Christmas - What an experience!
To be honest, first I was a bit afraid of celebrating Christmas with completely
different traditions, with kind of strangers which cannot speak English and
without a good vocabulary in Lithuanian. But I don‘t regret anything. We had
the great chance to try the traditional twelve dishes, self-made Gira and kind
of liqueur, to learn more about the history of Lithuania and most of all get to
know two of the friendliest people I ever met.
The flat of
Liudvikas Aunt and Uncle, Grazina
and Tolis, is near the TV tower and they are about 80
years old but still very active. You
know, I was really sceptical but they welcomed us so friendly so that it was reassuring for all of us. In this moment I realized that language is not that
important. When people really have to and want to understand each other they
can. Annesophie, Liudvikas and I just know some Lithuanian words, Grazina knows
some French and Tolis learned German in school but the language we spoke the
most was with hands and feet.
Immediately
after arriving in the flat they indulge us with nice soup, pasta and cookies.
Of course nobody was hungry but it was too good and impossible to say no to
such lovely people.
Over a cup
of coffee we get to know each other by talking in every language we know. It
was very funny and a homely feeling inside.
Despite the bad weather outside we decided to go for a walk and to the center because we were very full and wanted to see the city center with Christmas lights. At the Cathedral there was this big very nice manger and also in another church the “Visų Šventųjų bažnyčia” we got a kind of Christmas feeling. Nevertheless we all missed our family a lot, it was raining and cold and so we were soooo happy when we reached the flat again.
There the big meal was already prepared and this very special evening with its unique traditions started. First of all we shared Kalėdaitis, the Christmas wafer, with each other and Grazina told us some old traditions and explained the different dishes. Everything smelled so wonderful and we enjoyed it a lot. There was not really a dish which we didn’t like and to my surprise I truly like Silkė (herring). There were so many different delicious forms of it and different vegetables on the table and I didn’t miss the meat or the alcohol, which you are not allowed to consume that evening.
The only thing which was a bit wired for me was the red juice\pudding but all the others liked it a lot. Instead I liked the Kūčiukai (even with the poppy milk) which had a too strange consistence for Anne-Sophie.
After the dinner we talked, watched old pictures, tried self-made Gira and of course unwrapped our presents.
On this evening we didn‘t just celebrate, we learned so much about culture, language, ourselves, we get closer and we got two new, very special friends. For us it was so wonderful how Grazina and Tolis treated and welcomed us in their flat. I am sure that we will never forget this special Christmas and I think all of us are very glad that we stayed in Lithuania.
Despite the bad weather outside we decided to go for a walk and to the center because we were very full and wanted to see the city center with Christmas lights. At the Cathedral there was this big very nice manger and also in another church the “Visų Šventųjų bažnyčia” we got a kind of Christmas feeling. Nevertheless we all missed our family a lot, it was raining and cold and so we were soooo happy when we reached the flat again.
There the big meal was already prepared and this very special evening with its unique traditions started. First of all we shared Kalėdaitis, the Christmas wafer, with each other and Grazina told us some old traditions and explained the different dishes. Everything smelled so wonderful and we enjoyed it a lot. There was not really a dish which we didn’t like and to my surprise I truly like Silkė (herring). There were so many different delicious forms of it and different vegetables on the table and I didn’t miss the meat or the alcohol, which you are not allowed to consume that evening.
The only thing which was a bit wired for me was the red juice\pudding but all the others liked it a lot. Instead I liked the Kūčiukai (even with the poppy milk) which had a too strange consistence for Anne-Sophie.
After the dinner we talked, watched old pictures, tried self-made Gira and of course unwrapped our presents.
On this evening we didn‘t just celebrate, we learned so much about culture, language, ourselves, we get closer and we got two new, very special friends. For us it was so wonderful how Grazina and Tolis treated and welcomed us in their flat. I am sure that we will never forget this special Christmas and I think all of us are very glad that we stayed in Lithuania.
25th of December
We woke up late and then started the big lunch with a vodka.
I think we really had to drink all the alcohol and eat all the meat we were not
allowed to absorb the day before too. It was excellent and we all were still
very replete so that we went together for a long walk to the TV tower. Tolis
gave us a short but thrilling history lesson about this place. Before I did not
know that the TV tower is such a important symbol of the struggle for freedom
and independence for the whole Lithuanian nation. Tolis was also witness of
this tragic events in the night of 13 January 1991, when 12 people were killed
at the foot of the Vilnius TV Tower. I still cannot find a word to explain the
way he told us about this. Especially about this girl Loreta he told a lot and
her story is still in my mind.
Then it was time to say goodbye because I left the flat early in the morning on the 26th of December to go to Riga Airport to pick up my boyfriend. So yes, I had kind of second Christmas. We stayed one day there before we came back to Siauliai. I showed him the City and then we spend 2 days in Kaunas before we went to Vilnius for New Year.
New Year
Vilnius is definitely a great place to celebrate New Year.
Together with a lot of other volunteers from Lithuania we enjoyed the last
evening of the year. As always it was wonderful to see all of them again. If I
don‘t see them for a long time I already miss something. It is very important
to know that there are other volunteers who experience nearly the same and have
similar problems and feelings, especially when you feel homesick. But of course
this evening nobody of us was really homesick.
Boyfriend and very special friends – what could I want more?
For me it was a perfect start in a New Year.
