Productive Week

Last Sunday Cameron and I made a goal to do something everyday this week. Normally, we don't leave the apartment until it's time to teach, so I was excited to do something!

I used Monday as a prep day. I planned about 3 weeks worth of lesson plans (which felt amazing). Tuesday, we went ice skating! Since nobody goes ice skating on a Tuesday morning, we got in for 2 euros and had the rink entirely to ourselves. I had so much fun! Granted, it took me a while to get comfortable. But I never fell, so that's good!

On Wednesday, we tried a restaurant we always pass on our way to Town, Viva Kaunas. There's a super awesome view of the houses in Kaunas there so we enjoyed the view until the freezing wind ushered us inside. We ordered pesto pasta, and I wasn't disappointed. 

Across from Akropolis, there's a beautiful park that we've always wanted to explore, so that was our Thursday activity. It was amazing! It was a rainy day which heightened the color of the leaves. The park is somewhat dedicated to WW2 soldiers. Of course, we went to get gelato at Akropolis afterwards. 

Cameron had to finish some work on Friday, so we just relaxed. But it was crazy how fast this week passed! I love Kaunas so much more after making an effort to see it.. Ha! We took Paris and Desteny to Viva Kaunas after school (GNO!).  I think I prefer it for lunch, but we still had fun! Plus I'm a sucker for city lights, so the night view was breathtaking. 

On Saturday Cameron, Kenon, Desteny, and I went to Akropolis in search of Halloween costumes! If you don't know, Lithuania does not celebrate this holiday so we only found a few things but even still they were for kids. Naturally we got gelato as we brain stormed, and eventually got dinner as we further tried to come up with ideas, and then decided on woodland animals! So, I'm going to be a bunny. 

Also, we booked flights to Estonia Saturday night! 

The Kids, Saturday!

I swear, I really do care about the kids. And they are why I'm here. There isn't much to talk about them though! I mean, there is, but it's probably only interesting for me (and my roommates). But I will talk about them right now because this past week has been great.

Well, the week before last was Teacher Appreciation Week. And guess what! Some of the kids brought us chocolate and flowers. It melted my heart! Two girls drew pictures for us as well. 

Came for Europe, staying for the kids! Even the ones that drive me crazy mean so much to me. They love to give us hugs and say, "Teacher I love you!". I don't think they realize how emotionally attached to them we are. 

Saturday (as in yesterday) was probably my favorite day so far (which is saying something). We had plans to ice skate, but first: food. We finally found Mambo Pizza, which had stellar lasagna and Apple PIE!!! It was spectacular. I already have plans to go back! Ice skating was cash only, so we decided to do that on Tuesday instead. The other girls wanted to shop, and Cameron and I wanted to go on a hike so we split. 

The weather here is superb. On a good day it's about 45 degrees.. So perfect to wear a coat and be comfortable. We decided to walk to the hike, which was only about a mile (probably less). We walked along the river. It was so beautiful! I was happy to see another side of Kaunas that wasn't Old Town or the mall. We took a wrong turn and ended up on an island, which was a fun mistake. 

Cameron

P.S. There was freezing wind blowing my face off

Eventually we found the hike- or should I say staircase?- to the viewpoint that I wanted to see. Oh my goodness, these fall colors are my favorite thing about Kaunas! And the view was breathtaking. It was cool to see everything that we're familiar with and be able to piece it all together. 

Viva Kaunas!

We decided to walk to Old Town. We walked through a tunnel, which had awesome street art. Old Town was a lot more calm now that it's getting cold. I definitely think Old Town is my favorite spot. 

Beautiful, wonderful Sunday! I love this teeny branch, and the missionaries who translate everything. We've run into the sisters on the bus the past few weeks, which is nice! Cameron and I were asked to speak next month. He told us to "listen to the Spirit.. Speak on what we feel would better the branch, and furthermore, the community". Wow! I want to do my best because they treat speaking in church so seriously. 

It's been an awesome week. Every single day is a gift in Lithuania! I love this country, the kids, my roommates, the gospel, everything! What's not to love? It's truly starting to feel like home. I can't believe it's already been two months! 

London Calling

I would've posted sooner but we haven't had wifi for a few days.

So! London.. First off, getting there was crazy. We thought the last train for Vilnius left at 11:30 pm, so after school we were casually, slowly packing. At around 8:30 Paris ran back and told us that the last train actually left at 9:45. We scrambled to get our stuff together and literally ate dinner while we were running down the stairs! Luckily, we made it (thanks to Kenon's host dad who gave us a ride). Our flight actually didn't leave until 6 the next morning, so we were going to stay the night at the airport. We got a taxi, but his car was too small for five girls, so he called a friend, who had a van. BUT they wouldn't let us ride with only one! We had to take both cars, which ended being 20 euros.

I tried to sleep in the airport, but man! The chairs and the floor were freezing. So I only slept for about half an hour, but I shouldn't complain because that's more than the other girls. Symony Facetimed me around 1:00, which helped pass the time. Other than that I read a book, listened to music, did some yoga, practiced my french, and bought a croissant. Really we only had to wait about five hours, because you're allowed to check in 2 hours before your flight. When we left Lithuania, they stamped our passports! I was excited because they didn't stamp them when we got here the first time.

I was fortunate enough to get a window seat this time! I was also lucky because the two women sitting next to me slept the entire flight, so I didn't have to worry about blocking their view. But in reality, I slept most of the way, too.

The first thing I loved about England: ENGLISH!!!! It was so beautiful to be able to understand everything. Of course, British English and American English are slightly different.. But it wasn't much of a problem.

The man at passport control was so nice! He gave us a bunch of tips and and wished us luck in the UK. We took a bus into the city and it was so trippy to drive on the left side of the road. We found the tube (underground metro), and bought oyster cards! There were some restaurants down there as well so we ate. My personal choice was McDonald's (it was pretty exciting for me). We decided to find our hostel after that. We dropped our luggage off there and then decided to find Westminster Abbey. Well, turns out the British system is really confusing. We got discouraged and tried to find Abbey Road instead. Well, we couldn't find that either! We were at Stratford when a man approached us and asked if we needed help. He directed us to where we came from and gave us a few more instructions. We got on the wrong train, and then were discussing what to do about it when a lady sitting with us offered some help. She literally got of the tube and led us to a man, and told him to show us where the Jubilee line was. These people are angels!!! I was so touched by their kindness. And not to mention their accents!

So we did find Westminster Abbey after all! It was smaller than I expected. But the detail was more amazing! We walked across the bridge to see the London Eye as well.

Every European city is alike and yet unique

We wandered around there for a while and then found ourselves at Covent Gardens. It's almost like City Creek Mall. There's a spot for street performers so Cameron and I stopped and watched. They were pretty good! They juggled on top of unicycles and tossed them back and forth. We went back to the hostel after that, since we were all exhausted from the lack of sleep. 

The next morning, we found Abbey Road first! There's a station called Abbey Road, and then there's the actual Abbey Road. It was misleading but we found it anyways! I'm not a huge Beatles fan, but I was in this moment. ;)

PC: Kenon Lysenko! (She is da bomb)

We then found Buckingham Palace! Well, actually we found food first. It was my first time trying Greek yogurt. Not what I was expecting, but that's not important. 

Buckingham Palace was awesome! We saw the guards with the giant hats and red coats. We even saw a guy with a BYU jacket! Some of the people were actually waving at the guards trying to make them smile, and they thought themselves so hilarious. I didn't think people would legitimately try that... *face palm*

Next, was.... HARRY POTTER! Sometimes I'm a die hard fan, other times I'm not.. But today was the day that it was revived in me! Haha.. but seriously. We found King's Cross station, and after some confusion, we found Platform 9 3/4! Desteny and Cameron got in line for a picture, so Paris, Kenon, and I looked in the shop. It was so hard not to want to buy something. But, the price tags helped tame my desires. I started reading the Cursed Child, and the first page says the setting is King's Cross Station. I felt pretty cool to be in there while reading about it. After a while I decided to join Desteny and Cameron. 

Betta be.... GRYFFINDOR

Go watch the movies ;)

I only wanted one picture of me pointing to the sign, so when I was like, "One's enough", all the people were like, you have to do a jumping one! And I was like, nah. And they were like, you're in Gryffindor, you HAVE TO! (It wasn't quite that dramatic but I was still like geez) So I did! And I'll be honest, I'm glad they made me do it. 

We found Ben & Jerry's!!

We went to Piccadilly Circus and walked around, but then it started raining, so we got on the tube and found a place to eat, eventually. Then we found the London Bridge! On the way there, Desteny made a comment about a bunch of guys checking me out, and I thought, "What better place than England?". Haha! I started to notice that we all caught a lot of attention. I even heard one guy out of a group say, "Nice, girlies". Weird, but ok! While we were walking on the bridge one guy walking past said to Kenon, "He's a racist!" and busted up. But really he pronounced it "rass-ist" so that was funny. 

London Bridge

We all wanted a picture together with the bridge, and I saw a couple approaching so I decided to ask them. I walked up and said, "Would you mind taking a picture of all of us with the bridge?" except, I said it in a British accent!! I didn't mean to at all, it just happened, and as I was speaking I was thinking, "Stop!! This is so embarrassing!". Unfortunately my roommates heard it too and got a good laugh.

The next morning we went back to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. The crowds were so large Cameron and I climbed the gate and still couldn't see! The thought was cool though. 

Felt like the Newsies! 

We found M&M world! I was so tempted to buy my parents some plates to add to our family collection. But alas, I am a poor sailor ;)

Wait a minute...

Pret a Manger.. We ate here every time!

 If you don't know who Banksy is, just google the name. He's a famous street artist and has work everywhere! It's so amazing! Cameron really wanted to find at least one and I'm so glad we did!

The Falling Shopper

We went back to the hostel after that. Paris and Desteny went back out but Cameron, Kenon, and I stayed. Cameron and I watched conference! It was so nice to be able to watch it live (even if it ended at 11:00 haha). We got fish and chips in between sessions!

 All in all, London was pretty amazing. I didn't see Tom Hiddleston or Daniel Radcliffe, but I guess you can't have it all, right? I had a window seat on the way home and slept until we landed! Didn't really sleep in the airport (we landed at 2 am and the trains didn't leave until 5), but I did sleep on the train. I tried to move for a ton of people getting on a one point, but the guy in front of me stopped, so I lost my balance and fell on a lady! It was so awkward.. But she was so nice about it. Kaunas felt so cold when we went outside!
And if you're wondering, this is what I got out of England:

I didn't choose Gryffindor, Gryffindor chose me. 

Also, Kenon snapped some pictures that I love!! She is the best and she let me steal these!