmed it up a bit to make it look a little better.
I still have the trimmings that can be turned into flowers or something - using everything but the squeal, you know. (Being in pork country has brought all sorts of pork terms to my mind.)
Granted, these garments are not going to win any prizes on the fashion runway, but they certainly do add a surprising amount of warmth under the down coats.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/Sweater?authkey=Gv1sRgCJiTla3ZjqC20AE
Yesterday, I decided that I needed to throw away the shrunken sweater or do something with it. Inspired by David's efforts for the February Thing a Day Challenge, I decided to make lemonade, since I had already made the lemons. The attached pictures will show you how things turned out. Martha Stewart and her sort will not be knocking down my door begging me to design for them, but I had fun. Proof that it doesn't take much to entertain me.
First, Del's poor favorite $3 Donna Karan via Tallmadge Goodwill sweater after it dried. Following a suggestion from friend Tom of Tom and Sharon fame about providing suggestions of scale when I take pictures of things, I will give you some idea of the shrinkage. It went from being almost too big and slouchy on Del to 2 1/2 Earl Hamner Juniors long by 2 1/2 Earl Hamner Juniors wide. Who said a Kindle is only for reading? Why don't they mention it as a unit of measurement in their ads?
Off with the sleeves! With just a little evening up, they are now either leg warmers, wine bottle sweaters or arm warmers. I wore them with jeans as leg warmers yesterday. Deleted that picture somehow.
Cut bottom of sweater off just below arm holes and cut resulting tube into 2 tubes. Cut each tube so it was flat, leaving me with 2 thick scarves.
Cut the remaining piece down the middle front, cut off neck ribbing, because it did not felt well, and I had a shoulder cozy. I trimmed it up a bit to make it look a little better.
I still have the trimmings that can be turned into flowers or something - using everything but the squeal, you know. (Being in pork country has brought all sorts of pork terms to my mind.)
Granted, these garments are not going to win any prizes on the fashion runway, but they certainly do add a surprising amount of warmth under the down coats.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Day 23 Independence from Soviets -Error!! WW1 Independence Day
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/Feb16IndependenceDay?authkey=Gv1sRgCI2Ls7m9jOfegAE
Another cold day, but just before noon we heard drums, bundled up and rushed out to see if we could find an Independence Day celebration. We followed the sound and got there in time to see a good bit of the very short event. People were more serious than we are on the 4th, but there was lots of waving of small flags and balloons for the children. Del got some pretty good pictures there, and since we were already out in the feels like 0 degree F. cold, we decided we might as well walk around a little. We walked out to the channel that leads to the sea where Del took the pictures of the swans and boats. We also walked past the old theater where Hitler stood on the balcony to state that Klaipeda was reinstated into Germany.
Our next stop was the old market where we bought chicken, bacon and a small pork roast. They do not sell beef at the market. I don't think it is a big part of the Lithuanian diet.
The bacon man is accustomed to selling a hunk of bacon, but he sliced it into strips for me, while shaking his head about the whole thing. One thing I thought odd was that when I pointed to the bacon, he cut off a small sliver and offered it to me to try RAW. Needless to say, I declined.
After that, Del walked home, and I stopped by the little Iki to pick up a few things, so I was a few minutes behind him. After 3 1/2 hours out in the cold, it was time for coffee and a nap.
The chicken breasts were huge. I cooked 2 halves and we have one half left for lunch tomorrow. I served it with rice, zucchini and cabbage salad. I tried to imitate the salad we had at a restaurant the other day. The dressing was surprisingly close.
I had hoped there would be fireworks tonight, but not so far.
Sorry - Wrong info - Independence after WW1 Stay tuned for report on Soviet Independence Day when it actually occurs in March.
Another cold day, but just before noon we heard drums, bundled up and rushed out to see if we could find an Independence Day celebration. We followed the sound and got there in time to see a good bit of the very short event. People were more serious than we are on the 4th, but there was lots of waving of small flags and balloons for the children. Del got some pretty good pictures there, and since we were already out in the feels like 0 degree F. cold, we decided we might as well walk around a little. We walked out to the channel that leads to the sea where Del took the pictures of the swans and boats. We also walked past the old theater where Hitler stood on the balcony to state that Klaipeda was reinstated into Germany.
Our next stop was the old market where we bought chicken, bacon and a small pork roast. They do not sell beef at the market. I don't think it is a big part of the Lithuanian diet.
The bacon man is accustomed to selling a hunk of bacon, but he sliced it into strips for me, while shaking his head about the whole thing. One thing I thought odd was that when I pointed to the bacon, he cut off a small sliver and offered it to me to try RAW. Needless to say, I declined.
After that, Del walked home, and I stopped by the little Iki to pick up a few things, so I was a few minutes behind him. After 3 1/2 hours out in the cold, it was time for coffee and a nap.
The chicken breasts were huge. I cooked 2 halves and we have one half left for lunch tomorrow. I served it with rice, zucchini and cabbage salad. I tried to imitate the salad we had at a restaurant the other day. The dressing was surprisingly close.
I had hoped there would be fireworks tonight, but not so far.
Sorry - Wrong info - Independence after WW1 Stay tuned for report on Soviet Independence Day when it actually occurs in March.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Day 22 Cold, Cold, Cold!
We had to be out and about today, but when we saw the temp was 2 degrees F with a negative wind chill, we wimped out and took a taxi to our 10 o'clock appointment at the library at LCC, the college where all our neighbors and the people we go to church with are associated. It started 20 years ago as a language institute but is now a liberal arts college where everything is done in English. It is funded by several denominations, among them, the Mennonites, Presbyterians and Dutch Reformists. Most of the people who work there are responsible for finding sponsors to support them rather than being paid by the college. I have not heard them call it that, but it sounds like being a missionary to me. I certainly sense that most seem to look at their work more as a calling than a job. Some of the people we have met have been there for as much as nine years, some are actual volunteers for a semester or a summer and come without sponsorship. There are 650 students from various countries. One woman from Harrisonburg and two Lithuanian women from the library are in Del's class and invited him to visit. I tagged along because the word lunch was mentioned.
And what a lunch it was! The ladies introduced us to a warm and cozy restaurant called Bisquit. I love the spelling. All 5 of us chose the lunch special which included a large bowl of mushroom soup, broth style, not creamy, a cabbage salad, mashed potatoes, minced pork croquette sort of thing stuffed with finely chopped boiled egg and served with a thin cream sauce, bread to fight over and a traditional drink called compote. It was a glass of cold mixed fruit juices with some fruit floated in it. The primary flavor was pear, I think, It was a bit sweeter that I would have chosen, but the soup and lunch were delicious. My guess is that the croquette was poached, but I'm not sure. It was very delicate in texture. Del "cooked" for 5 of us for the grand sum of $35 plus tip. Who ever heard of such a thing? The young Lithuanian women and I grossed Del and Betsy, from Harrisonburg, out, discussing pork products they had eaten at grandparents' farms and that I had eaten at home. They even told me that what we call sause is readily available in the regular grocery. In fact, Del could have bought me some shaped like a heart for Valentine's Day. Nothing gets to your heart like pig parts jello. In more ways than one, I suppose.
Fortified by that good lunch, we decided to catch the bus home. It had warmed up to about -2 degrees wind chill by then but appeared warmer because of the bright sunshine. We had time for a cup of tea and last minute cramming before putting on an extra layer and catching the bus to our Lithuanian class. Neither of us shows promise for being the star pupil, but we will keep at it.
The class ended at 5 and by the time we got home from the bus stop, we agreed that today was the first time we were really miserably cold, despite looking like the little boy in The Christmas Story who had on so many clothes that when he fell, he could not get up. Del actually wore his hat and gloves with no nagging from you know who. I'm thinking 2 pairs of socks next time and some wool mittens over my leather gloves.
No teaching for me tomorrow - Independence from the Soviets Day. They have another Independence Day in March. I forget from whom. It sounds like a low key sort of celebration, but I'm hoping for fireworks.
Good night from the food, weather and fireworks obsessed person.
And what a lunch it was! The ladies introduced us to a warm and cozy restaurant called Bisquit. I love the spelling. All 5 of us chose the lunch special which included a large bowl of mushroom soup, broth style, not creamy, a cabbage salad, mashed potatoes, minced pork croquette sort of thing stuffed with finely chopped boiled egg and served with a thin cream sauce, bread to fight over and a traditional drink called compote. It was a glass of cold mixed fruit juices with some fruit floated in it. The primary flavor was pear, I think, It was a bit sweeter that I would have chosen, but the soup and lunch were delicious. My guess is that the croquette was poached, but I'm not sure. It was very delicate in texture. Del "cooked" for 5 of us for the grand sum of $35 plus tip. Who ever heard of such a thing? The young Lithuanian women and I grossed Del and Betsy, from Harrisonburg, out, discussing pork products they had eaten at grandparents' farms and that I had eaten at home. They even told me that what we call sause is readily available in the regular grocery. In fact, Del could have bought me some shaped like a heart for Valentine's Day. Nothing gets to your heart like pig parts jello. In more ways than one, I suppose.
Fortified by that good lunch, we decided to catch the bus home. It had warmed up to about -2 degrees wind chill by then but appeared warmer because of the bright sunshine. We had time for a cup of tea and last minute cramming before putting on an extra layer and catching the bus to our Lithuanian class. Neither of us shows promise for being the star pupil, but we will keep at it.
The class ended at 5 and by the time we got home from the bus stop, we agreed that today was the first time we were really miserably cold, despite looking like the little boy in The Christmas Story who had on so many clothes that when he fell, he could not get up. Del actually wore his hat and gloves with no nagging from you know who. I'm thinking 2 pairs of socks next time and some wool mittens over my leather gloves.
No teaching for me tomorrow - Independence from the Soviets Day. They have another Independence Day in March. I forget from whom. It sounds like a low key sort of celebration, but I'm hoping for fireworks.
Good night from the food, weather and fireworks obsessed person.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Day 21 Happy Valentine's Day
Hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day. Ours has been quiet. It was below zero windchill, so we just decided to stay home. ( It's up to 5 degrees F. now at 10:50 PM.) Del has lots of writing to do, and I used puff pastry to make goodies for the neighbors. I haven't figured out the names for baking powder and baking soda, so I didn't have the ingredients for baking. Plus, flour messes up the kitchen. One of the neighbors is going to email the names for common ingredients in case the mood strikes.
My special Valentine treat, however, was popcorn. It is not a common or popular snack here, so I was thrilled to find 2 packages at the Iki last week and put them away for a special occasion.
Today was also sheet washing day. That is a carefully thought out procedure since they have to be hung to dry. Our matress is actually 2 mattresses and the bottom sheets are great big old pillow cases, so what I do, is wash those on one half of the bed one day and then when they are dry, I wash the other side. It generally takes about 24 hours for them to dry. The drying rack folds out to more than 5 feet, and with a sheet on it looks like we have a hospital gurney (sp?) set up in the living room. Other than sheet days, I wash small loads and we can do all the drying in the bathroom and front hall closet, so it doesn't look so bad.
Off to study some more for Lithuanian class.
My special Valentine treat, however, was popcorn. It is not a common or popular snack here, so I was thrilled to find 2 packages at the Iki last week and put them away for a special occasion.
Today was also sheet washing day. That is a carefully thought out procedure since they have to be hung to dry. Our matress is actually 2 mattresses and the bottom sheets are great big old pillow cases, so what I do, is wash those on one half of the bed one day and then when they are dry, I wash the other side. It generally takes about 24 hours for them to dry. The drying rack folds out to more than 5 feet, and with a sheet on it looks like we have a hospital gurney (sp?) set up in the living room. Other than sheet days, I wash small loads and we can do all the drying in the bathroom and front hall closet, so it doesn't look so bad.
Off to study some more for Lithuanian class.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Day 20 Knitted Thingy Reveal
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/KnittedThingyReveal?authkey=Gv1sRgCITRtYrZ6czAWQ
So, there you are, smart people. All who participated guessed some sort of hat, and it is indeed a hat. Brother in Law Walter says they are called sock hats in Germany. I'm sorry that we don't have Rosa or Moonpie to model as David does, but that's the way it is. Del and I did our feeble best. The hat is knit in the round in a ribbed pattern to form a stretchy tube with each end shaped into a crown and closed. I suppose the purpose is to make it double layered for warmth. It also allows some variety in how it can be formed once it is on the head, depending on how far up you stuff the end. I find that I usually end up sticking this hat in one pocket and a lighter hat in the other so I can switch off wearing them depending on how hot it is at a particular moment of the day. Yesterday I wore it most of the day with my hood on top of that.
Today was a quiet day. It was so cold this morning that we did not go out until church at 5, so, of course, I had a sofa nap, and did a load of laundry and studied Lithuanian.
It had gotten up to the 20's by the time we left the flat. After church we went back next door to the Yellow Submarine for pizza and more importantly, more hot chocolate with filberts. Yum. We also shared a salad with "mould" cheese. We could tell from the picture that it was blue cheese, so we felt pretty safe in ordering. Once again we brought home enough pizza for another meal. You know how I love that.
Have a great week!
So, there you are, smart people. All who participated guessed some sort of hat, and it is indeed a hat. Brother in Law Walter says they are called sock hats in Germany. I'm sorry that we don't have Rosa or Moonpie to model as David does, but that's the way it is. Del and I did our feeble best. The hat is knit in the round in a ribbed pattern to form a stretchy tube with each end shaped into a crown and closed. I suppose the purpose is to make it double layered for warmth. It also allows some variety in how it can be formed once it is on the head, depending on how far up you stuff the end. I find that I usually end up sticking this hat in one pocket and a lighter hat in the other so I can switch off wearing them depending on how hot it is at a particular moment of the day. Yesterday I wore it most of the day with my hood on top of that.
Today was a quiet day. It was so cold this morning that we did not go out until church at 5, so, of course, I had a sofa nap, and did a load of laundry and studied Lithuanian.
It had gotten up to the 20's by the time we left the flat. After church we went back next door to the Yellow Submarine for pizza and more importantly, more hot chocolate with filberts. Yum. We also shared a salad with "mould" cheese. We could tell from the picture that it was blue cheese, so we felt pretty safe in ordering. Once again we brought home enough pizza for another meal. You know how I love that.
Have a great week!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Day 19 Palanga Stinta (Smelt) Festival
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/SmeltFestival?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyR76m3kNvMkwE
That's right. The delicate snow and cold weather hating flower spent a good part of the day at a fish festival in temperatures that started at 16 degrees F. and ended at 25 degrees F. with the wind chill being 12 degrees.
(I never got to the Peanut Festival or the Pork Festival in Va., but maybe I will, one day. Then I can sweat instead of shake.) When we got up, we thought we might just chuck the whole idea because it was so cold and snowing like crazy, but our colleague called to say that it was sunny in Palanga and we should still come. We bundled up and walked to the bus stop to go to the city bus station to catch a bus for the 30 minute ride to Palanga. Our friend met us at the station and we walked to the beginning of the festival which stretched for nearly a mile on either side of of the main street to the sea. It really reminded me of the sort of things we would see at festivals at home; some crafts were quite beautifully made, and some not so much. We also saw all sorts of breads, fancy candies, smoked pork products and fish. They had grilled fish, fried fish, fish soup. dried and smoked fish to buy, hot beer and on and on. People were sitting at tables out in that cold eating lunch.
Daiva suggested that we go to a nice fish restaurant where it was warm to have our lunch, and we hurridly agreed before she changed her mind. Her husband met us there and we had a wonderful time. We had fish soup and lightly fried stintas, or smelt, with a squirt of lemon . I think everyone in the restaurant was having the same thing. The soup was quite delicate. Chunks of cod, and a piece of potato in a fish broth that had only the mild flavor of fish - no onion, garlic or anything I could taste. A tiny bit of fresh dill had been snipped on top. We ate the fish with our fingers, bones and all. We topped it all off with hot black currant wine, Latvian style. Yummy!
We almost got to see the Polar Bear swim, but the pier was closed for renovation, and we couldn't see beyond the crowd. We did see a few wet people all bundled up in coats and sweat pants as they walked back from their dip. Bless their hearts. If I understood, they do it for fun, not for charity as niece Sarah and Miles did.
By then it was getting late, it was snowing again, and we were ready to head home. We walked back to the bus station where Daiva suggested we take a small private bus that was leaving before the regular bus. She was insistant that she would not leave until we were on our way, we agreed, but I really prefer the real bus. Somehow I figure they are safer, etc., but I slept most of the half hour home, so I must not have been too worried.
We got home safely and immediately made hot Nestles Quick. Believe me, it was not hot chocolate Yellow Submarine Pizza Style.
It was such a wonderful day, despite the cold. Now if only there are fireworks.
That's right. The delicate snow and cold weather hating flower spent a good part of the day at a fish festival in temperatures that started at 16 degrees F. and ended at 25 degrees F. with the wind chill being 12 degrees.
(I never got to the Peanut Festival or the Pork Festival in Va., but maybe I will, one day. Then I can sweat instead of shake.) When we got up, we thought we might just chuck the whole idea because it was so cold and snowing like crazy, but our colleague called to say that it was sunny in Palanga and we should still come. We bundled up and walked to the bus stop to go to the city bus station to catch a bus for the 30 minute ride to Palanga. Our friend met us at the station and we walked to the beginning of the festival which stretched for nearly a mile on either side of of the main street to the sea. It really reminded me of the sort of things we would see at festivals at home; some crafts were quite beautifully made, and some not so much. We also saw all sorts of breads, fancy candies, smoked pork products and fish. They had grilled fish, fried fish, fish soup. dried and smoked fish to buy, hot beer and on and on. People were sitting at tables out in that cold eating lunch.
Daiva suggested that we go to a nice fish restaurant where it was warm to have our lunch, and we hurridly agreed before she changed her mind. Her husband met us there and we had a wonderful time. We had fish soup and lightly fried stintas, or smelt, with a squirt of lemon . I think everyone in the restaurant was having the same thing. The soup was quite delicate. Chunks of cod, and a piece of potato in a fish broth that had only the mild flavor of fish - no onion, garlic or anything I could taste. A tiny bit of fresh dill had been snipped on top. We ate the fish with our fingers, bones and all. We topped it all off with hot black currant wine, Latvian style. Yummy!
We almost got to see the Polar Bear swim, but the pier was closed for renovation, and we couldn't see beyond the crowd. We did see a few wet people all bundled up in coats and sweat pants as they walked back from their dip. Bless their hearts. If I understood, they do it for fun, not for charity as niece Sarah and Miles did.
By then it was getting late, it was snowing again, and we were ready to head home. We walked back to the bus station where Daiva suggested we take a small private bus that was leaving before the regular bus. She was insistant that she would not leave until we were on our way, we agreed, but I really prefer the real bus. Somehow I figure they are safer, etc., but I slept most of the half hour home, so I must not have been too worried.
We got home safely and immediately made hot Nestles Quick. Believe me, it was not hot chocolate Yellow Submarine Pizza Style.
It was such a wonderful day, despite the cold. Now if only there are fireworks.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Day 18 Busy, Busy Day
Del took today's pictures at the main campus of Klaipeda University. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century and survived WW2. It originally was for the Lithuanian army, but various armies took it over, including the Soviets during the "Soviet Times", as they call it. One of my history teachers in elementary school would have probably called it the "late unpleasantness." That's how she referred to what we were taught to call the War Between the States.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/KlAIPEDAUNIV2?authkey=Gv1sRgCP-4sf3-o7ytcw
Del also took a couple of pictures of my shawl, which looks much better in person. The technique is wet felting, by the way.
We went to the campus for our first Lithuanian language lesson. There are 4 of us in the class, 2 of whom are students from Italy who are majoring in languages. The other 2 of us just hope to keep our noses above water. The whole head is too much to expect. The teacher and the boys assured us that we would not hold them back, but I made them promise they would let us know if we started to. We went over a few phrases, but mainly concentrated on understanding the alphabet. I like the little diacritical marks they use to help with pronunciation. We could use a few of those in English. We will meet on Tuesday and Friday.
We went to class all dressed up because we had been invited to attend the 20th anniversary of the founding of the University. It was a beautiful thing to watch. The presidents of other universities in the country were there in their splendid academic regalia. They seemed almost Medieval. One even had an ermine cape. Del has always said that attending his brother in law's graduation when he was a kid and seeing the robes made him want to work on a college campus, but I have never seen anything as elaborate as those we saw today.
Students dressed in traditional Lithuanian garb assisted when gifts were given or presentations made, and I have to say, these folks know how to make a pageant out of awarding an honorary degree. The honoree was the President of Latvia, a doctor who is considered a hero because of his work after Chernobyl (remember that my spell check only speaks Lithuaninan.) His field is trauma and orthopedics, I believe.
The business part of the event lasted a couple of hours. Daiva, our guardian angel, was afraid we would be bored because of the language barrier. We weren't, because there was so much to see. Besides, they probably said about the same things that would have said at any of the university events I've attended for the last gazillion years. Then the students and faculty of the music and dance departments performed for an hour. They were quite good and the program was quite varied - jazz, opera, classical piano, traditional instruments, traditional dance and a jazz dance production.
After that, we went upstairs to a reception. They served wine and yummy canapes. They used mirrors of various shapes as serving trays. Everything was lovely.
NOW, BEFORE YOU ASK, WE DID TAKE OUR CAMERA, BUT TAKING PICTURES WASN'T WELCOMED . There were quite a few professionals there taking pictures, so perhaps I will be able to link you up to the University's coverage of the event so you can see the costume if you like.
I was surprised, and a little alarmed, at how casual security for the Latvian president was handled. We had to show our invitations at the front door, but no other forms of identification and there was no type of screening. I happened to look to my left at one point during the reception. and the president of Latvia was standing just at my elbow talking to someone. There was a large, very large, man wearing an ear piece and talking to his wrist right behind him, but that was the extent of security as far as I could see.
Oh, the Lithuanians have a clever way of handling the glass in one hand, plate in the other, how do I shake hands dilemma. They greet each other and click their glasses together. Cool, huh?
Only one more day until we reveal the identity of the knitted thingy. Don't miss your chance to not win the prize.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/KlAIPEDAUNIV2?authkey=Gv1sRgCP-4sf3-o7ytcw
Del also took a couple of pictures of my shawl, which looks much better in person. The technique is wet felting, by the way.
We went to the campus for our first Lithuanian language lesson. There are 4 of us in the class, 2 of whom are students from Italy who are majoring in languages. The other 2 of us just hope to keep our noses above water. The whole head is too much to expect. The teacher and the boys assured us that we would not hold them back, but I made them promise they would let us know if we started to. We went over a few phrases, but mainly concentrated on understanding the alphabet. I like the little diacritical marks they use to help with pronunciation. We could use a few of those in English. We will meet on Tuesday and Friday.
We went to class all dressed up because we had been invited to attend the 20th anniversary of the founding of the University. It was a beautiful thing to watch. The presidents of other universities in the country were there in their splendid academic regalia. They seemed almost Medieval. One even had an ermine cape. Del has always said that attending his brother in law's graduation when he was a kid and seeing the robes made him want to work on a college campus, but I have never seen anything as elaborate as those we saw today.
Students dressed in traditional Lithuanian garb assisted when gifts were given or presentations made, and I have to say, these folks know how to make a pageant out of awarding an honorary degree. The honoree was the President of Latvia, a doctor who is considered a hero because of his work after Chernobyl (remember that my spell check only speaks Lithuaninan.) His field is trauma and orthopedics, I believe.
The business part of the event lasted a couple of hours. Daiva, our guardian angel, was afraid we would be bored because of the language barrier. We weren't, because there was so much to see. Besides, they probably said about the same things that would have said at any of the university events I've attended for the last gazillion years. Then the students and faculty of the music and dance departments performed for an hour. They were quite good and the program was quite varied - jazz, opera, classical piano, traditional instruments, traditional dance and a jazz dance production.
After that, we went upstairs to a reception. They served wine and yummy canapes. They used mirrors of various shapes as serving trays. Everything was lovely.
NOW, BEFORE YOU ASK, WE DID TAKE OUR CAMERA, BUT TAKING PICTURES WASN'T WELCOMED . There were quite a few professionals there taking pictures, so perhaps I will be able to link you up to the University's coverage of the event so you can see the costume if you like.
I was surprised, and a little alarmed, at how casual security for the Latvian president was handled. We had to show our invitations at the front door, but no other forms of identification and there was no type of screening. I happened to look to my left at one point during the reception. and the president of Latvia was standing just at my elbow talking to someone. There was a large, very large, man wearing an ear piece and talking to his wrist right behind him, but that was the extent of security as far as I could see.
Oh, the Lithuanians have a clever way of handling the glass in one hand, plate in the other, how do I shake hands dilemma. They greet each other and click their glasses together. Cool, huh?
Only one more day until we reveal the identity of the knitted thingy. Don't miss your chance to not win the prize.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Day 17 Can You Identify This Knitted Thingy?
Today was a slow news day, so I decided to offer you a little quiz. I took a picture of something I bought the other day at the open air market. Can you guess what it is? No prize, just the satisfaction of knowing you are way too smart. I will let you in on the secret in a day or two, so put your guesses in the comment section.
Del had a double seminar today, so I had the place to myself from 1 to 6:30 or so. I did some laundry and then went to the Iki for some bread and such like. When I got home, I pulled out the ham broth and bits and pieces of ham to make soup. There was so much broth I decided to make 2 kinds and freeze the left overs. There was cilantro, at a price, in the store today, so I made ham, bean and barley soup with a Mexican attitude, using a few shakes frm a taco seasoning packet to substitute for spices I did not find at the little Iki.
It worked great. Then I experimented with a package of frozen borscht vegetables, cabbaage, potatoes, and barley. Both soups had canned tomatoes, onions and lots of garlic. The cabbage soup didn't seem quite right so I added a glug of flavored venegar. I was surprised that Del chose the cabbage.
Does anyone know what I did to make my computer erase letters when I try to correct my mistakes instead of letting me inject a new letter in the middle of the word or add a space when I forgot one? More importantly, does anyone know what I can do to make it stop? I feel as though today's post is trying to do away with itself. Which reminds me, does anyone remember ink eradicator (sp?)? My aunt Ruby used o use it to make corrections in her grade book, back before the flood. I thought it was a miracle.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/GuessWhatThisIs?authkey=Gv1sRgCKbGx4-wyNmDrwE
Del had a double seminar today, so I had the place to myself from 1 to 6:30 or so. I did some laundry and then went to the Iki for some bread and such like. When I got home, I pulled out the ham broth and bits and pieces of ham to make soup. There was so much broth I decided to make 2 kinds and freeze the left overs. There was cilantro, at a price, in the store today, so I made ham, bean and barley soup with a Mexican attitude, using a few shakes frm a taco seasoning packet to substitute for spices I did not find at the little Iki.
It worked great. Then I experimented with a package of frozen borscht vegetables, cabbaage, potatoes, and barley. Both soups had canned tomatoes, onions and lots of garlic. The cabbage soup didn't seem quite right so I added a glug of flavored venegar. I was surprised that Del chose the cabbage.
Does anyone know what I did to make my computer erase letters when I try to correct my mistakes instead of letting me inject a new letter in the middle of the word or add a space when I forgot one? More importantly, does anyone know what I can do to make it stop? I feel as though today's post is trying to do away with itself. Which reminds me, does anyone remember ink eradicator (sp?)? My aunt Ruby used o use it to make corrections in her grade book, back before the flood. I thought it was a miracle.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/GuessWhatThisIs?authkey=Gv1sRgCKbGx4-wyNmDrwE
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Day 16 - They Came Back
Believe it or not, my class members did indeed show up today. The technical masters, as they are called, had gotten my computer programs installed , so I was glad to be able to demonstrate how to use them for practice on their own. I also learned, no laughing people, how to hook the computer to some sort of projector thingy so that the info from my computer screen appeared on a large screen. Who knew? Before long I'll be doing power points like any self respecting second grader. It did take me awhile to figure out that I could use the cursor as a pointer instead of using my walking stick. I suppose I could also have borrowed the light pointer Del brought. The advanced class seemed to go rather well, but I don't feel as comfortable with the beginning class. We will all keep struggling along together.
Del came in to meet me after class so Daiva could drive us to the main campus to meet the head of the English Dept. and see where our Lithuanian language class will be held. We hope there will not be a scheduling problem because of our work days, but we will find out on Friday. There will be 2 Italian exchange students and us.
If I repeat myself, forgive me, just as you do at home, where I do it routinely, but the Lithuanian way of making coffee outside of restaurants is interesting to me. We always have a cup of coffee in the department office and lovely candy whenever we come there. You spoon regular coffee into a cup and then just pour water over it and wait for it to settle. Then you drink it carefully to avoid getting grounds in your teeth. I'm still working on that part. My favorite candy is a coconut covered ball filled with coconut cream and a small chunk of coconut, or at least I think it is coconut, in the center. I saw them in the store the other day but dragged myself away without buying any.
There was time between my classes today for me to get a cup of coffee at the coffee shop in the building. It is delicious with all that fuzzy milk on top. The coffee shop lady loves me. Daiva had told her how much I had enjoyed the things we have eaten there, so when I ordered a pastry, she shook her head "no" and explained by pointing, making "you're out" type gestures and finally by writing yesterday's date on a piece of paper that they were not freshly made and I shouldn't get one. She had also guided me away from a lunch selection I made last week because something else was more special, and she thought I would enjoy it more.
Tomorrow, I am going out to buy a frying pan. When I say I used every pan in the house to make dinner tonight - bacon and eggs - it is only a slight overstatement. Our present frying plan is only a 7 incher. I was barely able to squeeze in 2 pieces of talapia last night.
Del came in to meet me after class so Daiva could drive us to the main campus to meet the head of the English Dept. and see where our Lithuanian language class will be held. We hope there will not be a scheduling problem because of our work days, but we will find out on Friday. There will be 2 Italian exchange students and us.
If I repeat myself, forgive me, just as you do at home, where I do it routinely, but the Lithuanian way of making coffee outside of restaurants is interesting to me. We always have a cup of coffee in the department office and lovely candy whenever we come there. You spoon regular coffee into a cup and then just pour water over it and wait for it to settle. Then you drink it carefully to avoid getting grounds in your teeth. I'm still working on that part. My favorite candy is a coconut covered ball filled with coconut cream and a small chunk of coconut, or at least I think it is coconut, in the center. I saw them in the store the other day but dragged myself away without buying any.
There was time between my classes today for me to get a cup of coffee at the coffee shop in the building. It is delicious with all that fuzzy milk on top. The coffee shop lady loves me. Daiva had told her how much I had enjoyed the things we have eaten there, so when I ordered a pastry, she shook her head "no" and explained by pointing, making "you're out" type gestures and finally by writing yesterday's date on a piece of paper that they were not freshly made and I shouldn't get one. She had also guided me away from a lunch selection I made last week because something else was more special, and she thought I would enjoy it more.
Tomorrow, I am going out to buy a frying pan. When I say I used every pan in the house to make dinner tonight - bacon and eggs - it is only a slight overstatement. Our present frying plan is only a 7 incher. I was barely able to squeeze in 2 pieces of talapia last night.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Day 15 - To Market, To Market
Today was a cold and blustery day, as they say, but I promised myself I would find the Old Market, and stubborn as Robinsons turned Williamses can be, off I went in spite of the weather. It was only dripping when I left, but the wind was gusting hard enough to actually push a humity hum hum pound woman right along whether she wanted to go or not. It was during one of these gusts that I experienced my first fall. The street looked clear but wet in that area, and I was not taking the care I should have while looking for my destination. Fortunately, my new hiking stick dug in and helped me fall on my knees instead of my rear. One knee is a little scabby, but my pants are not torn. That's the important part. I can most likely grow more skin easier than I can find new pants. I found the market with no trouble. When I saw our suspender man, he greeted me like an old friend, until I asked to take his picture. His wife said "Why you want take picture?' I told her because he had sold my husband the suspenders, and they agreed. When I went inside to the food portion of the market, I only took pictures of the flowers, so as not to offend. We will take pictures of each other in front of the interesting meats next time we go together.
I also went to the Humana shop where I bought a light parka for myself. My long down coat will be too hot before long, and the travel raincoat will not be warm enough. It is a men's jacket, but a parka is pretty much a parka, and all the women's jackets were too small.
By the time I started home, the weather had taken a turn for the worse - sleeting as well as blowing. It was 36 degrees but had a windchill of 25. I should tell you that I found the market more than once today, but only one time was on purpose. The others had to do with getting lefts and rights mixed up while I tried to find my way home. Funny how that can turn into a circle, or circles. I had my cell phone, but was determined to get home without calling Del for help. I'm proud to say that I did, but the down coat and leather gloves were wet through by the time I got there. Hopefully they will be dry by the time to leave for class tomorrow morning.
The link is to my pictures, taken by me, if you can believe it. Tracy said that the ones I put up the other day were the first she had seen in 20 years. Unfortunately, that is true. We like to look at pictures, but are pretty pitiful at holding up our end. The clothing pictures you will see from time to time are because Rosa is a budding designer, and we thought she would like to see them.
Oh, I bought a very long ham hock at the market, more like a shank, and cooked it this afternoon. I tasted the meat while taking it off the bone, and it tasted very much like smoked city ham hocks with a touch of garlic. Bean soup on Thursday, I think. They had something that looked like souse, but I did not buy it. Maybe another day. I have read about the slow food movement. Perhaps we are participating in that to some extent. Thank goodness the poultry is not on the hoof!
I also cooked fresh beets to go with our fish tonight. Mother cooked them, because they grew them, but I had forgotten how much better they are than the ones from a can.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/OldMarket?authkey=Gv1sRgCNK169uz7cP1RQ
I also went to the Humana shop where I bought a light parka for myself. My long down coat will be too hot before long, and the travel raincoat will not be warm enough. It is a men's jacket, but a parka is pretty much a parka, and all the women's jackets were too small.
By the time I started home, the weather had taken a turn for the worse - sleeting as well as blowing. It was 36 degrees but had a windchill of 25. I should tell you that I found the market more than once today, but only one time was on purpose. The others had to do with getting lefts and rights mixed up while I tried to find my way home. Funny how that can turn into a circle, or circles. I had my cell phone, but was determined to get home without calling Del for help. I'm proud to say that I did, but the down coat and leather gloves were wet through by the time I got there. Hopefully they will be dry by the time to leave for class tomorrow morning.
The link is to my pictures, taken by me, if you can believe it. Tracy said that the ones I put up the other day were the first she had seen in 20 years. Unfortunately, that is true. We like to look at pictures, but are pretty pitiful at holding up our end. The clothing pictures you will see from time to time are because Rosa is a budding designer, and we thought she would like to see them.
Oh, I bought a very long ham hock at the market, more like a shank, and cooked it this afternoon. I tasted the meat while taking it off the bone, and it tasted very much like smoked city ham hocks with a touch of garlic. Bean soup on Thursday, I think. They had something that looked like souse, but I did not buy it. Maybe another day. I have read about the slow food movement. Perhaps we are participating in that to some extent. Thank goodness the poultry is not on the hoof!
I also cooked fresh beets to go with our fish tonight. Mother cooked them, because they grew them, but I had forgotten how much better they are than the ones from a can.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/OldMarket?authkey=Gv1sRgCNK169uz7cP1RQ
Monday, February 7, 2011
Day 14 - How Did It Get Here So Fast?
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/Neighborhood2?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmz59bfla3TPA
This should get you to Del's new pictures. Believe it or not, it only took me 20 minutes to download from the camera and post. The link seems to work. Maybe by the end of our time here I will have a pretty blog illustrated with pictures, or maybe I'll just be glad to have gotten this far.
Del and I went in different directions today. It's kind of nice to know I can go out and get home all by myself. What I cannot do, however, is find the Old Market. It's one of those you can't miss it kind of places, but apparently at least one person can. I am going to try again tomorrow, and I am not coming home until I find it.
My main objective today was to go back to the hiking stick store to see why one of the sticks would not tighten. The nice young man saw the problem and put things right in no time. He assured me he was always happy to help his best clients. I figure that translates to little old ladies who remind him of his grandmother.
Next stop was to the visitor center to try to find out information about the obelisk just across from us. It is called the '"Tower" or "View of the City" and was built in 1990. It depicts a house protected by fairy tale dragons and is considered the symbol of Old Town. There are quite a few small sculptures that we want to find.
I also stopped by the Iki to pick up a few things. The nice young woman there showed me that the handbasket had wheels and could be pulled as well as carried. She seemed so pleased to have made me understand that I had neither the heart nor the words to explain that I prefered to carry it so I would not buy more than was comfortable to carry home.
Moment of confession here. If you have been reading since the beginning, you may remember that I thought a bank person blessed me after I said "achiu" (thank you). I now think that something sounding similar to bless you may be a shortened way of saying you are welcome,or something like that. At least we few are the only ones who know about this.
Moment of confession 2. I discovered today that I have been spelling Del's younger sister's name incorrectly for 45 years and no one ever corrected me. She is a one /n/ Daryl Lyn intead of 2 as I had thought. Older sister is a 2 /n/ Dianne, so I guess I just figured there would be a pattern. Either they are just polite, or with my poor writing, nobody noticed.
Do any of you all feel the way I do about curling up on the sofa or in a favorite chair and drifting off for a little nap before bed? Seems Erma Bombeck (Remember her?) loved to do that too. She apparently said that it was never too late to take a nap because no one should ever have to go to bed tired.
This should get you to Del's new pictures. Believe it or not, it only took me 20 minutes to download from the camera and post. The link seems to work. Maybe by the end of our time here I will have a pretty blog illustrated with pictures, or maybe I'll just be glad to have gotten this far.
Del and I went in different directions today. It's kind of nice to know I can go out and get home all by myself. What I cannot do, however, is find the Old Market. It's one of those you can't miss it kind of places, but apparently at least one person can. I am going to try again tomorrow, and I am not coming home until I find it.
My main objective today was to go back to the hiking stick store to see why one of the sticks would not tighten. The nice young man saw the problem and put things right in no time. He assured me he was always happy to help his best clients. I figure that translates to little old ladies who remind him of his grandmother.
Next stop was to the visitor center to try to find out information about the obelisk just across from us. It is called the '"Tower" or "View of the City" and was built in 1990. It depicts a house protected by fairy tale dragons and is considered the symbol of Old Town. There are quite a few small sculptures that we want to find.
I also stopped by the Iki to pick up a few things. The nice young woman there showed me that the handbasket had wheels and could be pulled as well as carried. She seemed so pleased to have made me understand that I had neither the heart nor the words to explain that I prefered to carry it so I would not buy more than was comfortable to carry home.
Moment of confession here. If you have been reading since the beginning, you may remember that I thought a bank person blessed me after I said "achiu" (thank you). I now think that something sounding similar to bless you may be a shortened way of saying you are welcome,or something like that. At least we few are the only ones who know about this.
Moment of confession 2. I discovered today that I have been spelling Del's younger sister's name incorrectly for 45 years and no one ever corrected me. She is a one /n/ Daryl Lyn intead of 2 as I had thought. Older sister is a 2 /n/ Dianne, so I guess I just figured there would be a pattern. Either they are just polite, or with my poor writing, nobody noticed.
Do any of you all feel the way I do about curling up on the sofa or in a favorite chair and drifting off for a little nap before bed? Seems Erma Bombeck (Remember her?) loved to do that too. She apparently said that it was never too late to take a nap because no one should ever have to go to bed tired.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Testing, Testing
If you can access the pictures and I certainly hope you can. I've been working on it for 3 hours. The pictures are courtesy of Del and the uploading is courtesy of moi. Maybe one day I'll learn how to paste them directly into the blog. Advice anyone?https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/TheNeighborhood1
IT WORKS!!! Thank you, thank you, patron saint of the technologically impaired, whoever you are and if you look after people who don't actually have patron saints in their church. You all know to click on each image to make it bigger, so I won't need to say that.
IT WORKS!!! Thank you, thank you, patron saint of the technologically impaired, whoever you are and if you look after people who don't actually have patron saints in their church. You all know to click on each image to make it bigger, so I won't need to say that.
Day 13 - Important Discovery
Important discovery for me. Today, I learned that hot chocolate and hot cocoa are two very different things. I knew that cocoa and chocolate have different composition, but had always assumed that when ordering in a restaurant, the terms were interchangeable. Not so at the Yellow Submarine Pizza joint next to the Salvation Army where we go to church services on Sunday evening. We had a pizza that was quite good and stared at an ad for what I assumed was hot chocolate the whole time we were eating it. I asked the server, who spoke quite good English, if it was hot chocolate. She said it was not but they did have hot chocolate with nuts. We signed right on and in a few minutes she came back with two tiny cups with tiny saucers and tiny spoons. They were filled with hot, melted real chocolate, thicker than Hershey's syrup, with not one drop of milk in it and full of whole filberts or hazel nuts. Excuse me while I drool, just thinking about it. I about melted into a little puddle and bubbled. Thank goodness there was no whipped cream involved, or I surely would have. Feeling pretty sure that sticking my tongue into the empty cup would not leave a good impression, I settled for cleaning it as well as I could with the tiny little spoon.
The server asked us where we were from and if we were on vacation. We explained, and it turns out she is a student at the University. She wasn't very busy, so we had time to chat. She has visited Pensacola and wants to go back again. She loves the weather there. The Lithuanian people have a reputation for being reserved, but they certainly have seemed quite open to us.
The young woman who played the keyboard at church was a student at LCC, the other university, who is from Moldava. I had to look it up, or actually, Del did it for me. Her English was virtually unaccented. She had spent some time in Lawrenceville, Ga. and Williamsburg, Va. in association with a church group for whom she had translated when they had a mission group in her country.
It was a bright, sunny day today. Del took some pictures, and I will try to get them uploaded to Facebook and this blog. Keep fingers crossed. We had a successful Skype event with Daryl Lynn and Tommy (Del's sister). At first we had an audio problem, but they cleverly held up notes to ask and answer. Those school teachers, they can always come up with a back up plan. All those years of working with ancient equipment, I suppose.
Those of you who know me even a little bit, know that my reading over the years has consisted primarily of mysteries, and stuff for work. Now that I have EHJ, I have broadened my tastes to include books of other categories that I can download for free, but still, we aren't talking actual literature, for the most part. Occasionally, however, even in the stuff I read I come across an idea or phrase that is quite meaningful to me. Today, in a free mystery, the main character spoke of something as a "rocking chair moment." She went on to explain that those are moments you will want to remember when you are ninety years old rocking away. I got to thinking about what I would think of as rocking chair moments and was surprised at how simple so many of them are. What about you? Had you ever heard that phrase? Are you enjoying remembering some moments of your own?
Another helpful thing I learned from a mystery some years ago was that if you want to remember to take something to a potluck, put your keys in the fridge. It hasn't hurt my keys so far, but I can't promise it won't.
Only one short blast of fireworks last night, probably too cold and wet.
The server asked us where we were from and if we were on vacation. We explained, and it turns out she is a student at the University. She wasn't very busy, so we had time to chat. She has visited Pensacola and wants to go back again. She loves the weather there. The Lithuanian people have a reputation for being reserved, but they certainly have seemed quite open to us.
The young woman who played the keyboard at church was a student at LCC, the other university, who is from Moldava. I had to look it up, or actually, Del did it for me. Her English was virtually unaccented. She had spent some time in Lawrenceville, Ga. and Williamsburg, Va. in association with a church group for whom she had translated when they had a mission group in her country.
It was a bright, sunny day today. Del took some pictures, and I will try to get them uploaded to Facebook and this blog. Keep fingers crossed. We had a successful Skype event with Daryl Lynn and Tommy (Del's sister). At first we had an audio problem, but they cleverly held up notes to ask and answer. Those school teachers, they can always come up with a back up plan. All those years of working with ancient equipment, I suppose.
Those of you who know me even a little bit, know that my reading over the years has consisted primarily of mysteries, and stuff for work. Now that I have EHJ, I have broadened my tastes to include books of other categories that I can download for free, but still, we aren't talking actual literature, for the most part. Occasionally, however, even in the stuff I read I come across an idea or phrase that is quite meaningful to me. Today, in a free mystery, the main character spoke of something as a "rocking chair moment." She went on to explain that those are moments you will want to remember when you are ninety years old rocking away. I got to thinking about what I would think of as rocking chair moments and was surprised at how simple so many of them are. What about you? Had you ever heard that phrase? Are you enjoying remembering some moments of your own?
Another helpful thing I learned from a mystery some years ago was that if you want to remember to take something to a potluck, put your keys in the fridge. It hasn't hurt my keys so far, but I can't promise it won't.
Only one short blast of fireworks last night, probably too cold and wet.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Day 12 - Exploring the Neighborhood
Today was drippy and that wet cold that seems colder than the thermometer claims it is, but with no bread in the house, we couldn't put off gearing up and heading out. I left a bit before Del and discovered that the new Iki opened today. It is small but only 3 short blocks from home. Del and I will both be glad that either of us will be able to run out when we run out without feeling we have to take the other to tote enough to make the trip worthwhile and without taking a bus. Best of all, they have canned tomatoes! I took a handbasketful of groceries home and then went back out to explore while Del finished up some work. We came up with the novel plan of having him use his new always turned on cell phone to call me on my new, always on and kept relatively handy cell phone when he headed out so we could meet and go to the Old Market together. If it works, it just may catch on.
I found a shop that sold hiking sticks, so I bought the kind that telescope and then went to the felting shop. The items took my breath away. They were truly wearable art. Some were knitted and then felted and some were needle felted, I think. I tried on every hat in the shop trying to find one to fit my huge head. That didn't happen so I bought a beautiful blue shawl instead. We have to get gussied up on Friday evening, so I will get Del to take a picture of it.
Then, can you believe it, the phone rang, and Del and I were able to find each other. Our first stop was at the Humana Shop where we found 3 gently used sweaters @ 80 cents US each. Our US friends had suggested that expats often donate things that might fit. The Humana does not quite measure up to the Discovery Shop or the Tallmadge Goodwill, but it certainly came through for us. We then went to the suspender vendor, who, for some strange reason, recognized us, to buy a second pair of suspenders.
Then home to Skype with DT&R. MP didn't care to speak. It is really neat. Great to hear their voices and see their faces. We could even see Rosa's dress designs. And Skyping is so easy even we can do it, after a brief tutorial from David. so give us a Skype when you get a chance. We are bettymae62.
Thanks to everyone who worried about Del. I have already tenderly hand washed two of the sweaters, using the I Love Lucy grape smashing technique to get the water out of them. Having sized 9 feet comes in handy (sorry, unintentional, I promise) for stomping sweaters in the bathtub. Okay, maybe that part isn't so tender. Even though Levi's dad gave me washing machine lessons yesterday, I did not dare tempt fate.
Wishing you all better weather and a good rest of the week end. Fingers crossed for fireworks tonight. It seems to have stopped dripping out.
I found a shop that sold hiking sticks, so I bought the kind that telescope and then went to the felting shop. The items took my breath away. They were truly wearable art. Some were knitted and then felted and some were needle felted, I think. I tried on every hat in the shop trying to find one to fit my huge head. That didn't happen so I bought a beautiful blue shawl instead. We have to get gussied up on Friday evening, so I will get Del to take a picture of it.
Then, can you believe it, the phone rang, and Del and I were able to find each other. Our first stop was at the Humana Shop where we found 3 gently used sweaters @ 80 cents US each. Our US friends had suggested that expats often donate things that might fit. The Humana does not quite measure up to the Discovery Shop or the Tallmadge Goodwill, but it certainly came through for us. We then went to the suspender vendor, who, for some strange reason, recognized us, to buy a second pair of suspenders.
Then home to Skype with DT&R. MP didn't care to speak. It is really neat. Great to hear their voices and see their faces. We could even see Rosa's dress designs. And Skyping is so easy even we can do it, after a brief tutorial from David. so give us a Skype when you get a chance. We are bettymae62.
Thanks to everyone who worried about Del. I have already tenderly hand washed two of the sweaters, using the I Love Lucy grape smashing technique to get the water out of them. Having sized 9 feet comes in handy (sorry, unintentional, I promise) for stomping sweaters in the bathtub. Okay, maybe that part isn't so tender. Even though Levi's dad gave me washing machine lessons yesterday, I did not dare tempt fate.
Wishing you all better weather and a good rest of the week end. Fingers crossed for fireworks tonight. It seems to have stopped dripping out.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Day 11 - I Wouldn't Feel This Honored If Asked to Dine With the Ambassador!
Okay, you ladies out there can guess from the title what happened today. Brook, Levi's mother, came down to ask for what she called a huge favor. Seems some emergency meeting had come up at their university, that both she and Darius had to attend. The mixed snow/rain was coming down sideways because of the wind, and Levi has the sniffles. Could she impose on me to stay with Levi for an hour? After hugging her neck, not literally, I assured her that it would not be an imposition. I told her I had wanted to offer my services, but had not wanted to offend them since they had just met us and there had been no time for her to run a background check with Interpol or anything. She laughed and assured me again that she would never bother me except in an emergency. We will have to have a little talk about my broad definition of emergency as relates to babysitting - lunch with the girls, broken fingernail, etc.
Levi and I had a wonderful time, except that he had the nerve to fall asleep on me. He is only 9 months old, but seems quite advanced according to what I remember from the infant /toddler scales. Do 9 month olds usually imitate feeding toy animals with a spoon? I left assuring them that Del and I would expect them to have a date night quite soon. They asked if they could pay me. Of course, I said no, but that I would be delighted to pay them anytime they wanted to go out.
For the rest of the day we both worked on our courses. We had planned to explore, but the weather was just not cooperative. Still better than Ohio, but not what I would want to slog around in, too wet and windy.
Have a great weekend, everyone. My fingers are crossed for more fireworks if the weather improves.
Levi and I had a wonderful time, except that he had the nerve to fall asleep on me. He is only 9 months old, but seems quite advanced according to what I remember from the infant /toddler scales. Do 9 month olds usually imitate feeding toy animals with a spoon? I left assuring them that Del and I would expect them to have a date night quite soon. They asked if they could pay me. Of course, I said no, but that I would be delighted to pay them anytime they wanted to go out.
For the rest of the day we both worked on our courses. We had planned to explore, but the weather was just not cooperative. Still better than Ohio, but not what I would want to slog around in, too wet and windy.
Have a great weekend, everyone. My fingers are crossed for more fireworks if the weather improves.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Day 10 - Nice Quiet Day
Sorry the blog got derailed yesterday. Thanks, Dianne, for getting me back on track. I need all the help I can get with equipment, especially yesterday. Not only did I fail to post the blog I wrote, I managed to reduce Del's sweater selection by 1/3. Yep, he had 3 sweaters here, and now he has 2 sweaters and an armed sofa pillow cover - so long as the pillow is small. I don't know what button I pushed, but that washer turned into a front loading felting machine. Del took it well, bless his heart, or mine. Now I'm on the look out for a plus sized men's store or a nice Lithuanian person who knits really fast. We met a fellow last summer who raved about a lady here who knits dog hair socks. He said they were so wonderful he bought a dozen pairs. Brings to my mind fleas and smell of wet dog, but maybe I can find her and commission a sweater. Del has been wanting a dog.
Del had his first class today and came home tired but feeling pretty good about it, I think. He has around 24 students, one of them a guy. Librarianship is not a high priority career for men over here - low pay and status, probably.
I spent the day doing a little cleaning up, preparing handouts for next week and making our first pot of soup. Those lovely canned tomatoes were calling me. I had planned to explore the neighborhood, looking for a felted wool shop and a fabric shop we saw the other day, but it drizzled a good part of the day, so I decided to stay here with my own felting project. Maybe I should make slippers out of it. This is a no shoes inside culture, and it is considered polite to have a collection for slippers for guests.
Oh, I almost forgot. Today started with a bit of excitement. The doorbell rang, and since the outside building door stays locked, I assumed it was a neighbor and opened the door. Imagine my surprise to find a uniformed policeman standing there. I don't know how he got into the building, but there he was. (You're right, doors have peepholes for a reason.) His English was beautiful, so I had no trouble finding out that he was looking for our absentee landlord. I had the name and address on our rental agreement, so I gave it to him. Nosy as I am, I asked what was wrong, and was told he had been driving too fast. Whether that is true, or whether it's just what police officers tell nosy people, I don't know. He asked my name, but declined my offer to show him my passport. Hopefully, he won't tell the landlord how he got the address. We do not want to end up homeless in Lithuania. By the way, the police department here must have a good looking requirement. Both this man and the group of 5 or 6 we passed on the street the other day certainly were. Actually, most of the people we have seen are quite attractive.
Good luck to you all who are freezing over there. Enjoy those snow/ice days.
Del had his first class today and came home tired but feeling pretty good about it, I think. He has around 24 students, one of them a guy. Librarianship is not a high priority career for men over here - low pay and status, probably.
I spent the day doing a little cleaning up, preparing handouts for next week and making our first pot of soup. Those lovely canned tomatoes were calling me. I had planned to explore the neighborhood, looking for a felted wool shop and a fabric shop we saw the other day, but it drizzled a good part of the day, so I decided to stay here with my own felting project. Maybe I should make slippers out of it. This is a no shoes inside culture, and it is considered polite to have a collection for slippers for guests.
Oh, I almost forgot. Today started with a bit of excitement. The doorbell rang, and since the outside building door stays locked, I assumed it was a neighbor and opened the door. Imagine my surprise to find a uniformed policeman standing there. I don't know how he got into the building, but there he was. (You're right, doors have peepholes for a reason.) His English was beautiful, so I had no trouble finding out that he was looking for our absentee landlord. I had the name and address on our rental agreement, so I gave it to him. Nosy as I am, I asked what was wrong, and was told he had been driving too fast. Whether that is true, or whether it's just what police officers tell nosy people, I don't know. He asked my name, but declined my offer to show him my passport. Hopefully, he won't tell the landlord how he got the address. We do not want to end up homeless in Lithuania. By the way, the police department here must have a good looking requirement. Both this man and the group of 5 or 6 we passed on the street the other day certainly were. Actually, most of the people we have seen are quite attractive.
Good luck to you all who are freezing over there. Enjoy those snow/ice days.
Day 9 - I Made It - Woo Hoo!
Somehow I managed to save this but not post it. Thanks again for all your good thoughts.
Today was the big day, and it started beautifully. The nice English speaking taxi dispatcher called me at 6:50 to say the cab was on the way, and it showed up at our front door at 6:59. It was misting outside, so I was pleased to be riding instead of walking to the bus stop. He dropped me off in front of the communications building at 7:15 for about $3.30 plus tip, which is not really expected here. I had plenty of time to get my breath and get set up for the 8:00 - 9:30 class. There were 9 women from early 20's to my age, all of whom believed they did not speak English. Clearly they don't mean the same thing when they say that as when I say that I do not speak a language. What they meant was they know quite a bit of English but are not confident in speaking. My lesson plan was somewhat elementary for them, so I had to improvise. The teacher learned more than the students did today, I'm afraid. They were very gracious, however, and perhaps a little surprised to find that learning English included acting out action verbs and a reading activity from Bruce Lansky's Girls to the Rescue Book # 1. This is a modern version of fairy tales in which girls are the problem solvers, not just pitiful little things. Free from Kindle - you'll love it. We took turns passing around EHJ and my little laptop, but the journalism professor introduced me to some projection equipment after class that I can use next week.
The 10-11:30 class had 10 members, 9 women from early 20's to 50's and one man, probably in his late 50's, the dean. He won my heart because he introduced himself using his first name, but I called him by his real first name - Dean. He was a wonderful sport and did not seem to mind that some of my activities were sort of silly. This group benefited from the things I learned from the first class, so things seemed better from my point of view, anyhow. It turns out that when I asked the participants what they most wanted to practice, what they all mentioned first was essentially accent modification/reduction and then listening skills, so the course I took and my language and articulation background will be very helpful. I am so relieved.
So, to make a long story short - as though it weren't already too late for that - as Del always says when I ask him how a speech went --"Nobody threw nothin or nothin." Afer all that moaning everyone, especially Del, has had to put up with. Shame on me for not having confidence that people would understand I was doing the best I knew how.
Having been too worked up to sleep much last night, I dragged myself in from the bus stop, threw myself down on our wonderful big sofa and was asleep in about a minute and a half. Del got to work on his lecture to the tune of snoring from this delicate creature, or so he says. If I were a normal napper, I would go to bed, but, for some reason, it is hard for me to take premeditated naps. They have to just sneak up on me while I'm reading or resting my eyes. Two and a half hours later, I woke up, and we went out to dinner at a little place around the corner. Squid rosotto with Baileys for dessert for me. Yum. Now I'm going to have a some wine, from a glass, in case you are wondering and get ready for bed.
Thanks so much for thinking of me today. Hopefully the angst queen is off duty, at least for a while.
Today was the big day, and it started beautifully. The nice English speaking taxi dispatcher called me at 6:50 to say the cab was on the way, and it showed up at our front door at 6:59. It was misting outside, so I was pleased to be riding instead of walking to the bus stop. He dropped me off in front of the communications building at 7:15 for about $3.30 plus tip, which is not really expected here. I had plenty of time to get my breath and get set up for the 8:00 - 9:30 class. There were 9 women from early 20's to my age, all of whom believed they did not speak English. Clearly they don't mean the same thing when they say that as when I say that I do not speak a language. What they meant was they know quite a bit of English but are not confident in speaking. My lesson plan was somewhat elementary for them, so I had to improvise. The teacher learned more than the students did today, I'm afraid. They were very gracious, however, and perhaps a little surprised to find that learning English included acting out action verbs and a reading activity from Bruce Lansky's Girls to the Rescue Book # 1. This is a modern version of fairy tales in which girls are the problem solvers, not just pitiful little things. Free from Kindle - you'll love it. We took turns passing around EHJ and my little laptop, but the journalism professor introduced me to some projection equipment after class that I can use next week.
The 10-11:30 class had 10 members, 9 women from early 20's to 50's and one man, probably in his late 50's, the dean. He won my heart because he introduced himself using his first name, but I called him by his real first name - Dean. He was a wonderful sport and did not seem to mind that some of my activities were sort of silly. This group benefited from the things I learned from the first class, so things seemed better from my point of view, anyhow. It turns out that when I asked the participants what they most wanted to practice, what they all mentioned first was essentially accent modification/reduction and then listening skills, so the course I took and my language and articulation background will be very helpful. I am so relieved.
So, to make a long story short - as though it weren't already too late for that - as Del always says when I ask him how a speech went --"Nobody threw nothin or nothin." Afer all that moaning everyone, especially Del, has had to put up with. Shame on me for not having confidence that people would understand I was doing the best I knew how.
Having been too worked up to sleep much last night, I dragged myself in from the bus stop, threw myself down on our wonderful big sofa and was asleep in about a minute and a half. Del got to work on his lecture to the tune of snoring from this delicate creature, or so he says. If I were a normal napper, I would go to bed, but, for some reason, it is hard for me to take premeditated naps. They have to just sneak up on me while I'm reading or resting my eyes. Two and a half hours later, I woke up, and we went out to dinner at a little place around the corner. Squid rosotto with Baileys for dessert for me. Yum. Now I'm going to have a some wine, from a glass, in case you are wondering and get ready for bed.
Thanks so much for thinking of me today. Hopefully the angst queen is off duty, at least for a while.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Day 8 - An Unexpectedly Good Day!
Rosa used to say, "This was the best day ever!" n and today turned out to be just about that. It started out to be a nose to the grind stone day getting ready for class tomorrow. I worked pretty much all day on it, Del was out meeting with the University Librarian so I had the place to myself until after 2. He had had lunch out, so dinner was to be left over spaghetti. Then Darius from upstairs (Levi's daddy and Brook"s husband) came to say that he had use of his university's car for a big grocery store run if I would like to go. Needless to say, I accepted with all the excitement that only those who have shopped according to what they can carry on a bus can understand. Darius introduced me to a store that is on the bus route from school, and it was the best we have been to. It had canned tomatoes, so I can make soup. Yea! I bought 6 big cans and some little cans, and canned beans and 6 litres of milk and a coke and 2 huge bottles of water and frozen vegetables and ice trays and ice cream, and lots more. It was wonderful. Of course, we will probably have to put some of the stuff under the bed, but I have tomatoes! It would have taken us at least 4 trips to the store to get all that heavy stuff, and we probably wouldn't have bought some of it. I now define a luxury as something we don't really have to have that I am willing to carry, or get Del to carry.
The other highlight of the day was figuring out how to get EHJ to download books here in Lithuania. It is amazing what reading the directions will do for a person.
Don't tell Del I said so, but some times he is quite clever. I called the taxi service our contact person recommended only to find that no one spoke English, so I could not make arrangements for tomorrow. Del suggested I call one of the hotels and ask if someone could recommend a taxi service that might have English speaking employees, and I am all set up. The part of me that just loves to worry keeps wondering if they really will show up, of course.
Well, you all think of me before you go to bed tonight, because who knows how tomorrow will turn out. Hopefully there will be no crying. Phooey, I knew there was something I forgot at the store - straws for my wine bottle.
The other highlight of the day was figuring out how to get EHJ to download books here in Lithuania. It is amazing what reading the directions will do for a person.
Don't tell Del I said so, but some times he is quite clever. I called the taxi service our contact person recommended only to find that no one spoke English, so I could not make arrangements for tomorrow. Del suggested I call one of the hotels and ask if someone could recommend a taxi service that might have English speaking employees, and I am all set up. The part of me that just loves to worry keeps wondering if they really will show up, of course.
Well, you all think of me before you go to bed tonight, because who knows how tomorrow will turn out. Hopefully there will be no crying. Phooey, I knew there was something I forgot at the store - straws for my wine bottle.
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