Klaipeda

I'm spending the month of July in Klaipeda, Lithuania and I will be blogging the experience. Some posts will be intentional but a lot of it will be stream of consciousness. I chalk up any terrible culturally insensitive things I may say to jetlag. Enjoy the journey with me!!

So. I have another confession. I forgot to pack the usb cable that connects my camera to my computer. This means that any lovely pictures I've taken won't be able to be seen until I get back to the states.

...I also know this may cut my readership permanently in half.

KLAIPEDA

I've now been in Klaipeda, LT 4 days. While it hasn't felt like its been that long, the speed of the days is only going to increase. Tomorrow students arrive at LCC and each and every one of them gets packed into every available bed in the hall I'm helping manage.

It's been quite a journey so far. Klaipeda is a nice town. Its deceptively large. In this area of Eastern Europe (I can't speak for everywhere) most families still live in the Soviet era tenement that their parents or grandparents were given. A town that covers the area of a 25,000 person city in the US houses over 200,000. Whats interesting is that while the outside of many of these buildings look very eroded, some of the apartments must be VERY nice. I've passed one to many Beemers and Benzes to believe that those are simply the vehicles of the people that run the place. It's an odd juxtaposition.

Mostly a port and tourist town, Klaipeda was rebuilt by the Soviets as a military base and somewhat of a tourist/vacation spot. The oldtown has some very ancient buildings, but you can tell most of them were rebuilt a few decades ago. Still the town gives off that southern florida vibe that things are busy when the tourists are in town, but are probably pretty sleepy the rest of the time.

Lithuania, and Eastern Europe in general has slowly started growing on me. I think those of us in the U.S. forget how extravagently wealthy we are. I don't mean this in the typical "we're a bunch of greedy capitalists that only care about stuff" way. The U.S. social environment is filled with businesses and market oriented enterprises designed to find every obscure and conceivable way to make the U.S. citizen part with his money. Its striking how WELL these enterprises do. While Lithuania is oriented around a market economy, that well oiled- pristinely designed undercurrent isn't there. People who only use public transportation and people who own BMWs use the same beaches and eat at the same restaurants with the chipped paint on the exterior. (The food is AMAZING here btw....seriously, its mostly cheap and very well made)

Lithuania has a surprisingly unstratified culture, which is something you CANNOT say anymore about America. I only have to go as far as Benton Harbor vs. St. Joe in MI to see how true this is. This isn't to say that it doesn't have a dark underbelly...because this country does...alcohol abuse is pervasive, homelessness is a serious issue and there are some parts of the city I've been told to stay away from entirely, but above that undercrust things don't shatter so completely...most Lithuanians have a remarkably common experience of life.

So...a few fun and interesting observations:

-Bicycles have a designated part of the sidewalk and they USE it. Bikes definitely have the right of way and I've almost been flattened a lot.

-Europeans really do like speedos...

-Waiters will only bring you a bill when you've asked for it, and your allowed to seat yourself. Seriously, you could sit there for hours and they won't do a thing until you track them down.

-Nobody speaks 1 language...we Americans are pretty helpless in this regard

-If you every come to Lithuania get the Kepta Duona...its this amazing combination of rye bread, garlic, cheese, and a deep frier...completely fatal in high doses but incredibly good