Saint Baltica

The Baltic Sea has been conquered. I never thought I would be able to say that I've swam in the Baltic Sea in January, but that is now a true statement. Today we went to a Sauna on the island off the coast of Klaipeda. The island/peninsula is called "The Spit" and it lies about a third of a kilometer away from Klaipeda. We took a ferry across the bay and onto the Spit and then walked for a bit until we got to the other side of the peninsula/island where the Baltic Sea is located. Oddly enough, while walking on the island, it looked eerily similar to the exact mental picture in my head of the North Pole. It was very much snow filled and had a little hill and some small trees. It was creepy awesome.
Well, we made it to the Sauna--which was this little mom-an'-pop sauan/bar run by an elderly couple and our American crew rampaged the place, filling it with incredible amounts of people. The Sauna was very hot. It literally works the same as an oven, producing heat and basically baking those inside in sweltering heat. In minutes, I was dripping in sweat. It's also multilevel with the highest seats being the warmest. Well, regardless, the native tradition is that, once one is warm beyond comprehension, they are to go outside walk/run to the Baltic and enter the icy waters of the Baltic. The water is about 25 degrees. Fahrenheit. In other words: Freezing. So once one enters the Baltic, you have about nine seconds (in my mind at least) to enjoy the cold, and then you are basically a human icicle and will more than likely want to return to the Sauna. I ended up doing it twice, others once, and still some more did it three times. I now can say a genuine apology to Shari Sjolund for the crap I gave her for doing something very much the same with her lake/hot tub. Apparently, it is very good for your heart if you do it right and can help you breathe better. Or something like that.
I wasn't even hardcore like some of the Lithuanians here. We saw two women who walked out of the Sauna, walked to the Sea (keep in mind its about 22 degrees out) and then swim around for about 20 seconds, submerge themselves, and then walk back, roll in the snow, and go back inside. I guess there is a certain "form" for doing these things. What do I know? I'm only visiting.
It was also somewhat incredible to see the Ocean, a sandy beach, and endless snow all in one landscape.

Besides this, we took a walking tour of Klaipeda and it's pretty much #1 to me that I am starting to figure out my way around the town. I know, generally, where things are at, and wouldn't be hopelessly lost if someone set me loose somewhere. I think on Monday I'm going to buy a monthly bus pass which will make the trip to school much shorter/warmer and will also allow me to get around town a bit better in the colder weather. Surprisingly, a monthly bus pass only costs about 24 Litas (circa $10USD), which is insanely cheap. Also, we went to one of the Study Abroad Recruiters/Manager/Canadian's apartment and made dinner, and that was nice.

I am, however, looking forward very much to Monday when school starts and I can get a bus pass and buy an alarm clock, etc. and will finally be able to be in a routine. Also, everyone else will have moved in by then and it will be more active on our floor and not simply us who happen to arrive here four days early. It's pretty much dead right now. But a routine will be very nice. It will also be nice to not have a crazy schedule and have nights open/free. But hey, when in Lithuania, do as the Lithuanians.

Oh, and one final thing that is very much incredible for me is that I feel like I'm making a headway on the language. Yeah, I could never have a conversation, but I'm able to ask for a check, say excuse me, and thank someone. By a week from now, I should be able to interact on a simple level. That's good news.

Fresh Groceries and Thin Beds

It's snowing again this morning here in Klaipeda. The snow here is different, though. If you catch a snowflake on your arm, or clothes, and you look at it, you are able to make out all the little details of a snowflake, down to the smallest little point. It's very fascinating. The snowflakes here actually look like the flakes that one would cut out of paper (just like the 38 snowflake cutouts that are sitting in our trash in Fountain.)

But either way, the snow doesn't bother me too much--it's actually really kind of nice. And when it snows its actually warmer, so that means today will be a bit warmer than the other days. Which is a very good thing.

Some great things about Klaipeda that I didn't write about last time include:
1. I love on the 4th floor. I have never lived anywhere but the first floor and the dungeon of Fountain. So this is a very nice treat for me. When I wake up in the morning, I can see the snow covered trees, some old-school buildings, and a multitude of cranes from the harbor of Klaipeda. In fact, later today, when I get back from orientation, I am going to walk to the sea. Never thought I could say that! What's the next thing I could say? "Captain! The ship is going down?" Most likely.
2. We live in a city. In Europe. This means that, at my leisure, I can walk down the street about eight minutes and can arrive at an Iki, which is a local grocery store. From here I can buy fresh fruit, vegetables, and bread. I could do this daily if I wanted to! It's very freeing to know that, if I get hungry and don't want to cook, I can walk ten minutes away and buy good food (food that has nutritional value for me) rather than taking a Wendy's run over at Fountain and then regretting it at three in the morning, as I lay in bitter agony. But to give an example, this morning for breakfast I had a banana, bread, and some raisins, all fresh from the grocer (there would have been some meat on the bread, but this morning it went MIA).

There is also about one or so (plus) things that are not so great about Klaipeda, but the only one worth mentioning is the size of my bed. It is very, very small width wise. As in, if you lay down flat in it, you will be, on one side, up against the wall, and on the other, merely an inch or two from the edge of the bed. This wouldn't be a huge problem, except for the fact that I'm on the top bunk. This would be much less of a deal if we didn't have very solid, uncarpeted floors. So hopefully I won't have a "falling-off-the-bed" experience this semester because that could potentially be really traumatic.

That's really all I got for now, but here are a few pics of the view from my window. Fin.

City by the Sea

Klaipeda. The City by the Sea. We moved in today into our dorms, and that is very good news. "Why?" you may ask? Well, because that means that we longer have to live out of suitcases and we can start having things that are slightly typical. Good news: I got my bags! Dalius went to the airport today and picked them up while we made our way to Trakai, a castle that was along our way. It was an island castle, so that was pretty sweet. I bought a postcard but left it in my pocket and it got kind of beat up. So if you get that one…too bad, sorry the edges are kind bent. A lot.

We then hopped on the bus for a four (circa) hour bus ride to Klaipeda. I went in and out of sleep/awakeness. Also, I think the bus we were riding in was made of ice or some other morbidly cold substance. I think I lost a limb or two to frostbite. It was terribly cold.

Eventually, we made it to Klaipeda and we dropped the other peeps off at their dorm (on LCC campus) and then we went to ours: Karklu. Karklu is located about a twenty-five to thirty minute walk from LCC, but it is fairly close to the downtown of Klaipeda. I got to meet my roommates and talk with the RD for a while, so it was really all very cool. Those of us living in Karklu went out to dinner at this restaurant called "The Village" (In Lithuanian) and it is set up as a very old-city kind of restaurant with wooden benches, fish tanks, chicken cages…it was all very cool.

Following this we all returned to Karklu and I set my stuff up in my room and then I went with one of my roommates, Ilya, out to see Klaipeda. He took me around the key parts of the city, on the main street, and into the old town. We went to "Memerles", a pub in the old city, and we talked for a while about Christianity and its role in our live as Christians and our need to be dedicated to God's kingdom. We also ate some donou, which was Fried garlic bread, dipped in some mayo/cheese. Actually very good.

Facts of the day:
I have drunk about 9 cups of tea in the last three days.
Also, Klaipeda is a very neat town, with a large port to the sea and a lot of sweet little coffeeshops and pubs in it. It's going to be very much awesome to take walks and such in the city at night and during the day.
Finally, the sidewalks are very much covered with endless, vast, epic amounts of snow/slush. It makes walking very slippery. But as of yet, I have zero falling casualties. I'm sure this will change soon. However, when you get to the old town, a lot of the snow crunches as you walk and with the weather being slightly warmer in Klaipeda, it makes for a very good experience.
That is all.

Vilnius: Day 1.5 - Snow, Cells, and Pubs

Today I did not get my luggage. But it's ok, I'm over it. We'll pick it up tomorrow before we leave for Klaipeda and/or they shall drop it off to me/us at the hostel. I'm the only one of five that didn't get my luggage, but honestly, it really isn't too huge of a deal. It's only possessions right? It's kind of nice to just…not have anything.

Either way, today was pretty interesting. We had breakfast in a small little coffeeshop. Raspberry Crepes and Fruit Tea. Legitimate? I do think so. Around this time, we also happened upon a useless little store, that ended up being very useful in helping provide me with my lunch of trail mix. By "useless" I do not mean "without use," I simply mean "preposterously small." The young cashier girl/lady did not speak German nor English. I asked. In both. But all this is useless information.

We then walked from there into downtown Vilnius where we went to a KGB museum/ a documentation of the Genocide committed in Lithuania from the 1940s until the fall of the USSR in 1991. It was very intriguing. We saw cells upon cells where people were kept, solitary confinement chambers, and, sadly, the execution chamber. However, the most harrowing thing to me was when someone asked our tour guide how many KGB members there were, and she responded that she couldn't say because many of them are still alive. Working normal jobs. Leaders in politics in their home countries, even. That's pretty scary to me.

But yeah, so after that we went to the U.S. Embassy and met some important U.S. people in Lithuania. We got checked thoroughly for bombs, drugs, and illicit substances. We didn't have any.

Following this, we went on a two hour city tour of Vilnius with this super old lady who was an awesome tour guide. The downside? It was bitterly cold and slightly snowing. But we got to go this super old chapel from the circa 1400s and we were able to go into the catacombs and see some of the coffins of the kings and queens. What's crazy is that nearly half of the catacombs aren't even explored/discovered. Makes me want to be an archeologist. Kind of.

But yeah, it was pretty chill. We were able to come back and chill for a little bit and then we went to one of the most epic dinners every schemed by man. It was at this restaurant/village in Vilnius. By "restaurant" I mean, they served great food, and by "village" I mean, they had four buildings, their own river, a waterfall, a pond, a gazebo, and a football field. It was ridiculous.

But regardless, the food was fantastic. We had the whole upper level and it was themed like a Lithuanian/Baltic/Nordic home from…long ago. It was all wooden with benches and such. Very nice. So yeah, we did all that stuff and then went outside and explored the land.

Upon our return to the hostel, we all decided to head out and go out, so we all walked around the area of town where we are staying and found a desolate little pub and set up shop. About 20 noisy Americans took up shop,
But yeah, it was still very fun to be in a traditional pub in the city. I really like pubs and such because they allow you to see people as they really are. Actually, I really enjoy being around people when they drink because they usually let down their defenses and kind of show you a bit of who you really are. And I really like that. I like that people don't need to be fake around me. I hate fake people. I'd rather have people be themselves and act they way they normally do. So I really like going out to the pubs and being around people. Christian or not. Bethel or not. LCC or not. I just like seeing people be themselves. It makes me better understand how to pray for them. It makes me know better how I can be a better Christian, not based on what they do, but on being obedient to what Jesus wants me to do. I can't change people, I can only be responsible to Jesus.

So today is a success. I have enjoyed being in Vilnius and I'm looking forward to moving into my dorm tomorrow.

Hopefully I get my luggage tomorrow. If not, well, it's all good. Goodnight world. Oh, P.S. it's snowed most of the evening here. And it's great! The snowflakes here are very different than the states, and by that, I mean, you can actually see the details of the snowflakes. It's pretty preposterous! Alright, that's all I got...

Vilnius - Minus Luggage = The Best I Can Do

I made it. Vilnius. Finally. After about 22 hours of nearly non-stop running around and flying, I have finally made it here. That’s the good news. The bad news? I have zero luggage minus my carry-on. Good news about the bad news: I packed a shirt or two plus a pair of jeans in my carry-on. I’m not really tired, but I suppose that I should be since we’re going to be running around all day tomorrow around Vilnius. So with that, I leave you. Please pray for me and for my luggage; unfortunately, there are about four or five others who also lost luggage, so that pretty much sucks. Hopefully we can all get it back soon. Either way, thanks Christian Jesus that you provide luggage in the first place.

A Swede, A Plane, and a Whole lot of Nothing

Holy crap. Today has been an insane day of flying. My flight to Sweden was delayed about twenty minutes, thereby dropping my time in Stockholm to catch my next flight by the same amount of time, giving me one hour and fifteen minutes. I was able to bypass the baggage claim because I arranged to have them sent straight to Vilnius, which, in actuality, saved by butt. So I arrived and after a quick glance was able to make it to the SAS counter in Terminal 5. I waited in line right up until the check-in deadline, which is forty minutes before the flight leaves. So at about 3:15, I was through the line but the gentleman at the gate told me that, unfortunately, I would not be able to check in because I was at the wrong terminal. I needed to go to terminal 3. Now, what he told me was that Terminal 3 was just down the hall, past Terminal 4. This, however, was not true. Terminal 3 was the equivalent to being on the complete other side of the airport. So with about -10 minutes to spare, I booked it and ran—and ran, and ran, and ran. And Terminal 3 continued to be elusively farther than expected.
Finally, I arrived there and was hoping against hope that it would be empty—and it was. There were only two desks to check-in. So I asked them for Vilnius and, simple as that, I got checked in. There was literally no one at the security gate so I basically walked straight through (not without getting frisked for the second time in one day, however). From there, it was a straight shot to Vilnius. Kind of. We sat around for a little bit and prepared to board. There is like some Swedish group of something or other going to Vilnius for who knows what reason and they were all sitting down and I happened to sit down on the outskirts of their group—only to have the rest of the group join and, for the most part, have me sit awkwardly in the corner while they all jabbered away in Swedish.
But hold on—it gets better. So we take off from Stockholm and are en-route to Vilnius. First of all, our plane is, at best, a piece of trash. It has propellers. It seats 39 people. And best of all, I can see the wheels attached to the engine, so I have a firsthand view to see whether or not we’re able to get off the ground (or land for that matter, perchance we get off the ground).
We take off with only a few minor grunts from the engine and only one wave of de-icing spray on our engine by the Stockholm Air Crew. So far so good—it’s about sundown and we’re able to see the city of Stockholm pretty well as we take off. I doze in and out of semi-consciousness for about thirty minutes. And then, the captain announces that we need to return to Stockholm to switch planes due to a “technical problem” on our plane. Yikes. Immediately we make a loopdy loop and head back to the exact same terminal and kick it there for about another fifteen minutes.
So now, as I write this, I’m aboard our second attempt at a trip to Vilnius. Baltic Sea below, Stockholm behind, and Vilnius ahead. I surely hope we make it this time. Oh, and the plane just so happed to be enduring its own ice age when we boarded. Calling it and everything that it contained “cold” would be an understatement. I still have my wool jacket on and we’ve been in the air for about thirty-ish minutes.

Stockholm also came with some very good experiences, stories, and useless trivia! Here is a few of my favorites:
1. Stockholm was the first place where I was racially profiled. Since I had my baggage checked straight from Frankfurt to Vilnius, I was able to avoid the baggage claim. However, as I walked through customs, I happened to be stopped by a security guard asking me where I was travelling from and where my bags were. I kindly replied that my bags were going ahead of me to Vilnius. That’s what I said. But in my mind, I was grappling with the notion of my semblance to a terrorist. Do I really look that dangerous? I surely hope not. I may need like a sticker or something to let people know how un-terrorist I am. Just for good measure.
2. Light is a precious commodity in Scandinavian winters. As we were attempting to leave Stockholm the first time, it was surprising to see that the daylight lasts, at best, until about 4:15. By 4:30p, it was absolutely pitch black outside.
3. Scandinavian food is wonderful. On round two of our trip to Vilnius they are giving out the Swedish equivalent of a Lunchable, and in it contains a small sandwich of dark, oaty bread, with green peppers and cheese. Very much delicious. For desert, they gave Kex, basically a chocolate wafer thing, and it wouldn’t be complete without the fetus-sized box of orange juice to go with it. Plus a complimentary cup of tea! I think they’re trying to butter us up for ruining our first flight.

Oh well. So far, my trip has been a mix of massive confusion, running around, and airplanes going nowhere. Hopefully this is my last flight until Vilnius, if not, that’s just going to be a real big bummer. But I’d take another messed up flight over crashing into the Baltic Sea. I’m just sayin’…

Smoke Capital of the World: Germany

It is January 5th and I’m sitting in Gate B10 of the Frankfort Flughafen. It’s been a very hectic time in getting here, but here I am. It took me literally two seconds to pass through customs, but it took about thirty minutes for my bags to come in from the plane. That was the first delay. The second delay was that it took me about another thirty minutes to find the SAS desk. The problem: It’s owned by Lufthansa and you have to check in with Lufthansa. Well, not it is circa 11:05 in the morning and I will be boarding my plane for Stockholm in about thirty minutes and in about an hour I should be in the air. The flight is relatively short, under two hours.
However, my troubles will begin again when I get to Stockholm. You see, when I checked in for my flight, I found out that my flight is not necessarily continues from Stockholm to Vilnius. Thankfully, they checked my bags through Vilnius, but unthankfully, I will need to exit, go through customs again (possibly), and then re-check myself in for the flight and show them that my bags will be going to Vilnius. Finally, I must also go through security again and make it in to board my flight. The last problem of all is that I have just under two hours between when I land in Stockholm and when my flight departs to Vilnius, so I’ll be praying that I can be speedy and that the airport will be relatively quiet.
Well, since all that craziness is out of my control, there are still some good things I am thankful for. First of all, I love being in Germany. I’m actually pretty disappointed that I’m only here for not even two hours on this time. But in all honestly, I’ve very excited to come back here in the summer and spend a few months here. I forgot how much I enjoy being in this place. There are two very comforting things here: language and smell. It’s reassuring that I’m not totally inept when it comes to survival here in Germany. I was able to communicate with a security officer and order me some drank in German. Yeah, my German still kind of sucks otherwise, but I have a semester to work on it and a summer to perfect it. It’s nice being able to pick up on little conversations. And then the smell. It smells so wondrous here. It smells like smoke. Cigarettes. Ziggaretten. I love the smell of smoke. I think it’s because I was around it so much in Germany back in ’06 that I now associate good things with the smell of smoke. Regardless, I find the smell morbidly refreshing.
The flight here was pretty “meh.” I was able to sleep for about half of it thanks to some Sleep Meds. My flight was on Air India, and yes, everything about the plane was like straight of the Vedas or something. It smelled slightly of curry, everything was simplistically red and yellow, and all the flight attendants were wearing…Indian dress. The food was also pretty much Veda ordained as well—chicken with extra curry and spice. Overall, it was a pretty good flight.
I board in twenty minutes and between now and then I am going to kauf (buy) me some Essen ein (food). Sweden here we come. Vilnius, hopefully here I come.

Chicago/O'Hare

I love to write. When I was younger, I always wished that I could be an author of some famous book. It would be somewhat like a memoir, but would read like a novel. People would buy it by the thousands and I would become an overnight success. But as I grew older, I realized that my dreams of being an author would be somewhat dashed by something that I would inevitably come face to face with—life. Life would come upon me and coerce me into many other wonderful distractions such as a family, a job, and a church. Don’t get me wrong, those are great things, but they would more than likely give me enough persuasion to make writing a hobby rather than a lifestyle.
To be honest, I don’t know why I even wrote that; perhaps because I see this as an opportunity to finish, or rather, to begin my writing lifestyle. Right now it’s January 4th and I’m sitting in a comfortably grungy terminal in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport—I have successfully conquered security and baggage check-ins. The Italians behind me in the security line were bantering nervously about their flight which was leaving in an hour from when we were in line. I surely hope they made it, they probably had twenty minutes to spare. Max.
But so far, I’m here with all my baggage—carry-on/”personal item”. I am really not looking forward to landing in Frankfurt and having to carry around all of my bags while I search for my next terminal, but hey, this is Europe and what would it be without a little raucous adventure? Actually, I think I ran into some of the chesed (grace) of God already while standing in the check-in line. They were weighing carry-on bags and the limit is 8kg; my bag however, is probably 9kg at least. Yet, when I got to the line, because my bag is simply a backpack and looks deceivingly light, she didn’t even make me weigh it. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief after that. That would have been a horrible way to start my trip: being denied my carry-on before I had even gone through security!
So here I am, collecting dust in the far corner of gate M10 getting ready to board my plane in circa thirty minutes. Hopefully AirIndia will be nice to me and hopefully I will be able to land in Frankfurt on time. I guess I’ll find out in 10 hours when I land…