Day 103 is a day late. We got home last night about 9, and I curled up on the sofa with the computer only to have Del wake me about 10:30 to send me to bed. You would have thought I was drugged or something. I did brush my teeth and put on sweat pants, sweat shirt and socks, because for some reason the house was freezing. It's funny that all winter we never even got out a blanket and now that it's warmer weather, we sometimes get really cold. I think the heat is turned off a good part of the day by the heat master, whoever and wherever he/she is. I'm just thankful that we don't have to pay extra for the heat. We hear it is awful. A couple that has been here for nine years is moving out of a house they really love, with a yard and apple trees, etc. because it's not well insulated and they have paid a fortune to not be warm.
Anyhow, we went to our last Lithuanian class. Lillija gave the boys an exam and then we had tea and a special cake she brought and pecan pastries I made. I need to take a picture of this cake and describe how it is made. I was touched and a little worried that she said when she met us that she thought she had met the typical American couple. Now that she said that, I suppose that most of the people we meet here think that. Gosh, Uncle Sam, I hope we haven't let you down. Except for that whole not studying as much as we should have for her classes thing.
After class we had an hour before we were to meet the librarians at a hotel restaurant so they could talk about library curriculum. I got off the bus early and walked along to visit the shops. Del went home to get what he needed for the meeting.
I usually avoid those meetings unless they promise to feed me, and this time there was the added incentive of the 12th floor view of the gates to the Baltic and the promise of an amazing bathroom. After I made them all visit the bathroom at Stora Antis the other night, they told me I had to see the one at this restaurant. And me without my camera. I entered the bathroom which is a glass box on the side of the restaurant, not the floor but the walls. The side walls were frosted, but the wall across from the toilet had a frosted strip across the bottom, a clear strip at eye level when doing what most people go to a bathroom for, another privacy strip and then a clear strip so you could see when standing. Del said he thought it sort of swayed in the wind, but I didn't notice.
Our friends Bill and Mary Anne sent us a picture of a bear from their BIF in Canada, but this is fun without the fear factor. By the way, what do the actual letters in BIF stand for?
Anyhow, they have wonderful mojitos at the restaurant, so we will be back, and I'll take a picture of the WC.
(I have reverted to my every sentence is its own paragraph mode. I really do need to study up on the paragraph.)
Poor Uncle Sam, and poor Senator Fulbright. Maybe this whole bathroom fascination is not the type of cultural exchange he had in mind when he set up the Fulbright program and allowed spouses to go along.
The meeting ended just in time for us to get home, leave our stuff and head out to the puppet festival at 7. The performer was an older man from France. He had the most beautiful homely face I ever saw, with deep and long expression lines. We only saw him in white face, but it would have been wonderful to see him without. I should say that I have always had mixed feelings about mimes. I always admired their contrtol over their bodies, but for some reason, they also sort of creep me out- all that rope pulling, stair climbing, getting stuck in boxes with expressions of horror on their faces.
This man was billed as a pantomime artist, but based on my limited experience with street performers, he seemed so much more than that. He seemed like an actor who spoke only with his body, face and eyes. It was a lovely evening.
The festival goes on all day for 3 days, and there were stations for children to do various things in the garden of the building. One of the first things I saw was a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, attached to a bench by a cord, with a little chair in front of it. Did my heart good!
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