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.
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