1st day at Klaipeda University

Last night was funny. I made it back from my trek from 'Maxima' to buy breakfast goods and dinner. I was getting ready for bed and then someone was knocking on the door. Clara was freaking out in Spanish, telling me not to open the door. I asked through the door in Lithuanian what the names were of the people knocking. They told me their names, which I quickly realised was a pointless exercise, as I know no one in this city! However I let them in anyway. It turned out that they came to deliver another table. I don't think we needed another table but Clara was happy to have a table in her room to write letters.

My morning run was much more succesful today as there is currently no snow in Klaipeda. I had a good time running past lots of big shops and industrial areas, and smiling at people who didn't smile back at me.

The first day of University was today (language and cultural course). I got moved in to the more advanced group with two others who also speak Lithuanian. The other students in my group are a German girl, who worked as a volunteer in a Lithuanian orphanage years ago and wanted to improve her Lithuanian, and another German fellow who used to live in Slovakia and now lives in Lithuania working for an energy company...I think. The class is very intense, we sat an difficult exam to test our written skills and no english was spoken at all throughout my class, so my head is very 'explodey' at the moment, but in a good way!

It is great to meet such a variety of people in the course. There is a girl from Czech Republic and another from Germany, who wanted to go on exchange in Spain, but couldn't go as the expectation was that they knew fluent Spanish, so they defaulted to go to Lithuania. They have found that people in Lithuania do not speak a lot of English, so this is the first amount of Lithuanian that they are learning.

I've been chatting with  the other girl in my class mentioned before (from Germany), about a welfare program that she works for where they help unemployed people from Germany to work in France.I love learning about how people operate health and welfare systems in other countries, as it helps keep me creative in my mental health work in Asutralia.

We had an opening ceremony for the course which was very sweet; the teachers talked about the history of the course and thanked us for being 'brave' to do the course in their winter. We were also fed Balandėliai for lunch. Yum yum. I ate plenty. We met a Columbian man who did the course many years ago in Lithuania, he is now married to a Lithuanian woman, they have children together and they live in Klaipeda. He has asked me to look after Clara as she knows no English or Lithuanian. I think I must be doing okay so far as she now refers to me as her daughter.

We had a tour around the old town; an extensive stay at a beautiful amber museum, and a history of the infrastructure of the old town. It is sad that Russia is barely selling any amber anymore to Lithuania as a political standpoint. It is sadder to see a castle in Klaipeda knocked down, where Lithuanians want to build it again and have plans to do so but do not have the money to do it.

Typical Rasa style; I forgot to bring my camera today, and I accidentally left  a web page open on my phone, so I couldn't take any pictures, so I will attach some pictures from google. Atsiprasua

'Amber Queen' museum in Klaipeda shows a magical display of all things amber. Sculptures include such things like: giant ships, biblical mosaics and pipes. There are many different colours of amber, which will also change depending if it is heated. I found out on this trip that Amber that turns green when heated is Columbian amber. Amber that turn red when heated is Baltic amber. Amber that has a natural 'hole' in it is considered to be very rare and precious. Real amber will smell like pine when rubbed together or burnt, it will change colour over time and will float in water.

Klaipeda City Centre.

Our group got split up at the end of the day by accident; some of us got on the bus and others didn't.  I was worried because I had lost mi Madre, Clara! However we managed to all meet up at the end again, which was good. :P

I had dinner with our friend Jona's Mockunas' godson ' Gvidas'. He is very lively and nice to talk to. He said that everyone in Lithuania talks about wanting to come to Australia during Lithuanian winter. I explained to Gvidas that the receptionist at my work is aching to have a white Christmas. I had Cepelinai for dinner, as I hadn't eaten it for a long time, and it was very yummy. I forgot how filling Cepelinai is though, so I've taken the rest home for lunch tomorrow for University.

We went out for coffee and dessert to a fancy restaurant at the top of  a hotel where you have a perfect view of the city. I was saying to Gvidas, that some of the nicest things about  darker, Lithuanian winter days, are that every light in the city stands out. In addition, getting in to a warm bed with pyjamas better never feels better (Lithuanians tend to have warmer houses than in Australia which helps too). Again, I tried to pay for our meals but Gvids jumped in too early.

I think I will be joining Gvidas and his friends for sailing on Friday after my course is done for the day.

I thought my body clock was in sync, but I'm exhausted and it's only 830. Maybe I am just exhausted, good exhausted anyway. This heating is so good here that I don't even have to sleep with clothes on! Which is a sign that may be the heating needs to be turned down to save energy, but I'm not sure how to do that.

Labanaktis.

Love,
Rasa