fall break!

I will be leaving for Barcelona in a couple hours, so I won't be posting for a week or so. But, the lack of posts now will be remedied after I come back - I'm sure I'll have lots to share!!! Have an awesome week!

Pancakes!

Last night we hosted a pancake night in both Enns and Neumann in preparation for mid-term week. My RAs and I cooked over 200 pancakes for our residents, and over 90 of them showed up! We also played "Friends" while they were there, and I think students left happy and full of delicious pancakes!

Josh and I mixing up the dry mix for pancakes - 60 cups of flour each!

Lots and lots and lots of pancakes for the hungry bellies

haircuts

This week I gave three haircuts, and this morning was a very special one. This student wanted to cut her hair to give to "Wigs for Kids" which is similar to "Locks of Love" - an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. She was a bit nervous because she hadn't cut her hair for a year and a half, and we cut over 12 inches!

Last night I went to the first LCC Moose basketball game as well, and enjoyed cheering them on - we had pots and pans, plastic horns, a drum, flags and more! We won!!!

zombieland!

On Wednesday night I had my RAs over for another fun activity. My goal is one/month, and last month we did a scavenger hunt. I had learned back in May that my RAs liked scary movies, so I right away I decided we should watch Zombieland together. I know the movie is more weird than scary, but I am easily scared, so I thought this would be a compromise. I also made "creepy finger cookies" and peeled grapes so they would feel like eyeballs! I think my RAs were a bit creeped out, especially by the "eyeballs"!

 before baking

(you might notice that i "trimmed" my hair!)

after: on top is cocoa powder, and the nails are almonds. 

we couldn't quite get the frosting to be red, but it still looked gross!

Miriam's visit part 2

The last two days Miriam was here, we spent in Klaipeda. We packed our days full once again, and had lots of fun eating Lithuanian food, exploring the beach, and souvenir shopping. The last evening was spent with my RAs at our regular team meeting. Afterwards we went to bake cookies for and play games with one floor in Enns. I think Miriam got a good taste of where I live and the work I do here at LCC. It was really fun having her here!!!!

One day we took the ferry across to the Curonian Spit

It was cold, but fun!

The last day we got up EARLY and took the bus to 
Olando Kepure (the Dutchman's cap) 

The origin of the name can be rather simply explained: the contours of the shoreline are reminiscent of a Dutch-style cap. Some citizens of Klaipėda have a slightly different story: many years ago along at this location along the Baltic coast, a blue and red pompon Dutch sailor’s cap washed-up on shore, and from that time on this name stuck to this terrain.

I love these pictures - the clouds were so awesome!!!!

Pondering life

We also explored Klaipeda

And ate traditional Lithuanian food: potato pancakes

Miriam's visit part 1

My friend Miriam came to visit this past weekend! We went to Goshen College together, and right now she is on Fall break from her teaching job, so she came all the way to Lithuania to visit me!!!! Saturday and Sunday we spent in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. We saw so many different things - this was my first time in Vilnius, and yet we were still able to find everything we wanted to see and enjoyed the time to catch up while also learning about the city.

 We stayed in the "Uzupis" district, and they have their own constitution, with very interesting rules, i.e.

 Two of the churches we visited - St. Anne's on the left, and the Bernardine Church on the right, both constructed in the 14th century. We went to mass in English at the Bernardine Church on Sunday morning.

On Sunday, we also went to the Cathedral of St. Stanislaus and St. Landislaus - the most important Catholic building in Lithuania - originally built in 1251. We snuck inside in between masses to take more pictures.

We took the funicular train up the hill by the Cathedral to the Gediminas castle and tower. The tower (in the picture) was used for defense, and the castle is in ruins now.

view of us at the top of the Gediminas hill, with Vilnius in the background

 next we went to see the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace

then some AMAZING Indian food, the KGB museum and Vilnius Picture Gallery and....

my name! :)

art show

Our last event for Art week was an art show - we had over 50 pieces of art to display!!! We have been collecting art for the past week or so, and I was worried at points that we wouldn't have enough to fill the room, but my expectations were totally surpassed! We also had live music from students and "posh drinks" - water with fruit slices and basil/mint ice cubes. There weren't as many students as last night's event, but those that were there really enjoyed it, and said we should keep the exhibition open for more days!

 Alisha relaxing after finishing the set-up

Funky Jam Session

Tonight's activity was a "Funky Jam Session" - an interactive concert - and milkshakes! There were some musicians from Klaipeda that came to play, and our students and faculty joined them for several songs. The RAs made strawberry, banana and apple milkshakes, and served to around 120 people! We also had a big blank board for students to paint while the concert was going. We had lots of fun making the shakes, listening to the music, and even decorating earlier this afternoon. Definitely a successful event!

 Toms blending the milkshakes

Kirill, Toms and Vadim serving (this was after the rush was over)

students listening

live painting!

 Here's what the painting looks like after the jam session

art week #1

This week is Art week, and the RDs and RAs are organizing events each night of the week. Last night was music and crafts night, and tonight was a workshop on photography. I got to learn how to use my camera better, and during the studio session after the presentations, took some really neat pictures! Tomorrow night is a funky jam interactive concert, and Thursday is an art show. So, keep checking back for more pictures as the week goes on!

listening to the presentation

studio session

we projected pictures onto the wall/person, and then took photos

muffins

Today my RA asked me to teach her how to make banana muffins, and we made one for each of her residents. She also wrote encouraging notes to each of them to go with the muffin!

 Ira with her muffins (and yes, we tasted one)

This week I have also given three haircuts!

Another RA, Sarune - I gave her a quick trim last night

And an update on the prank: Kirill asked me today whether I was involved, and I said no! I felt so bad for lying though, that I gave him a cookie, and I will deliver the other note later tonight. On the back side I wrote "it WAS me!"

prank!

This week has been pretty slow for me, so what did I decide to do with my free time (besides recovering from a bad sore throat and cold)? Play a prank on one of my RAs! :) I was with another RA in the laundry room, and we found some of his clothes hung up to dry. We took them, and I wrote a note:

 page one

page 2

I was thinking he would give the candy bar to room 407 right away, but it hasn't happened yet - and I delivered the note yesterday afternoon. I heard that he's "going crazy" trying to figure out who it is - asking everyone on his floor! When I'm on this side of the prank, it's fun!!!

And, I have another note written already for when he delivers the candy bar:

RA retreat

This past weekend my RAs and I went on retreat! We went camping at Plateliai, a campground with lots of trees, wild mushrooms, and a beautiful lake. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to drive there, and our car was packed full of stuff! It took us a bit to find the right place, but once we got there, we set up our tents and started a fire. During the evening we played games (including our new favorite, Taboo), ate hobo dinners and s'mores, and went swimming (so cold!!!!). In the morning we got rained out, and packed up early to head home because we were afraid that the dirt roads would be difficult to drive on when wet. The only bad thing that happened because of being out was that I got sick! Other than that, we had a fun time together. I didn't take many pictures, but here's a few....

Getting ready to go

(Ira, Natallia, and Ausrius' hand)

Kirill - our chauffeur and resident fire starter

Ausrius setting up the guys' tent

Ira and Natallia

We saw a beautiful full moon!