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.