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.
.JPG)
*******************************************************************************
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.
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.
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.
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
*******************************************************************************
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.
*****************************************************************************
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.
********************************************************************************
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
No comments:
Post a Comment