Ummm . . .

Welcome to Laisves Aleja! What a whirlwind day!!

I really don't know where to begin so I'm just going to start and I hope it makes sense.

Turns out I'm not the great International driver that I boasted about yesterday. Ran a red light and had a policia follow me! The lights are on the sidewalks. I am so focused on the narrow-am-i-running-someone-off-the-road streets that I forget to look. Trust me when I say there is no talking on your phone and driving here people. I am reassured by Matt and Renaldas that they won't send me a ticket!

First things first this morning. Time to do a little laundry. Matt was always able to drop his laundry off and have the laundromat attendants do it for him. Although it is not as cheap, he insisted this is what we do. I will be interested to see what shape it is in when we pick it up tomorrow. Not fond of someone else washing my undies!

In the parking lot of the laundromat is where we met Alma and Rimondis. They were so happy to see Matt. (They are a family that Matt spent a lot of time with here but were never able to really talk much religion with because the Book of Mormon was only in Russian). They live in Chicago now but are here to see family. Rimondis drives truck and actually surprised us about 3 years ago by showing up at our house.
So this is where things got a little different for me. I guess the culture here is to plant a big wet one right on the lips. Awkward!! Something to laugh about but now I know to at least pucker up!!
We went to lunch with them. It was great to catch up. They ordered Kael cake for his birthday. Then they tell us they have friends coming and I'm thinking, this is great! I'm asking about fabric shops and Alma says her friend can show us around and I'm thinking, this is great!! and then I am listening and finally understanding that these people are taking us around and Alma and Rimondis are abandoning us and I'm thinking, this isn't so great!! (They had a good reason, Alma's dad is in the hospital and they actually diagnosed him with a rare cancer this afternoon). Well, their friends don't exactly speak English so Matt got thrown right into hard core Lithuanian. Plus, we were at a fabric store, out of his element, words he didn't know! They take us other places shopping. A doughnut shop. The wife tries to talk to me and I want to say 'se habla espanol'. They take us shopping more. The husband is pretty good at English, or so he thinks. It is still hard not to pull out my best Spanglish. Matt's brain is about to explode from all the words he is remembering and trying to remember. The wife loves to talk and is jabbering 35 mph. My brain is going about that fast thinking how trusting we are to get in the car with these people!!! Finally we meet back up with Alma and Rimondis and I'm thinking WHEW!! we made it (this was about a 5 hour span of our lives). Then we all go to dinner and I sit with Kael and Matti and the friends husband (I really don't even know their names). He wants to have a conversation about the 'landscape' where we live. I don't think he understood a word I said and when I tried to ask him questions we had to interrupt Matt to translate! Chaotic! Memorable for sure!!

We hurried back to the room so we could freshen up and meet Renaldas for dinner (yes, today I have made up for any lack of food in the last two weeks!) We ate and then Renaldas took us on a tour of Old Town. I loved it! Cobblestone streets, churches and old buildings, the river, and Kaunas Castle. Beautiful at night!! A great, relaxing evening. Just what we needed :) The kids decided to run up and down a hill next to the castle. I realized this is the first time they have been able to run all week. Kael loves to run! It must have been killing him because he didn't even ask if he could do it he just took off!! It was a really steep hill and after his first lap Matti joined him. On the way back down they both crashed. Matti's arm is bothering her but I am hoping it will subside with a little rest.

It is 2:30 am. I really have to get some sleep!

Pics:
#1 Streets of Laisvas Aleja
#2 This is what the birthday boy wanted. A picture in the rock?! Easy to please!!
#3 Keeping our drinks safe!
#4 Dropping off our laundy. 12 kg
#5 In front of where we ate with Alma and Rimondis . . . lunch.
#6 Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!
#7 A balloon clown and our new nameless friend!!
#8 The friends took us to Akropolis. A huge mall. Inside is this ice rink where we watched them play while we ate. These kids looked like they were 7-10 yrs old.
#9 Kaunas Castle
#10 Running!!!
#11 Telephonas!
#12 Church at the end of Laisvas Aleja.