RA fun night

I'm planning to have a fun night with my RAs once a month in order to do something not work-related and just to build our friendship! For this month, I planned a scavenger hunt for them! I made lots of food for a picnic supper and put clues and parts of the meal around the area (on and off campus). My RAs then collected all the pieces before finding me and we enjoyed a picnic and Taboo together. I had another RAs' help in making the clues, and I think it was a little bit confusing at times for them! But with a few text clues from me, they made it to the finish! Here are some pictures they took along the way:

I locked up one clue in the lockers at the grocery store, and kept the key for the day so it could be part of the clue!

 In the storage room finding ham and cheese pinwheels.

(L-R: Ausrius, Kirill and Ira)

Ausrius, Toms (an East side RA), Kirill and Ira at the last station (deviled eggs)

and here is what they found at the end of the hunt!

I took a few pictures of the sunset while I was waiting for them, and this is my favorite.

a few pics from the last week

I have a few more random pictures to share....

Last week I invited one of my RAs over to make chocolate muffins and ganache frosting for someone's birthday. We saved some for the party, but of course we had to try some to make sure they tasted ok!

 Natallia

Today I went out to eat at a fancy restaurant for lunch. They have a daily special and a well-known chef. The meal started with french bread with garlic butter spread. Then we had a fish soup, and beef with barley, tomatoes and parsley. Both were very very good!

Allison, who also works at LCC, getting ready to eat the fish soup

the beef dish - so delicious!!!!

Ugly Duckling

The last week or so has been somewhat normal, which is why I haven't posted anything. But we have also been busy getting ready for the annual Ugly Duckling Cup, which is an LCC tradition. Four teams (three from the residence halls, and one faculty/staff) each build their own boat and race it across the LCC pond! This year the students were super excited about building boats - in Enns we had been working on ours for three days! 

The evening consisted of the following events:

A recycled material fashion show

A scavenger hunt

A game in which teams could have only certain body parts touching the ground at once

Team cheers, slogans and flags

And of course, the actual race, which included a 3-part relay

And racing the boats across the pond

This year we also had a pirate, who tried to sabotage the boats in the middle of the race!

(He pulled me into the water!)

I was dressed for the first part of the evening as the "Enns Queen"

And then quick took off my costume to help the faculty/staff boat across the lake!

(That's me with my crown still attached)

And here is the winning team: Neumann East!

I have so many pictures - I asked one of my residents to take some for us, and she did a GREAT job!!! Thank you Kristina!!!

to market, to market

This morning was the first time in over a week that work has not been the first thing on my mind - so I went to the market! I love going there to see all the fresh produce, flowers, honey, and more. Ira, my RA and I walked together, and enjoyed the fresh air and good conversation. Also, everything is really cheap at this market - I got cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkin, green onions, carrots, a red pepper and flowers all for 17 litas, which is less than $8! Amazing!!! I was so excited that I took a picture for you!

WOW!!!

I like to have cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes always on hand, and I'm planning to make Thai peanut pasta (for the RAs) and pumpkin bread with the rest of the vegetables!

first full RA meeting

My RA team has been incomplete until last night, when Natallia arrived! Tonight we had our first official team meeting - we went through a few business things, ate homemade applesauce, got to know each other, and of course took a few pictures! I'm really excited to have the opportunity to invest in these high-quality, hard-working students this year!!!

trying to be serious....

back: Ira, Natallia and me

front: Ausrius and Kirill

silly

(we love Kirill's face in this one)

and more laughter

(ha ha look at Ausrius' hair!)

showing off our Residence Life t-shirts

Res Life Retreat!

The RAs have finally arrived!!! To begin our week of training, last night we took them on a retreat to a cabin/sauna spot we had visited earlier this year with the Community Life team. We had fun playing games, eating, doing the sauna, laughing and talking together. What a great way to start off the year! It has been a really busy week, and will continue to be so, but I am so excited to have these students here in particular. Tonight I had 2 of my RAs over to watch the sunset out my big and beautiful windows. We talked for over 2 hours! It was such a great way to get to know them better - and we laughed a lot! :)

a silly photo of the group

more pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our Student Life retreat last week:

(photo credits to Josh and Alisha)

Margarita (SL VP) and I grilling meat for lunch (a Lithuanian specialty)

the diving board into the river (it looks so peaceful)!

the Community Life team

L-R: Josh, me, Susie, Olena and Alisha

my personal favorite: us being our normal silly selves!