a theif and a castle

at Trakai outside of Vilnius

The teachers from left to right: Holly, Stevie, Megan, Jaclyn

The girls and I went to church on Sunday and were greeted right away at the door. Everyone knew we were coming because we were replacing the past teachers that everyone loved. The people here keep a pretty serious straight face in public.  I keep getting confused looks when I smile at someone as I pass them by on the street. In the grocery store me and an old man had one of those awkward moments where we're trying to pass each other but we both go to the same side and then we both change to the other side and then back again. I started laughing at the awkwardness and of course he just stared me down without even a hint of a grin.  Which made me feel awesome I tell ya.  Anyways, church was completely the opposite and I realized something about the people here. That when they get to know you outside of being strangers, they are immediately so warm and loving without any shyness.  The ward is tiny (like maybe 50 people? and the 5 of us made up 50 percent of the Relief Society class) and at the door they said welcome to our family. Make my heart melt! They had us get up and introduce ourselves in Sacrament meeting and then they translated for us.  Afterwards people just came up and were speaking to me and I realized so many of the people spoke English so that'll come in handy.  In the last class of church they told us all to hold on to our purses and made a big deal about not leaving your bags anywhere.  Then about 15 minutes later a couple of police came into the building and arrested a creeper that had been coming and stealing things for the last month I guess.  He had tried to get one of the missionaries' wallets and then they called the police in.  I was talking to a younger girl at the time and she goes, "Yay! They caught the robber!"  

"My" new ride.  Dima, our coordinator, happened to have an extra car and is letting me drive it while we're here. He gave me a little lesson on the traffic signs and tested my driving a stick skills and I passed so....wish me luck.  Don't worry mom.  I'll be careful. 

Sophia, Dima's daughter. She speaks English so well and is one of those kids that is your BFF at hello.  We love each other. 

We went to Trakai castle with Dima and his family after church on Sunday.  It's just 30 minutes outside of our city.  The cool thing about it is that it was never taken so it's pretty perfectly in tact.  Go ahead and be jealous of me now.

 Oh yeah and we went sailing around the castle.  No big deal right?  Our captain was as captain-y as they come.  The weather was the perfect.  The scenery was heaven.  Pretty much a dream.

Standing in the moat.

I think I'm gonna like it here.

brought to you by jet lag

5 am and apparently my body thinks its party time because sleep is the last thing I'll be achieving tonight. Enjoy my favorite songs as of late.

 

And so it begins.

So, I'm here in Vilnius, Lithuania! Its been so great, I love it already. 

This is our apartment building.  Me and the other 4 teachers are living together. 

My bedroom.  I have zebra sheets and cats on my wallpaper.  Its more ghetto cute that I ever dreamed it would be :)

That's right. You heard me. Cats on my wallpaper.  

One of the teachers, Stevie.  We clean up nice yeah?

Our cute little kitchen.

We have two doors and 3 locks. So take that robbers.  

The advertisement for our school. We're legit.  

This cool guy is Gediminas.  Legend has it that he had this dream about a wolf in armor and then was told he would would build a city strong as a wolf.  That statue symbolizes him showing like here is the place for the city Vilnius and there's a wolf below him.  This tiny, little, independent, baltic country strong as a wolf. Love it. 

You're supposed to stand on that and make a wish.  So I did. I can't wait for it to come true! 

I'm so excited to get to know this awesome country.  When I told people that I was going to Lithuania for four months the first question was always "where is that?  south america?" and the second question was always "why do you want to do that?"  The more places that I see in the world the more I addicted I am to finding out where else I can go.  There's so much to learn and see that has changed me completely as I've traveled and its so worth all of the awkward and uncomfortable moments of traveling, including the insane jet lag that I'm fighting.  As soon as I heard there was a new school in Lithuania opening up, I didn't know a single thing about the tiny country but I just knew I had to get there.  This is where I'm supposed to be and I love every minute of it.  Even my cat wall paper. And especially the amazing food (I definitely won't be anorexic here like I was in China).  Dima is the coordinator here running the school and he has been AMAZING! The best part is that he speaks fluent English.  Phew! He's been helping me with everything.  He taught me a couple Lithuanian words too and my favorite is saying thank you, aciu, because it sounds like a-choo like I'm sneezing.  Pretty easy to remember. Its a little awkward to start speaking a new language anyways and then funny man Dima kept saying "bless you" whenever I said it. Pretty sure I turned red every time. 

Lithuania here i come.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm about to fill up a few more pages of my passport (which is the best reason to travel right?).  I'm going for my third time to teach English to kids abroad with ILP. and I'll be living in Lithuania until mid December.   I went to Mexico to teach and loved it.  And then I went to China and really loved it.  So keep your fingers crossed that I keep that up with Europe too.  But I've been looking through my Lonely Planet book and I keep seeing words like castles and pastries and I think I'll be just fine. 

Life Lately

Well I can cross at least one thing off of my goal list for 2012.  I ran 13.1 miles!  Ok that's a bit of a lie.  I ran 11 miles and cried/crawled/limped the last 2.1 miles.  But I crossed the finish line so, count it! Dad and Kris were awesome and came to run with me.  Dad stayed with me the whole way which turned out to be a life saver because I lost all mental clarity at the 12.5 mile marker.  Dad kept saying okay lets try to just run the rest of the way and I kept saying okay jokes over, seriously just go get the car. I'll be sitting right here on the curb.  Don't worry I'm not going anywhere. 

After photo.  Somehow I made it to the finish line without the car helping me out a bit. 

A day on the lake in Utah.  

Coming home to visit the family in Washington for a week.  The welcome committee was prepared.

This was the trail that I planned to run on while I was home.  Planned to are the key words there if you catch my drift. 

My beautiful sister.  

And loving life on the hammock with my fav girls.  The sun wasn't totally cooperating, sorry Isla. 

Buns are my fav way of looking like I'm trying. No shower required.  

Summer life in the northwest is good.  And TGIF.

A Day Downtown

The Capitol Building

A yummy place to eat 

Salmon sandwiches and cherries

View from the new outdoors mall

Temple square

Kids running through the fountains at the new mall

the Temple

It was the perfect day to do some downtown exploring in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Joined the asian tourists at the Capitol Building and then went to have some yummy lunch next to the park.  We walked around the farmers market at the park which has become more of an art and crafts festival which brings the hippies out in full force.  Apparently bras are out of style, have you got that memo yet?  Don't shoot the messenger!  That's just how it is downtown.  We also went to the new outdoors mall and caught a little two year old brave his way into the random squirting fountain with the older kids.  He was quite the entertainment when he got squirted up his shorts then turned around to get it right in the face.  Those damn fountains.  Then on to beautiful temple square where there was a constant flow of brides taking their photos with their families.  That was a happy place.  

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! 

this one's a fighter

source here

A few days ago I was venting to a friend that I've been working out but not seeing any results or weight loss.  His response was, "You're too hard on yourself."  I was a little annoyed.  A lot annoyed.  I think I had some good rebuttal to show that I'm so so far from my goal and I'm just being honest with myself about how far away from that goal I am.  I'm lazy and I eat too much chocolate and I'm not seeing results because I only ran 6 miles instead of 7 on Saturday.

I joined a gym last week....yay!.....and went to a yoga class tonight.  Lights off, some hippy earth relaxing music going, teacher's mono tone voice telling me to feel the energy through my fingertips and all I can think is how all the girls in the room are so gorgeous and done up in their bright pink shirts and perfect ponytails.  My stomach is feeling round. My arms are tired already?? We just started! That guy in front of me is cute.  He's probably looking at the girl to my left though cause she's cuter.  And her hair is down and all sexy curly.  Mines up in this weird bun thing.  I need to clean my room when I get home.  It's such a mess.  The girl to my right is doing a lot of resting poses, but that's okay because she's probably new. That's cool of her to stick it out even though she's tired.

It suddenly just hit me.  I'm so hard on myself.  Why am I letting this complete stranger next to me off the hook for taking a break and even giving her encouraging vibes, but I'm talking myself down in a constant stream of insults. Even during yoga - the land of "follow your body's messages, do what you can today, self acceptance and love and meditation" - and I'm criticizing how big my butt looks in the mirror during Warrior pose.

On the way home this song, The Fighter was on the radio and I just rolled my windows down, music up, and told myself I'm a fighter (cause I am) and its okay to have bad days and be tired like I was today but it was NOT okay to let those other thoughts over run my mind.  So, this one's a fighter.  Let's be nice to ourselves, k?

Life Lately

Loving Black Bean Burgers lately.

Second time seeing Imagine Dragons in a couple months. Obsessed much? I don't care, they're awesome. 

First time seeing a soccer game.  Turns out they're a lot more fun than I thought!  P.S...We beat Toronto :) 

Lay in the grass and look up.  Its good for the soul. 

Yes, I took one of those in the mirror photos of myself.  Stop judging and just look at my cool fishtail braid.  

Its my favorite season here in Utah! 

Going to swim lessons!  Prior to this picture he put on his speedo and goggles and serenaded me with "I'm sexy and I know it". 

Hiking with Dad. The hike was awesome, the tour at the top was not. 

Happy Memorial Day! 

Tip #3 from The Lean

Eat an apple every day! Not new advice but it's a good reminder.  An apple can be 1/4 of the fiber that you need for the day so it helps keep you full.  And you hafta eat the peel.....the most important part.  I've been loving Pink Lady apples lately, they're like juicy candy!  

Just a small habit to be a healthier you every day.  Enjoy :)

TGIF

Source: mereleemade

Hello Friday!  Its a good day - the sun's out, no work and I'm feeling good.  Its one of those days when I actually have motivation to get something done so I better capitalize on that.  I gotta have music up and Tokyo by Imagine Dragons makes me want to dance every time. Its one of those songs where I can't hold back from singing it out (sorry neighbors).  I was loving this video because apparently I'm not the only one that can't fight feeling this song...

Have a good weekend!