It's been a month! Wow....we have thrived thru our first month of living in Lithuania. We have lots going on lately to get us nicely settled into a good rhythm.

Isaac continues to do entirely well in school. What a blessing! Christian has happily completed his second week of preschool two days a week. Here is a picture of my little, big guy! This is a nice preschool just a few minutes away from Jekabs' work. I tried to get Crish to go a full day, but he just wasn't diggin' the full day, including nap time. So, a few hours a day a couple of days a week is the commitment that makes him happy.

The preschool building is a 4 story house converted into classrooms. I love it! Nice, simple, artful. A great canvas for learning and playing.

We are conveniently driving our way thru Klaipeda. We have ownership of our lovely 20 year old (manually driven) minivan. I appreciate that I can drive the kids to school and not slosh thru the cold, sometimes icy streets at 10 degrees, especially now that we live 1.5 miles away. I love the walking aspect of life here, only without kids. Having 3 kids walk their way around town is just unpleasant and bothersome. But, I love walking down to the store and picking up (too many) groceries, and then carrying the "survival supplies" (well over half of my body weight in groceries) home. Or walking a mile to get to downtown to enjoy a nice cup of coffee and do some window shopping.  It is just a nice, pleasant experience and feels good knowing that I am doing my body a favor, by KEEPING IT IN MOTION with everyday activities! It's a nice way of life.

(photo taken in the fall by former residents)

We moved into our apartment almost 2 weeks ago! 

Here is an outside shot of the building (and our minivan).

 Golly gee....you wouldn't believe the space we got! It must be at least 2000 square feet. We hike up four flights of stairs to get there, but, it is worth it to get the two story apartment at the top of the building. The views are wonderful, tons of windows and an open floor plan, and a bathroom that is so large it is a detriment to good hygiene in the cold winter. When the bathroom is as large as a master bedroom, it ends up having an "anti-steam accumulating" quality, in addition to a shower that alternates between hot and cold every 30 seconds! In this case, the luxury of space gets downgraded to tolerable.

Office

Front Entry/Foyer

Upstairs loft

Master bedroom to the right, 2 kid rooms to the left 

The above noted bathroom

Master bed

The view out of the kitchen window at sunrise

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Let's talk former USSR

I am so happy to report that many of the soviet apartment buildings are being RENOVATED! It is a refreshing sight to see stains of the Soviet Union washed clean in these countries. The original charm and beauty of these European countries got overshadowed by the influence of the Soviet Union.

You can read information on the origins of this building concept by the USSR here:
http://www.truelithuania.com/tag/soviet-buildings-in-lithuania


Interestingly, the motivation to these restoration projects are NOT aesthetic, rather functional. In their current (and original) state, they are highly inefficient to maintain in the heating season. Apartment owners are putting forth the funding necessary for the renovation per apartment building. Thus, you will only see the updates on a handful of individual sections of entire neighborhoods.

New  vs.  Old

In the south part of town there is a district of Soviet apartments so large I can only describe it as a "mini-metroplex". We stumbled upon it during our first drive around town after arrival. We drove thru the other night to snap some pictures, but did not end up in the same location we originally drove thru (which showed the area in a much more grandiose, built up, compact way). Nonetheless, you can still get an idea from the depth of these pictures. When we end up in that part of town again I will try to capture our "first impression" view that was outstanding.

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Magnificent I-C-E

The pictures will tell the story of this day's afternoon. 

Only mom and dad are on skates. The boys will pick that up later. 

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The excess of photos is intended to make up for the lack of interesting writing! 

We hope you enjoy looking into our revised lives and we look forward to hearing from you! 

April

Hello Friends and Family!

We are alive and doing well!

I am just now getting around to letting you see how we are doing this past week, as I was picking myself up off the ground last week and brushing the dirt from my face from being knocked over the head with a cast iron pan called "culture shock".  Boy, it hit me hard in the first 10 days. I am fine now, but it doesn't matter that I have visited here once.....twice......thrice.......FOUR times in the past decade (making this trip number five)........put this American woman in a former Soviet Union country and wide-eyed societal shock is what she gets every time!  Who wants to visit?

By now we are settled into our dorm suite at LCC. Our suite consists of a two room, bathroom and kitchenette/foyer area. We have an all day and night pass to a communal kitchen and living area in which we do all of our cooking and hanging out. We basically have it to ourselves, with only a handful of people sporadically popping in to use the area. We were under the expectation of having to share the space with students once they return to campus at the end of next week, but as it turns out, it is strictly a faculty hall, thank goodness! The campus is nice, very clean and simple. The boys have plenty of things to do around here with ping pong, pool table, gym and workout room. We are giving them a really good taste of what it is like being in a college dorm, 15 years early (minus a rigorous college course schedule). Crish has often declared that he has just had the "best day of his life!" Today he also reported that he likes life better here (indicating that he is currently having fun).

Before coming to Lithuania we stayed 2 nights with Jekabs' parents. We had an after-Christmas celebration and enjoyed the day with Peteris and Naomi. We also attended an extended family Christmas gathering from Sarmite's side of the family. The kids had a blast running the halls with cousins. The family also has many amazing singing talents, and when they gather together and sing, they sound like a beautiful choir! This is certainly a special trait that this particular family shares together, unlike any other.

We are so proud of our boys as well! Jekabs convinced both of them to sing a solo in front of everyone. After Isaac braved the crowd, Christian followed suit.

The boys carrying home around 80lbs. of groceries. Time to stop eating bread and butter and get our bellies filled with substantial food! 

LCC gym

NBA star Yao Ming has practiced in this gym. Impressive! Lithuanian's love basketball. 

Downtown Klaipeda

Following are Isaac's school pictures, including our walk there on the first day. What a champ he has been. Most of you have seen our update of facebook, but for those who have not, I'll include an update. 

To date, he has completed 2 successful days at his small private Lithuanian school.  We had toured the school last week and felt comfortable with what the school had to offer. They are fairly strong in their academics and have a nice assortment of after school programs (chess, ping pong, soccer, karate). The school houses grades 1-12. The class size is small (he will make 13 in his class) and his teacher is a Lithuanian woman who just recently returned from living in the U.S. for 10 years. We are thrilled, and considering our circumstance, can think of no better alternative then to have him in her class!!!!  She has been very generous with her concern to help him transition. We have been recommended that he be given 3 private Lithuanian language lessons per week so he can start grasping the language.  His class schedule consists of school lessons from 9am - 2pm on T, Th, F and 9am-3pm on M, W with the option of attending after school programs.  

Transportation.

We have decided to buy a 1996 Peugeot minivan from a departing LCC colleague. I gritted my teeth for weeks about the potential purchase of this van, but a thousand dollars spent on this van is about six thousand dollars saved on a nicer vehicle. We'll get by with this for now (or starting on Jan. 15th, when we finally get ownership of it and the apartment we are renting).  It runs quite smoothly. I took it out for a spin the other day and had a bit of fun driving it around (shift stick). Advertising Plug: My very nice 2004 Cadillac Escalade is still parked in Tulsa, Ok if anyone fancies that for a family car! It feels and looks quite luxurious inside and is in excellent condition with 96K miles.

Peugeot. Here she is! 

She needs a name now that she will be a part of our family beginning next week! 

A note about my husband:
I am so incredibly blessed to be attached to such a wonderful, strong man. In times like this, when I want to shrink up in a corner and stay there all day because there are too many changes and everyday life scenarios to figure out, my husband is my rock. He is a solid, strong leader. He is fearless and embraces any and all challenges or changes that come our way. He is the ultimate optimist. He thrives in any environment. How this boy from Latvia and this girl from Kansas came into union often feels like an act entirely from God!

A note about the weather:
I believe that no matter where in the U.S. you reside we are currently WARMER than you are! Since our arrival 2 weeks ago, the winter has been very mild. Days are continually in the high 30's or even 40's. We have gotten several days of rain, but no snow. We certainly appreciate this hault of winter during our transition time.


Thanks so much for checking in and following along with us! And thank you for your many messages on Facebook. We appreciate the communication!

Stay warm, America!!!!

April