Dan vs. Campus Involvement

Now that I am now officially "settled" into this strange new land, I figure I should start doing productive things. However, despite its popularity, going to karaoke bars and nightclubs at midnight and returning at 6am doesn't exactly appeal to me, so I've turned to some activities that are, shall we say, a little more creative.
First, I decided to join the worship team that plays for the weekly chapel services. fortunately, I play a very small instrument that can fit in my carry-on for the plane ride, and honestly, I think I own the only ukulele in this hemisphere. But it's fun to play and works for worship music. Unfortunately, worship team rehearses on Tuesday nights, when I have a very important evening class, so I've been coming to the last ten minutes of worship team rehearsal, then I go back to my dorm and run through the songs on my own, then I get up the next morning and perform them with the band. It's a great system, really.
On top of worship team, I decided to try out for LCC's production of The Crucible, and seeing as 10 guys auditioned for 9 male parts in the show, I got in. I'm playing Reverend Parris, the jerk of a pastor who first denies witchcraft, then later condemns the whole village, all to make himself look good. Oh yes, it's a change of pace from my usual comedic supporting role. The performances are in November, and I'm supposed to have long hair and a beard. We'll see how that goes...
As if that wasn't enough, my friend Brad and I have started a Swing Dance Club on campus. Not many Europeans have heard of Glenn or Benny or the Duke, but there was considerable interest so we met for the first time last Thursday and had a good turnout. Surprisingly, there were equal numbers of guys and girls - very uncommon for any event even remotely involving dancing. We taught some basic steps and a couple turns, it was pretty neat, and the Europeans really seemed to like it! Before you know it, people will start to rouge their knees and roll their stockings down, and all that jazz. I think we've started a cultural revolution.
Just in case I haven't earned my Campus Involvement Badge yet, I am doing one more thing. For my aforementioned TEIL class (for acronym overload and explanation, see previous post) I have to complete 40 hours of observation and teaching in a local High School, Ažuolyno Gimnazija. It's a public school in Klaipeda, and the teacher I am working with teaches English classes to 11th graders. Last week I was just observing and taking notes, but soon I'll be demonstrating my flawless pronunciation and neverending knowledge of grammar and linguistics by teaching some lessons. Actually it'll be kind of tricky, because although I can properly construct a sentence, I couldn't tell you whether I'm using Present Perfect tense or if my predicate parallels my subject phrase. I think I remember the preposition song, but I'm not sure if that will help me. There's alot about our language that we know how to do but we don't know how it works or what it's called. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon...
So, it's going to be a good semester. And oh yeah, I am taking classes too, as described in the last post. Don't worry I'll have time for, oh, what's it called, oh yeah - studying. Yeah that. I'll do some of that, I promise, Mom.
Next week we're taking a trip to Riga and Tallinn, the capitals of Latvia and Estonia, respectively, so I promise I'll have some new pictures of people doing weird poses in front of really old buildings, just you wait.

Dan vs. TEIL

...Well, I'm done with my second week of classes and I'm feeling pretty good about them so far. I'm in a few general classes, a few for my minor, and a few for fun. We haven't had any major projects or tests yet, so maybe ask me how I feel in a few weeks and the answer might be different...
I'm taking a Lithuanian language class, which has been quite interesting. It reminds me of my days back in middle school taking Spanish 1. So far it's been alot of "repeat these words after me so you know how this crazy language is supposed to sound" sort of thing. We just started conjugating verbs, oh joy. I can now say the most complex of phrases, such as "Nežinau" (I don't know), "Aš nesuprantu Lietuviškai" (I don't understand Lithuanian), and, of course, "Prašom duoti saldainių" (please give me candy). Clearly the most important nuggets of information for an aimless traveler to know.
I'm also taking an Intro to Theology class, which so far has covered the same topics as the first two weeks of Created and Called for Community at Messiah. Hopefully we'll go into some more complex topics soon.
My other classes are called TEIL classes. It took me some time to figure out what this acronym meant - the credits transfer to Messiah as TESOL credits. TESOL stands for Teaching English as a Second Language, and with this certification I'll be able to teach ESL classes. TEIL apparently stands for Teaching English as an International Language. If that's not confusing enough, on the first day of class we got a paper with those and fifteen more acronyms using basically some combination of those letters and words. We learned the difference between the acronyms and why some are more preferable than others, I'm not sure I've mastered the intricacies of the distinctions between them yet... It's a good subject to learn though, and part of the class is a Practicum in which I get to visit a Lithuanian school and eventually teach an English class to 14-year-olds. It sounds exciting now, but I haven't been to the school or had to do anything for it yet, so again, you'll have to ask me how I feel in a few weeks.
My last class that I'm taking is a Cross-Cultural Seminar where we learn about culture shock, stereotypes, and that sort of thing, and we get background to prepare us for our future trips to Moscow and St.Petersburg, and to Riga and Talinn (Latvia and Estonia).
Another interesting event on campus is when various nations celebrate their Independence Days. I've been to several flag-raisings and celebrations for countries like Ukraine, Moldova, and other former Soviet territories that are proud to be independent today. There have been a number of these celebrations each week, and they always include cultural dance, singing their national anthem, and, my favorite part, tasting the national food. It makes me wonder what would what food and dances we would present at an American cultural celebration. I'm proud to hail from the land of hot dogs, funnel cakes, and country line dancing!... maybe not.
Sorry there are no fancy pictures in this post, but there are pictures on Picasa, go to ----> http://picasaweb.google.com/GeraldBorgs to see a bunch of fun photos!

Dan vs. the Potatoes

Well, I've been in Lithuania for almost two weeks now and I'm settling into dorm life at LCC. The major difference is that we have no meal plan, so we get to go shopping and cook food for ourselves every night. The cheapest thing to buy here is potatoes, and I've heard that Lithuanians have 30 different ways to cook them. I haven't learned any authentic Lithuanian recipes, but I've made up my own versions of some potato dishes. Lithuanian food typically involves meat and potatoes, which I can definitely get used to. Bread and cheese are big here too. Sausage is prevalent and Dark Russian bread, which is very dense, is also popular. A traditional appetizer is called Kepta Duona and is made of bread slices covered in a mayonnaise-cheese sauce. It has a sort of garlic taste too, it's excellent!
There's some Kepta Duona (almost gone) and behind it is a drink called Kvass. It's supposedly made from bread. It smells like a musty shoe and tastes like flat root beer combined with coffee and vomit. Delicious.Alot of food is similar to American food too - like this chicken with vegetables over rice. There were some different spices than we're used to but it was a pretty familiar dish. There are also many American companies, like Coca-Cola and (of course) McDonald's, and things like ketchup, mayonnaise, and almost any type of soda are all readily available. I've been trying to experience European products and foods as much as possible. My favorites have been the sausage, the aforementioned Kepta Duona, and a really good brand of chocolate called Karuna. I'll try to learn how to make some good food to share with people when I get back... and maybe I'll bring back some chocolate.