A little anxious.
A little nervous.
But of course, this is me we are talking about here. So it's not surprising that I am feeling all of these things. When I was about 10 years old, my aunt Pam gave me an ancient Indian Worry Stone for my birthday. It came in a nice little pouch I wore around my neck, and she told me that whenever I feel worried or scared of something, to take it out of the pouch and rub it. It was one of those very smooth, polished stones.
I still have it. It hangs around my rear view mirror in my car. And yes, I still put it to good use. I'll definitely be taking it with me ;)
So I am down to 24 days. I have been looking forward to returning to Lithuania for 1 1/2 years now. I feel so lucky because I not only get to serve there for the fall semester, but also for the following spring semester as well. I will be serving in Vilnius (the capital) in fall and Kaunas in the spring. Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania. Both beautiful and amazing. My great pal Amy gets to join me on my second quest. I am so so very thrilled.
This is the place that I love! I am smitten.
This is my man! I'll sure miss him. Tim is half American half Finnish AND served his mission in London. So he has introduced me to a lot of Finnish & British culture and I absolutely love it. He's one in a million :)
So I have six ladies in my teaching group. I'm the head teacher. Basically I will be their mentor/teaching guide, since I have taught on the program previously. Teaching was....hard. Coming up with zillions of lesson plans each week and trying to keep the kids engaged had its challenges. I am secretly relieved that I don't have to actually teach. But at the same time, not being able to teach will prevent me from making strong connections with the children like I did before. Although, I will be in the classrooms as much as the teachers will, it just won't be the same. It's a "double edged sword" as Tim would say. I've been chatting with the girls here and there and they all seem excellent! I am so excited to meet them all! Is it weird that I am also excited for the adventure of getting there? I don't know why, but the thought of packing and jumping from plane to plane, being able to listen to all my music, waiting in airports, eating shitty airplane/airport food. Just sounds....delightful?
The clock is ticking! 24 days!
