Welcome Home?

I AM HERE! I have re-entered my favorite place :) It was so good to walk out of the airport and smell that cigarette filled air. Memories came flooding back.

I flew over with Annie, one of the gals from my group. She's darling! We flew from Las Vegas to Chicago first and that flight was super uncomfortable. Come on United, figure it out..

Then we flew over to Vienna from Chicago. That flight was surprisingly nice! I took some Z-Quil to knock out, and it worked! I slept almost the whole flight, and also watched Kingsman, one of the best movies ever! They fed us dinner and lunch and tons of drinks. We had pasta with veggies and salad, a roll, and chocolate mousse. I though it was nummy. And then later they gave us a turkey and cheese panini which was to die for. I loved it. Passport control was an absolute breeze in Vienna. Literally 2 people in our line, walked up, stamped my passport, and no questions asked. Our flight to Vilnius was nice and quick. I listened to my new music and enjoyed the countryside views. I had butterflies looking down below as I remembered my first time here. How surreal it was. And this time, it was like coming back home. Of course, St. George is my home, but I feel a very strong connection to Lithuania.

Dima picked us up and we went to McDonald's and I got a chicken sandwich and, of course, a Sprite with no ice. Ugh. I forgot about the ice. I love all of my drinks ice ice cold! Dima brought me to the temporary apartment on the other side of town (where we will stay until the weekend when the Summer teachers will move out of our apartment by the school.) and I'm like "Dang, I wish we could live here the whole semester. This apartment is posh!" Our apartment by the school is a wee bit ghetto. But I'm still excited to live there :) I napped a bit, showered, and waited for Dima to arrive with the other girls coming at 5:30. They didn't arrive until about 7:45, which gave me a fright. I wasn't sure how to get a hold of them either. But when they walked through the door, all was well :)
I skyped with Tim for a little bit, and then McCall, Katie & I walked down to the Rimi supermarket to buy something for dinner. I decided on pasta with Mascarpone sauce, broccoli, peaches ANDDDDD my favorite CHEESECAKE BARS! It's been 2 flipping years until I have had one and I was in absolute bliss biting into this one again! AH!

Now I've just been at home putting together some crafts to decorate our classrooms while watching "Wild." Such a phenomenal film.

I haven't taken hardly ANY photos. What's wrong with me? I started making a departure video, which started with me filming stuff up until I got to the airport in Vegas, then I didn't bring my camera out ONCE along the way :( I've been stressed worrying about all six girls plus myself arriving safely and timely. Not to mention all of the meetings and trainings I have to hold within the next 3 days, and then starting teaching on Monday! Yikes! It's going to be absolutely nuts. But I am excited and....let's just say I'm already looking forward to next weekend because we will probably go to Trakai (the lake with the Medieval castle) or maybe go swimming at the lake :) I'll hopefully take some photos tomorrow! Hope everyone is well.

24 Days.

A little overwhelmed.

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! 

In Waiting...

Welcome to my blog! I won't be using it for another year...BUT I have so much fun designing and creating things that I just couldn't wait. I wanted to make my blog super cute, so that I wouldn't get bored of it and would want to actually post stuff on it :) Because usually after I make a blog, I have such a hard time updating. But, now I look back and regret not posting more when I was in Lithuania, because there are so many things that I wanted to remember. Everything, actually. And honestly, I have a hard time remembering every little thing. And that makes me terribly sad. So I don't want to will not let that happen again. Here's to my soon-to-be adventure and all of the memories I will make & experiences I will gain!