Day 91 &92 Home again, Home Again...

Yesterday was travel day.  The shuttle picked us up at 9:15 to go to the airport and after only an hour and 40 minutes flight, we were back in Vilnius.  We took a train right from the airport to the train station.  While on the train, we met a young couple, the man from Israel and the woman from Lithuania, both of them students, and another young woman who was traveling home after a volley ball tournament.  we had seen the team flying to Prague and again on the flight back, but she was the only one on the train.  She is a tenth grader who has hopes of studying in the US on a volley ball scholarship.  We had a couple of hours before our train left, and we walked into our flat at 10:30.

I was too pooped to do more than brush my teeth, but it was well worth it.   One thing we did not get to see was the annual Easter Monday symbolic beating of the wives.  They even sell fancy braided switches with ribbons on the end for the job.  I'm not sure how they measure up to the "rule of thumb."  Needless to say, we did not buy one of those, but I did take a picture.  Our guide saw the looks on the faces of the North American women while she was telling this lovely tradition and hastened to assure us that there was a good purpose behind it because the belief is that being hit on the bottom prevents drunkenness.  If that is true, they should put one of those sticks beside the door of every bar in the world, or in every car.  Perhaps it only works on women, however. Somehow, I just could not see myself wanting to pass down that tradition, but that's not my business.

This morning, we did housekeeping duties in preparation for Del's fellow Fulbrighter, John Lubans.  He arrived from Riga this afternoon and is staying in the owner's flat.  Unfortunately, his wife Cheryl is back in the states until May, so she is not with us.  We had a nice walk around Old Town and a pleasant dinner.  John was born in Latvia but escaped with his mother and two brothers when he was 2 years old.  They were in a refugee camp for 2 years and eventually were reunited with his father.   I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for his parents to make the decisions they had to make and then the hardship of carrying them out.  He has had the opportunity to reunite with family, and they are planning a big birthday bash for him in June.

Tomorrow, Del and John are going to visit the Spit, and I am going to offer my services as baby sitter for Levi.  They are leaving on Thurs., so I know they have lots to do.