Off to Žemaitija!

(Vija writing...)

Labas from Žemaičių Kalvarija!

This morning, Emilija and I woke up especially early (7:30), compared to our normal, relaxing 8:30 or 9 wake-up, to get ready to leave the capital, Vilnius, to the small, small town of Žemaičių Kalvarija (approx. 800 people). We made the three-hour trip accompanied by Andryte and her two sisters, Lija (15) and Liuce(10), Liuce's friend, Nida(11), and Andryte's mom and grandmother (no ages needed) (We think that the adults had a blast bonding with our van driver, who apparently is from the same region of Lithuania as Andryte's grandmother...they really hit it off.)

When we reached the first cafe, we all piled out of the van, and got the biggest table at the restaurant. We really looked like a huge family :) Having eaten a delicious, traditional Lithuanian lunch, we only had to drive 20 minutes to reach our home for the next three weeks.

We got the grand tour of the children's day center, at which we'll be working, right when we arrived. The kids were a bit apprehensive to talk to us, but we're sure that will change as soon as we start work tomorrow. Of course, we couldn't have left without having been served some tea and fruit (they even washed our bananas!). (Emilija and I have stopped counting the number of cups of tea we have been served after it reached 50)

Later, we were introduced to our host family - Milda, Bronius, and their college-aged daughter Rūta. I was especially happy to meet the animals of the house - a German shepherd named Nika, and a cat named Eura!

Because we're responsible for most of our food here, Rūta took us grocery shopping at some local grocery stores. We bought Lithuanian bread, butter, jam (my choice), tea (fruit for Andryte and Emilija...black for me), juice, and some peaches. It was fun to be able to take a short walk from our house to the center of town. Everything is so localized here - we love it already!

Here in this north-western part of Lithuania, they speak in almost an entirely different language, which most native Lithuanians claim to have trouble understanding...we've heard a bit of it spoken here, but people can speak to us mostly in traditional Lithuanian.

We spent a good two hours getting to know our host family - we sat in their spacious livingroom, discussing school systems and general schooling issues (both parents are local teachers), the Lithuanian community abroad and how we uphold Lithuanian traditions, the differences between our countries, and our plans for the upcoming weeks -- and even plans for our futures. After we got on the topic of music, they learned of our various musical talents and asked us to perform at an upcoming school event :) ...we're in trouble... ;)

We really like our host family, and the town is quaint but gorgeous (it was even voted the prettiest village in Lithuania!) We can't wait for tomorrow, when we'll get to meet the kids!

(We'll put pictures up as soon as possible!)