Labas!

January 15, 2019

Labas!

Helllooooo! It has not even been a week here in the gloomy, freezing town of Vilnius! This week has been pretty strange, not going to lie. I love doing new things, but very rarely am I thrown into an experience as foreign as this one. 1. Roommates. Im not used to having roommates or in this case sharing a super small apartment with four other girls. Im used to having my own bathroom, my own comfy bed (Jack is definitely taking advantage of these four months), and privacy! I didn't realize how special jamming to music in my room was. Or not worrying about waking someone up when I wake up early to run. Its been a new challenge having roommates, but Im trying to embrace it for these next few months. 2. The cold. The snow. No sun. I really don't know why anyone would live here if Im being honest. I have yet to see the sun and it averages below 20 everyday. Some days it has gotten below zero. Its kind of funny on days where its 19 degrees outside we say "I don't even think I'll need a scarf today!" There are so many things Im learning each and every day. For instance, scarves cause MAJOR neck aches. Also if you layer up enough, there is hope to stay warm in the cold, but just know when you walk into the grocery store with your 12 layers on you WILL start sweating bullets. Like I said, not sure why people live here, but it'll be fun for the semester. This week was our first week of teaching. I teach "catch up 1" on mwf and elementary 6 on tues/thurs. Catch up 1 is the beginner class with young kids and elem 6 is the most advanced class, so I get a little of both. Monday I taught the younger kids and I got wrecked! I would say Im an experienced babysitter and Im good with kids, but trying to keep their attention through activities, get them to behave and make them speak english is a whole other rollercoaster. It was a lot to say the least. The kids are so cute though. Their names are close to impossible to pronounce. They would laugh every time I tried to say their names lol. The advanced kids on the other hand were so dang smart. They blew me away. Most of the kids in the class were 10-14 and they know 4-5 languages. They know how to speak, read, and understand english. They even know correct grammar, so I don't even know what to teach them because Im not even that advanced! Im excited to get to know the kids better over the next few months. These past few days have been pretty boring just trying to get into a rhythm with lesson planning, teaching, and so forth. Good news: I actually strapped on the running shoes this morning for the first time in a while. Theres about a foot of snow outside so I ran stairs in our apartment building. Felt good to raise the heart rate and have some alone time doing what I love. It's the little things right?

My cute little half of the room.

We have a grocery store called Maxima that's about a 3 minute walk from the apartment and its the best! Every night the pastries go on sale for way cheap! Bread is pretty much all we eat here. :)

Leftover ice cream from the girls last semester (hah ew) and oreos!

Old Town Vilnius!

As we were strolling down the streets of Old Town Vilnius we saw a couple sweet grandmas feeding this huge flock of birds. It took us no time at all to run across the road and get a closer look. We watched for a second then asked for some of their bird feed. I felt like I was in a movie, but I also felt like I was in a nightmare if that makes sense. The birds were dang scary as you can see below. Action shot of the birds flying 2 centimeters from my face. Definitely a highlight so far.