Dan vs. The End

Well, World, it's almost over. I've got two days to go (plus a seven hour plane ride)
It's pretty cold again - it was warm for a while but now we've got a healthy layer of snow/ice.
I'm excited to be back in good ol America again.

I have a few random pictures and videos to display to all

first, here's some of me teaching in my practicum

And here are two of my roommates, Tsikhan and Dima. We've been having a good time chilling and eating and packing the last few days. They're awesome guys and it's been super fun to live with them (and Vanya too, but he's not in this picture)

It's been a great semester, I've really enjoyed LCC and all the random different awesome stuff I've been able to do! It was kind of sad to have my last time playing with the worship team, last days of classes, last time going to Iki, all that good stuff.

I'll be flying into JFK airport on Saturday afternoon, so watch out America - you may have gotten away from me for a while, but I'm back!

Don't forget to check out my Picasa page where I have alot more pictures from the whole semester!

See ya on the other side!

Viskas!

Dan vs. Reverend Parris

Hello, World!
This weekend we had our performances of The Crucible. We had a performance on Friday night, one on Saturday night, and the final one on Sunday afternoon. I was a little worried about how it would go. We had been rehearsing three times a week and I had a class conflicting with one of the weekly practice times, so I missed one out of three rehearsals every week and had to catch up for the next rehearsal. But by dress rehearsals I was up to speed, memorized and ready for the show. There is no theater department here at LCC, so we had to be creative with the staging, sets, and costumes. We performed on a "stage" that was really more of a small platform in a lecture hall. And most of the cast had never been on stage before, so I wasn't expecting much, just doing it for fun. But the show turned out really well! I was pleasantly surprised!
For anyone who has read The Crucible, you can imagine that the role of Rev. Parris is a distinct departure from my usual role as the humorous supporting character. I had quite a few dramatic moments where I got to put on my "serious face" (yes - Dan has a serious face!) Some of the scenes (such as the iconic courtroom scene) are very tense and dramatic, with alot of yelling and accusations. I had a good time. There will be a DVD of the entire show, so if you want to see it, come find me!
For now, here's a picture of me with the other guys from the play (we're in costume, but not in character - Puritans don't smile)
And here is Rev. Parris with his daughter Betty (on the bed), niece Abigail Williams (kneeling), and neighbors Ann and Thomas Putnam
In other news, I have a little more free time now that the show is over, so I guess now I'm just enjoying my final month in Europe! Some friends and I will be taking a weekend trip to a Lithuanian city called Kaunas which is about four hours away. We'll go for two days and see the sights and fun stuff like that (apparently it's the cultural capitol of Lithuania, so it should be good) My semester has been great so far, I can't believe it's going by so quickly! Any suggestions? What should I do/get pictures of/bring back?
See you soon!

Dan vs. SovietLand

Greetings, World!
It's update time! Since you last heard from me, I have been to Russia and back! It was a great trip, we packed a lot of stuff into one week. It was super busy but immensely enjoyable! We went to Moscow for three days and St. Petersburg for four days. We saw shows, cathedrals, palaces, famous works of art, and a few religious services.

I took a whole bunch of pictures in Russia, most of which are on Picasa, check them out! One album is dedicated to my traveling companion affectionately known as "Gorby" who is actually part of a nesting doll set of the Russian leaders. It's classic.

While we were in St. Petersburg, we (the study abroad guys) decided to make a funny video about our trip in the style of The Office. It turned into quite a project, we had a lot of fun with it, and we were pretty impressed with the results! If you want to check it out, it's called The Hostel and here's a link to the video on my friend Kevin's blog. Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

And now, for my epic tale of peril and adventure:
Before heading to Russia, we stopped at a place in Lithuania called the Hill of Crosses. It is literally a hill covered in hundreds of thousands of wooden crosses. Some big, some tiny, some fancy, some simple, some just wood, some with engravings of loved one's names, all over a hill. It's quite a sight.
We started by taking a bus to Riga, Latvia, where we caught an overnight train to Moscow. The train was fun, a little cramped, but for just one night it wasn't bad. We were told that the Russian border patrol would be demanding and ruthless, but our guard was friendly and casual. As far as I know, no one from our group had any troubles at the border, so that's good!

As soon as we got to Moscow, we dropped our luggage off at the hostel, and quickly hurried off to our first genuinely authentic Russian experience - Pizza Hut! Okay, maybe it's not that Russian, but after that we took a tour of the Kremlin, which is the heart of the Russian government. It's in Red Square, which is also the location of St. Basil's Cathedral and the Goom Department Store. We got to see the cathedral and it is honestly one of those places that you can see in pictures hundreds of times, but it is truly breathtaking to be there and look up at it in front of you. We took lots of pictures (there are more on Picasa). We also got to see the Church of Christ the Savior, which has enormous golden domes on top! It wasn't open for tours of the inside, but it was fun to stand outside it. (Note: this picture definitely does not capture just how huge this church is...)

Later, we went to Vernisazh Market, where there are lots of stalls of souvenirs and Russian stuff to buy! There was a plethora of matryoshka dolls painted to look like anything from Russian presidents to American football teams! This is where I got my set of Russian leaders that open and fit inside each other, including Lenin, Stalin, Yeltsin, Putin, and of course, Gorbachev. That night we went to Stariya Arbat, a famous street in Moscow that has a McDonald's, a KFC, and a Starbucks. Ah, American commercialism, is there a corner of the world you haven't ensnared? For the record, I did not buy food from any of those places. Instead, I went to Teremok, where they serve Russian pancakes, which are sort of like crepes, filled with jelly or ham and cheese, or anything else you could imagine. Back at the hostel, we played an intense game of Mafia with a bunch of people from our Study Abroad group, plus another traveler named Scott who's from Canada. He was cool, and I felt bad deceiving him in the game (I was the mafia, and I won! mwahahaha!)

Another fun thing we did in Moscow was go to the circus! It was a great show, even if I didn't understand what they were saying. They tried to make the acts fit into themes, but I didn't really catch the relation from act to act. Regardless, it was fun. There were alot of animal acts, like one with a seal doing tricks, and a bunch of lions and a tiger in a big caged-in ring! There were also quite a few acrobats, like some guys dressed up like mummies doing human towers and flips and balancing and all sorts of hardcore stuff! (here's a picture of the lions; for more, check out Picasa!)

The last thing we did before heading to St. Petersburg was go to Lenin's Tomb. Apparently when Lenin died, his body was saved and preserved and kept in a glass case for people to come and visit. The idea of creepily staring at the delayed decomposition of a famous person's corpse may interest some people, but I wasn't too excited about it. I did end up going in, for the cultural experience, and honestly it was cool to be there (the body looked fake though). Dead body or not, it was interesting to see a place that is very important and sacred to the Russian culture.

After viewing some 20th century Russian art at the New Tretyakov Gallery, it was time to continue our quest! A five-hour train ride later, we arrived in St. Petersburg! I can honestly say that I enjoyed my four days in this city more than anything else I've done this semester! It was truly great, wonderful, epic, and awesome.
We started off our first day in St. Petersburg with a tour of the "unconventional" sites (non-touristy stuff, roughly translates to the "back alleys and graffiti" tour). It was actually quite interesting, we heard much of the common history and some of the lesser known stories of the city. Here's a picture of St. Isaac's cathedral, another stunning architectural wonder. That night, we got to see the ballet Swan Lake performed at the Mariinsky Theatre! I liked the music, but I think I was expecting a little bit more of a plot than there was. At some points, I wondered, "What are they doing? What's happening to the prince guy now?" when, honestly, he's just dancing, for the sake of dancing. Once I got past that concept, I really enjoyed it!

The next day, we split up into groups and visited different places around the city. I went to Yusupov palace, which was built for someone royal (Catherine the Great, I think). Whoever had the palace built only lived there for a decade or two, then it was turned into a museum for people to visit and see how the czars used to live. It was actually really neat to see all the fancy furniture and ornate decorations. There was an audio guide headset with a narrator who had a very British accent, so it made me want to use words like Cheerio and bully and cheeky. It was at this point that Gorbachev started following me everywhere, as documented in the Picasa album, "The Adventures of Little Gorbachev".

That afternoon, we went to my favorite place in all of Russia, the Hermitage Museum. It's inside the Winter Palace (again, built by czars) which is enormous and brilliant. Inside is the world's second largest collection of artwork and artifacts. I spent three hours perusing the halls full of giant paintings, sculptures, armor, and furniture from around the world. The palace itself is ridiculously decorative, and some of the rooms were set up to look like they did when czars lived there, with fancy furniture and such. There was not any one particular room or item that I especially enjoyed the most, I just liked being there and soaking in all the historical and artistic awesomeness around me.

Later, we went to another palace for a performance of "Feel Yourself Russian", the cultural folk show. There was singing and dancing and traditional instruments, it was great! Some of the guys from our group even got pulled up on stage to dance! The folk dancing involved a lot of leg kicking and slapping and shrieking, it was wild! And at one point, there was a guy wearing a costume that looked like two kids fighting and he "danced" around and jumped on people's laps and made quite a scene!

The next day, we split up into groups again. This time I was in a smaller group that went across the river to see the battleship Aurora (it was closed to tours, but we got to see it). We also went to the Political History Museum and learned all about Soviet times and about the lives of the REAL Stalin, Lenin, Khruschev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev! It was an important moment for me and Gorby, my small wooden companion. Interesting and informative, too! After that, we went to a small cafeteria in the basement of an old building for lunch. Apparently that's how they used to do it in Soviet Times - simple tables, simple service, low prices, mediocre food. For most people this was very ordinary and mundane, but I really enjoyed it, I felt very Russian! Gorby of course had to inspect my food...

After our hearty meal at Soviet Times Cafe, we visited a nearby Mosque and observed the men attending their Friday prayers. We went inside and saw the mullah presenting the prayers and people were around bowing and reciting prayers. It was very interesting to see how different their worship experience is than the type I am used to.

That night, it was time for another show! This time we attended the Barber of Seville opera. We had fun dressing nicely and going to the fancy theatre. The show was a Russian translation of an Italian opera, and the setting was updated from the 1600's to the present. It was a little disorienting as far as the set and costumes go, with one guy wearing a motorcycle outfit, and the extras roaming around as mental patients in the background of the scenes... It was weird. But the singing was good, and I liked the orchestra!

And suddenly, it was upon us: our final day in SovietLand. We spent it wisely, starting with a visit to the Church of Spilt Blood. At first glance, the outside of the Church of Spilt Blood looks similar to St. Basil's Cathedral, but as stunning as the outside is, the inside of the church is truly magnificent. The walls, ceilings, and support pillars are all covered in mosaic murals depicting Jesus and the saints! It was so colorful and intricate and amazing. Here are some pictures, but again, you really have to be there to truly appreciate it. (Go to Picasa for more photos!)

After visiting the church, we had some time to explore the city more on our own. I chose to walk down the busy main street and see all the people and things going on. I ended up back at the Hermitage, where I enjoyed the art for another hour before meeting the group at Kazan Cathedral. We attended a Russian Orthodox church service. It was strange at first, because there are no seats or pews - people stand and walk around during the service. Also, the walls of the church are adorned with portraits of the saints that people light candles for and meditate upon. These Icons are all around, and it sometimes seemed like people were paying much more attention to these pictures than they were to the Bible or Jesus! It's sort of a foreign idea to North Americans, but the Icons are a very big deal in the Orthodox church. The service involved people reciting prayers and chants after the priest, speaking in Old Russian, which most of them don't understand. It was very personal, people hardly even acknowledged that there were others around them. A very interesting and intriguing cultural experience.

And with that, we headed back to the train station, got back on the train, went back through border patrol (again, much less intimidating than we had been told to expect). We returned to Lithuania, and to the routine of classes and schedules and homework...

It was a great adventure! If you haven't caught on yet, here's where you can see more pictures from my trip on Picasa ----> Click Here!
And don't forget to check out our tongue-in-cheek take on Russian culture in the episode my friends and I made ----> Click Here!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions on the last blog post, let me know of any other question you might have about my European Adventures, and I will be sure to answer them!

Dan vs. Dan

Greetings, World!
I don't have a clever theme for this blog post. I thought about a few ideas but I decided to just go with the general update.

So the weather is getting colder. And not like "I love fall weather, let's wear a sweater" colder. I'm talking "Last week I was wearing short sleeves but now I'm putting on every article of clothing I own" colder. And it still rains just about every day. But there are some great rainbows (that's the view from the window above my desk!) Luckily, I have a very useful raincoat and many layers of warmth and an awesome hat to keep me warm and dry!

In recent news, I have a new roommate! We have a dorm suite with a common kitchen and bathroom, then two bedrooms with two guys each. The guy who lived on my side, Sergiy, decided to move into an apartment across town because it is apparently cheaper to live there and commute to campus. So a new guy moved in this weekend. His name is Tsikhan (pronounced Tea-Honn) He's a freshmen from Belarus and he's really friendly and talkative. My other roommates are Dima and Vanya, who are both second-year business majors from Ukraine. They're super nice and friendly too. It's a good time!

So I have furthered my cultural culinary endeavors by making Šaltibarščiai, a traditional Lithuanian beet soup that is served cold. I tried it at a restaurant and really liked it! So I got some beets and learned to make it myself, with a little help from Vanya. It involves alot of vegetables and some keefir, which I had never had before. It is sometimes served with a boiled potato. Here's a picture (it's from the internet, but this is pretty much what mine looked like!) I also got to try eating pig's ear (reminded me of a bacon-flavored fruit-rollup) and some kind of squid (reminded me of a bacon-flavored soggy marshmallow).

I've been keeping pretty busy lately, with worship team and rehearsals for The Crucible (see previous posts for more on that). And I've also been doing alot with my teaching practicum class. Up until last week I was just visiting the local public high school and observing the English class. Last Tuesday I actually got to present one of the activities for the class, which was fun. And this Tuesday I got to teach an entire lesson! The students are in eleventh grade and they've been taking English classes for about seven years, so they speak near-fluently and know some pretty in-depth grammatical concepts. I got to teach them about writing informal letters. They read some examples from their textbook about friends writing letters and asking questions about hobbies and music and stuff. Then I decided to have the class write a short letter to me, asking me questions to get to know me better! (I'll be teaching more and more throughout the semester, so it was a good icebreaker.) They asked me how I like Lithuania and how it's different from USA and what music I like and what my hobbies are, and all sorts of fun stuff. It took a while for the students to warm up to me, because their regular teacher is quite strict and doesn't really promote peer interaction much during class. They didn't really know how to respond to my style at first, but by the end I think they liked me. It was a little strange since some of them are less than 5 years younger than me, but I really liked it, and the teacher is giving me alot of freedom to do fun things. It's cool to be "the authority" on English and pronunciation when it come really easily to me, although it's intimidating too because most of these kids know three or four languages and I only know like one and a half...

Next week is the last week of classes before Fall Break! The break occurs exactly halfway through the semester and it's a week long. The study abroad program is sponsoring a trip to Russia, and I'm super excited about it! We'll be in Moscow for 4 days then we'll go to St. Petersburg for 4 more days! Usually on these trips we have alot of freedom to go places and see stuff and do whatever we want so tell me, World - WHAT SHOULD I DO IN RUSSIA???? Any suggestions? What should I see? Where should I go?? What weird or wacky item should I take a picture of??? What kind of souvenirs should I purchase???? So many choices! I'll do a blog post with lots of pictures when I get back! For now, I've got one more week of classes before then...

Don't forget to check out my pictures on Picasa!
I put some pictures of Riga and Tallinn on there (see previous blog post)
Also, if you miss me, Skype me! My Skype name is stan.doddard

Does anyone have a request for what I should write about in my blog (about Russia, or Lithuania, or just in general)? If you have any questions or queries, or perhaps even a quandary or two, write a comment on this blog post and I'll address it in my next post! You can also suggest stuff for me to take pictures of if there's something you want to see...

Dan vs. The Other Baltic States

Note: this blog post is about stuff that happened two weeks ago, but I wrote stuff down that I wanted to tell people about so I wouldn't forget it all. Unfortunately all that did was allow me to procrastinate. Here's my harrowing account of epic adventure and peril:


So two weekends ago we went on a trip to Tallinn and Riga. Riga is in Latvia (North of Lithuania) and Tallinn is in Estonia (North of Latvia). Both are the capitol cities and they both have historic Old Town areas where we spent most of our time.
We left LCC at 10:30pm on Thursday night and "slept" on the bus on the way to Tallinn. Seeing as this bus didn't have beds or bathrooms or pillows or anything remotely comfy, I didn't sleep much. Nonetheless, I was excited to be somewhere new and exciting once we arrived in Tallinn at 9am. We went to breakfast at a hotel and they had bacon! I hadn't had bacon since the summer, so that was a big deal, since it is one of my favorite food groups. Then we got some time to explore Old Town. We went to a palace with gardens and climbed up mysterious steps and posed under tunnels of flowers. There was a wedding happening, or at least a woman in a white flowy dress being escorted by guys in tuxes and people with cameras. So I guess it could have been a prom, or a music video or something, but I think it was a wedding. It was raining, but that didn't stop the nuptials or the exploring.

That night we had dinner at Olde Hanso, which is a medieval-themed restaurant. They don't use electricity in the dining area, only candles and gravity, how old-fashioned. We had a feast of all kinds of different foods that were really tasty but I don't remember what it was. There was something like sauerkraut, something else with beef, and some salmon dish too. And something like apple crisp for dessert. For entertainment, they had girls playing flute and drums and even more entertaining were the real live candles on the tables! After that I went exploring with Brock and Kevin and got some cool pictures of the city.

The next morning we went to a hotel pool that had waterslides and hot tubs! I hesitate to call it a waterpark, so it isn't confused with the American kids-screaming-running-wild-throwing-water-everywhere-extremeness of a typical waterpark in the US. This one was relaxing and calm and relatively quiet, and best of all only 105 Estonian Kroons (which may sound like alot but it actually equals about $10 American!) After the obligatory snack shopping and souvenir browsing, we boarded the bus again for the next leg of our journey.

We got to Riga at about 8pm. I'll start by saying that it's a great city, but I'll add that Saturday night is not the best time for making first impressions of a city. There were some people of, shall we say, questionable morality roaming the streets. It was a little disquieting at first, but we successfully managed to avoid the fists of drunks and the heckling of scoundrels. We saw some more cool buildings and bridges and parks, which were great but the real show was when we saw some guys playing with fire for money! They were street performers, fire-twirlers who had flaming balls on chains and hurled them around to make cool shapes!

The next morning we got a very different view of Riga. There was a stark contrast from the city in its raucous nightlife to a solemn Sunday morning. We went to an English church service in the chapel of a large Catholic church in the heart of the city. Then we walked around some of the historic building and statues and monuments, and of course we did some souvenir shopping. Then we went on a boat ride through the canals of Riga! The city is right near the Baltic coast and the canals go all around and through the city. We got some more cool pictures and great views of new and old buildings. Then it was time to head back, but not without a stop at a giant Latvian lunch place! It was this giant lodge building with all sorts of food and great Šaltibarsčai (beet soup - more on that later!). It was a great end to an awesome weekend exploring Baltic Land!

Although it was a little disappointing to return to the realm of homework and tests and waking up to do something other than eat deliciously fatty foods in a strange new city, it was a good experience to leave Klaipeda for a few days. Returning to LCC actually felt like going home. Sort of. To quote the great philosopher Little Orphan Annie, "I think I'm gonna like it here."

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.

Dan vs. Uploading Blog Posts

I'm currently in Lithuania in the coastal city of Klaipeda where Lithuanian Christian College is located. For the last few days we have been exploring the country and the area, such as Vilnius the capital of Lithuania, and Trakai, a historic site where we toured an ancient castle. I"ll try to post some pictures but I'm not really sure how yet, so we'll see how that goes...
I think you can see a picture of the castle at Trakai on the left.

On the right are some of the Sand Dunes ad Nida, you can see the Curonian Spit, the peninsula dividing the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea.
Here's the sign for the school where I'm living. It's an international school so the classes are taught in English. I'm living in an apartment-style dorm with three Ukranians. We've been having fun sharing games, music, pictures, food and other items of cultural awesomeness.
More to come later, I promise. I'm seven hours ahead of PA time, so it's past midnight for me now. Goodnight, world