Links to some Tallinn Christmas 2009 pictures

Hi everyone,
As promised, here are the links to the rest of the photos. Sorry it took a while, we've been keeping ourselves quite busy, and our computer has been on the fritz.

We are working on getting all of our papers graded and laundry washed so that we can leave for Germany on Wednesday. We will be there for a week, so probably won't hear too much from us on the blog until we get back.

Here are the pictures:
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

Häid jõule! Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus! and Linksmų Kalėdų! from the Baltics!

Hi Everyone, Merry Christmas!

We are back from our annual Christmas trip to Tallinn, Estonia (we were there first last year, and made it a tradition by returning this year!).

We had a wonderful and refreshing time. We left before dawn on Sunday the 20th, rode a bus to Riga, Latvia, and then got on a different bus and headed to Tallinn, Estonia.

Here is a picture of the sun at high noon in Riga, at the bus station.


We rolled into Tallinn at about 4:15pm (we were running early, the requirements for a bus driver here are that they know how to drive fast, and pass every other car on the road. No worries, we made it safely. It was dark as midnight when we got there...and due to riding on a bus all day, it felt like midnight too. Steve is reading along as I type and is suggesting that I end the parenthetical thought. Good thing he is here to keep me in line!). After arriving at our hotel, we decided we needed to eat some food, so we went to a place we'd never been, the Grillhaus Daube. It was very tasty.



Then we walked around for a while and admired the Christmas Market. It was even better than we remembered!

Monday we spent walking around. It was quite a bit colder and snowier this year, so we got me a woolen hat from the knit market located on the city wall.

Me outside the Revel Cafe...one of our faves. If you look in the background, you can see that there is a sign for Segway tours...we didn't do it this time (too snowy, perhaps?), but someday.


Other Monday Adventures:

• Steve helping a frail old lady walk across town (stopping to rest about every 4-5 steps). Good to know that if I am ever that frail someday, Steve will patiently take my arm and walk with me!
• Listening to a Christmas Choir sing carols in Estonian for a little over an hour in a big old church. Very beautiful!
  
• Walking around in the winter wonderland, as large snowflakes fell all day...making us feel like we were in a Christmas snow globe.

Here are some pictures of Monday:

Steve in front of the Guild of the Blackheads (for Harley...also note the snow in all of these pictures)


A wintery, Christmas-y alley.


One of my favorite pictures of Steve in front of the Christmas Market


One more...isn't that tree magnificent?!


Tuesday we woke up and the sun was out. The earth was covered in snow, but it was a tad bit warmer (Monday was about 10 degrees F, and Tuesday was about 20 F).

Tuesday's Adventures:

• Wrote some postcards and sent them via the Christmas Market post office (which is right next to Santa's house.
• Took a walk in a park.
• Outdoor ice skating (so much fun! makes us miss Minnesota).
• Playing lots of Cribbage in various coffee shops (could also be added to Monday's adventures)
  

I am having some trouble loading more pictures, so will probably have to load them to a facebook album and then share the link to the album here.

Wednesday we traveled back to Klaipeda. Apparently all of the Baltic states were getting lots of snow while we were away (and all the way home it snowed non-stop in Latvia). We made it home safely though. Thank the Lord!

Yesterday and today have been pretty low-key. Last night we got together with the Johnsons and read advent verses and sang carols, and this evening we got together with some fellow student life staff who were also in town and had a christmas meal and read together the Christmas story (and read The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever as well). It was a good time of fellowship.

We have been wishing we could be home with our family this Christmas, but have been fortunate to have other people around here to spend it with. We're already planning our traditional trip to Tallinn for next year, so start saving your money, get a passport if you haven't already, and come with us. You would love it. Merry Christmas! I will try to get the rest of the Tallinn pictures up soon.

cold

I know it's colder in Minnesota, but this past week has really felt like home and Christmas with snow that has lasted and below freezing temperatures with a little wind to make it feel 25 degrees colder than it actually is. Amazing how these things make us feel at home!

We are nearing the end of a very busy semester and we can see the end! Sunday we will leave for Tallinn, where according to accuweather, it will be bitterly cold and with each day we're there averaging about 5 hours of daylight. And....I am so much looking forward to it! We each have a book to read for fun, and there are a ton of cute coffeeshops and cafes to duck in out of the cold. Hopefully one of the days it will be warm enough outside to go ice skating....if I remember right there is an outdoor skating rink in Tallinn.

Pray for us as we finish out this week. The next two days will be busy, but the trip after will be that much more appreciated! Pray that we would end well, and for safety in our bus travels. I have no time to be stuck in the snow on the way to Riga this time around ;)

Hope everyone is well and keeping warm.

P.s. about the books

Just by way of reminder, in case it has been some years since you last read the Narnia books yourself, here are the seven titles:

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Silver Chair
• The Horse and His Boy
• The Magician's Nephew
• The Last Battle

Also, winter has arrived in Klaipeda. The wind is blowing and the snow is drifting. The temperature is even dipping to near 10 F. Not quite like home, but at least it feels like Christmas is coming.

Sharing with Students via Narnia

As we are winding down the Fall semester we are at the same time working on plans for the Spring semester. One of the plans for Spring semester is addition of course on writings, thinking, and life of C.S.Lewis. As this course quickly filled up with students it is not something that I can audit or sit in on, however I have been working with the professor of this course to see how I could help. Our plan is that I will lead a supplemental book discussion group that will relate to the material and give added insight in Lewis' writings.

The plan for the discussion group is to read through all 7 of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia. Here is where the title of this post comes in. We don't have any budget to get all of the books to host this discussion group as this is an extra group and not required for the class.. The library only has 2 copies of each book. In order to do this discussion group we would need as many copies as we could get (15 would be great). Any donated books would be given to LCC and used in the semesters to follow.

I have purchased in the past a one volume collection of all 7 books which seems to be the least expensive option. Or perhaps someone has some old copies lying around the house that are not being read or you know of a used book store or flea market or a publisher.

Any help would be great. Send me an email shanson@lcc.lt if have questions or post a comment at the end of this post.

Thanks for your generosity and assisting in student learning.

Christmas at LCC

Hi Everyone,
We are winding down the semester, and no surprise, life is busy! But going ok. We are looking forward to the break as much or more than the students, I think. But I guess it is not a competition (everyone wins when the competition involves looking forward to something). :)
This week is the last week of classes, both here at LCC, and for my online class. Sometime this week I need to find time to write my final project, and then I will be done with my class for this semester. It has certainly been very enjoyable.
Next week is finals week for the students, which means that toward the end of the week it will be getting busier as students are checking out of the dorm for winter break. We are excited though, because at the end of the week, on Sunday the 20th, we will also be leaving for a little break. For the first time ever as a married couple, we will be having a Christmas tradition (every other Christmas before this was celebrated in a different city/state/country/etc). Yay! I think we're raising the bar pretty high as far as Christmas traditions go, but if that means we have to find a way back to Tallinn, Estonia every year, so be it.
So, for the first part of break we will continue our annual tradition of going to Tallinn for a couple of days right before Christmas as our Christmas present to each other. Here is a picture from last year:

Tallinn Christmas market....lovely


I am very much looking forward to going back!

Then we will have to come back to LCC for a few days, so Steve can be on duty. We will be here for Christmas eve and Christmas day...so will probably hang out with the random students and faculty that will also need to be here for various reasons. Will be nice to spend it together.

Then we are hoping to go and visit various friends in Germany for the New Year and a few days after. Should be an adventure. Nothing set in stone there yet.

And THEN more good news (seriously, we will find things to blog about in the next few weeks, just introducing all of the ideas now). Even though no one was hired for the Leadership Coordinator position, someone here at LCC has offered to take over the leadership development program for next semester. A HUGE relief and blessing for me. And definitely an answer to prayer. Next semester, then, my main responsibilities will lie in coordinating student leadership hiring (for all student leadership positions), hiring student orientation staff for next fall, and all things housing (guest housing, student housing, summer and fall housing, etc). Should still be busy....but since I won't have to run the leadership development program, there will be more time to do things I want to do, like help lead a Bible study, and take more classes at North Park via the internet. Woohoo!

So that is life in a nutshell right now. We are busy and looking forward to break and next semester.

Hope all is going well wherever you are.

Laura


Oh! PS: I just looked at the title of this post and remembered what I originally intended to sit down and blog about (I live in the future, apparently!). Here are some pictures from the Christmas program, where I sang in the choir, and Steve was Santa again. Also, we've decorated our little apartment :)

Hallelujah Chorus


Us and our friends and neighbors the Johnson's


Me with Santa


Our tiny tree with an obnoxious amount of ornaments and other decoration.

Thanksgiving a Week Late

Well, Thanksgiving has come and past. Even though we are far from family and friends who we would love to share the holidays with we had the opportunity to share our favorite holiday with people who have never experienced it before. On Monday of Thanksgiving week I prepared a full Thanksgiving meal (turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, croissants, and apple crisp) and during my normal RA staff meeting we enjoyed the meal and fellowship together.

It was great getting to share why we celebrate thanksgiving, they foods that we traditionally eat, and just to share why we are thankful. All of the RAs got into it and shared from the heart things they are thankful for. It was a great night and it felt like home (only there was no football to watch...I did get to play floor hockey the next night...driveway hockey at thanksgiving is a Hanson tradition).

I also participated in the LCC North Americans' Thanksgiving tradition of going to McDonald's on the Thanksgiving day, because it is a work day here we eat at the only American restaurant in town. Then on Saturday, the faculty and staff had a big Thankgsiving feast and after we cleaned up we decorated campus for Christmas. All in all it was a great week.

Some things that I am thankful for this year:

• My amazing wife who has chosen to take on this adventure with me
• A call to minister through higher education and to get the opportunity to serve some great students
• An answer to prayer for community and friendship by God's provision of the Erik and Becky Johnson to live across the hall from us this year.
• Family that love us and support us...we miss you all
• Friends who think of us often and write us notes and say prayers
• The generosity of many...much thanks!

One other way we have been able to celebrate in the giving of thanks is through "celebration breakfasts". Each Friday morning for the past month or so we gather at the Johnson's apartment with other staff and faculty (at the early hour of 7:30am) and share breakfast and give thanks/celebrate what Gods has done in the week leading up to the breakfast. It has been a great way to share and to celebrate in community.

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving meal with the RAs




The RAs coloring Thanksgiving pictures just like we used to color the pilgram pictures for the placecards at Hanson thanksgiving.


Laura making gravy.


Olena and Katia (both from Ukraine) enjoying their first Thanksgiving.


Vasile and Ruxanda (both from Moldova) enjoying their first Thanksgiving...and inquiring about green bean casserole.


Neumann West Thanksgiving 2009 (Artsiom could not be there as he was back in Minsk for the weekend).


Vasile getting ready to feast.