Riga #2

The other interesting thing we saw in Riga was a bunch of Christmas trees! They had various trees made out of different materials all over the city. We took pictures of the ones we came across, but there were many more that we missed (I think almost 50 in total)!

this one said "Merry Christmas" in many different languages

musical pipes

a whole forest!

a big stack of pieces of glass

Did you know that the home of the first Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510?!

break/Riga #1

I have had a restful break, even though I've done a little bit of work almost every day. I watched a lot of movies, slept in, and read several books to pass the time during Christmas and New Years.

 On New Year's Eve, I got together with some friends, and we celebrated by making our own sushi and watching fireworks. (This is Bethany with all the sushi rolls we made!)

Earlier this week, I got to take several days off and traveled to Riga, Latvia with another friend from LCC. We saw a lot of things, and were also able to read, relax and recharge.

 We had some awesome food - first meal - INDIAN!!!

 Another meal - the "Garlic Pub"! Almost everything on their menu had garlic in it! For dessert, I had ice cream with honey-garlic sauce - YUM!

Another day we went to a tea house and had fancy tea and cookies while sitting on cushions and reading/talking.

We also saw many different sights...

This is the freedom monument, which honors soldiers killed in the Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920). Latvia's history is similar to Lithuania's in that it was occupied by the Soviet Union beginning in 1940, but the Soviets could not take away this symbol from the Latvians - it remained standing all through the occupation.

Riga has several different types of architecture which can be seen all around the city. This building is medieval style (small, rounded windows) from the 15th century. 

Other buildings were influenced by the Swedes when Riga was part of the Swedish Kingdom in the 17th century. (The shutters are painted on - it looks like a fairy tale house to me!)

Riga is famous for its Art Nouveau architecture (19th century), which is characterized by floral motifs, gargoyles, and naked figures all around the outside of the buildings.

We really enjoyed exploring the city... Tomorrow I will post about all the Christmas trees we saw!

RA Christmas

I had Christmas with my RAs this evening. For their Christmas presents I bought them all bowls, and wrote words the bowl that their residents used to describe them. Things like "honest, direct, friendly, inspiring leader, goes above and beyond, etc". We will eat out of these bowls for the rest of the year, and they will get to keep them in May. We also had a gift exchange between the 5 of us - we all had fun picking out personal gifts for each other! I got some earmuffs to keep me from waking up because of a loud dog across the street! :) We also ate tomato soup and grilled cheese, and played Charades (their favorite game). A great ending to a very special semester. Seeing my RAs have laugh, bond, and do stuff together has been the highlight of the year so far!

 normal

silly (actually, this is more normal!) :)

Coffee Bar

Tonight my RAs and I hosted a coffee bar in preparation for finals week. We served mochas (with homemade chocolate sauce), coffee with caramel syrup, regular coffee, and green or black tea. There were also lots of Christmas lights and decorations, and awesome 50's rock 'n' roll music! It was a fun and relaxing evening!

getting ready to brew the coffee

students enjoying the coffee! what a face!

having fun

no comment...

cookie night

On Thursday night, I hosted a cookie making party at my apartment for all the residents in Enns. My RAs and I had made over 150 cookies earlier in the week, and so there was plenty for everyone! I also remembered to take pictures, so I have some to share with you!

two of my RAs with their cookies

on the left is "headless gingerbread man", and on the right is "really fat gingerbread man"

Aliya with another fat gingerbread man and a beautifully decorated Christmas tree

Evaldas with his new brunette girlfriend :)

(the green frosting is her "body mask" for healthy skin)

the caption we decided for this picture should be "looking at her with longing"

Iveta with a unibrow, sunglass-wearing, bearded star

Aurelija with a beloved gingerbread man

Christmas program

Last Friday evening was the annual Christmas program at LCC. Student Life is the main department that plans the program, and we have been working on it for months already! Bethany and I were in charge of the costumes, I was the rehearsal accompanist for the choir, and I also helped out with promotional materials. (One of my fingers even went numb for several weeks because of cutting so much paper! And see my last post for a picture of Alisha and I dressed as angels for promotional reasons!) Because of all the preparation, it turned out to be a fun evening - there was a fair before hand where people could sell crafts to raise money for the homeless shelter, and then we had the program. Student Life was also in charge of clean up afterwards, which went MUCH faster than last year, because we had student leaders to help. 

 Colorful gloves for sale at the fair

The angel Gabriel telling Joseph that it's ok to take Mary as his wife.

Toms, one of the Neumann East RAs, was the Angel Gabriel.

 the decked out wisemen

Bethany and I made the crown that's on the middle wiseman

 Almost all the actors - Bethany and I had so much fun doing their costumes!

Kirill, one of my RAs, is the shepherd holding the big white staff.

a cute kid who was very distracted by the shiny bells!

The choir (I'm just to the right of the choir, but not in the picture)

This past week I also helped out at a school for disabled kids in Klaipeda. We went twice - once to get to know the kids, and once to make crafts with them. It was nice to get off campus and experience a traditional school setting.

 

the last week...

The last week has been busy with many different activities! Here's a sample from things that I have pictures from...

The Community Life team hosts a Christmas party for all of our Student Leaders. This is the invitation that we made for each of them. :)

I did a "synchronized swimming" routine with some fellow faculty/staff members for the annual LCC Talent Show. We had lots of fun practicing and executing our routine!

My RAs and I went to Susie's house for dinner. We had curry and Christmas cookies - yum! We also watched some videos from when I was in college and took a group photo. (Ausrius was sick, so that's why he's not here).

silly!

Ha. :) Bethany (on the left) and her Spiritual Life team organized "Coffee House Gospel" last week, and I helped her set up for a while. We were acting silly here, but we were also quite tired!

Today Alisha and I dressed up like angels and handed out invitations for the Christmas fair and program on Friday. This is a picture from a student's dorm window!