first floor event!

I probably won't post every floor event on here, but since it was my first one, I'm starting out on the right foot. :) Tonight I made muffins for the 2nd floor, and we had lots of "m" words throughout the evening - Muffins, Melisa (the RA), Monday, marmalade (in the muffins), sharing something meaningful, and the game of Mafia! I tried a new recipe for orange marmalade muffins and added chocolate as well. They weren't my favorite, but the students loved them - I think freshly baked items is the key. :) Mafia was very fun, and I really enjoyed being around the students and seeing them interact!

 Sisters Ecaterina and Elena

 Dovile, Ionela and Tatiana

 Karen, Ingrida, Egle, Roberta and Greta

 And two imposters that wandered onto the floor because of the delicious smell!

(I think the girls were delighted to have a few cute college boys join us). :)

International Fair

On Friday evening of the 20th anniversary weekend, we had an International Fair downtown in one of the city squares. Each country that is represented at LCC carried their flag, and we all marched down the street accompanied by a marching band and police cars. We had to delay the march for about half and hour because of rain, but the rest of the evening, despite being cold, was very fun! 

Once we got to the square, there were tables set up with candies, pictures, figurines and cloth from each country, and people walked around to learn about the different countries. There was also a big stage set up, and several different groups from the city and from LCC sang and danced. It was a very colorful and educational evening. 

 Lining up to begin the march right after the rain stopped - I love this picture!

Marching across the bridge with students, faculty, staff, board members, and all the beautiful flags

 The marching band (from a local high school) playing a song once we got to the square.

 I represented Slovakia for the evening because the student was not able to attend.

Dance by two of our students from Kazakhstan.

more 20th pictures!

 This is the chapel worship band leading worship in the Celebratory Chapel on Wednesday. We worked hard to choose songs that focused on praising God and were familiar for all ages. It turned out to be an energizing and focus-setting chapel for the whole weekend.

This picture is from the board meetings on Thursday morning. I volunteered to organize a small choir to sing at the beginning of the meetings. Four women (plus me) and three men helped me out, and we sang "Siyahamba" in English and Zulu. I played the drum and carried the alto part all by myself at the same time! We marched into the room - I'm sitting on a chair on the left side of the room in this picture - and sang while a slide show of pictures of the board played on the screens in the background. It all went so well, even though it was not what I had originally imagined when I first volunteered. I'm learning here in Lithuania to lower my expectations a bit - in a good way. It was not the choirs that I'm used to, with international clothing or complex choral pieces, but just a simple version of a classic song that was meaningful!

Karklu fashion show

Tonight we had a faculty/staff/alumni Celebratory Night as the culmination of the 20th anniversary weekend. Student Life was in charge of the Karklu fashion show part of the evening. Karklu is a dorm that has been used for the past 15+ years, but is now very run down - hence the building of Enns Hall. The curtains in Karklu were all made of the same fabric, and in order to create nostalgia for those who lived there, we along with a seamstress school and many hours of creative volunteers, created a collection of items made out of the curtain fabric. Everything from headbands, rain boots, picnic blankets, jewelery and graduation caps were among the items sold at the auction. I modeled a headband, bracelet and backpack, as well as a bedcover, pillow and stuffed animal.It was a fun way to use up the fabric! 

 Alex w/ a headband, earrings, necklace, skit and bag (I thought the bag and necklace were especially cool!)

 Kim with a girl's dress and a ball

 Me w/ a pillow, bed cover and stuffed animal

 We had so many items made out of the curtains, that we had a whole table full of things for sale after the auction. Here Olena is modeling a headband and holding a stuffed animal.

History walk

This morning I went on an LCC History walk. We went to several different buildings that were rented by LCC in its beginning years - starting around 1993. They originally spent two years in the nearby city of Panavezys before moving to Klaipeda. The buildings we visited were old Soviet-style - not many windows, dark hallways and run down exteriors, but still many stories and memories were shared. I enjoyed getting to learn more about the beginnings of LCC, and reflected on the memories and stories I've already created during my time here.

 LCC rented several floors in this building - two for classes and two for residential

The inside of another building - this classroom looks exactly like it did back in the day!

Enns Hall dedication

This weekend has been full of events for the 20th anniversary celebration of LCC. On Friday was the dedication of our new residence hall - Enns Hall. (very similar but not quite my last name!) There were lots of official speeches, including the mayor of Klaipeda, and a ribbon cutting. My part in the ceremony was the background music from my ipod. I was the only one around who had Classical music. :) We had a birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" afterwards as well.

 The emcees - Ira and Roman

 Waiting for the show to start

 This is Neumann Hall - I just thought it was funny that there were students watching from the windows

Here's a view of Enns Hall

more pics!

A few more pictures from the Ugly Duckling Cup....

 Alex and I paddling the faculty/staff boat for one leg of the race

 John and Alex doing the piggy back part of the race

 (Another) John and Andrew paddling the boat for the last leg

 The judges deliberating (on a windy day)

 Wild Wild West with the Ugly Duckling Cup

Ugly Duckling Cup

Thursday was a big Residence Life event called the Ugly Duckling Cup. This is an annual LCC event that I have heard a lot about and was very excited to participate in! Four teams (3 student and 1 faculty/staff) built boats mainly out of inner tubes, plastic bottles and wooden palates (and a few other things) to race around the pond on campus. This year, no boats sank, and my side (Wild Wild West was our team name) won! We got an ice cream party and the Ugly Duckling Cup - a trophy with a rubber ducky on top. 

The miracle of the day was that it was rainy pretty much all day except for the one hour when we were outside for the race! The weather in Lithuania is very unpredictable, but it turned out to be sunny and beautiful! I don't have very many pictures since I was participating and planning, but here's a few....

 Two girls (Ana and Nastya) from the West side showing off their boat and flag with the team name - Wild Wild West

 Wild Wild West is the best, the best, the best! (announcing our team)

 Faculty/staff team 

Our team name was "UGLY" and our cheer was "U-G-L-Y! You ain't got no alibi! You ugly!"

We lost the race, but we won the prize for snazziest boat (in the left of the picture)

 A warm-up game where each team had to have, for example, six feet, one head, and 4 hands on the ground.

Teams beginning the race! The West side team is just getting in the water in this picture. They were behind at the beginning of the race, but their boat held up better than the others, so they ended up pulling into the lead!

 

office

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted - it's been a busy week! Today when I was working in my office, they finally came to put my name on the sign outside the door! It's official now! :) 

 That's me! :)

 My office - I love that there are two big windows to let in light and warmth!

the weekend

I had a fairly relaxing weekend - the weather continues to be sunny, which I'm thoroughly enjoying! On Saturday, the Intercultural team held the Intercultural Olympics. Nine different countries competed by playing lots of games including a photo scavenger hunt, water balloon toss, pillow fighting and more. Saturday evening I spent with Susie and Bethany planning for our fall break trip to Turkey (and eating Thai food) at Susie's house. A few pictures...

 The Intercultural Olympics carried on the tradition of an Olympic flame (a tiki torch in our case) and each country's representative parading with their flag around the stadium. The teams are standing in the center cheering them on!

 Moldova vs. Russia in the pillow-fighting game

 A final shot of all the participants and their flags - so beautiful!

Getting ready to enjoy a delicious meal

Community Day

Community Day was a huge success! The whole event was moved inside because of rain (welcome to Lithuania!) but we still had fun! There was face painting, a cake walk, twister, tug of war and more. When it was time to serve hot dogs, the rain had stopped, and people went to stand outside - and the DJ moved outside and we had an impromptu dance party! A great start to the year!

 Lithuanian style hot dogs - with cucumber and onion

 line dancing

 face painting

 We had a few sponsors for the event, including Red Bull - Alex's favorite.

 Yum!

Chapel worship band

I've been put in charge of organizing the Chapel Worship band this year. Last week I was pretty stressed out about it, considering I don't have much experience with leading worship. There are several returning members from last year that helped me get things started, and I sent an email out to students asking if they wanted to be involved. I was totally amazed by the response! (I'd definitely say it was a God thing!) I have two guitar players, at least one piano player, a drummer, and 8 singers! (AND one of the guitar players has a lot of experience leading worship already, so I get to play the bass and not be up front, which I prefer). The best part is that they're all very talented and have true hearts for worship! I'm so excited to get to play with this this semester/year!

Today was our first chapel, and it turned out really great! Energetic, meaningful and so much more! I had a friend sneak some pictures today as well so you can see these awesome students! :)

 Julija, Angelina, Anna, me, Amanda (another one!) and Alexey
Aliya, the drummer is behind Alexey

A bit closer....

Community Day prep

Today is Community Day! This is an annual opening of the year event planned by Student Life, which includes games, a barbeque, and prizes. We've been planning for weeks, and yesterday was a big prep day. I got to go shopping at a bulk store called Promo to buy cucumbers (which is what Lithuanians put on hot dogs), napkins, charcoal, and many other items. My team is in charge of the guessing game, so last night we counted out candy, cookies and tea into different jars. Students will guess how many they think are in each jar, and who ever is closest will win the goodies!

 Vaida (Student Life Office Manager) and I taking a coffee break after shopping for groceries at Promo.

 Iuna and Ira counting mini Snickers

 Melisa and Anya counting tea and cookies

 The finished product! 

 Today we cut buns and peeled hot dogs for the barbeque.