Meet the Neighbors

If you haven't seen the YouTube video "Everyone's Upstairs Neighbors", I highly suggest you go watch it. Because let me tell you something:

They perfectly describe our neighbors.

Between the horrible sound mufflers and just really loud people we have learned quite a lot about them, just through sounds. So! Meet my upstairs neighbors.

Mr. and Mrs. have two children. A little boy, and a baby. Baby seems to be able to walk around a little bit but still cries like a newborn at night. Mr. and Mrs. sleep directly above my room, with Baby. Little boy likes to play Jingle Bells on their electric piano (this has been going on since September). Sometimes Mrs. likes to play Fur Elise (which makes me long to play piano again).

Mr. and Mrs. seem to have some issues, lots of yelling. Mr. sometimes likes to... sing? Mrs. is currently getting ready for her debut with "Telephone" by Lady GaGa. Little boy has a skateboard, likes to ride around at about 8 in the morning. After 8:00, everyone leaves for school or work.

They only do their wash at night. Mrs. might be sick... Lots of coughing. They like to have guests over on Friday nights. They can sing in English but speak in Lithuanian.

Most of the time, they're not so terrible. It's one of the quirks that I love about this apartment. It's easy to look past it when I consider that we're probably the equivalent to them for our downstairs neighbors. Either way, it just might be something I miss when I go home...

Also, we went to Vilnius this past weekend! The Vilnius girls showed us around a little. They were so sweet and I wish we had met up with them sooner!

St. Anne's Cathedral

Creds: Laurra (Vilnius HT)

Vilnius Christmas market!

Christmas has begun!!!

 Also, my sweet roommate Desteny turned 21, and her mom sent decorations to celebrate! Paris made cupcakes and we had a little party. Like our little Christmas tree? That is also courtesy of Desteny's mom. :)

It snowed! 

Julija stole my phone :)

Sunday

Cameron and I spoke in church. I spent the morning freaking out and coming up with worst case scenarios in my head. Usually I'm not too nervous, but I think the fact that I needed a translator was wigging me out.

When it was my turn to speak, I looked the Branch President and he just nodded, so I gulped and got up.

"Good morning, my name is Lindsay, and I don't speak Lithuanian....."

They erupted with laughter and a woman quickly got up to help me. I wondered how they understood my joke, though. The rest of the talk went as planned. There are two new missionaries here, one is a sister who switched from Vilnius. The other is straight out of the MTC! It was weird to have someone our age. He said he's only been here five days, and he can't understand what people are saying. Sounds about right? ;) He bore his testimony and it sounded pretty good as far as I know.

Anyways, I played the piano again in Relief Society. I've concluded that I can easily play the hymns I know, but my sight reading has plummeted (not that it was ever that great).

Today was potentially our last day with this branch. Next week we'll be in Vilnius, then Tallinn, then Copenhagen, and then it will be our last day in Kaunas, so I'm not sure where we'll be at that point! I'm so grateful for this branch and the missionaries. Sister Griffin has been so supportive of me wanting to serve a mission (even if I can't start my papers yet), and it means a lot.

Which reminds me, one of the brothers from the branch gave a talk, and the missionary translating said he was "raining fire" and took a break from translating because he wanted to listen. Ha! We were anxious to know what was going on! I am grateful for the missionaries for translating haha.

One of the sisters beckoned into a back room and had a box full of clothes for us! It was so sweet and I did pick out a few things, because free clothes. Another sister stopped us in the hall and gave us hugs. She had a brother translate for her and she said, "Hugs because you don't have family here". They are the kindest people!

Hill of Crosses and 3 Month Mark

Hey!! Happy three month mark to us, and get ready because I'll be home in ONE MONTH! Crazy, I know. Speaking of which, we were originally going to fly home through Germany, Canada, and then SLC. Due to an unexpected change, we are now flying through Germany, San Francisco, and then SLC, AND we're getting home three hours sooner! I've never been to California, so this is exciting. Granted, it'll only be the airport, but shhhh. ;)

This past week and the week before have FLOWN. It is insane how fast time is going and while I'm anxious to see my family again, I'm not looking forward to leaving Lithuania. Their food is cheap and I like dat. I guess I like my students, too. Haha jk I looooove my students! They get so weirded out when I say "I love you!", but whatevs.

Yesterday, I said a Lithuanian word and they freaked! Pretty much have of the class was spent teaching me Lithuanian, no matter how hard I tried to persuade them to speak English. But ya know what? It was a Friday and I only have a month left so we had fun! They told me my name in Lithuanian is "Linna". I kinda like it!

Today Paris, Cameron, and I went to Hill of Crosses in Northern Lithuania. Unfortunately, our coordinator gave us the wrong directions so we got off the bus in the middle of nowhere. But because we are so lucky another bus came a few minutes later and we hopped on. It kinda felt like a "if you want something done right, do it yourself!" moment. Anyways, we made it to the city but decided to eat lunch first. The girls behind the counter did not speak a lick of English, so when I tried to order four chicken nuggets and a small fry, they gave me four orders of fries. That's a lot of fries! On the bright side, it was only 4 euro and it covered me for dinner.

The Hill of Crosses was tiny, but then we got up to it and it seemed endless. There are thousands upon thousands of crosses there, and I bought one to add. It had a small angel on it, so it kinda reminded me of Sabrina. It was definitely worth the day trip!

P.S. I finally tried borscht! 10/10. Would recommend.

Borscht

He was teaching her pushups! #goals

Hill of Crosses

"Love the joy of faith"

A Few Things

I realized I never told y'all about our Halloween party! Probably because it was mid semester visits and we left for Belgium the next day... But now we're back. SO.

Halloween. Obviously we held it a few days early because we were in Belgium (and yes we've totally talked about how cool it is to be able to casually talk about what country we were in on certain days #sorrynotsorry). Anyways..... It was the craziest day ever!! Really a giant miracle that we all survived.

First of all, I would just like to say that my brain does this funny (actually not funny at all) thing where it shuts down in important moments. Such as, my interview with Jared. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
It went something like this:

Jared: "So, what's your favorite part of the program?"

Me: "I like not getting paid".

My brain:

Me to my brain: You're fired.

Definitely one moment I would like to NEVER relive again. Lucky for me, I cracked some pretty great jokes later so hopefully I don't seem like a complete retard to him. (Or would that make it worse?) Either way- moving on from that awful memory!

I dressed up like a bunny for the kids. And no, I did not get a picture, fur some odd reason. (Get it?! lol). But I can tell you I spent the previous night trying to make bunny ears and it was not the easiest thing I've ever done. And I was quite proud of them.

Well, those ears drew a lot of attention from some of the kids. And one girl stole them off my head and started running around. So I chased her around and I was thinking "Oh, this is fun she's so cute". But then.... She turned around and ripped my ears apart.

OKAY

Not funny anymore. RIP, bunny ears. You were made with love.
No I do not harbor a grudge towards her but I have a pretty good suggestion for Santa of who should be on the naughty list this year.

Haha jk, guys! I'll just show you the pictures and we'll move on.

Not Halloween but so cute!!!

Look at her!!! 

Halloween!

Now for a few other things, such as the weather. We left for Belgium from a cold, but beautiful Kaunas. The leaves were all fall colors, and coming off at a gentle pace. I have proof: 

Ooh, so pretty

We came back a week later and BAM! Snow. Snow everywhere. Snow for dayzzzz. I mean, not complaining. I love the snow. Could've used a warning or something though. Either way, time to bust out the Christmas carols! Just to emphasize, it has snowed 3/4 days we've been back in Kaunas. Maybe it's such a big deal because Moab ain't like that this time of year! 

Really though, I'm pretty much on cloud nine with the weather! 

And real quick: You might be wondering, "Did you vote?". 

Why yes, yes I did (or at least I tried (thanks Dad)). 

And no, I don't want to talk about it.

I will tell you one thing though. The US election is a world wide big deal. We were asked about our opinions in London as well as in Lithuania. Also, Ireland had a billion advertisements about it. I have a friend in Thailand who was actively following the process and sharing it on Facebook. 

Maybe you knew that but I didn't think people cared THAT much. Haha! It does make sense though...

On a side not, anyone got good suggestions for hobbies? Cuz let's be real... I got LOTS of free time. 

Just real quick, I want to testify that there is a plan, and a loving Heavenly Father who created that plan. I know that peace comes from turning to Christ and trusting him. I know He loves me, and you, and everyone- and He cares. When we center our lives on Christ everything else falls into place. I know everything will work out, because that is the promise we've been made. True peace and true joy are found through Christ. This is the most important thing to me. 

Long Vacation

Are you ready for pretty much the longest blog I'm ever going to write (hopefully)? We'll go day by day. Good luck (don't feel too bad if you can't make it through all of my ramblings).

Day 1: We got up and were out by 10:30. This is the first flight in a while where we didn't have to spend the night at the airport, so that was nice! We decided to spend the day in Vilnius. The train from Kaunas takes about an hour, so we got there around noon. The local coordinator Dima gave us a mini tour of Old Town. Lithuania has some beautiful history (and an even prettier city). First we walked through the cathedral in City Center. Jared from ILP was there too, but then they had to leave because Jared was catching a flight. So we walked around Old Town for a little while.
There's a very small castle thing at the top of a hill so we walked up to that and it provided a beautiful view. Cameron and I also met some awesome people from Poland and Brazil! It was fun to explain why in the world we're in Lithuania, let alone Kaunas.

City Center

Top of the hill 

This is the castle thing

The wind picked up and it started raining, so we quickly walked back to shelter. Please take note that it's about 30 degrees on average here, so we were pretty cold. After that we got some KFC and headed to the airport, courtesy of Dima giving us a ride.
The flight was fine.. We got into Brussels really late though. Unfortunately, we were unaware that our hostel closed at 11:00, so we had no way of getting in. There was a crowd of people right next door on the sidewalks and drunk people everywhere, so I was nervous that we'd be on the streets all night. I was on the verge of freaking out (and of course uttering prayers of desperation) when a man walked up and looked at us surprised. He explained he was the owner and chewed us out a little for not being responsible and letting him know we'd be late. I was willing to accept any scolding if he would give us a room. He said he gave our room away (considered a no show) but he would check to see if he had any vacancies. I was literally about to cry on his front desk, but he had one room left! There were only three beds but he had someone haul up a fourth mattress. Hallelujah!! It was the cutest room, almost like a loft, and so clean. And a great view! Ok. Day one down.

Day 2: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM! The city was so cute! We didn't get a good look because we were so tired last night, but I was optimistic about today. The first thing we did was get Belgian waffles of course! They were unreal. 10/10, would recommend. Every day.

Yummy!!!

 The architecture is so beautiful in Brussels. It's almost like everyone just built their own and put it all together. It's said that Brussels is the chill version of Paris. I definitely agree with that. It fit together so perfectly though! We walked around and found a cathedral. Then found the "Pissing Boy" (look it up), and went to the museum for the many, many, many outfits the statue has been dressed up in.

We bought a selfie stick! 

It's like Notre Dame with more detail

Pissing Boy

Look at that sunset! 

 Day 3: Another day in Brussels! We bought more waffles and rented bikes to ride around the city! We tried to find the Atomium but gave up and just rode aimlessly. I would say that was the highlight of Brussels for me. We had so much fun!

Emphasizing how bright the Sun is

We headed to the airport that night for... 

Day 4: DUBLIN, IRELAND! We arrived late again but this time, the hostel had 24 hour reception service. And it was such a fun hostel! We had one day in Dublin so we tried to make it count. First, we took a train to the coast. We looked at a castle and then stopped to have some lunch, and then walked to the coast. All I can say is it was amazing and gorgeous! Of course, I opted to leave my coat at the hostel so I was a bit cold, but it got better as the day went on. 

After the coast we took the train back to Dublin to spend some time in the city. We just wandered around and found some cathedrals. The people were so nice and friendly. There was a sign in our hostel that said "Flirt with us, it makes us happy!". Haha! It was a super fun day and I definitely want to go back to Ireland someday. 

So breathtaking!

Temple Bar! 

Day 5: We got up nice and early to head off to VENICE! When we were in the airport there were decorations everywhere. I was really confused why they were so eager for Christmas, but then Cameron pointed out that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, so really the season has begun! Woohoo! I didn't think I'd get to celebrate Christmas longer here!

We flew over the Alps

Venice was immediately a fairytale that blew our minds. It is the most charming city and so magical. We got lost for a while but I didn't mind at all because every turn was just another lovely canal! 

After we found our hostel, we stopped for food. When's a better time to order pizza than when in Italy?? No better time. 

P.S. It was delicious

And we also got gelato... Also delicious

We had the best time just wandering through the canals! Seriously so amazing.

That's our hostel! Right on a canal

The Grand Canal

Eventually we found a beautiful square will lots of people and walk along the pier for a little while, then went back to the square and enjoyed ourselves. 

Day 6: We once again got up super early and caught our train just in the knick of time to ROME! It was so cool to see the streets of Venice empty.. Almost eery. Sadly we were practically running to the train station. For the first few hours I slept, but woke up because I had drool all over my cheek haha. I'm glad I had woken up though, because the view was beyond real. Italy takes the cake! I couldn't take my eyes off the window and I got cramp in my neck. It was worth it though. We got to Rome and pleasantly found out our hostel was very near, so we dropped off our stuff and headed towards the Colosseum. 

No justice with this photo! 

Pizza for breakfast, anyone? 

Oh, my heart. 

Frankly, I gasped when I saw the Colosseum.. Mostly out of excitement. It really is huuuge!

More gelato by the Colosseum! 

Also, please take notice that I'm not wearing my jacket. It felt so good! Almost too warm for what we're used to, but it was a nice change.

While we were giving our feet a break, a Chinese couple approached us and started posing and taking pictures with us! He kept saying, "So beautiful!", and then they moved on to the next girls. It was so cute! 

We saw the Forum next. It was way bigger than I thought, and so awesome! Sorry I use the same five adjectives over and over haha. Ancient Rome would've been quite the sight to see. As the day went on, I just fell more and more in love with Italy, and the language, and the people. I just kept thinking, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!". Haha so just a lot of crossing streets when it may not have been the smartest decision. 

Forum

So much bigger in person! 

Next was Fontana de Trevi. Pretty much the most magical place on Earth. We stopped and tossed in coins and made wishes. Naturally it was crammed, but I didn't mind too much. This too was way bigger in person! There was a street vendor nearby who tried teaching us some Italian and I loved that. I probably have the worst Italian ever but he was so fun.

It's five cents (my lucky number)

I had an "old fashioned" map and tried to navigate my way to the Spanish Steps. We got a little lost, but quickly recovered and actually came out on top! The view was breathtaking.. I wish I could have stayed forever.

Writing a postcard... PC: Cameron

Me enjoying the view from the train.. PC: Also Cameron

More gelato by our hostel!

The hallway by our room had "I love you" in a bunch of languages and I thought it was cute. 

Ok, so Day 7: Our last day! We took the metro to the Vatican and got in line for the museum. There was a ridiculous amount of street vendors, trying to sell us tours. We went through and even saw the Sistine Chapel! I was a little disappointed because there were so many people that it didn't really feel sacred and reverent. But the art was incredible.

Not the Sistine Chapel lol

Tierra agreed to meet up with us!!!!! It was so good to see her, and to see a familiar face! She is the sweetest and I had a blast! She taught us the word "Basta"(?), which is a harsher word for stop, to yell at street vendors. Haha!

We went to take a break at the hostel, which turned into our retirement. I was a little sad because I wanted to see Rome one more time, and lucky for me Paris felt the same way! So we went out one more time, starting at the Spanish Steps. Our metro tickets were good for 24 hours, so we took the metro. Rome is even more magical at night! 

After that we went back to the Trevi fountain. The first time we had been so focused on getting videos and pictures, so this time Paris and I just made wishes and enjoyed ourselves. I wish I could describe the feeling there! The only other place I felt it was the Eiffel Tower at night, almost whimsical. Of course, I still took a few pictures. 

We decided our last stop would be the Pantheon, which is also the oldest building in Rome. It was a cool route to get there too. Quite frankly, the Pantheon was almost more amazing to me than the Colosseum. It was ginormous! I can't fathom that it was actually used for Roman gods. 

 We got gelato one more time. This time, I got Rosa flavor. It was a little strange, because it really tasted like roses smell. I mean, it wasn't bad, but... maybe rose should just stay a scent.

Roman Holiday???

On our way back, I thought I saw Banksy, but.. who knows?

So that was our vacation (and a summarized version at that). Obviously it was the best week ever! Desteny and I may or may not have possibly gotten emotional leaving Italy.... Although I can't confirm or divulge that information. We left wearing no jackets and landed in Lithuania, where it was snowing. Quite the climate change. I suppose it is good to be home, though! 

If you made it this far, congrats!