Turkey

For reasons listed here, we need to (and get to) leave for Turkey and stay there 8 complete days. So tomorrow we'll get on a bus and head to Riga, Latvia and then on Thursday we'll leave from there and fly to Turkey. We'll be staying with a good friend of the Hanson family in Izmir.

We're looking forward to the break. Please pray for safe and easy travels, and that we would feel rested and ready for the rest of the semester when we return.

I had planned on posting some pictures from my events last week, but due to some technical difficulties, it might have to wait until we get back (Sunday, November 2nd).

On an interesting note, Turkey is in the same time zone as Lithuania, but we'll still have to adjust our clocks because this weekend (as far as I know) is daylight saving time. One week earlier than in the states.

Hope everyone is well. We'll update more when we return from Turkey!

(Happy Birthday to my Mom on October 25th -- we love you!)

Overload

Just a quick note...

I am feeling overloaded. I have a few things to get done before break, and things that will be waiting for me when we get back.

Pray for me, please!

A lovely Saturday -- part 3

Sorry for the delay of Part 3. It has been an insanely busy week. I had two events, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. I took pictures of those, which I will share, but after a ton from Riga. Enjoy!

So many cool buildings in Riga.

A bunch of our group in the city center.

Keith, who is unknowingly walking into the picture, is the interculeral programs coordinator. He arranged this trip. Lorna, standing by Steve, is an LCC alum who now teaches here. We four were the non-students on this trip.

For 2 Lats each, we rode an elevator to the top of this church (St. Peter's)

The Occupation Museum. It looks like a big tetris piece, but it was really interesting. It educated us about all the times the Baltic states have been occupied by other countries.

A view from the top of the church.

Another view with the river in the background.

Ode to Pittsburgh

Steve at the top.

Me at the top.

Inside the church.

Looking down one of many streets.

There were a lot of these around. We stopped at one to sit down and have some coffee.

I couldn't get enough of the buildings.

This is where we go when we need our "fast"food fix. It's pretty good (we didn't go there in Riga, just took the picture in Riga so I could talk about it.

Didn't go here, but it looked familiar, so I took a picture.

I wonder what kind of food was here?

Us in Riga.

A lovely Saturday -- Part 2

Rundale Pils

When we drove over the Latvian border, they decided to stop the bus and check all of our passports/identification. After some time, they decided that we could be in Latvia.

After driving for a little while, we arrived at our next stop Rundale Palace (Rundale Pils in Lithuanian). You can click on the link above to find out the history of it. It is now a museum, and we got to take a tour. If we wanted to take pictures inside, we had to pay 2 Lats. We decided that we'd save our Lats, and let other people take some pictures. The website has a few pictures that suffice.

It was a really interesting place. Huge.

Here are some pictures of the outside.

A potential Christmas card photo?

Walking toward it. There is a HUGE garden behind. If we were to visit here again in the summer, I bet the backyard would be beautiful.

Walking on the cobblestone path to the front door.

We all had to wear these fancy blue slippers (to protect the floors). This is the only picture I took inside.

A path from the bus to the palace.

This picture was souvenir enough.

Part 3 coming soon!

A lovely Saturday -- Part 1

Yesterday (Saturday), we got the privelege of being able to go along on a trip to Riga, Latvia (and places along the way). The intercultural office organized the field trip for students, and we were asked if we would like to be some of the staff that came along. How can you turn down a trip to a new city and a new country (and places along the way)? I suppose I should clarify that "new" means that we've never been there. Both the city and the country are old as far as age goes. It was a great, long day. And if you're wondering, no, the sun is not up a 6am (10pm the night before in MN). It rose at about 7:30am, while we were well on the road.

Hill of Crosses

On the way there, we stopped at the "Hill of Crosses." It is one of those places you have to see at least once in your lifetime. It's kind of like Mount Rushmore in that it's neat to see, but you don't necessarily need to see it once a year or anything like that.

Some of the bigger crosses.

Crosses Everywhere.

At last count, there were approximately 50,000 crosses. We think that it would be impossible to count the number there now.

Steve next to a large statue of Mary...and a big stack of crosses.

They don't call it "Hill of Crosses" for nothing.

Me, with some of the hill behind me.

Looking up at some crosses.

Little crosses, hanging on bigger crosses.

For Emma. :)

Coming soon: Part 2

And soon after that: Part 3

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

It was another good week for mail.

Mom, we finally got the package that you sent a month ago! Thank you, we love it! It was exciting to get a slip of paper in our mailbox that informed us that we had a package waiting at the paštas (post office).

Steve also got some mail this week -- a box of books that he was given as a gift (from the author!), and his official diploma that says he is a Master of Arts in Higher Education.

Tomorrow we are getting up bright and early to be some of the staff on a student trip to Riga, Latvia. The bus is picking us up at 6am (is the sun even out that early?!), and we'll return at around 11pm. Should be a fun day.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Karklu goes bowling!

On Tuesday I decided that what my RA team really needed was some time away from the dorm (granted we only went about 4 blocks away) and some time to bond as a team. So, I told them to dress as mismatched as they could and come to our apartment at our normal meeting time. They thought we were going to have our normal weekly staff meeting, but they were in for so much more.

Once they all arrived, mostly dressed a little funny, we headed out. It was fun to see them react to going out into public in clothes that may make them stand out in humorous way, as most everyone here dresses very smart most of the time. It was also fun to see how their reaction grew stronger as we turned to make our way to the main street (Manto gatve). My RAs were a little confused when we started up the escalator, but soon figured out that we were going to be spending our meeting BOWLING!

Only one of my RAs had ever been bowling before in her life! This was great news to me and gave me a chance to not only have fun with my RAs but to get to teach them something new as well. We all had a great time and it was a break that we as a team needed. And not that we were really keeping score but team S.I.I.T. (Steve, Ivanna, Ilya, & Tania) beat team E.A.L.N (Ellie, Alex, Lidiya, & Nadiya). Fun was had by all and I think everyone rolled atleast 37 or higher, so everyone knocked down a few pins.

Here are some pictures from the event and some pictures of me and my RAs in our apartment afterwards. Enjoy.

Everyone wanted to stand and watch. Good times.

Ilya in action.

Come on, can't we take a nice picture?

My 2008-2009 RA Team

L to R: Ellie (Belarus), Tania (Ukraine), Ivanna (Ukraine), Lidiya (Ukraine), Me (USA), Nadiya (Ukraine), Alex (Moldova), Ilya (Belarus)

Pray for me as I lead this team and for the RAs as they continue to learn what it means to be and RA and as they serve their fellow students in this leadership role. Pray also for team unity and growth (corporate as well as individual).

I am glad to finally introduce you to the students I work with whom I work most closely. Hopefully this gives you a better pictures of what we are doing on a daily basis and who the students we are serving.

Good things come in (very) small packages

Sometimes finding ingredients is an adventure. We were able to find almond and vanilla extract (yay!), but not exactly in economy sizes.

Salt, mug, almond, vanilla, tomato (attempting to show size)


A close up. We should be able to get about 3 Swedish Almond Pies from the Almond extract :)