Tallinn

Tallinn was wonderful. We loved it, and it was a much needed retreat. We didn't end up going to Helsinki, but that's ok. It will be just another excuse to visit again some other time.
I have made some albums (more to come).
Here are the links:
Tallinn Via Doors
Tallinn after the sun sets
Out and About in Tallinn
More Tallinn

For Christmas we got together with some LCC people who also didn't go home (students, staff, faculty, etc). It was a good time, and great to spend Christmas with people. We had a white elephant gift exchange (our 3rd this year), and I scored a container of Nutella that, when I finish eating the Nutella and wash the container, it will become a glass to drink out of. I love reusing things almost as much as Nutella.

The last couple of days we've been relaxing, playing games with friends, and watching episodes of Friends on the little TV we recently inherited. One of the teachers here moved to a different apartment building, and she didn't need the tv she had anymore. Merry Christmas to us! It's a smaller screen than our computer, but it's a whole lot better than nothing at all.

This afternoon, Steve went to the dentist for the 3rd time and had his root canal finished. I'm glad that he's done with that, and was able to get his tooth fixed while we're here.

We don't have too many plans for New Years. We've been told to go up to the roof of Karklu (our building) and watch the fireworks. So we might do that.

On Friday, our friend Guy is coming to visit us for two weeks, and we are so excited to see him and show him Lithuania!

That is all for now, hope you are well, and that you had a wonderful Christmas!

Happy New Year! (Hopefully before then, I will post the rest of the Tallinn pictures).

Heading to Tallinn

Tomorrow we will wake up before the sun and catch a bus to Tallinn, Estonia (see map on previous post).

We are so excited and really need the break.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmastime. We will be back in the late evening on Wednesday (Christmas Eve).

Mid-December update

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry it's been a week since we've updated on here. Last Sunday, the 7th of December, it was the three year anniversary of Steve asking me to marry him. Since we were engaged on the beach at sunset, we'd been planning for awhile to go to the beach and watch the sunset on December 7th (even though it would be far colder on the Baltic sea than it was in California). We were in luck, the sun decided to be out, and it was a gorgeous sunset over the baltic. Here is a link to see pictures of the sunset.



In other news, this week is finals week for the students, and then on to Christmas break. It will be a much needed break for both students and faculty/staff alike. We will mostly hang out here in Klaipeda. It will be a nice time to relax and catch up on some sleeping and cleaning. For a couple of days, though, we will take a field trip up to Tallinn, Estonia. According to weather.com, the sunrise and sunset here in Klaipeda is around 9am and 4pm (respectively, and give or take a minute or two...tomorrow, for example it said the sun would rise at 9am and set at 4:02pm). On the 21st of December (shortest day) the forcast for Tallinn is sunrise: 10:17am and sunset: 4:20pm. So that will be quite the experience for us.

Here is a map to put it into perspective for you:


View Larger Map

Things to note: Uppsala, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland. If you drag the map over to see what's east, you'll see how close we will be to Saint Petersburg, Russia. If the weather is agreeable, we might take a ferry over to Helsinki, since we'll be so close.

This past Friday, we had our spoken exam for Lithuanian. We knew we'd have to speak on one of four topics, so we studied all four topics and then when we got there we found out what we would have to talk about. We each spoke for about seven minutes apiece, Steve had the topic "my family" and I had the topic "about me." I am relieved that that part of it is over. I think we did an ok job. Tomorrow (Monday) we have the written final. I'm not as nervous about that, because reading and writing is easier than listening and speaking (in any language).

So that is all that is new with us. We've been able and fortunate to talk to various people via Skype. It is such a blessing to live on the other side of the world and still be able to talk, and sometimes see, people from home. We hear there is a blizzard in MN. I'm torn because I kind of miss it on one hand, but on the other hand am relieved that we don't have the same weather here (it's been cold and windy and rainy, but nothing too terrible).

Hope everyone is doing well.

Needs being met

Today on the way over to Lithuanian class I thought to myself, "I am not good at knowing the right words to ask questions in Lithuanian."

What did we do the entire classtime?

Asked and answered questions (nearly as difficult).

My needs are being met as I need them.

We both aced the quiz about the calendar. Maybe we should do a post about asking questions in Lithuanian?

Maybe later. Our oral final is on Friday, and our written final is on Monday. The First Year Seminar final is Thursday the 18th. The end of the semester is upon us -- can you believe it?!

Christmastime is here

On Friday was LCC's Christmas program. In the past it has been this big production, with over half the students being involved, and the whole Klaipeda community invited. This year it was smaller, more intimate gathering, as there is no performing arts coordinator. It was still a very nice program. Some students formed a bell choir and played a couple songs. There was a small choir leading songs, and a live person (not live animal...or baby Jesus) nativity. Small groups of students sang some songs from their home countries. Little kids sang Away in a Manger...in English and Lithuanian. Afterward was a dessert and tea reception. As a surprise, they rolled Steve out on a fake horse (as Santa) at the end. The kids (all ages) loved it. One little girl didn't leave his side the whole night (not referring to me. An actual little (non english speaking) girl).

Thinking Positively.

One of the benefits of the sun rising so late and setting so early is that we get to see the sunrise and sunset within mere hours of each other (I guess it's the same year round...depending on your definition of "mere hours").

Another benefit is that from my office window (which faces south), I can see the sunrise and sunset. And I can also see the sun at noon. It never goes higher than my window. Maybe tomorrow I will get inspired and bring the camera to document this phenomenon. Until now, you get to look at my paintbrush drawings. The first picture is a standard day. The second picture is an example of the short days we've been experiencing (Less than 3 weeks until Dec 21st).


Here is a person facing east and watching the sunrise. (There are not 5 suns in this or the other scenario, it's a progression of time) He stands facing east the whole day. At noon, the sun is above him, and later on, the sun is behind him -- setting. He cannot see it because he is facing east.





Here is a (rough) drawing of what I see when I look out the window of my office (again, there are 5 suns to show progression of time). The sun rises a little bit (also, there's a pond -- same pond from the pitures of the boat races), and then decides that it will start setting right away again. We've heard that in the summer it's the exact opposite. The sun barely sets, and then decides to rise again. I guess it balances out...except we'll be in the states for the long days of summer.

Baltic Sunset

I'm posting this picture not because it's the most spectacular picture of the most spectacular sunset (it's not), but because of the time of day it was taken: Monday, December 1st, 2008, between 3:30pm-3:40pm...from the 5th floor of Karklu. It gets dark early here, folks.