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.