This may be lengthy, but I'll try to split it into the experience in Lithuania vs. the experience in Seimas.
Lithuania:
The people in Lithuania are culturally different from the people in the United States. In many ways, I felt like it was in a good way too. There was really only one thing I would question in Lithuania: Some of the service is a bit rude in restaurants, but only if you're not willing to admit you're from a different country. Once I said 'I'm from America, I'm a bit clueless', the quality of service dramatically increased. Otherwise, I have no complaints about Lithuania, and the 'complaint' I do have is no big deal.
The biggest difference I noticed between Lithuanians and Americans is the level of hospitality. In Lithuania, it seemed like the duty of every person to make me feel as comfortable as possible. Almost all the time, this duty did make me feel more comfortable. There is the traditional persistance of offering more food, even though I've eaten too much, but that was expected. Another sense of hospitality I felt was the incredible ability of small talk. Nobody here talks about the weather to start off conversations, but there is always a long list of things to talk about. One of the first days here, I was with Linas and Tomas. Even though I still wasn't comfortable with my new surroundings, they were able to make small talk with me for a long time. My sentences were short, the grammar might have been a bit off, but we were still able to consistently talk for a long period of time. I noticed that with every family I visited.
Maturity: I feel like in Lithuania, people mature faster. The hospitality was felt not just from adults, but also from people my age. People my aged seemed to be more cultured too. Here, people also listen to classical music, go to 'modern concerts' and classical concerts, and some of my friends here even go to plays and operas by themselves.
Handshake: Everybody here greets with a handshake, young and old. I've gotten lots of practise here and I'm eager to show off my new-found skill in the United States.
Phones: I don't think Lithuanians have gotten used to the fact that they have phones yet. Every call is picked up, phones are never on vibrate, and nobody texts. What many people here have done to try to conceal the fact that they're talking on their phones is covering their mouth with their hand and making a 'channel' from their mouths to their phones so they can talk while nobody else will notice. It's basically the same thing here with phones as it is in America, only Americans text.
Pride: It seems like everybody here wants to show off what they have to me. P. Rita, the one that works for p. Simenas, wants to show off Seimas. This is Lithuania's government, and this is the product of an independant Lithuania, that's what p. Rita wanted to show me. The other p. Rita, the one that brought me to the dvaras, invited me to her apartment last night. She was full of pride for her kids and her apartment. When I was with the Jakaitis family, they showed off their home they're building in the country, their apartment, their kids, and even the artwork that Mrs. Jakaitis painted. Overall, I think that this is an effect of still being a post-Soviet era country. Under the Soviet Union, there wasn't much freedom to have your own property, government, or even control over your own life. Now, with that freedom, everybody wants to show me, a westerner, how they are able to thrive in a free environment.
The West: It may be propaganda, it may be the truth, but many people in Lithuania look in awe at the west. The west includes Western Europe and the United States. Part of it I'm sure is economic and the greater ability to make more money in the west. According to the Department of State website, the average monthly earning was $832 per month. I'm pretty sure that is in Litai. That means that in a year, the average Lithuanian would earn around 10,000 litai. Not too many families are well above that average. Most of the families I talked to weren't afraid to tell me how much they earn, and 10,000 litai a year is normal. Life is difficult for those earnings. One girl I met is a chef at a Pizza Hut in England. She earns about the same as an American Pizza Hut chef, which to American standards isn't much, but she can live. That may be another reason many people love the west.
Politics:
The first modern Lithuanian government lasted 18 years. Of course, there were extraordinary events such as WWII that were beyond the control of Lithuania, but it was still 18 years. The Lithuanian government right now is 20 years old. I know I do not understand everything, but I do know there is a presence from the East that is heavy in Lithuania's government. I just hope that the government is not too weak to stand up to this presence. This apparent weakness is what bothers me most about Seimas. Although I have not witnessed it directly, I've been told that whenever there is a small protest, Seimas immediately votes with the protestors, even if it isn't in the best interest of the country. I've been told many nariai take bribes for proposals, and that is another weakness I am afraid of. There is also the economic weakness and dependance on foreign energy I mentioned earlier. While this may sound isignificant at first, we must remember all those that fought or died for an independant Lithuania, for a government run by Lithuanians, and this Seimas is one of the organizations people fought and died for.
Effects of the weakness: Many people are leaving Lithuania to go west. Since independance the population dropped from 3.7 million to 3.05 million. If this continues consistantly as it has since independence, I am afraid there won't be a Lithuania. If everybody is gone, and say Russia decides to come play with the world again, who will fight in Lithuania for Lithuania? Is Seimas really too weak to deal with that problem of emigration? There is hope and there are strong leaders within Seimas, but I feel like they are young and in the minority. There is too much of a force against these leaders that recognize the major problems in Lithuania.
Conclusion: I want to go into politics.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
You Have 30 Minutes To Save Lithuania
This morning I knew it would be the last full day with p. Simenas. Tomorrow he leaves for the port city of Klaipeda. Therefore, we planned 30 minutes for us to review the last two weeks. This morning, I was dreaming that I would inspire him in those 30 minutes to stand up for the Lithuanian people and to reform Seimas, therefore saving Lithuania. Of course, none of this will happen because the interview did not happen as planned. I'm still keeping the title because that was today's plan.
I feel better about Seimas after today. I did not feel good about Seimas until about noon when I was approached by Kristina, one of the secretaries. We talked about Seimas as a whole and my thoughts, which sshe agreed with some, then after a while she brought up one of her projects. It is nothing significant, just a piece of legislation that will provide rules for building homes that will house more than two families. Today, this project which she had worked hard on was going to be voted on. She got a call saying there will be a meeting about some of the specifics at 2 and that there was going to be a vote at 3 allowing her to move on with the legislation. At the meeting, she kept everyone straight, and kept making sure everyone stayed on topic. At Seimas, most politicians say what they want to say, but she kept things straightforward. She got more done in that meeting than most meetings I was in. During the vote, I could tell that every single narys that was under the age of 35 helped Kristina with her legislation. By the way, I'm pretty sure Kristina is in her mid-twenties. While the legislation was not that important, I was proud to see all the youth on all parts of the aisle working together for this one piece of legislation. There was a bit of celebration from the "youth" after the vote passed 77 yay, 0 nay, and 6 'i don't know'. This gave me hope that when these members are older and in control of Seimas, Seimas will be better.
Then I had the interview with p. Simenas. I brought up the fact that 350,000 Lithuanians moved out of Lithuania in the last 10 years, and 60% of high school seniors are going to college outside of Lithuania. I told him that I've been told that Seimas is being blamed. He said the issue is completely economic. Seimas has no money, and a lot of money is being given out for energy to foreign countries. If Lithuania could provide energy and make money from energy, there would be more jobs and more money for better education. I see where p. Simenas is coming from, but there was one issue I brought up: it would cost 14 billion Litai to purchase new energy, and the new energy will provide 19 billion litai. This sounds great, but it would take atleast 10 years not reach that point. In my opinion, that's another 300,000 lost Lithuanians. (1990-2001, 300,000 Lithuanians emigrated). Tomorrow will be a summary of the impressions of the last two weeks, and without hurting anyone's feelings, I will try to be as honest as possible without leaving out too many details.
I feel better about Seimas after today. I did not feel good about Seimas until about noon when I was approached by Kristina, one of the secretaries. We talked about Seimas as a whole and my thoughts, which sshe agreed with some, then after a while she brought up one of her projects. It is nothing significant, just a piece of legislation that will provide rules for building homes that will house more than two families. Today, this project which she had worked hard on was going to be voted on. She got a call saying there will be a meeting about some of the specifics at 2 and that there was going to be a vote at 3 allowing her to move on with the legislation. At the meeting, she kept everyone straight, and kept making sure everyone stayed on topic. At Seimas, most politicians say what they want to say, but she kept things straightforward. She got more done in that meeting than most meetings I was in. During the vote, I could tell that every single narys that was under the age of 35 helped Kristina with her legislation. By the way, I'm pretty sure Kristina is in her mid-twenties. While the legislation was not that important, I was proud to see all the youth on all parts of the aisle working together for this one piece of legislation. There was a bit of celebration from the "youth" after the vote passed 77 yay, 0 nay, and 6 'i don't know'. This gave me hope that when these members are older and in control of Seimas, Seimas will be better.
Then I had the interview with p. Simenas. I brought up the fact that 350,000 Lithuanians moved out of Lithuania in the last 10 years, and 60% of high school seniors are going to college outside of Lithuania. I told him that I've been told that Seimas is being blamed. He said the issue is completely economic. Seimas has no money, and a lot of money is being given out for energy to foreign countries. If Lithuania could provide energy and make money from energy, there would be more jobs and more money for better education. I see where p. Simenas is coming from, but there was one issue I brought up: it would cost 14 billion Litai to purchase new energy, and the new energy will provide 19 billion litai. This sounds great, but it would take atleast 10 years not reach that point. In my opinion, that's another 300,000 lost Lithuanians. (1990-2001, 300,000 Lithuanians emigrated). Tomorrow will be a summary of the impressions of the last two weeks, and without hurting anyone's feelings, I will try to be as honest as possible without leaving out too many details.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Politics the Way It Should Be
Today, it felt like politics was carried out the way I believe the American Founding Fathers believed it should be done. Today involved a real marathon of meetings within the environmental protection committee. In all of the meetings, there was real discussion, disagreement, progress, and even laughter. First there were discussions about beuracratic rules, the final ruling on the CO2 discussion, and even the foresters' proposal was brought up. After two hours of meetings, there was a quick lunch break and another meeting. Naturally, everyone showed up late, except for one person who is part of an anti-corruption federation. I talked with him and I have more hope for Lithuania's government. Yes, it is recognized that there is wide-spread corruption, but there is a system in place to deal with it.
I feel better about the Lithuanian government now, but I still have many concerns.
Yesterday I had dinner with the Jesuits at the house. All were really nice and pretty funny. Also, I forgot to mention that two days ago there was a soccer game among the people staying at Sv. Kazimiero. The game was fun, but the soccer players in Lithuania are no Ecuadorians.
Also in the news: Germany closed two of its' airports because of the volcano in Iceland, but it seems like the ash cloud is becoming smaller and won't affect my flight too much.
I feel better about the Lithuanian government now, but I still have many concerns.
Yesterday I had dinner with the Jesuits at the house. All were really nice and pretty funny. Also, I forgot to mention that two days ago there was a soccer game among the people staying at Sv. Kazimiero. The game was fun, but the soccer players in Lithuania are no Ecuadorians.
Also in the news: Germany closed two of its' airports because of the volcano in Iceland, but it seems like the ash cloud is becoming smaller and won't affect my flight too much.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
It's European Politics
After entering yesterday's blog entry, I went to a meeting about CO2 capture and sequestration, only this time companies that have an interest in winning the contest were there. By being the first to respond to the official contest announcement, a company has the right to bury CO2 collected from Lithuanian factories, and bury it in the ground. At the meeting, a man from the deep south from U.S.A. was there. He is the CEO of an oil company in Lithuania. He provided an incredibly clear argument stating the costs, effects, and benefits of him winning the contest. The Environmental Protection committee listened to his arguments, but there were members from other companies that kept arguing the points and they were hard to follow. Afterward, I talked to this man, and he basically has no hope or faith in Lithuania's government. I've been thinking a lot about what he said because he wasn't far off the truth. I would rather not say exactly what he said on this blog.
This morning I learned that European politics is different from American politics. At first I read the following article from the 'Economist'. It talks about how Americans hope their politicians are perfect while Europeans are more forgiving.
economist article
After reading the article, I asked p. Lygis, another person working for p. Simenas, what he thought of the phrase "Seimo nariai will not be touched by the law". He completely disagrees because he says people become nariai and do whatever they want for the four years they are nariai. Then I asked p. Simenas, and he believes that court cases can distract a politician, especially if the politician is innocent, which has happened before. I respectfully disagree, but that is the kind of seimas that exists in Lithuania. There are many nariai, and I don't believe p. Simenas is one of them, that are doing many illegal actions, but they can't be touched by the law.
Next was the general meeting with all the nariai. Minimum wage was not increased from 700 litai a month to 1000 litai a month, and social security will be voted on a later date. At the end of the meeting, there were discussions about alcohol advertising. In about an hour, there will be a vote as to whether or not alcohol can be advertised during the day. There was a group of activists who showed up in favor of the bill, meaning they don't want alcohol to be advertised during the day.
This morning I learned that European politics is different from American politics. At first I read the following article from the 'Economist'. It talks about how Americans hope their politicians are perfect while Europeans are more forgiving.
economist article
After reading the article, I asked p. Lygis, another person working for p. Simenas, what he thought of the phrase "Seimo nariai will not be touched by the law". He completely disagrees because he says people become nariai and do whatever they want for the four years they are nariai. Then I asked p. Simenas, and he believes that court cases can distract a politician, especially if the politician is innocent, which has happened before. I respectfully disagree, but that is the kind of seimas that exists in Lithuania. There are many nariai, and I don't believe p. Simenas is one of them, that are doing many illegal actions, but they can't be touched by the law.
Next was the general meeting with all the nariai. Minimum wage was not increased from 700 litai a month to 1000 litai a month, and social security will be voted on a later date. At the end of the meeting, there were discussions about alcohol advertising. In about an hour, there will be a vote as to whether or not alcohol can be advertised during the day. There was a group of activists who showed up in favor of the bill, meaning they don't want alcohol to be advertised during the day.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Weekend in Siauliai
The weekend started off with a trip to Kaunas on Friday seeing the same family having a good time in the medieval festival. According to the commercials, it was the 'biggest event in Kaunas' history'. Interesting how an event commemorating history is the most significant event in history. Either way, Eimantas and I were kind of bored, so we went home and hung out.
The next day, I took a bus to Siauliai to hang out with Domas Dielautas. His mom and my mom were good friends from the time our family used to live in Lithuania 15 years ago. We hung out with his neighbor, Domas, in Akropolis, one of the shopping malls in Lithuania. We originally were looking for something to do since we were going to go to nature with a bunch of his friends, but they bailed. Then he got a call inviting us to participate in an old Lithuanian wedding tradition where there are distant friends who block the road to the after-party and require pay for the bride and bridesmaids to go through. There was a whole series of traditions with that, and it was really fun. Then we went to a birthday party for one on Domas' friends that was really fun. These were all seniors and the house big and on a lake. Eventually we did go home and went to sleep.
The next day involved touring the countryside and visiting the famous Hill of Crosses. It is basically one hill of over 50,000 crosses, but it seems like more. In America, we always hear about this place, but it was interesting actually being there. Then I had my 5,000 calorie meal of 2 cepelinai in a restaurant nearby. I'm still full, and it was absolutely delicious. I wanted to stay in Siauliai, but alas, I had to go back to Vilnius.
Of course, it's raining today for the 2nd Monday in a row. Since officially, Mondays are meant for officials to visit their districts, and Simenas doesn't represent a district, I did nothing today, and neither did p. Simenas. I read many newspapers and I think I know everything that's going on in England, Lithuania, and the United States. The only thing that's happening is that a volcano erupted in Iceland. Hopefully I'll make it to graduation, but we'll see. Maybe nothing will happen, or maybe I'll have a fun adventure traveling around the volcano to make it to graduation.
Note: Whenever I say Parliamentary officials, I don't think this is the actual Parliament in Lithuania. There is a separate division in the government that officially calls itself 'Parliament', but it has little power or infuence compared to 'Seimas'. From now on, since there is no good American translation, I'll start saying 'Seimo nariai' instead of 'Parliamentary officials' to keep the truth. When I received the explanation of the Lithuanian government last week, that is where the 'mistake' came about in calling the nariai "Parliamentary officials". Sorry.
The next day, I took a bus to Siauliai to hang out with Domas Dielautas. His mom and my mom were good friends from the time our family used to live in Lithuania 15 years ago. We hung out with his neighbor, Domas, in Akropolis, one of the shopping malls in Lithuania. We originally were looking for something to do since we were going to go to nature with a bunch of his friends, but they bailed. Then he got a call inviting us to participate in an old Lithuanian wedding tradition where there are distant friends who block the road to the after-party and require pay for the bride and bridesmaids to go through. There was a whole series of traditions with that, and it was really fun. Then we went to a birthday party for one on Domas' friends that was really fun. These were all seniors and the house big and on a lake. Eventually we did go home and went to sleep.
The next day involved touring the countryside and visiting the famous Hill of Crosses. It is basically one hill of over 50,000 crosses, but it seems like more. In America, we always hear about this place, but it was interesting actually being there. Then I had my 5,000 calorie meal of 2 cepelinai in a restaurant nearby. I'm still full, and it was absolutely delicious. I wanted to stay in Siauliai, but alas, I had to go back to Vilnius.
Of course, it's raining today for the 2nd Monday in a row. Since officially, Mondays are meant for officials to visit their districts, and Simenas doesn't represent a district, I did nothing today, and neither did p. Simenas. I read many newspapers and I think I know everything that's going on in England, Lithuania, and the United States. The only thing that's happening is that a volcano erupted in Iceland. Hopefully I'll make it to graduation, but we'll see. Maybe nothing will happen, or maybe I'll have a fun adventure traveling around the volcano to make it to graduation.
Note: Whenever I say Parliamentary officials, I don't think this is the actual Parliament in Lithuania. There is a separate division in the government that officially calls itself 'Parliament', but it has little power or infuence compared to 'Seimas'. From now on, since there is no good American translation, I'll start saying 'Seimo nariai' instead of 'Parliamentary officials' to keep the truth. When I received the explanation of the Lithuanian government last week, that is where the 'mistake' came about in calling the nariai "Parliamentary officials". Sorry.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Fridays are Fun
I enjoy coming to Seimas, but today was a different day. Everybody is in a good mood which is really weird, but it works. This morning there was a committee meeting with just p. Simenas and another loyal committee member who usually has disputes with p. Simenas. Today, there was debate, but it was all respectful. The debate involved who should run a certain project in an area, the local government or the regional government. Then I left to go to an informative meeting about going green. At first, I go downstairs with p. Simenas and some of his staff, but in order to get to the room, I have to go through security. For p. Simenas and crew, they had i.d.s that let them through security and I had to wait until I was free to go. By the time I passed, the whole crew was out of sight. I thought they drove to the conference, so I went outside, but they weren't there. I thought they had already left without me, just like last night. Last night, there was a memorial, and I arrived one minute before they told me to arrive, but they had already left. I hung out with Jaunius and family instead which I would have preferred anyway. So after I felt abandoned again, I go back through security back to my room. I come back, and to my pleasent surprise, p. Rita did not leave for Luxemborg yet. Her plane leaves tomorrow. She knew where the conference was and apparently it was downstairs right next to where I was searching for p. Simenas. The conference was about the green movment. Next week is 'green week' in Europe.
It was about all the latest technology used to save energy, but most of it sounded like a broken record from all the environmental things I hear back home, but here all the suggestions were a bit more realistic since Lithuania already started going green.
Yesterday when I was with Jaunius and family, we rode bikes around Vilnius to finish off the day. At the end, he offered me a bike for the week since he knows how far I walk. Getting a bike here is the same feeling as you get a bike in Pokemon Sapphire or Ruby and suddenly you are able to get anywhere. I cut off half my time getting to work and worked half as hard. The bike was an incredibly 'present'.
Tonight I'm going to Kaunas and for the weekend I'm going to Sauliai. I won't be by any computer until Monday.
It was about all the latest technology used to save energy, but most of it sounded like a broken record from all the environmental things I hear back home, but here all the suggestions were a bit more realistic since Lithuania already started going green.
Yesterday when I was with Jaunius and family, we rode bikes around Vilnius to finish off the day. At the end, he offered me a bike for the week since he knows how far I walk. Getting a bike here is the same feeling as you get a bike in Pokemon Sapphire or Ruby and suddenly you are able to get anywhere. I cut off half my time getting to work and worked half as hard. The bike was an incredibly 'present'.
Tonight I'm going to Kaunas and for the weekend I'm going to Sauliai. I won't be by any computer until Monday.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
First Picture!
This is outside the internet cafe nothing exciting, but it is proof that I have a camera.
Some Things Are Different In Lithuania
Today in the elevator going to our floor, I wished for a little bit that I would stay in Parliament longer than 2 weeks because I learned so much every day. I still learned a lot today, but I'm also learning that there really isn't much else to learn unless I become a politician myself. Today was a different day than yesterday.
It started off with me going to the general Parliamentary meeting. This time, the lady who typically runs procedure and would be similar to the Speaker of the House, p. Degutiene, was there today. Somehow, there was less talk and more listening to speeches from all the officials. There also wasn't much to discuss. Most of the voting was with less than 5 officials voting against proposals at a time. I think out of the 30 votes today, maybe 28 were pretty unanimous. Therefore, it wasn't too exciting, except for one time when llittle kids maybe in 4th grade came by during a field trip. They were so excited to see all the politicians and the big conference room they always see on TV. I laughed and smiled the whole time they were there. In the afternoon, I got to go on a tour of the building with the Miskininkai, or the 'woodsman'. They're the protectors and keepers of the public woods in Lithuania. All of them dressed nicely and were excited to be in Parliament. Eventually, they got to meet the members of the environmental protection committee, including p. Simenas. There was eventually a general discussion about issues involving the Miskininkai. Usually in America, politicians listen to peoples' concerns, and provide a glimmer of hope. The head Miskininkas described a situation in which they were living through Hell financially. Once again, I don't want to say something I'll later regret so I'll withhold. Let's just say that if I lived in Lithuania, I would not vote for certain people.
Tonight there will be a memorial service for someone killed by the Communists 20 years ago on this day by being pushed under a train. I'll go to that for a little bit then I'll see Jaunius and family, who I think is my mom's cousin.
Dede Vytautas is letting me borrow his camera! I'll take a few pictures and they will be up tomorrow
hopefully if the chord works.
Fun post of the day: In one of the rooms, there are many gifts from members of different countries. One particular gift was from China with beads that shook as you walked by it. Another Miskininkas who did not read the sign that it was from China but saw the gift said "No, It's from Japan, it's shaking". A Lithuanian joke that I laughed at! I know it's bad, but I haven't heard jokes in a while. Afterward, there were about 2 more jokes during the day.
It started off with me going to the general Parliamentary meeting. This time, the lady who typically runs procedure and would be similar to the Speaker of the House, p. Degutiene, was there today. Somehow, there was less talk and more listening to speeches from all the officials. There also wasn't much to discuss. Most of the voting was with less than 5 officials voting against proposals at a time. I think out of the 30 votes today, maybe 28 were pretty unanimous. Therefore, it wasn't too exciting, except for one time when llittle kids maybe in 4th grade came by during a field trip. They were so excited to see all the politicians and the big conference room they always see on TV. I laughed and smiled the whole time they were there. In the afternoon, I got to go on a tour of the building with the Miskininkai, or the 'woodsman'. They're the protectors and keepers of the public woods in Lithuania. All of them dressed nicely and were excited to be in Parliament. Eventually, they got to meet the members of the environmental protection committee, including p. Simenas. There was eventually a general discussion about issues involving the Miskininkai. Usually in America, politicians listen to peoples' concerns, and provide a glimmer of hope. The head Miskininkas described a situation in which they were living through Hell financially. Once again, I don't want to say something I'll later regret so I'll withhold. Let's just say that if I lived in Lithuania, I would not vote for certain people.
Tonight there will be a memorial service for someone killed by the Communists 20 years ago on this day by being pushed under a train. I'll go to that for a little bit then I'll see Jaunius and family, who I think is my mom's cousin.
Dede Vytautas is letting me borrow his camera! I'll take a few pictures and they will be up tomorrow
hopefully if the chord works.
Fun post of the day: In one of the rooms, there are many gifts from members of different countries. One particular gift was from China with beads that shook as you walked by it. Another Miskininkas who did not read the sign that it was from China but saw the gift said "No, It's from Japan, it's shaking". A Lithuanian joke that I laughed at! I know it's bad, but I haven't heard jokes in a while. Afterward, there were about 2 more jokes during the day.
Everybody Calm Down (Part Du)
Yesterday was full of pure politics in the traditional sense.
I always start off the day by reading the local newspapers, and there was a short article about Irena Degutiene, the Parliamentary Minister. She wrote a letter to John Boehner complaining about Belurussia's plans to build 2 nuclear powerplants, one being 50 km from the capital, Vilnius. Lithuanians are complaining, but Lithuanians also want to build their own nuclear powerplant. According to p. Rasa, a person working for p. Simenas whom I respect, said "So Lithuanians think that our [nuclear powerplants] are safe and good, but theirs are not safe and aren't good. Haha."
Then there was going to be a marathon of committee meetings. The first meeting was about CO2 burial again. This time, there were a few more officials in the meeting that belong to the environmental protection committee. One read the newspaper the whole time, another left after he signed in and stayed for five minutes, many drifted in and out just to sign in, and another wwas clearly hungover. Some of these people who drifted in and out were still voting during the meeting though and even overrode the votes of the three who did participate. Apparently their parties told them to vote a certain way. During the CO2 meeting, it was brought up that nobody could provide the numbers for how much CO2 burial would cost for companies, nobody knows who will pay for the award for burying CO2, the CO2 will have to be buried forever, but nobody knows if that is possible, and there's question as to whether or not CO2 burial will be legal in the near future. P. Simenas proposed experimenting with CO2 burial, but that proposal dissintegrated. The only reason to bury CO2 is the meet the EU standard of reducing CO2 by 20% by 2020. That's why this idea is still on the table. I wish I could participate in the meetings, but I just sit and try to talk to p. Simenas' staff afterwar the meeting. Afterward, a flock of men walked in to the room with one attractive female who was a secretary in Parliament. The same official who was hungover I'm pretty sure was taking pictures of her pretty blatantly with his iPhone. There were 14 proposals to be accepted by the committee. All the wanderers/non-participants kept urging p. Simenas to hury up with accepting everything. There was a lot of intimidation in the room the horde of men and from the other officials. While the proposal seemed decent with few faults, I felt like it was not carefully reviewed and it was rushed to be accepted.
Then there was the third meeting, which had another wanderer walk in. A lady who I noticed was outspoken during the general Parliamentary meeting walked in. I'm not sure what the meeting was supposed to be about, but the same association that brought up the CO2 burial and three other associations were present. The lady kept saying that the committee already rejected whatever was being proposed several weeks prior. P. Simenas kept saying that since more associations showed up with new ideas, they should be listened to. After a half-hour of this constant arguing, the meeting was tabled for next week. I'm still not sure what it was going to be about.
Then I had the great opportunity to make copies for p. Rita for a while. This was for a case from 1993, and there were over 200 sheets to be copied. We brought the case to another committee, and we collected the DVD's that reported on p. Simenas' controversy. We watched those and looked for any lies. I didn't find any, but I feel like they all put p. Simenas under a bad light and I wouldn't be surprised if p. Simenas loses his position because of the reports. There isn't much we can do because the country is now suspicious. P. Rita and I sat around until 4:30 when there was going to be a party meeting. She talked to her son on skype who is now studying in Korea and I talked with him for a bit. He showed me pictures of Korea and it's a cool country.
The party meeting was fun too. There was a proposal to provide a 15% discount for TV's in Lithuania. This would help the economy supposedly. I don't understand what makes TV's more special than other products. Many people became extrememely passionate about the issue and started to yell at eachother. Remember, this was just a proposal for the party to propose this TV discount to Parliament, and people were angry with eachother. After 45 minutes, I decided it would be a good time to leave and meet up with the Buitkai.
I always start off the day by reading the local newspapers, and there was a short article about Irena Degutiene, the Parliamentary Minister. She wrote a letter to John Boehner complaining about Belurussia's plans to build 2 nuclear powerplants, one being 50 km from the capital, Vilnius. Lithuanians are complaining, but Lithuanians also want to build their own nuclear powerplant. According to p. Rasa, a person working for p. Simenas whom I respect, said "So Lithuanians think that our [nuclear powerplants] are safe and good, but theirs are not safe and aren't good. Haha."
Then there was going to be a marathon of committee meetings. The first meeting was about CO2 burial again. This time, there were a few more officials in the meeting that belong to the environmental protection committee. One read the newspaper the whole time, another left after he signed in and stayed for five minutes, many drifted in and out just to sign in, and another wwas clearly hungover. Some of these people who drifted in and out were still voting during the meeting though and even overrode the votes of the three who did participate. Apparently their parties told them to vote a certain way. During the CO2 meeting, it was brought up that nobody could provide the numbers for how much CO2 burial would cost for companies, nobody knows who will pay for the award for burying CO2, the CO2 will have to be buried forever, but nobody knows if that is possible, and there's question as to whether or not CO2 burial will be legal in the near future. P. Simenas proposed experimenting with CO2 burial, but that proposal dissintegrated. The only reason to bury CO2 is the meet the EU standard of reducing CO2 by 20% by 2020. That's why this idea is still on the table. I wish I could participate in the meetings, but I just sit and try to talk to p. Simenas' staff afterwar the meeting. Afterward, a flock of men walked in to the room with one attractive female who was a secretary in Parliament. The same official who was hungover I'm pretty sure was taking pictures of her pretty blatantly with his iPhone. There were 14 proposals to be accepted by the committee. All the wanderers/non-participants kept urging p. Simenas to hury up with accepting everything. There was a lot of intimidation in the room the horde of men and from the other officials. While the proposal seemed decent with few faults, I felt like it was not carefully reviewed and it was rushed to be accepted.
Then there was the third meeting, which had another wanderer walk in. A lady who I noticed was outspoken during the general Parliamentary meeting walked in. I'm not sure what the meeting was supposed to be about, but the same association that brought up the CO2 burial and three other associations were present. The lady kept saying that the committee already rejected whatever was being proposed several weeks prior. P. Simenas kept saying that since more associations showed up with new ideas, they should be listened to. After a half-hour of this constant arguing, the meeting was tabled for next week. I'm still not sure what it was going to be about.
Then I had the great opportunity to make copies for p. Rita for a while. This was for a case from 1993, and there were over 200 sheets to be copied. We brought the case to another committee, and we collected the DVD's that reported on p. Simenas' controversy. We watched those and looked for any lies. I didn't find any, but I feel like they all put p. Simenas under a bad light and I wouldn't be surprised if p. Simenas loses his position because of the reports. There isn't much we can do because the country is now suspicious. P. Rita and I sat around until 4:30 when there was going to be a party meeting. She talked to her son on skype who is now studying in Korea and I talked with him for a bit. He showed me pictures of Korea and it's a cool country.
The party meeting was fun too. There was a proposal to provide a 15% discount for TV's in Lithuania. This would help the economy supposedly. I don't understand what makes TV's more special than other products. Many people became extrememely passionate about the issue and started to yell at eachother. Remember, this was just a proposal for the party to propose this TV discount to Parliament, and people were angry with eachother. After 45 minutes, I decided it would be a good time to leave and meet up with the Buitkai.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Everybody Calm Down
Today's post is shorter, I'm meeting the Butikai, my cousins, pretty soon. In Parliament, everybody needs to take a chill pill. Lithuanians are not funny to start off, not in a vulgar way, they just don't have jokes. In Parliament, it's even worse. Everyone hates eachother and have nothing nice to say about eachother. That basically sums up today. More details tomorrow.
Fun post of the day: It's in Lithuanian, but p. Rita and I had to watch it to make sure there weren't any lies in it. It's about p. Simenas and the fact that he's being blamed for taking bribes in the whole woods controversy, which he didn't. Dviracio Show about Simenas The show is a political commentary show that's supposed to be funny, but it's Lithuanian, so it's not.
Fun post of the day: It's in Lithuanian, but p. Rita and I had to watch it to make sure there weren't any lies in it. It's about p. Simenas and the fact that he's being blamed for taking bribes in the whole woods controversy, which he didn't. Dviracio Show about Simenas The show is a political commentary show that's supposed to be funny, but it's Lithuanian, so it's not.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Too many events for one title
Last night was the Zalgiris-Lietuvos Rytas game. The basketball itself wasn't the best. The level of play was similar to something seen during a decent March Madness game. My explanation: It's similar to the Brazilian League for soccer. They're not very good, but the good players leave the country. In Lithuania, most of the good players play in Spain. The crowd was incredible. There are many basketball schools in Lithuania, and the Vilnius basketball team (Lietuvos rytas) made something of a student-section. There was a completely other Vilnius section in another part of the stadium. That section was filled with about 7 bass drums that never stopped. There was also a Kaunas section. None of the three sections stopped singing, dancing, screaming, and cheering the entire game. The crowd was incredibly entertaining. Zalgiris won, so no the series is 3-1 Zalgiris, and it's first to 4.
Today I show up and work and realized today would completely be different from yesterday. Within half an hour of my arrival, there was a meeting with around 40 Swedish college students studying to be environmental scientists. Since p. Simenas is the head of the environmental protection committee, he headed the meeting and brought me along. It was interesting listening in. First of all, it felt good to be one of 3 people fluent in english and lithuanian in the room. Then, the discussions were interesting to hear facts. Lithuania recently shut down a nuclear power plant that relied on having the necessary ingredients from Russia. Now Lithuania wants a new one, but p. Simenas and friends are against it while most of Parliament is for the idea. It was also interesting to find out how genetically engineered plants are an incredible problem economically and for the environment. I'm going to have to do my research because I never knew it was a major problem.
Next was a a Parliamentary meeting with all the officials, even though only around 100 showed up out of 141. First up was the head of Parliament from Germany. He talked about how energy policy throughout Europe needs to be the same and how all European countries must work together to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020. Up next was p. Simenas. He is headed the proposal to allow houses to be built in the woods. This issue is incredibly controversial in Lithuania. Many people don't want the woods to become privatized by people building houses in them. There's also the worry that Lithuania's treasured woods would be ruined. During the discussion, I realized who was instigated these arguments, the Lithuanian Socialist Party, the ex-communists or the kids of communists. Since they were trying to shut down the proposal, I started to like the proposal. After 40 minutes of voting about specific phrases in the proposal, it was time to vote for the entire proposal. It passed. Afterward, some of the socialists showed how upset they were by screaming and saying all these crazy things about p. Simenas. Most people, including me, found it quite entertaining. The rest of the meeting was fairly boring, but the main topic was social security. The socialists felt a policy had to be set in stone today, but everyone else held them back. By the way, the socialists here are actual socialists, not the 'socialists' in American who are slightly more liberal than their conservative counter-parts.
Tonight I'm probably going to meet someone up since my schedule is quickly being filled up.
Fun post of the day:
The mascot for Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas. The most flexible mascot i've seen. I think it can do the splits in that suit
Today I show up and work and realized today would completely be different from yesterday. Within half an hour of my arrival, there was a meeting with around 40 Swedish college students studying to be environmental scientists. Since p. Simenas is the head of the environmental protection committee, he headed the meeting and brought me along. It was interesting listening in. First of all, it felt good to be one of 3 people fluent in english and lithuanian in the room. Then, the discussions were interesting to hear facts. Lithuania recently shut down a nuclear power plant that relied on having the necessary ingredients from Russia. Now Lithuania wants a new one, but p. Simenas and friends are against it while most of Parliament is for the idea. It was also interesting to find out how genetically engineered plants are an incredible problem economically and for the environment. I'm going to have to do my research because I never knew it was a major problem.
Next was a a Parliamentary meeting with all the officials, even though only around 100 showed up out of 141. First up was the head of Parliament from Germany. He talked about how energy policy throughout Europe needs to be the same and how all European countries must work together to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020. Up next was p. Simenas. He is headed the proposal to allow houses to be built in the woods. This issue is incredibly controversial in Lithuania. Many people don't want the woods to become privatized by people building houses in them. There's also the worry that Lithuania's treasured woods would be ruined. During the discussion, I realized who was instigated these arguments, the Lithuanian Socialist Party, the ex-communists or the kids of communists. Since they were trying to shut down the proposal, I started to like the proposal. After 40 minutes of voting about specific phrases in the proposal, it was time to vote for the entire proposal. It passed. Afterward, some of the socialists showed how upset they were by screaming and saying all these crazy things about p. Simenas. Most people, including me, found it quite entertaining. The rest of the meeting was fairly boring, but the main topic was social security. The socialists felt a policy had to be set in stone today, but everyone else held them back. By the way, the socialists here are actual socialists, not the 'socialists' in American who are slightly more liberal than their conservative counter-parts.
Tonight I'm probably going to meet someone up since my schedule is quickly being filled up.
Fun post of the day:
Monday, May 16, 2011
Camera useless
So I'm ready to post my pictures, but the camera died. I don't think I brought the charger, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to use it because the outlets here a different. Here's the promised fun post of the day:
You Coming Back to Lithuania?
A common question I'm getting here is whether or not I'm returning to Lithuania to live when I'm older. Several reasons for this: 1. I'm somewhat of a big deal here, just kidding. 2. All the young professionals are leaving Lithuania to find jobs in Europe and America. There may not be enough people to pay for social security eventually because the working class will not be in Lithuania. 3. The Lithuanian pride for the land of Lithuania is something not seen in the United States.
By the way, i'm doing great in my game. Instead of letting people guess where I'm from, I've been able to hold a conversation with people here then later reveal I'm from the states. Many of them have now said that my Lithuanian is good and are completely surprised I'm 3rd generation. Aciu Mama, Tete, seima, ir Dainava! Also all the rumors that generally Lithuanians are not gracious, don't smile, and have awful restaurant service have been false so far. In restaurants, you barely have time to sit down before your order is taken and the food comes out. Also, everyone smiles and is generally happy. Everyone is also willing to help out, even if it's obvious you're lost.
Today was slow at Parliament. My alarm didn't go off until 9, and i have to show up at work between 8 and 9. I call p. Rita telling her my situation, but she told me just to take my time, eat breakfast, and told me nothing was heppening. Wanting to make a good impression, I still left immediately. Once I got outside, I realized it was raining, so I took a taxi. It didn't seem like it would be a great day. I get to the building, took a wrong somewhere in the building, and got lost. I arrive finally around 10:15, but it was clear i missed nothing. P. Simenas wasn't doing much, and the whole office was just sitting around. P. Rita left to take some exam, and then p. Simenas left for some meeting that was 'officials only'. So today I mainly studied my Lithuanian Constitution and Parliamentary procedure I couldn't read earlier. P. Rita also gave me her computer where I posted my last blog. Eventually after lunch there was an environmental committee meeting I could sit in on.
I'm not sure what to write about the meeting. There were discussions and I'm not sure whether or not I should be proud of what was discussed or discusted. I just don't think I understand the situation completely so I'm not going to write anything I will later regret saying.
Tonight is the Zalgir; is-Lietuvos Rytas game. I think it's the finals, but it's not the last game.
Fun Post of the day: This should be coming in a few hours.
By the way, i'm doing great in my game. Instead of letting people guess where I'm from, I've been able to hold a conversation with people here then later reveal I'm from the states. Many of them have now said that my Lithuanian is good and are completely surprised I'm 3rd generation. Aciu Mama, Tete, seima, ir Dainava! Also all the rumors that generally Lithuanians are not gracious, don't smile, and have awful restaurant service have been false so far. In restaurants, you barely have time to sit down before your order is taken and the food comes out. Also, everyone smiles and is generally happy. Everyone is also willing to help out, even if it's obvious you're lost.
Today was slow at Parliament. My alarm didn't go off until 9, and i have to show up at work between 8 and 9. I call p. Rita telling her my situation, but she told me just to take my time, eat breakfast, and told me nothing was heppening. Wanting to make a good impression, I still left immediately. Once I got outside, I realized it was raining, so I took a taxi. It didn't seem like it would be a great day. I get to the building, took a wrong somewhere in the building, and got lost. I arrive finally around 10:15, but it was clear i missed nothing. P. Simenas wasn't doing much, and the whole office was just sitting around. P. Rita left to take some exam, and then p. Simenas left for some meeting that was 'officials only'. So today I mainly studied my Lithuanian Constitution and Parliamentary procedure I couldn't read earlier. P. Rita also gave me her computer where I posted my last blog. Eventually after lunch there was an environmental committee meeting I could sit in on.
I'm not sure what to write about the meeting. There were discussions and I'm not sure whether or not I should be proud of what was discussed or discusted. I just don't think I understand the situation completely so I'm not going to write anything I will later regret saying.
Tonight is the Zalgir; is-Lietuvos Rytas game. I think it's the finals, but it's not the last game.
Fun Post of the day: This should be coming in a few hours.
LKD
Sunday, there a meeting among the members of Lietuvos Krikščionių Demokratų partija, or Lithuanian Christian Democratic party, or LKD. This was held in Kaunas, the '2nd Lithuanian capital'. The purpose of the meeting was to elect new party representatives and establish a party platform for the upcoming election. Elections here occur every 4 years for Parliamentary positions. Completely different from American politics, religion is allowed in Lithuanian politics. The meeting started off with the LKD bishop starting with a prayer and an 'Our Father'. There were several speeches from the leadership of LKD. The head of LKD gave a speech about how the LKD needs to become more unified and how it has been losing some of the uniformity recently. There was then a vote to make sure the party would continue pursuing unity, and the LKD unanimously voted in favor and gave a standing ovation. Then voting began for a new leadership. The LKD leader ran unapposed and won. Then the executive positions were up for election. At first, someone stood up and said the LKD should keep the same phenomenal team. Then another person stood up and said it was a great team, but there should be a breath of fresh air and one more person was needed. There was then a vote to see whether there should be 7 positions, or 6 positions for the executves as there were before. By a landslide vote, 6 positions won. Then there was an interesting turn in events. Names were proposed for a the new executives, and over 10 names were brought up, including the 6 executives. Several of the executives decided to step down and would not run again. Many people declined the offer believing they could use their expertise in other areas. Many people were stunned in the room because the the people who seemed to be good leaders did not want to lead the party. Eventually, the list was down to 7 names. The person who proposed to have 7 names kept shouting how nobody listened to him, even though he didn't even know the executives would change completely. I believe 2 of the old executives stayed. After this unpredictable turn of events, it was time for the elections of what I believe was the party staff. P. Rita's name was brought up, and throughout the entire meeting, she was campaiging for herself. At this time when the staff elections came about, order became chaos. Names were being suggested left and right for the staff. Over 50 names were brought up for 26 positions, but the number dropped to around 40 after a few people declined. After names were brought up and the executives lost control, people started going up in front and gave speeches about the party platform. At the same time, ballots were being passed around and absolutely nobody was listening to the speeches. I listened to a few of the 5 minute speeches. Many felt like the party was losing its Christian identity and some even thought it was losing its Democratic element since the party leader ran unopposed. One person even suggested, but not explicitly, throwing out another person out of the party since the person believed in gay rights. A person next to me explained how that man was a complete radical because of his belief in gay rights. Many agreed he did not agree with the Christian ideals of a typical family. One of the executives gave a speech about how the party name should be change to 'tautos sajunga', basically the Lithuanian culture party. He brought up the issue since the TS recently joined LKD. He brought up the fact that Lithuanians should unify against foreign influence, such as the socialist party who is almost as strong as LKD, the strongest party. I agreed, but later, a speech was given about how there was such a tradition for LKD and how previous LKD leaders would be appalled if there was a change in names. I feel like the Socialist Party will now continue to grow. This is a conservative party, and it showed. Towards the end, there was a speech about the Lithuanian language. One man felt it was being threatened. He proposed that all things should first be published in Lithuanian before English in Lithuania. This included changing 'Chopin' to 'Čopin', translating Shakespeare to 'Šakspyras', and tranlating the plays, and making all internet posts in Lithuanian before they are English. Woops. At this point, p. Rita could see I was bored, but in truth, I was just restless. It seemed like the party was using old traditions such as the official language being Lithuanian, to change everything. It is a conservative party, but I felt it was a bit too conservative for me. P. Rita let me go at 4 since Eimantas and family were waiting for me since 3.
I left before the election results came back, and p. Dalia, Eimantas' mom, and Eimantas picked me up from the meeting. They live less than 5 minutes away by car. Eimantas is an old friend we lost touch with over the years. His uncle is my godfather and my dad is his godfather, and it was a first step in bringing back the relationship. Eimantas is jacked and tall. There is a phrase here that I am getting used to, 'nu, svecias', meaning, 'hey you're the guest'. After I delicious Lithuanian lunch from p. Dalia, I talked with p. Dalia, Eimantas, Eimantas' grandma. they suggested Eimantas and I go explore Kaunas. We walked around for a little bit, and it is a nice city. After walking around, p. Dalia and their grandma picked us up and we went to Sesute Simona, or 'sister Simona'. Sesute Simona is an old friend of my grandpa. She was extremely excitied to see me and Eimantas, and waited in front of the nunnery to pick us up. According to Eimantas, the nunnery is the prettiest part of Kaunas, and I agree. We caught up, she treated us, becuase 'nu, svečiai'. She also showed me the plaque that had the name of my granpa because he donated lots of money to the nunnery.
We left around 9, and I took the train back to Vilnius. Dėdė Vytautas, my godfather, picked me up and brought me back to Švento Kazimiero Church.
Yesterday night, apparently it was the actual Eurovision contest. It was being shown at the plaza outside where I'm staying through a big screen. Linas, Tomas, and I weren't incredibly interested, so we walked around Vilnius and listened to the music in the backround. As usual, Lithuania barely got votes and lost. Some '-stan' country won. Apparently Eurovision is no longer 'Euro'vision.
Fun post of the day: New words learned from Eimantas. "Forcas"- The people on the street dressed in athletic clothing waiting to rob you.
"Studentas"- 'I'm a student', after a person tried getting money from us, this is how you tell them you don't have any money.
There was also an unattended 2-year old in Kaunas. I asked Eimantas if we should report it. He responded 'why, the parents probably went off the work and nobody will take it'. The trust here is amazing.
I left before the election results came back, and p. Dalia, Eimantas' mom, and Eimantas picked me up from the meeting. They live less than 5 minutes away by car. Eimantas is an old friend we lost touch with over the years. His uncle is my godfather and my dad is his godfather, and it was a first step in bringing back the relationship. Eimantas is jacked and tall. There is a phrase here that I am getting used to, 'nu, svecias', meaning, 'hey you're the guest'. After I delicious Lithuanian lunch from p. Dalia, I talked with p. Dalia, Eimantas, Eimantas' grandma. they suggested Eimantas and I go explore Kaunas. We walked around for a little bit, and it is a nice city. After walking around, p. Dalia and their grandma picked us up and we went to Sesute Simona, or 'sister Simona'. Sesute Simona is an old friend of my grandpa. She was extremely excitied to see me and Eimantas, and waited in front of the nunnery to pick us up. According to Eimantas, the nunnery is the prettiest part of Kaunas, and I agree. We caught up, she treated us, becuase 'nu, svečiai'. She also showed me the plaque that had the name of my granpa because he donated lots of money to the nunnery.
We left around 9, and I took the train back to Vilnius. Dėdė Vytautas, my godfather, picked me up and brought me back to Švento Kazimiero Church.
Yesterday night, apparently it was the actual Eurovision contest. It was being shown at the plaza outside where I'm staying through a big screen. Linas, Tomas, and I weren't incredibly interested, so we walked around Vilnius and listened to the music in the backround. As usual, Lithuania barely got votes and lost. Some '-stan' country won. Apparently Eurovision is no longer 'Euro'vision.
Fun post of the day: New words learned from Eimantas. "Forcas"- The people on the street dressed in athletic clothing waiting to rob you.
"Studentas"- 'I'm a student', after a person tried getting money from us, this is how you tell them you don't have any money.
There was also an unattended 2-year old in Kaunas. I asked Eimantas if we should report it. He responded 'why, the parents probably went off the work and nobody will take it'. The trust here is amazing.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Everybody's Working On the Weekend
Fun day. So I'm told to meet in at the president's palace by a p. Rita, but not the same p. Rita from Parliament. I'm on my way to the presidential palace when I realized I left my map at my room and had absolutely no idea where the palace was. I figure the presidential palace is something similar to the White House, so everybody should know where it is. I ask a lady working at the Cathedral, a main Lithuanian tourist attraction. She pointed North, and said, just go there, ask anybody, they'll tell you where it is. So I walk, hoping that maybe I'll just run into the palace, but I did not. So I eventually ask someone, and they point me South. I eventually get to the palace and as it turns out, it's exactly 1 block west of the Cathedral. 'Ask anybody, they'll tell you where it is'. Thanks.
So once I got to the palace, I read up on some of the history of the palace since I was early. Apparently, Napolean Bonaparte stayed here, and then some other historical Lithuanian figures. I later met p. Rita, and we get on a nice bus to go to a 'dvaras', or an estate, near Paneveziai, a city 200 km away. The people on the trip were the people working the office for President Grybauskaite, such as the secretaries and assistants. The estate was impressive, but the main attraction was the tulips. We took pictures, walked around,talked, and took a few more pictures. It seemed like every person in the park enjoyed having senior-picture-type pictures taken of them. P. Rita enjoyed taking those pictures. Much of the time was spent with p. Rita and Mindaugas, the assistant to President Grybauskaite. Mindaugas is the equivalent to Charlie from 'West Wing'. They mainly talked about politics, and it really reminded me of how Student Government works, just on a larger scale.
The whole office then had a picnic. One lady offered my wine and at first I was a little taken aback and didn't respond immediately. Then she said 'Oh, you're not allowed? You're not 18?', and then walked on. She was a funny lady and she was pretty nice, but somehow that became the running joke for the rest of the picnic.
The trip through Lithuania really reminded me of Ohio. There are 2 main differences though. 1, all the cars are different. There are many news Mercedes Benzes I haven't seen yet. There are also main car brands I haven't seen before. 2, the houses on the farms are traditional Lithuanian houses.
Tonight on the plaza where I'm staying is a contest to get on Eurovision. Eurovision is Europe's music countest. I actually have friends to go with too, so it'll be fun.
Fun post of the day: Memorable Eurovision moments:
Pictures will hopefully be going up tomorrow. By the way, none of the students on my floor go to Vilnius Jesuit, but all of them are really cool.
So once I got to the palace, I read up on some of the history of the palace since I was early. Apparently, Napolean Bonaparte stayed here, and then some other historical Lithuanian figures. I later met p. Rita, and we get on a nice bus to go to a 'dvaras', or an estate, near Paneveziai, a city 200 km away. The people on the trip were the people working the office for President Grybauskaite, such as the secretaries and assistants. The estate was impressive, but the main attraction was the tulips. We took pictures, walked around,talked, and took a few more pictures. It seemed like every person in the park enjoyed having senior-picture-type pictures taken of them. P. Rita enjoyed taking those pictures. Much of the time was spent with p. Rita and Mindaugas, the assistant to President Grybauskaite. Mindaugas is the equivalent to Charlie from 'West Wing'. They mainly talked about politics, and it really reminded me of how Student Government works, just on a larger scale.
The whole office then had a picnic. One lady offered my wine and at first I was a little taken aback and didn't respond immediately. Then she said 'Oh, you're not allowed? You're not 18?', and then walked on. She was a funny lady and she was pretty nice, but somehow that became the running joke for the rest of the picnic.
The trip through Lithuania really reminded me of Ohio. There are 2 main differences though. 1, all the cars are different. There are many news Mercedes Benzes I haven't seen yet. There are also main car brands I haven't seen before. 2, the houses on the farms are traditional Lithuanian houses.
Tonight on the plaza where I'm staying is a contest to get on Eurovision. Eurovision is Europe's music countest. I actually have friends to go with too, so it'll be fun.
Fun post of the day: Memorable Eurovision moments:
Pictures will hopefully be going up tomorrow. By the way, none of the students on my floor go to Vilnius Jesuit, but all of them are really cool.
Friday, May 13, 2011
First day of Parliamnet
Today was the first day at Parliament. I called Mantas Mackevicius from the Parliamentary lobby, p. Simenas' assistant, and down came this tall big figure from the stairs. He limped over to me and we introduced ourselves. As we walked over to a meeting room, I asked him how he hurt his foot. He responded 'basketball', smiled, and kept walking. Once we got into a meeting room, he showed me a slideshow of how Lithuania's Parliament is set up. There are 141 seimo nariai, or 'Parliamentary officials'. Around 70 of the officials were elected, and the rest were selected separately. When a citizen votes, he or she votes for a representative of his or her district and then votes for a party. The winning party receives around 35 seats and the 2nd place party receives 30, and as I understand it, the 3rd place party receives several other seats. Somehow, a member of a party can still run to be a representative. I'm not exactly sure how the numbers play out to 141 or how the numbers change each year, I have theories, but I am not completely sure how it works. P. Simenas was not elected. There are many committees within the government and many departments, similar to how the United States works. Each Parliamentary official has to be part of a committee. Each Parliamentary official has his or her own staff to help run things. They ether gather information, help organize, or other jobs that may be too much for the official to handle. Mantas works with communicating with people like me and other people in government.
After the presentation, a happy lady named Rita walked into the room. She showed me the room where all of Parliament does their procedure. This room has some historical and symbolical meaning from the declaration of independence. Then we went into p. Simenas' large 3-room office. In the 3rd room was p. Rita's desk and a large table for meetings. She introduced me to the office, gave me a notebook, and gave me homework to learn about all the committees and have a general understanding of how Parliament works. Afterward, I was able to meet p. Simenas. He is a nice man, he asked me how I knew about him, and then proceeded to tell me a general schedule of what we'll be doing. He told me about a meeting about what to do about CO2. Next week, I'll be going to a committee meeting, and I'll be able to see a general Parliamentary meeting. Then, Rita led me to another office for the ethics committee. The ethics committee makes sure that people don't become too mean to eachother within Parliament. Some other Parliamentary official said something to p. Simenas. Everything was recorded, and p. Rita was sure the official would have to pay somehow. Since the other official phrased his insult brilliantly, he might get away. The idea of an ethics committee for me is genius. P. Rita then showed me around the building and where some of the important locations are such as the cafeteria. We then went to the meeting p. Simenas told me about which was on CO2. Since this was an ongoing discussion, it was a bit difficult for me to follow at first. Eventually I figured out what was happening. There is going to be a contest to see which company can respond first to an announcement. The announcement is that money will be awarded if a certain amount of CO2 is buried in the ground instead of into the atmosphere. The meeting was about how to word the several-paged proposal. Certain questions did arise such as whether or not the government had a responsibility in the economy and regulating emissions. These questions were posed by p. Simenas, one of Europe's leaders in environmentalism. After the meeting, I went off to the cafeteria, ate lunch, and came back to the office. P. Rita assigned more homework. She gave me p. Simenas' copy of the Constitution and how official Parliamentary procedure works. While it seems like a lot of work, it seems necessary and most of the assignment seems like a symbol of pride of Lithuania from p. Rita. I already started to read the Constitution, and even though it is in Lithuanian, it is much more easy to read than the United States' Constitution. Many of the provisions are interesting too, such as 'family is the populastion's and the country's base'. As I was doing my homework assignment, p. Rita gave a few suggestions. Since I'm interested in politics, she did not want me to only see the bad side to politics and all the bickering I was introduced to today at the ethics committee. Even though I enjoy the efficiency of the ethics committee and how Parliament can take care of itself, she still wanted to put Parliament's best foot forward. Part of politics is also going into the communities and working outside office hours. Tomorrow, I will be visiting the more traditional Lithuanian location of a 'kaimas' or a farm with Soviet Union.
I am realizing that I am really not shadowing p. Simenas, but I becoming a member of his office staff. The office staff is like a family, and it felt like they immediately accepted me into the 'family', even though I will only be here a short time. These two weeks will be incredible weeks to see how government works.
Last night I also met a few of the people staying down the hallway. The first one I met is Belgian and speaks fluent Lithuanian. The other was deaf, so it was difficult to communicate, but it didn't matter, we watched the Zalgiris-Lietuvos Rytas basketball game. These are the only good teams in the Lithuanian basketball league. I was interested for a little bit, but then I almost fell asleep in the chair. I went to sleep at 900 while it was still bright as day outside. I fell asleep instantly.
I woke up the next morning to go to Parliament. I timed my walk to minutes, but the 40 minutes feel great. I came back and received a call that my suitcase finally arrived. Now I feel like I'm actually clean. Then I went to the kitchen to see what I I'd need to get from the store for food. Luckily, I met two people named Tomas and Linas on the way down. They were already cooking something called an 'experiment' and made extra. I ate a good meal. I'm just happy I didn't have to go shopping for food. He lent me this computer so I don't have to walk over to the internet cafe.
Fun post of the day: 'Seimo nario asmuo neliečiamas'. Literally: 'The parliamentary official personally is not to be touched'. While I know what it means, I thought it was funny to be worded that way in the Constitution. This computer can't upload pictures, but I'll hopefully be able to upload them soon.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
I Made It to Lietuva
I made it. Not too many stories about the plane ride. I do suggest flying KLM though if you ever go to Europe. Sure, everybody on the plane speaks Dutch and broken English, but the service on the plane is fantastic. You can pick your own movies to watch, I watched King's Speech for the first time. The food isn't all that bad either. The Amsterdam airport is nice too. You know it's a classy airport when there's a casino, Ralph Lauren store, a section for smoking cigars, not cigarrettes, and there's an 'invite only' lounge.
Once on the plane to Lietuva from Amsterdam, I decided to play a game. I'm going to see how many people won't recognize I'm from the United States. So far, I'm doing okay. The first guy on the plane read me like a book. The lady at the baggage claim (yea, my luggage was left behind in Amsterdam), asked where in Lietuva I lived, I smiled. I think I'm at 2-3 right now, 3 being people who knew I'm American immediately. After dealing with the baggage claim fiasco, I found my Godfather who I haven't seen in I think over a decade. We went out to lunch and it was fun.
Afterward, we went to Sv. Kazimiero to drop me off. The sight immediately put a smile on my face, it is nice. We met Kun. Simkunas, the priest who gave me the room at Sv. Kazimiero. He's a younger priest and seems really cool. After unlocking about 5 doors and an elevator, we made it to the top floor where the students at the Vilnius Jesuit High School stay. He opened my room, apologized, and gave me the key. It is a quality room. There's a window where if I were the average height of a male Lithuanian, I could see the skyline of senamiestis, the old part of Vilnius. I had to stand on a chair to look out. The bed is nice, there's wood floors with a nice carpet, a desk, a bookshelf, and it's fairly large. He simply apologized I have to walk down the hall to share a bathroom and a TV room with 2 other students. Typical Lithuanian. Basically, I'm excited to stay there. I also met Kunigas Saulaitis and Kunigas Vidmas? on the way out. Kunigas Kijauskas is apparently in Chicago replacing Saulaitis for a little bit according to Kunigas Simkunas.
Even though I have a bit of jetlag, I decided to go out for a walk. Hey, it's hot here and I'm in a fairytale land, so why not? I walked the path I needed to take to get to Senior Experience, and I think I took the long way, but I did not notice any time go by. I passed up the Cathedral where St. Casimir is buried, the main shopping street, and some of the oldest buildings in Vilnius. Most of the streets are difficult to get to by car, so many people just walked in the middle of the stone streets. For dinner, I went to the famous 'Cili Pica'. It was good, and I think the legend will live on in the States. I then went in search for an internet cafe. After asking several really nice people, I finally walked several blocks to the internet cafe that is about half a mile from my senior experience. For all of you late-night skypers, I have skype and I actually have a camera too.
It's fun being here and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when I actually start doing things with p. Simenas and I meet some of my room-mates.
Once on the plane to Lietuva from Amsterdam, I decided to play a game. I'm going to see how many people won't recognize I'm from the United States. So far, I'm doing okay. The first guy on the plane read me like a book. The lady at the baggage claim (yea, my luggage was left behind in Amsterdam), asked where in Lietuva I lived, I smiled. I think I'm at 2-3 right now, 3 being people who knew I'm American immediately. After dealing with the baggage claim fiasco, I found my Godfather who I haven't seen in I think over a decade. We went out to lunch and it was fun.
Afterward, we went to Sv. Kazimiero to drop me off. The sight immediately put a smile on my face, it is nice. We met Kun. Simkunas, the priest who gave me the room at Sv. Kazimiero. He's a younger priest and seems really cool. After unlocking about 5 doors and an elevator, we made it to the top floor where the students at the Vilnius Jesuit High School stay. He opened my room, apologized, and gave me the key. It is a quality room. There's a window where if I were the average height of a male Lithuanian, I could see the skyline of senamiestis, the old part of Vilnius. I had to stand on a chair to look out. The bed is nice, there's wood floors with a nice carpet, a desk, a bookshelf, and it's fairly large. He simply apologized I have to walk down the hall to share a bathroom and a TV room with 2 other students. Typical Lithuanian. Basically, I'm excited to stay there. I also met Kunigas Saulaitis and Kunigas Vidmas? on the way out. Kunigas Kijauskas is apparently in Chicago replacing Saulaitis for a little bit according to Kunigas Simkunas.
Even though I have a bit of jetlag, I decided to go out for a walk. Hey, it's hot here and I'm in a fairytale land, so why not? I walked the path I needed to take to get to Senior Experience, and I think I took the long way, but I did not notice any time go by. I passed up the Cathedral where St. Casimir is buried, the main shopping street, and some of the oldest buildings in Vilnius. Most of the streets are difficult to get to by car, so many people just walked in the middle of the stone streets. For dinner, I went to the famous 'Cili Pica'. It was good, and I think the legend will live on in the States. I then went in search for an internet cafe. After asking several really nice people, I finally walked several blocks to the internet cafe that is about half a mile from my senior experience. For all of you late-night skypers, I have skype and I actually have a camera too.
It's fun being here and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when I actually start doing things with p. Simenas and I meet some of my room-mates.
Sorry there are no pictures, I somehow left the chord in my room several miles away, so all the nice pictures will most likely go up for tomorrow's post. The pictures were going to be my 'fun post of the day', but since I can't think of anything else, here's another really popular song that's traditionally sung. It may have come from Russia originally, but it doesn't matter, Russians are allowed to make good music. This version is sung by Andrius Mamantovas, a huge Lithuanian star.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Final Day of Introduction
"How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?" -Ernesto Che Guevara from the Motorcycle Diaries.
That is exactly how I feel right now. There have always been the nights before the event, whether that's planning for the first day of school when you see all your friends again, or whether you're lacking for a camp to see friends you've only seen months before, but this is different. I know absolutely nobody in Lithuania. Of course, I have a connection to my Godfather who's picking me up from the airport, I sent e-mails to a few people, and there's a few kids my age who I haven't seen in a decade during my First Communion trip to Lithuania. Yet, I haven't felt this kind of excitement to go to a place before. These are my ancestral grounds. Even though all my friends are here in the United States, I feel like I'm coming home.
That is exactly how I feel right now. There have always been the nights before the event, whether that's planning for the first day of school when you see all your friends again, or whether you're lacking for a camp to see friends you've only seen months before, but this is different. I know absolutely nobody in Lithuania. Of course, I have a connection to my Godfather who's picking me up from the airport, I sent e-mails to a few people, and there's a few kids my age who I haven't seen in a decade during my First Communion trip to Lithuania. Yet, I haven't felt this kind of excitement to go to a place before. These are my ancestral grounds. Even though all my friends are here in the United States, I feel like I'm coming home.
Some key points about Lithuanian culture: Many of us Lithuanian-Americans are proud Lithuanians, and many native Lithuanians who have visited the United States are proud Lithuanians. If I started to describe how we all react during Lithuanian basketball games against the United States, I may start losing friends, so I'll let your imaginations run wild. Some of the cultural involvements include our "tautines", or our cultural clothes. Here's an example:
Many Lithuanians do traditional dances, and I also use to dance before I joined Stage Band. Many Lithuanians are also phenominal singers. Every couple years some city in North America hosts either a dance festival or a song festival. Either several hundred Lithuanians dance, or several hundred Lithuanians sing in a giant choir. Festivites occur afterward. Sadly, I missed the gene for being good at basketball and being able to sing.
There are a lot more cultural aspects most of us Lithuanian-Americans know pretty well and many of us went to school every Saturday morning through 8th grade to learn it all. I feel like I almost covered the incredibly basics to Lithuanian culture, and I may give some more lessons later in the blog if it is necessary. The language is cool too. Native Lithuanians have an incredible talent in Lithuanian. The Lituanian they speak is poetic and onomotopeic, and I'm not talented at all. Here's my attempt at it, Lithuanians, don't pay attention to what I say, nobody else in the room understood it. Lithuanian tutorial
Here's some better Lithuanian, as sung in the Lithuanian National Anthem.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Introduction to What I'm Doing, Where I'm Going, and What I'm Doing
I am a master packer. I have filled my medium-sized suitcase with a suit, nice clothes, athletic clothes, and shoes. There's still enough room left to house a small family.
What I'm doing in Lithuania: My school, Walsh Jesuit, has this program called Senior Experience. The purpose of Senior Experience is to ensure that students can experience the 'real world' and can get an idea of what they want to do in life. I want to go into politics, so I looked for opportunities to get involved in politics. Instead of getting involved with local politics, I looked for an opportunity in Lithuania for several reasons. 1: Since all Lithuanians are somehow connected, I knew I would find something in Lithuania. Luckily, my dad use to work for the World Bank from 1993 to 1995. During that time, he helped establish new banks in Lithuania as Lithuania was going through growing pains as a baby country. (Remember, independence was in 1991). While in Lithuania, he got to know many people, including Stasys Kropas. P. Kropas was working in Parliament as my dad was working in Lithuania. So my dad contacted p. Kropas for an opportunity for me to get my experience in Parliament. P. Kropas no longer works at Parliament, but he knew a man named Jonas Simenas who currently works at Parliament. I contacted p. Simenas and he said he would gladly take me under his wing for a few weeks.
2. I wanted to do something in Lithuania for a natural pull towards the mother country and in a way, to follow my sibling's footsteps. During the post-high school early college years, all my siblings traveled to Lithuania. When I thought about going to Lithuania, there was that thought that I would be going to the Naval Academy, which also meant boot camp starting July 1. Therefore, there would be no other time for me to go to Lithuania as a student other than during Senior Experience. Even if I would not have found a place in politics, I probably would have done some kind of charity work in Lithuania. By the time I found out about the Naval Academy, I had everything set for working with p. Simenas.
Vilnius: Vilnius was established by Gediminas, the duke I talked about in the last post. This is the legend I believe every Lithuanian knows about: Gediminas was out hunting and fell asleep at night. He had a dream of a howling iron wolf louder than any wolf he had ever heard. After waking up, he went to seek the head pagan-priest for how to interpret the dream. The priest told Gediminas to build a city and castle on present-day Vilnius. The city still exists and parts of the surrounding wall and a tower of the castle are still there today. I'll post pictures when I arrive in Lithuania. Eventually, Vilnius became less of a military stronghold and more of an educational and cultural city. In 1579, Vilnius University, a Jesuit school, was established. The University still exists but I don't think it is a Jesuit school anymore. Here's a link to the history: Vilnius University History
The high school is Jesuit, and that's who the Jesuits I am staying with are associate with.
Throughout it's history, Vilnius has been a multicultural city. One culture has not been able to really claim Vilnius as it's own. In the 20th century, Poland conquered Vilnius, the Jews have always had a strong presence in Vlinius, the architecture is Italian, and until recently, Lithuanian was not the main language spoken in Vilnius. It may not even be safe to safe that it is the dominant language today, but I'll just have to find out. There is even a French connection. When Napolean led his famous march to Moscow, he passed through Vilnius. When fleeing from Russia, the army tried to pass through Vilnius. The weary army was locked out of Vilnius. Many of the soldiers died and massive graves are still being dug up around Vilnius finding members of Napolean's army. Many members of the army left and started families with local Lithuanian women. That is why I am part French.
Svento Kazimiero Baznycia: (St. Casimir's Church). This is the church where I'll be staying. It is the first baroque church in Europe. Svento Kazimiero was named after St. Casimir, a member of the Gediminas family. There has been constant debate as to whether or not St. Casimir was Lithuanian or Polish since the whole Gediminas family was split between Lithuania and Poland. Still, St. Casimir is buried in Vilnius, so we Lithuanians say he's our saint.
All this history from the past 2 days has simply been a reference point if I mention something later in the blog. I promise all the exciting writing and adventures will come later. I'll also try to provide some kind of video, picture, or something else fun to fit the theme of every day. Since today is a further introduction, here is a song I know many of us American Lithuanians use as a type of Lithuanian national anthem, even though it is NOT the official national anthem. It was written for the Lithuanian Olympic teams for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. It talks about how there are 3 million Lithuanians and we can do so much, and we have so much hope for the future of our country. It's called "Try Milijonai", or "3 Million" by Marijonas Mikutavicius.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
An Introduction to Lithuania
The following entry is simply the Lithuanian basics for all of the American readers.
The way I was introduced to you was probably during the first roll call on the first day of school when you met me after the teacher says "I'm sorry if I butcher any of your names, but please correct me. Now, is there a… I'm sorry I can't pronounce this". At that time I probably raised my hand and said "Vytas, I'm here". Even though Vytautas, my full name, is a common Lithuanian name, most of you would have never heard of it if I didn't come into your life. That is ok. We Lithuanian Americans are used to this kind of behavior and have come to expect it after a few years of living in the U.S. In Lithuania, all the names are going to be difficult for you to pronounce, but there are easy ways to remember them. First of all, it is easy to identify whether someone I write about is a male or female. Almost all male names end in the letter 's' or some other consonant. Almost all female names end in vowels. If there is a 'p' in front of the name, that means "Mr" or "Mrs." For Ex: p. Simenas is Mr. Simenas, the man I am shadowing. If the female has the letter 't' in the last 2 syllables of the last name, she is a 'Ms.' If there is an 'n' within the last 2 syllables, then she is married.
There are many stereotypes about Lithuanians that have developed, as seen in this video:
Most are true, and one they did not mention is that all Lithuanians have some kind of connection to one another. For ex: My dad lived with the lead singer of that band's family in Colombia when my dad was in high school. The 'Lithuanian connection' is also how I was able to get my senior experience at the Lithuanian parliament.
Brief History of Lithuania according to an average Lithuanian: In the early 1200's, Lithuania's first and only king, Mindaugas, came into power. He united many tribes and nobles from all over Eastern Europe to make Lithuania. The unification can be compared to the American Revolution. All the states had their own powers, but George Washington can be seen as the figurehead who 'united' the colonies to fight the British. Mindaugas was the figurehead of these tribes, but Lithuania wasn't established as one country under one true ruler. The tribes were united to fight powers from the west (Teutonic knights) and east (Russia). After his death, there was a power struggle in Lithuania until Gediminas came into power in the early 1300's. Gedeminis had many kids, but two of them were Kestutis and Algirdas. They were able to expand Lithuania and they effectively fought off enemies. Kestutis had a son named Vytautas and Algirdas had a son named Jogaila. Vytautas became the grand duke of Lithuania. He ruled the brown area:
No big deal. Anyway, Vytautas was under constant attack from the Crusaders. In an effort to appease the Vatican, Vytautas was 'baptized' and made Lithuania "Catholic". He was going to be made king by the pope, but the Polish stole the crown. Vytautas was still under attack from the Crusades until 1410 in a battle called "Žalgirio Mūšis" pronounced "Zhahl-gi-dio Moo-shis". He united many of the armies in Lithuania, the Polish armies, some Mongol armies, and other armies that were under constant attack from the Crusaders. This was the last crusade against Lithuania and Vytautas emerged victorious. Jogaila, Vytautas' cousin, was rumored to have prayed in a tent during the battle. Afterward, Jogaila became powerful and united Lithuania with Poland to further fight off foreign invaders. This merger is probably seen as the single greatest act of treason in Lithuanian history.
After Vytautas, Lithuania was united with Poland and the kingdom shrunk. Eventually, The whole are was taken over by Russia in the late 1700's.Eventually under Russian rule in the 1800's, Lithuanian identity started to emerge. Even though the Russians banned Lithuanian literature, brave people known as 'knygnesiai', or 'book-carriers', ran across the border from East Prussia into Lithuania trying to give Lithuanian literature to families who home-schooled kids. Many people were killed during the process. Near the end of WWI, Lithuania declared independence from Russia on February 16, 1918. That's Lithuania's big holiday. Then, Lithuania was taken over by the Soviets. Under the Soviets, Lithuanians and other Eastern Europeans were killed by Stalin. The number killed under Stalin is said to be 3-4 times as many people than Jews that were killed under the Holocaust. During WWII, Lithuania was occasionally seized by Germany. Under German rule, some of the biggest concentration camps were in the two major Lithuanian cities, Vilnius and Kaunas. Percentage-wise, Jews suffered the most in Lithuania than in any other country other than Poland. Today, Lithuanian Catholics remember the times we were killed, and we forget the fact that Jews suffered too. Many of us Lithuanian Catholics also feel neglected that our pain is not recognized by the West. The whole situation is sad. After WWII, the Soviet Union still ruled Lithuania and suppressed Lithuanian literature and all types of religions. Eventually in 1991, March 11, Lithuania was the first country to declare independence from the Soviet Union. P. Simenas was one of the signers of the Declaration. In 1992, Lithuanian basketball headed to Barcelona for the Olympics. We won the bronze-medal. Since then, Lithuania has never gotten worse than 4th place in the Olympics in basketball. Basketball is a religion in Lithuania. Today, there are still remnants of Soviet politics in Lithuanian politics. It is a constant struggle of who to trust and who is truly a Lithuanian patriot. I believe p. Simenas is a Lithuanian patriot and if he truly is, I am incredibly lucky.
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