Ugly Ducklings, Memelis, and Papa Smurf Dying

Sept 13-15

Nothing special for the beginning of the week. Class, some scattered rain, almost forgotten homework… You know, the usual.

Sept 16

Today was the Ugly Duckling Cup. Now, when the flyer said, “Ever wanted to swim across Neumann pond? Well here’s your chance. Build a boat and let it float”, why would I ever think they would be joking. Oh, silly me. Why wouldn’t they be serious? I signed up as a sailor of the raft, showed up in a pirate-wannabe outfit, and allowed Gabby to decorate my face with stars and glitter to enhance the pirate effect. I don’t think I ever fully understood what I had gotten myself into.

The flag runners participated in a three-legged race, and then potato sack hopping, and I don’t even know what else to transfer the flag to the sailors. My partner and I raced to the water, maneuvered our raft to the edge of the pond, splashed into the water, climbed on and started paddling for our lives. Now, I can steer a kayak quite easily on my own, wherever I want to go and even upstream if necessary, but not this raft. 

This was one tough arm workout, but somehow we managed to get to the other side of the pond. I was all too glad to pass on my shovel/paddle onto my fellow sailor, and off they paddled back across the pond. My partner had turned back and swam across with the two on the raft as he had another turn to paddle. The order of the rafts stayed the same as the order of which the flag runners reached the sailors: Karklu came in second, following Neumann West and beating the Staff. Sadly, Neumann East’s boat never made it into the water because it fell apart, though theirs won the most creative. It was called the I-Boat, and had a GPS system to call Mom if they got lost, and other hysterical innovative and creative things.

I carried my laptop much further than I ever would have wanted. I hauled it to campus in hopes of studying for my sociology exam tomorrow, but that didn’t exactly happen. And to add insult to injury, I got off at the wrong bus stop. I wasn’t quite paying attention so I didn’t notice the landmark that I was looking for to get off at the creepy alleyway to get back to Karklu. It was an additional 15 minutes, and I was walking pretty quickly since it was 10:20, dark, and raining. Finally I trudged up the 5 flights of stairs to get to my room, where I, as gently as possible of course, dropped my backpack on the ground as soon as possible and collapsed into my chair. Way too much laptop-carrying went on today. Chelsea and Sam, you know how you guys were making fun of my ‘man-calves’? Yeah, no.. just wait until I come home from here.

P.S. Happy Birthday Derek!

Sept 17

By the request of SOMEONE! (ahem ahem Mārtiņš!!) I will attempt to make future blog posts a little longer than they have been. I’ve been trying to keep them short, sweet, and to the point for all of you so you wouldn’t get bored and stop following my blog. But if you want to read more, please let me know so I will try to write more where applicable.

Had my first exam today, and it was for Sociology. Probably could have studied a little bit more effectively for it, but I think it went alright. EXCEPT for the fact that the guy next to me was using his I-phone to google answers for the essay questions. Ugh… makes me SO mad! But, from what I’ve heard, in Ukraine? (please correct me if I’m wrong, I forget who told me this), it is totally acceptable, and even encouraged to cheat as long as you could get away with it.

Yra (my roommate) invited me to dinner. She cooked chicken and potatoes, something I’m going to attempt to make sometime while I’m here. Once I get my stipend money for next month, I’m going to try some more complicated meals than just dumplings and fish sticks. So stay tuned for some truthful accounts of my cooking adventures. You know this is going to be awesome when I describe cooking as an adventure.

Sept 18

Saturday, a day for rest and relaxation… and time to catch up on all the work I’ve put off during the week? Oops… I have a paper due Monday, presentation info due Tuesday, quiz Wednesday, two exams Thursday, weekend trip to Riga and Tallinn only to return to a World Lit exam Monday, paper due Tuesday, and another quiz on Wednesday. Remember in a previous post I promised that I would talk about how my life was going to explode? Yes, at this moment, the fuse has been lit and I will be sure to let you know when it is set to go off for me to lose my mind.

Last night Yra invited me to go with her for some shopping at the produce market down the street. There are about a hundred people selling their homegrown produce every Wednesday and Saturday morning, rain or shine. The rain held off long enough for Yra to get her honey and vegetables. Now I know where I’ll be hopefully shopping in the future to expand my cooking skills. Going shopping with her meant that I would have to book it across town to get to Neumann for my seminar presentation meeting. I made the usual 26-minute walk, with my trusty laptop once again on my back, in 18 minutes. Someone tell me that’s not dedication. Sadly, it didn’t matter at all, because I was an hour late, and my group had met without me and assigned what part of the project that I would be responsible for. I will never live this down.. but once again, I’m sorry guys.

What better way to forget all about school and other nonsense than a night at Memelis? It was a night of getting lost in laughter with friends, dancing my worries away, and singing my heart out to “Your Sex is on Fire” along with the entire club. The two ‘entertainment dancers’, as I will call them, made the night that much more memorable. Let’s just say, there was more pelvic thrusting than was wanted. **Added Content: I'm sorry for denying one of my friends a shout out for making my night that much more wonderful. James, thank you for being as sauced as you were. Your energy level allowed me to be that much more crazy, and I will hold true to what I said and you somehow managed to remember.** Oh, and I can’t forget my drunken friend who, after saying we were a disgrace for being in Lithuania but not speaking the language, says that he loves me and America as I answered him with a few short phrases in Lithuanian. AND, he said he loves New Jersey :). But in all seriousness (not that loving New Jersey isn’t serious), the way his eyes lit up at my attempts to speak Lithuanian meant a lot to me. A little effort and hard work can go a long way.

Sept 19

Sunday: continuation of Saturday to finish all the work you failed to complete earlier. I think I left my room for a total of 5 minutes to cook some noodles for lunch. But, I did finish one study guide, the majority of the other, and my paper for tomorrow. Yra fed me again tonight, some rice with a mixture of vegetables. Though, as appreciative as I am, I don’t think serving her my first attempt at cooking is a proper thank you. Hopefully, “It’s the thought that counts” will be applied and she won’t laugh too much. I’ll get a handle on this cooking business eventually… Wish me luck.

R.I.P Papa Smurf, I will always love you. Thank you for being such a loyal car and breaking down on everyone except me: years ago when you were experiencing your first few problems, you only did it to Jeff or Dad; then, you started shaking when Mom took you out to drive; you were missing windshield wipers during a storm for Richard; and now, in your few last glorious moments, you broke down on Jeff, but still got him home safely. I know you loved me the most.

Although everyone else in the family called you the Blue Bomber, I knew you liked being called Papa Smurf better. So Papa Smurf, thank you for helping me become the driver I am today. You were my first car I drove around town once I got my license. And though I trusted you, Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me take you more than an hour away from the house in fear that you would betray me and break down. Thank you for putting up with the countless times I rubbed your tires up against the curb in front of the house, and keeping it a secret. And thank you for trusting me enough to parallel park in between those two cars in front of the house that one time. Remember that time picking up Mike, going to Mcy D’s to get chocolate milkshakes and showing that new driver who’s boss at parallel parking in the high school parking lot? Thank you (and Sam and Caroline) for keeping that one trip to WAWA a secret, I’m sorry that happened. But as I promised, that never happened again… except for that time I gently backed you up into Mike’s car. And even though I also abused you by driving you to Eastern, thank you for making it up that hill as I floored the gas, yet only to go 30 mph. Oh, and I know you enjoyed ‘going dashboard’ as much as I did. So many more memories; I will never forget you.

I love you too Papa Smurf <3