fav vids

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Since I still can't upload any photos, you're getting videos.  Maybe that's a little better anyways?  Here's a little semester in review of a few of my favs.

In this video there was a new student that came to class.  He didn't speak any English because he was new but he was the cutest little boy with a constant smile on his face.  He left early with his mom and the kids were really concerned for him because if you're not speaking English in class, then you're not getting a token when you speak, and then if you don't have tokens to use at "store"...then you're not going to get a prize at the end of class.  If you don't have lots of tokens then you can't save for a big really cool prize.  So the kids didn't know this new boy's name, just that he smiled a lot and had no tokens.  Thus.....concern for happy boy came to be:


If you ever wondered how to play red light green light, well Ignas is here to explain it to you:


Stevie taught the kids about states like Mississippi and Indianapolis......what?


And again....Ignas explaining how to play another game.  Not quite sure which game he's trying to get everyone to play though:


In other news, yesterday my meals prepared for me were noodle soup, fried hash brown potatoes and squishy potatoes for lunch and potato pancakes with pretzle things for dinner.  I'm basically going to binge on vegetables and salads when I get home.


happy december

Sunday, December 2, 2012

I'm a bit frustrated over here because blogger is telling me that I can't add photos because I ran out of space....
Instead of figuring that one out I might just post videos.  I kinda wish that problem would just fix itself.  Or that someone will fix it for me.  Here's hoping.
Christmas feels a little different for me this year. I haven't been home for months and our little apartment has zero christmas decorations. We've been teaching the kids christmas songs at school (hearing them randomly start solo singing what they think the words are to the right tune makes my heart light up).  Being away from home has forced my focus to be on the right sort of things this year though.   I could care less what i get for christmas (santa can still come though, i wouldn't turn that down).  Maybe i'm finally a grown up?  Maybe its because I've been sick this past month and have been in bed quite a bit which made for a lot too much "me time".  But the things that are getting me excited this season are my relationships with others.  The best part of my week was little Danielle coming in before school started and sitting on my lap and rubbing her little fingers over my fingernails.  Or Stevie laying her head on my lap and giving her a massage.  Or today, the cutest old lady at the bus stop looked me in the eyes and smiled at me.  Smiled at me!  NO one here in Lithuania does that.  Eye contact and smiles are just a foreign concept.  That little 3 seconds of a moment just made me so happy.  Touch and being close to others is all I want for christmas this year.  I want to be around my family.  I want to hear Isla's little voice saying hi, aunt jenni (hopefully that phase isn't done yet).  I want a hug from my mom.  I want to talk to my sister.
I want my relationships to be better whether it be with strangers, acquaintances or my loved ones.  I want to make someone's day a little brighter.
Be kinder.  Be gentle.  Be selfless.

Have yourself a merry christmas season everyone - december has arrived!


at the school

Friday, November 23, 2012

I've been sick this week so I've stayed home from school and kinda started missing the kids. Maybe I'm crazy but they're the best.  I miss their hugs and the funny things they say.  I was looking at some of my videos and picked out a couple of my favs for you.


They love them some "Call me maybe".  

Z was pouting in the corner because he thought he didn't have friends......but boy was he wrong.




and then we lost control...

Thursday, November 15, 2012



Most days at school I wonder why the kids haven't figured out yet how easy it would be to just full out mutiny.  Band together and take us down.  I mean....3 teachers vs almost 16 students.  They could have us. Easy.  They could just storm that prizes box and take what they want.  But somehow, we're still in control.  Except there's this one class of kids.....I think they ALMOST have it figured out that they've got some wiggle room in how much we can take from them.  Some days, we just don't have the power.  That's pretty much how this day went and instead of getting frustrated, me and Stevie just laughed, stood back, let it happen, and took some pics to document the craziness that is this group of kids.  And somehow I still love em.






getting mail

Wednesday, November 14, 2012


I got a package in the mail from the best mother in world, fully loaded with chocolate, brownies and macaroni and cheese.  Yay!  It was given to me while I was at school and I couldn't resist opening it so....I had share some of my loot since I opened it in front of everyone. Anytime we give the students candy they are stoked. But...their eyes got pretty big when I said candy from AMERICA.  It's big stuff you know?  It was a happy day.  Thanks mom!!  




seeing sweden

Sunday, November 11, 2012































We went to explore Stockholm, Sweden last weekend and can I just say....such a cool city!  Land of the vikings.  It is basically a city of a bunch of islands with roads connecting them so we were close to the water most of the time.  I just loved it.  It was modern, and so many design oriented shops, and everyone spoke English.  Its the first city that I've been to outside of the states where I thought, yep, I would definitely live here as opposed to just a cool city to vist.  
It was quite the trip to get there though.  From my apartment to the hotel in Stockholm, its not that far but it took all day because the cheapest way meant taking every type of transportation available.  We took a trolly, then a bus, then a plane, another bus, metro, bus and then walked a little because we were lost :)  (even though the bus dropped us right in front of the hotel, awesome)
We walked around their Old Town the first day.  And for lunch we had the most amazing food ever! I say the most amazing food ever because I have potatoes at every meal in Lithuania and so it may have seemed like a piece of heaven to have something different....but even still!  Holy holy crap.   We went at lunch to cutest candle lit place and you get to have SALAD and BREAD.  And then for the meal I chose this seafood dish that was salmon, shrimp and mussels in this creamy tomato-y soup.  WOW.  That lunch alone just might be why I heart Sweden.











Home land of Ikea so of course we had to.



The second day we spent most of the day heading out to see the temple. I wouldn't recommend visiting Scandinavia in November because the sun started setting around 3:30. We didn't have much daylight so we couldn't get as much in.  But still, such a cool city. And we had some beautiful sunsets.  I'd definitely recommend coming in the summer when everyone is kayaking around the city.....swimming.....and there's a fun theme park on an island that has rides coming right out over the water.  
This is how we rearrange the hotel room when all three of us need outlets.  We are a technology generation fo sho.

From the airplane looking out over the Baltic Sea.  Love this place. It was the most expensive place that I've been to yet in Europe (eastern), but love it still.






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