Monday, July 6, 2009

What can $4 buy you...

Last Saturday when we were out traveling in northern Lithuanian countryside, Kel and Sharon, our long time friends from New Zealand who live in Klaipeda, aksed if we wanted to be adventurous or safe supper tonight. In other words, should we go to an known restaurant or to a little village cafe. We chose the little village even though our host was afraid to do it--he had gotten slapped in them before... With this choice, you get what you get, an we got lucky. By the weay, the menu was handwritten. The meal pictured at the left--ribs, fries, cole slaw, beats, carrots and horse radish--was $4. Jude ordered a bowl of chicken soup. It came with real chunks of chicken, some so big she had to cut them with a knife...all for 75 cents. Of course I drank my favorite beer--Svyturys for $1.25. We enjoyed our meal and the company. After we finished eating, our waitress, probably the owner, came and asked if we wanted dessert. She said she would go to the bakery across the street. We chuckled a bit and said no thanks. After we paid, she brought out some cookies for us. What a pleasant place.
Earlier that afternoon, Kel drove us by a tank...hence the photo.
On Monday, we opened SLI by greeting all the students in the school's gym and then headed off to classes. The first day is always a little anxious--for both students and teachers. No matter how many times we've done this, it's always tenuous. This year, the school is equiped with computers, overhead projectors and sound systems in each classroom. Jude can hook her ipod to the system and just leave it there all the time. I can hop onto the network to project my lessons. It's made life easier. Jude took another teacher's class Tuesday morning because he was singing at the International Song Fest in Vilnius. Then in the afternoon, she taught her classes, went to the staff pot luck at 6 pm and then helped me with the "movie and chat" from 8 - 9:30 pm. At the movie and chats, we watched the movie "Once" and then talked about relationships. Kel has focused the studies this year on three themes--relationships, money and God--Students can choose from "movie and chats," "crossroads," a discussion group which focuses on the theme and the students' cultures and a traditional Bible study, which also focuses on the three themes. Therefore, students can switch back and forth while still sticking to the central themes. All take place in the students' dorm. Then, it's a 30 minute walk to our dorm...for a good night's sleep--one long day.
Our first day of school was cloudy and overcast with a few sprinkles. Tuesday was cold walking to school, but the sun came out mid morning and warmed the place to 75 degrees--pleasant and very workable. We tested two more students from Belarus, who had troubles with their transportation to Lithiuania. Total numbers are around 240 students. That's a good number, especially since two teachers could not make it at the last minute.



2 comments:

  1. One needs to be careful of a man winking from a tank. How else do you think he got his $4 meal.

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  2. After seeing you in the tank picture I have a new found respect! ;~) You said your favorite beer cost $1.25 but you didn't mention how many times you had to pull out $1.25?? ;~)

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