You're Going Where???

Over the last month, as I've told people about my upcoming trip to Lithuania, the most common question I've gotten is "You're going where?" The next most common questions are "Where is that?" and "Why?" Since I haven't really answered any of those questions here (and Jen asked about it on the last post), I'll give a brief answer (as I have a moment to blog on a bus that has wireless on our way back from a day in Riga, Latvia....we got up early today to make the trip and had a great day, but I can't believe it is already THURSDAY!)

Some really good friends have been living and working in Lithuania since 2008. As soon as they went, my sister and I knew we wanted to visit them because a) they are awesome and so fun and we would totally miss them for two years, b) there would probably never be another reason to visit the Baltic States, and c) we wanted to see what their life and work was like in a foreign country. We bought our tickets almost a year ago and that is when the official countdown began - Laura even made a paper chain!

We have been having a blast, but the time is going so fast!! Everything we've done has been VERY memorable - some because of weather, some because of the history, some because of the architecture, and some because of the company (thankfully nothing has been memorable due to major bus mishaps). Lithuania has an extremely interesting history, from Soviet occupation, to the Holocaust, to another Soviet occupation, to the fall of the Iron Curtain. Steve and Laura are very well-informed and the nerd in me has loved learning bits and pieces of the history. My Lithuanian is just as good as my Spanish and German now (meaning I can now say thank you, please, hello, goodbye, good night, help, and do you speak English?). It's been fun to learn and see more about the culture of the country they are living in, as well as the culture of the school where they work. We've also had lots of good, authentic Lithuanian food, lots of coffee, and we've managed to play more than a few hands of Rook.

All in all, the trip is WONDERFUL and I really don't want it to end! This weekend we'll head to Vilinus to explore more with Steve and Laura before we fly out from there on Sunday. Laura has had a chance to spend time with us the last few days after she tied a few things up with work, but Steve has been extremely busy with work, so we had to leave him behind today. We really didn't want to be a burden on their time as we realized they would have things to accomplish for work throughout the week, but it has been awesome to have Laura be our guide and hang out with Steve in the evenings, and we're excited to be with both of them this weekend!

Don't know if I'll blog anymore while we're here, but that's a little idea as to what in the world we are doing near the Baltic!