Security and keys

The Lithuanians are quite security conscious. My apartment is no exception. Three of the keys on the ring open locks of various doors. The outside green door is locked with the triangular silver key with the funny little semicircular shaft. My apartment door has two locks. A standard dead bolt is opened with the blue key. Notice the elaborate shaft. The door also has an extra secure dead bolt that shoots five bolts into the doorjamb and one each in to the top and bottom of the frame. This key, which I do not use becauseI would feel too claustrophobic locked in so well, is also very fancy with a three dimensional shaft.

In addition the hinge side of the door has spikes that engagewhenever the door is closed, so even if the hinges are removed, it would not be easy to remove the door. All of this in a country where I walk down the street in the dark of the morning with no fear of being accosted. I wonder if the legacy of socialism is at play here. No that the people have personal property, they want to protect it.

The other key on the chain, with the green tag, is my office key. We were told to lock our office even if we just go down the hall to the kitchen because of the possibility of theft. I did not do that when I arrived though, because my key did not work well. I would spent 20-30 seconds and more jiggling the key to get it to work each time I wanted to open my door. I mentioned this to the Dean one day, I thought I was just letting off steam and I would have to live with the jiggling key for the time I was here. But the next day my key would not work at all. This was the last straw. Then the janitor came by and told me that he had changed the lock and he gave me a new key. It would have taken much longer than that to get a key changed in any other school I have been at. I was impressed and am very happy that the new lock works well.

A trip to the mall

Today I found the coffee shop that I will use for my weekend bakery and coffee treat. I really enjoyed sitting at the window counter watching people make their way through the drizzling rain. To my side I heard an eating companion crunch into the delicious crispy pastry. The coffee aroma wafted up and dark strong liquid heated me up from my short chilly walk. I felt like I had settled into Lithuania a little more

Then it was off to the mega-mall a couple of bus stops away, strangely called the Acropolis with a 'c' rather than the Lithuanian 'k'. Not being a real shopper, I only walked around about half of the mall. Except for the store names, I felt like I was a Westtowne. There were electronic stores, a games shop, a yarn and fabric store( I will be going back there), clothing stores and shoe shops. The food court has the feel of a Bavarian village located around an indoor ice rink.

I also saw this interesting rocking horse chair.

So after my short excursion, I went to the Maxima, the local rendition of Super Target or Walmart. I bought some hamburger at the meat counter with the butchers working behind the glass partition, a large cooking pot (which I unwisely used in the oven when I got home and melted the handle on the lid) a couple of rugs to protect my hardwood floors from the mud and sand from my boots, an exercise mat so I have not excuse for not working out at home and some groceries all for about $50.00. Not bad.

I did run into one snag. This was a rather large store and I couldn't find the eggs. The Lithuanians do not put them in the cold section near the dairy. I asked one clerk who spoke no English. So, I had to draw what I wanted. (Notice the small chicken and the egg, whole, broken and fried.) She understood and pointed to the far wall.

After buying all that food, I decided that I wanted to eat a hot meal sooner rather than later. Then I realized that the only McDonald's in Klaipeda was just down the block. I decided to try it. I got a quarter -pounder with cheese, no onions, fries and a drink for about$5.00, so it was about the same as the States. However, I paid for the drink separately (about .75 ) and I also paid for the medium sized catsup packet for the fries (.50). The building was remarkably similar to any other McDs I had ever been in. It even had a small room for birthday parties (one was happening as I ate)

With some warm food in me, I made my way home on the bus to my cozy apartment.

Teaching

I have come to Lithuania to teach at LCC International University. The school was started in the early 1990s by a consortium of United States and Canadian educators with a desire to help Lithuanians learn to succeed in a post Soviet era. Today most of the professors are from North America, though nearly 40% are Lithuanians. The students come mainly from Lithuania with a number coming from other countries, primarily Eastern Europe. Degrees are offered in English, teaching a second language, business, psychology, and theology.

I walk into the Defehr Centras, the main

building on campus. It houses faculty offices, including mine, classrooms,

and the library. After years of teaching

students off campus for Marian College, I finally have an office with my name of the door.

My course load this semester is relatively light. I have two sections of Developmental Psychology and one of Anatomy and Physiology. The first I have never taught and was willing to do so partly because I felt that I am old

enough to have actually lived through most of the developmental stages of

live, been there done that so to speak. I have taught anatomy before and being a pre-med major as an undergrad, feel more comfortable with this class.

I am slowly getting to know my students. There first writing assignment for my developmental psych students was to write about an event or person that influenced who they are today. One woman wrote about the former dictator of Moldavia, her home country, another told of moving out his home as a teenager and into a Hare Krishna commune. I also heard sad tales of death and disappearance, stories of admiration for parents and finding good in all situations

The anatomy class recently studied the skeleton. As an introduction to the topic, I played Them Dry Bones for them. which was quite a hit. I also gave them each the name of a bone and told them to organize themselves into a skeleton. They did a great job.

Preparing for class takes a great deal of time and energy. I also have to learn how to use their e-class network. I am supposed to be able to upload assignments and resources and the students can submit material in an orderly manner. I can't seem to get it to work, though.

But I am excited to be here and look forward to learning from my students as I teach them a little what it means to be a person.

Snow and Ice

When I arrived, Klaipeda was covered with snow and none of it was plowed. Some of the lack of maintenance is due to narrow streets and lack of off street parking, But part of it is due to the fact that the lack of equipment, though I have seen people working very hard chipping ice and spreading sand on the walks.

The houses here have very steep roofs so that the snow does not accumulate on them, and it does not. It slides off, making a great noise, especially when it happens in the middle of the night. During the snow sliding season, one does not walk on the sidewalks next to the building for fear of being covered in a mass of falling snow, and possibly even injured.

When the snow slid off the roof of my apartment building fell, it covered the walk right in front of the door.

When it thaws slightly, the packed snow became ice and the thaw gives it a slight layer of water, a disaster waiting to happen for someone with an artificial knee and a bad back. So I stick to the cleared walks or the unplowed streets that offered some traction. I think I travel an extra 50% distance on days like this.

Then today I have been a prisoner in my apartment because of ice. It rained overnight and then froze. As soon as I stepped out the door, I went sliding. I tried to get to the bus stop walking carefully and hugging the wall of the building. I got about twenty feet to the corner and realized that I was not going to make it. I went back in and graded papers.

My Birthday

My birthday began with a short walk over the snowy streets to a coffee shop. They do not serve decaf and did not have sweet rolls, so I had a latte and Chocolate cheesecake for a late breakfast, a real celebration. I then made my way to school. After a couple of hours I did get my syllabus printed and feel fairly prepared for the beginning of my first class.

After that I went to the big shopping mall on the south side of town, the Acropolis. David, my department chair, need a coffee maker and I was looking for a Brita water filter. The shopping center includes a hockey rink and a mega store called Maxima, where we found most of what we needed and some that we realized that we needed.

Throughout the day I enjoyed greetings on Facebook from around the world. I have felt very loved.

The celebration of the day was dinner at a regional restaurant just down the block from my apartment. The setting was quaint, the company was stimulating and the food looked beautiful and tasted very good.

The first week in January

My first Sunday in Lithuania, I went to church with the couple downstairs. They attend a Reformed church pastored by a Lithuanian pastor who comes from a nearby town twice a month. The congregation is very small and the service is in Lithuanian with no translation, but the experience was worth it. They meet in the chapel of the local Klaipeda University. After the service they set up coffee and we had about an half hour of fellowship, with the pastor's wife translating. They are thinking of offering translation for the service. I would be interested in that, to actually understand what is being said, though I did understand many of the hymns.

On Tuesday I took the bus to Vilneus. I was going to meet with a colleague who would like me write content for

a proposed Masters in Theology for healthcare workers. Chris is involved in HCFI, and they have an annual prayer week, which this year happened to be in Vilneus. They met at a Catholic monastery just outside town. I had an enjoyable afternoon getting to know Chris and Christell and discussing where I might fit into their vision for the future.

I was fed good food, sang familiar choruses and found new friends.

The next day I was able to get a ride into the city to visit another IICS professor and his wife. Steve is looking to develop a Masters of Theology program at one of the universities in Vilneus and wanted to talk about what I might do for that project. Again, I enjoyed the conversation, but most of all I enjoyed their new puppy.

On Thursday, I went to school for orientation. It was a long day that was not long enough. This school uses more technology than I am familiar with and I had difficulty following the flow chart to get to where I need to be in the system. I met several faculty members who have been helpful in getting me settled. My office mate is from Washington State and has ben in this area of the world before, but we are both new to the school.

First Impressions

When I arrived in Klaipeda, my first impressions were darkness and snow. My apartment is in an area of the city called Old Town. As one might expect of an older area of town, the streets are narrow. This winter Klaipeda has received a good deal of snow. My street is impassable.

On January 1, I went for a walk to the end of the main Old Town street. I want to get back to look into a shop that sells local souvenirs, a Chinese restaurant, though I have been told that the Italian one is better. I did see the Christmas tree. I think that, Lithuania is basically Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox has a presence, so they keep Christmas up longer. I have heard Carols in shops just this past week end.

Old Town is bordered by a canal that is partially frozen at this time of year. I cross the bridge to get to bus stop on my way to school.

Exploring Klaipeda

Today I wanted to go to the large store new the university to pick up a couple of things. I began my journey walking the few blocks of Old Town around my apartment. The local tourist bureau is on the corner. I can take a day trip for the equivalence of $10.00. I am interested to explore the national wildlife preserve on the far side of the bay.

I made my way to the local fitness center that I joined. My body appreciated the familiar feeling of the weight machines and the exer-cycle. After my first time at the gym, I decided to treat myself to dinner. I went up to the restaurant on the twelfth floor of the hotel. the view was interesting and the food was quite good. I had a well seasoned chicken breast, vegetable, coffee and chocolate cake as well as two bottles of water ( they do now serve free tap water) for about $20.00. A much better buy than the hamburger that I had my first week in Oxford for which I paid more.

Now I was ready to take the bus to the shopping area. Waiting at the bus stop, I couldn't remember the number that I needed. I saw a young man speaking English and thought he may be going to the LCC, the English speaking school I will be teaching at. So, when he got on the number 6 bus, I followed him and soon discovered that the number six does not go to the university or the major shopping area I wanted. I now know that number 6 goes to a hotel on the edge of the Baltic Sea. I want to go back when the snow is gone.