Estonia

We went to Tallinn, Estonia this past weekend! All I can say is, it is a must see. Just go visit; you can thank me later!

We left right after school on Friday. Our flight was at 5:50 Saturday morning, and the trains don't go all night to Vilnius so we had to take the train Friday night. Our past experiences sleeping at the airport were a bit chilly so we stopped at McDonald's first and ate dinner. And we sat there for about an hour. It was only midnight, but I'm an old lady and was already dying. So, we finally went to the airport. I got a sudden burst of energy around 1:30 and FaceTimed Kenzie and Sym! It was good to see them. After that I did get a little tired so I fell asleep, thanks to my awesome coat that kept me warm. Paris woke me up when it was time to go to our gate, and then I found chairs there and fell asleep again. Paris woke me up again when we were boarding.. It was funny because my roommates were kinda looking at me like I was an animal about to attack. You never know with tired people!

Our first flight was fine. I was in the very back and got a row to myself! We had a layover in Riga, Latvia and switched to a tiny plane. It was practically empty so I got to sit alone again. Apparently I was still tired because I don't even remember taking off..

Since we were up most of the night, we went straight to the hostel and took a nap. Haha but after that we went to see the Christmas market! Laurra, the head teacher from Vilnius suggested a restaurant for dinner. She said the Elk Soup was amazing, so we wanted to try it! Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous this would be another Black Pudding experience, but it was delicious! You don't even need spoons, you just drink it. I got apple pie too. The restaurant was very medieval too. 

Elk Soup and apple pie.

After we had food in our stomachs, we enjoyed the market! Europe does Christmas right. It was beyond magical! Christmas music was playing, there were dancers on a stage, and hot cocoa and other things were being sold from the shops. I don't even need to mention the tree!

The restaurant with Elk Soup

We just looked around the market that night. Tallinn is the furthest North we've been, and it was cooolllddd. We went back to the hostel so we could have a decent amount of energy the next day haha. 

The next morning we headed out around 11 and found a pancake house a previous volunteer told Paris about. I'm glad she did, because that was the only meal I bought for the day! The pancakes were HUGE and so delicious. Besides that though, Tallinn is BEAUTIFUL! It felt like a fairytale. I was blown away by everything!

Pancake with apples and vanilla sauce. YUM! 

Me and Des :)

Our relationship ;) 

Unfortunately, Cameron had a serious stomachache, so she opted to rest at pizza place while Desteny, Paris, and I continued to wander. They were nice enough to let me drag them to a view point that I really wanted to see. Luckily, it's a popular spot among ILP volunteers so I just looked up what it looked like and then googled it. There's a quote on a wall that says, "The Times we had." and I wanted to find it so bad! Turns out it was on Toompea hill, which is luckily easily to find. 

Cathedral!!

We found it! 

Beautiful, beautiful Tallinn.

We met a really sweet exchange student from Australia. She's been in Tallinn since August! It was fun talking to her and she even offered to take our picture. 

Pretty building

Built in 1345 :O

The rest of these pictures aren't top quality.. Probably because it was so cold my hand shook every time I took off my glove to take a picture! Haha I couldn't help myself. You should feel luckily because I actually took out a lot of pictures for this post! Otherwise you'd be scrolling for a while......

We enjoyed our last few hours by walking around the market and appreciating Estonia. There is something about Eastern Europe. Please just put it on your bucket list! 

When it was time to go, we met back up with Cameron and went to the airport. Right outside of our gate was a floor that lit up when you stepped on it! I think I tried to light them all up about four or five times haha. It was very entertaining! Our flight was empty again, so all four of us sat by each other (but still got our own rows). The flight was only 50 minutes, but I still finished my book. The last train leaves at 9:00 for Kaunas, and we landed at 8:45. Fortunately after some negotiating we got a taksi (taxi) for sixty euros! Which is 15 euros for each person, which is about the same amount we would've spent taking the train and taxis to and from the train station. Score! 

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"