Hello dear friends,

Tick tock, tick tock… time is running so quickly! 1 more week and we’ll be finished with LEAP (I wish this for everybody, so nobody would have to pay big money to repeat this course). I’ve been studying here since last September together with some of you (Amy, Alif, and Mohammad); meanwhile, majority of the others I met first in January. However, now it seems that we are all old friends :) At least to me. I will really miss you guys (including our nice instructors) after this program. Hopefully, we will keep writing each other emails and even meet time to time. I’ll be always happy to receive your messages :) Don’t forget that!

What are you going to do the coming summer? I think most of you will go to visit your countries. I hope I’ll do the same thing in the second half of the summer. And let’s promise each other that we’re not gonna stop studying English ;) At least reading English books…

I would also like to improve some of my other languages, especially French, the language that I started studying at my university in Lithuania the year when I was finishing my degree program. I had the most amazing French teacher in the world!!! Because of such terrific teachers students start loving their target languages. I feel sorry that I couldn’t give my all for learning French because I also had to write my thesis. Those months were one of the hardest ones I had in my life. Therefore, my attention was not focused on language learning. Moreover, I haven’t practiced my French since my final exam (I got 10 :)). And after such a long time, languages that you don’t use get mixed up especially if you studied similar languages as I did – Italian and French. Then, you can’t remember such things like – oh, which of these: a l’universite and all’universita is en Francaise and which in italiano :)

The moral is – let us all often practice languages that we’ve studied. Cheers!

PS. Happy Easter!!!

Angels

Hello, my Friends :)
It’s my 12th blog… Hmmm what to write about..? Oh, I know :)

Many people have a hobby collecting things. Some collect stamps, others - currency from different countries (bad news for these collectors – currency in many countries will soon be the same because the Euro’s replacing many national currencies in the EU countries), info about some celebrity, beer cans or… even memories (why not?). I didn’t think I was collecting anything until the day when I noticed that I like little statues and souvenirs of Angels!

I don’t know when this trend has started, but the more time passes, the more angels I surround myself with. I buy them myself or someone gives me as a present… One angel I even made myself from felt and beads :)

Why are they special to me? Because they are such beautiful creations!!! I just love their humble beauty, friendly eyes, secret smiles and praying hands. They symbolize to me some kind of guardianship and fellowship, if you know what I mean. I guess my special attitude towards angels must have been partially influenced by my religion. Indeed, Angels are very important in Catholicism. How about other religions? What are your feelings about Angels? Have you heard anything about them?

Oh those pets!

I noticed that some of students wrote about their pets, which is always fun to read about. I don’t have a pet now, but I hope that the situation will change sometime. I’m dreaming about having a WHITE female (because they are usually friendlier) cat or a golden retriever puppy. We’ll see, we’ll see :)

I had only one pet in my life – a male cat Kitis. I’m sure his name sounds quite strange to you, guys :) I already shared my experiences about having this crazy guy in one of Scott’s blog’s comment section. Because my cat did so many unforgettable mischievous things, such as peed on clothes, shoes, “touched” with his nails everything he met on his way and used to meow so loud at 6 a.m. trying to wake us up, my mom said “that’s it, he’s going to where he came from!”. After these words, my experience of having a cat ended :( ! In retrospect, despite the fact that my cat was naughty, he used to be good at listening to my monologues. During such moments, he usually used to lie down with his eyes half open and pretend he’s sleeping doing that cat sound “purrr purrr…”.

;))

A little break from Lithuanian stories :) Here is a cute (at least for me:) picture:

I’m keeping the tradition of telling something interesting about my country. This time I’m not gonna write about some place, but I’ll tell you about my favorite mineral instead.

Gintaras or amber is sometimes called the gold of the Baltic’s (3 small countries with coasts on the Baltic Sea – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). I have read that this stone is found even in Canada, the USA, Brazil and Mexico. However, 90% of amber is extracted in the Baltic region, mainly on the Kaliningrad seashore.

Amber is the fossilized resin of ancient trees. Sometimes you can see various insects or pieces of moss fossilized in amber! It is like a piece of art by the Mother Nature :) By the way, did you know how ancient amber is? It can be from 30 to 90 million years old!!

Amber is found in a wide range of colors: from bright and transparent yellow to orange or even to opaque black. My favorite color is yellow :) I just love the feeling of amber near my skin; therefore I have various jewelries made from it. It is said that amber can heal certain illnesses if you wear it every day. For example, a necklace of unpolished (!!) amber could help heal the thyroid illnesses.

Almost in every Lithuanian souvenir shop, you will see a lot of beautiful things including pictures and jewelry made of amber. And the prices are relatively cheap (if you would compare to Canadian prices :).

Kryžių Kalnas

Today I‘m gonna tell you about one more interesting place in Lithuania – Kryžių kalnas or the Hill of Crosses. I visited it for the first time 2 years ago and it left lasting impressions on me.
The Hill of Crosses is located 12 kilometers north of a small city Siauliai. There are over 56, 000 crosses of various sizes and made of different materials. It is said that the tradition of placing crosses there started in the 14th century when a large part of Lithuania was Christianized. On the other hand, this place is mentioned for the first time in written chronicles only in the middle of 19th century, after the brutal crushing of the uprisings in 1831 and 1863. Those were the times when Lithuania was oppressed by tsarist Russia. As a result, many Lithuanian people were killed and cities destroyed.

The Russians kept removing Christian crosses from the hill (because they were against the religiosity of the Lithuanian people), but the Lithuanians kept putting new ones up.

Actually, the invaders tried to abolish our written and spoken language – Lithuanian. For many decades, all Lithuanian books, newspapers and church warship were forbidden. However, there were many people who didn’t care about the prohibitions and devoted their lives to bring books secretly for others. They were called knygnešiai (“book-bringers”). There were also priests who kept holding Lithuanian mass in those difficult times. The risk they took greatly contributed to retaining Lithuanian spirit in the russified country.

But let’s go back to the Hill of Crosses. If you look closer at the crosses, you may notice that there are names, dates, and written messages on most of them. Why? For a variety of reasons. Some crosses are for the memory of those who died while defending Lithuania from the invaders; others express their gratitude for recovery from illness or ask for healing. Many crosses symbolize the wish for peace in my country and in the rest of the world.

The Legend

As you saw in my last blog, Lithuania has ancient castles. And actually not so few! Why? As I wrote before, Lithuania has a very long past reaching back to the 12 century. In those days, there lived many generations of dukes, one of whom even became the one and only (so far) king of our land. His name was Mindaugas. Anyways, talking about castles, they were used as the residences of the dukes and as defensive fortifications. One of the most famous castles is Gediminas Castle, which stands on a hill in Vilnius, the centre of the capital of Lithuania. So time for its legend :)

According to the legend found in the Chronicle of Lithuania, Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, once had a prophetical dream. He dreamt that an iron wolf standing on one particular place in Vilnius was howling like hundreds of wolves. As the Lithuanians were pagan in those days, the Grand Duke asked the chief pagan priest Lizdeika about the meaning of his dream. The priest answered that this dream reflects the Gods’ will that Gediminas should build a castle in the same place where the wolf was howling. The extremely loud howling in the dream, said Lizdeika, probably meant that this castle would make the city of Vilnius prosperous and famous in all the Europe. In fact, the castle was built in 1230 and the capital was moved from Trakai to the new town Vilnius, which has remained the capital of Lithuania.

Talking about Trakai, this small town is situated about 30 kilometers (we don’t use miles or pounds, or feet or Fahrenheit in Lithuania!!!) away. There are a lot of picturesque lakes in that area. Actually, the Castle of Trakai itself is surrounded by the lake and you need to walk over the bridge if you want to visit.
PS. See – dream interpretation was so popular and powerful (people were building castles after dreaming a wolf :) even in ancient times!

Lithuania

I decided that it’s high time to interrupt my writing about this and that and…

acquaint you guys with my homeland Lithuania :) Some of you have probably never heard about it before, but from now on you won’t have any excuses to say: “What? Lithuania? Is it in Albania (that was what one guy in LEAP 3 asked me)? Oh, no, no – it’s probably an African country!” or – “It belongs to Russia, right?” Actually the last question is one of the worst things you could ask Lithuanians… Why? Well, guys, if you ask this question, means you definitely need to improve your history knowledge!

Could you believe if I say that the name Lietuva (that’s what we call our country) was mentioned for the first time in 1009…? This shows what a long history my country has. Lithuania, which is located in Eastern Europe, is a parliamentary democracy although the President of the country also has some powers. In 2004 Lithuania, which has a population of 3.5 mln. people, became a member of the European Union and NATO. One more interesting thing about my country is that it has a 90 km coast line on the Baltic Sea. Yeah!!!

Those people who are interested in sports might have heard about Lithuanian basketball players who played or are still playing in NBA: A.Sabonis, S. Macijauskas, Z. Ilgauskas, D.Songaila, and M.Andriuskevicius. Ice hockey players D.Kasparaitis (currently playing for the New York Rangers) and D.Zubrius (used to play for the Montreal Canadiens). One more celebrity in the Lithuanian sport’s world is discus thrower V.Alekna who has won many Olympic medals and world championships. Ok, enough for now; better leave something to tell for next time.

PS. in the pics you can see Trakai Castle, Kaunas Rotušė (town hall), centre street in Vilnius (the capital city), Gedimino Castle (it was built in 1230, actually there is a very interesting legend about it!! I think I'll tell you about it in one of my blogs :) and a tiny part of the seaside in Nida.

My Sixth Blog :)

Hello, guys! How is your reading week going? Studying each day? I actually do :) I haven’t done almost any writing yet, but I’ve read a lot. I’ve heard reading is one of the best and least painful ways to improve your language.

One more thing that I am enjoying during this week is cooking :) For example, today I cooked a stir-fry of carrots, tomato, tuna and rice :) it was not bad, but I have a feeling that my Chinese friends would have complained about the rice – it was too mushy :) And for desert I made an apple pie :) Niam niam! It is an equivalent to English yummy. Actually I heard one Canadian 2-year old boy saying niam niam as he was eating a piece of pizza; ) see – children have a Lithuanian soul, which they probably forget about as they grow older!

Hmmm, my post still contains a little bit less that 200 words (I’m counting:), so I need to write something more :) Last Sunday I went to my first Canadian baptism in Canada!! One of the funniest things was that the baby slept all through the ceremony waking up only at the end :) Even a priest was astonished by this. Actually, that guy was pretty funny – he called the parents of the baby farmers although they don’t have anything in common with farming activities :) By the way, talking about priests… I have been 3 times in 3 different churches in Canada and all the priests that held the mass were foreigners!!! Once I even talked a little bit in German to one priest after mass :)

Hockey Night in Canada

Wow, what a Saturday I had!!! I went to the… hockey game in the Saddledome!!! :D The Calgary Flames were playing the Colorado Avalanche. Actually, it was my first time watching this sport. When I entered the stadium, my first impression was wow – so many hockey fans!!! Almost all of them were dressed in special red outfits and held various posters. I had a very good seat – in the fifth row! Therefore, I could take so many pictures without zooming in.

I think this game is quite cruel… Players hit each other so many times; two guys even had to leave the rink because of their bloody noses… Ewww! In addition, they pushed each other to the glass walls so strongly that it seemed that the glass wall would fall down. Another thing, this time funny – the refs were jumping like rabbits over the sliding puck whenever it came on their way. Moreover, our neighbor from a higher row tried to affect the Colorado’s goalie’s concentration by shouting his last name Buuuuuuuuuudaaaaaaj and sending him some hex with his hands pointed towards the goalie and shaking his fingers as if he was some kind of magician.

The most awesome thing about the game was that they showed my face on the big screen! What an honor. :D Hee hee! Ok, enough about sports. To be honest, I don’t really like watching such games. I think playing them instead is healthier :)

Ups, I just realised I forgot to mention that Calgary won 5:2 :)

A few days ago, we talked about the pyramids in Egypt and an instructor asked us if we know any other place where pyramids are located. I know one :) It’s on the top of Market Mall! Two big ones and four small ones (at least I can see these) hee hee! You can see them in pic.

Many LEAP students write how much they miss their families and homes. I do it too, but as one guy (can’t remember who) commented, we should try not to think about that so often and it will be easier. I agree. One day when I was thinking about my family, I went to google-maps or google-Earth (one of them) and found my house in Lithuania!!!! I could see cars parked around, trees, and other houses. That was pretty exciting :) By the way, I have one little story to cheer you up :)

Guess who said bye-bye to a Christmas tree yesterday??? Hmmm… was it really a CHRISTMAS tree…we decorated it only a few days before the New Year’s eve :) Anyway, the way we said farewell was quite funny – instead of dragging it all the way through the hallway and throwing needles on the carpet, we simply throw the tree from the balcony from the third floor. Just like that. Ups. Actually, I wanted to suggest to pick some cones as souvenirs, bet when I opened my mouth to say that – it was too late :) or… was it?? When there’s a will, there’s a way. So I just went downstairs and ripped off 3 nice cones.

Now you are probably asking “and what about the tree?” (good job Loreta - you learnt to anticipate questions that readers may ask :) Ohh, we just left it. Just kidding :p Of course we took it to the place where all Christmas trees get together before they go to their paradise.

Memories of Wildlife

One of the things that I like most about Canada is its amazing Wildlife. I remember my endless OOOOOO AAAAA YYYYY emotions when I first time saw a deer through the kitchen window three years ago during my first visit to Canada!!! Of course there are a lot of deer in Lithuania but the only place I saw them was in the Zoo :).
In addition to deer, I have seen other wild animals here. And (ups, Scott doesn’t let us use this at the beginning of the sentence :) not only seen… I remember very strong emotions when I was chasing a moose around a barn for the very first time in my life! That guy had antlers which made him even more exotic to me.

Other animals that I have heard a few times but have never seen are coyotes. Their howling froze my blood a few nights… They are not the ones that I would like to meet at night :). I could say the same thing about bears. Last summer, when I went on a camping trip all throughout Alberta and British Columbia, I had good chances to meet those fuzzies. I’m grateful I didn’t! On the other hand, I saw a lot of small animals, the most memorable were gophers. What stupid things they are! Standing on the highway and just waiting to be driven over. Yikes! Luckily, I haven’t seen them yet this year.

What about your experiences, my Dear Readers?

PS I took all of these pics through the window :)

Skanaus :)) (Bon appetite en lituanien)

Hello, guys!

Is there anybody who needs to gain some weight.... :)? Cause today I'm gonna teach you how to cook LABAI ŠOKOLADINIUS KVADRATĖLIUS or in the language you can understand - VERY CHOCOLATE SQUARES. If you knew their taste, you’d be literally running to your kitchens right now. So where is your Yeahhhh! Yahoo!!! and all the other exclamations showing your excitement??? :) I'm excited too because I am cooking them at the moment :)
PS. I think our friend Mohammad should be excited most of all because he expressed a wish in his blog to learn how to cook something more than just an egg… hee hee :)

First of all, take a glance at my picture! There you can see all the ingredients you need for squares (PS how do you like my snowman?):

• 1 container of sweetened condensed milk (I know, I know it contains a lot of calories, but…. :)


• 130 g. almond hazelnut butter (you can substitute it with butter if you don't have the required one),


• 160 g. dark chocolate,


• 200 g. crushed biscuits,


• 100 g. ground walnuts.

Melt chocolate with butter and poor it into condensed milk. Don't stick your finger in the mixture :) Anyways, if you did it just lick it well and go back to work :)

Now is the time for the biggest fun :) Roll up your sleeves and pour the nuts and biscuits to the sweet mixture. Stir it well!! Yummy :)

After that, make sure your oven has reached 180 degrees (Celsius). Then, put your mixture into a cooking pan 20*20 cm. I usually cover it with wax paper. Cook it for no longer than 20 min. After that – take it out and leave to cool down for a while. When it finally gets to the room temperature, take a sharp knife and cut your cake into small pieces. SMALL, guys, cause it’s too good to give your guests them in big chunks. Hee hee :) and…

Oh my God, I just gave away one of the best recipes in the world!!!!

My first post :)

Hello :))

Blogging is one of my hobbies, therefore I'm very happy to create this blog!!! And this time it's in English :) I wrote "this time" because I already have a Lithuanian blog which I update every week. In that blog I write to my friends in Lithuania telling them about my life and studies in Canada.

Talking about the English blog, it is dedicated to my classmates, instructors and readers from all around the world. Most accurate to say - it's dedicated to You, my Dear Reader :) I hope you won't be bored with my stories and long poems too much... Just joking! I'm not a poet. I just like sharing with others what's going on in my life, showing how I see this world through my pictures (how do you like my fuzzy sheep? :) and... reading others' blogs!!! I think every person has a lot of good stories to tell. B.Clinton said something similiar in his biography "My way" and that's one of those rare things that I agree with him:). Ohhh, let's not bring politics in here! I studied it for four long years of my life and I think it's more than too much :) On the other hand, as we say in Lithuanian, "never say never"... so maybe I'll change my opinion one day :) But before that beautiful day comes let's have some fun here, my friends. And so... I say - let's get started!!!!

PS. your comments are always welcome. It's actually for your own good sake...That magical word grades... :)