Thursday, March 20, 2014

Chapter one

  "PalūšėPalūšė" said the bus driver, as he waved his hands to make the three sleeping foreigners understand that it´s finally their  stop. Two smiley faces were greeting us when we get of the bus, half sleep and with the eyes still close...As I slowly trie to open them, I see a beautiful lake at one side and a big forest in the other. Finally, here I am, in Aukštaitija  National Park.





Mano Vardas Alba. Aš esu savanorė. (My name is Alba. I´m a volunteer.) Those are my mantra words, my small presentation since I arrive here 15 days ago. It doesn´t seem so long. Time goes fast, and more when you are disconverirg a lot of new things. Because there is so much to see and do around here. Astra, our Lithuanian teacher, has been our guide here, helping us from making bank accounts to learning how to ask for the prices in the market. We are also doing a improvise but intensive course of Lithuanian- vegetarian food, from the delicious potato pancakes to homemade yogurt and bred.



  Leaving apart the amazing food ( because if I start with that I am not going to stop ;)), the surroundings here are incredible. Just from a 5 minutes walk from Ignalina´s town center you can find a huge frozen lake. Well, apparently it´s just huge for me because it´s not even one of the biggest ones (the park have 126 lakes!). But it cause a big impression on me because it was the first time that I saw a whole lake frozen, with the fisherman on the ice included. Around the lake there is a lovely walk which seems to be the perfect place to go jogging when the weather gets better. Next to our house there are a lot of bike routes to explore different lakes and forest. I just saw a little bit for know, but I´m loving it! Riding between old trees, earring the woodpeckers everywhere and, if you are lucky, seeing a shy dear passing by.


 And then there is the park...the place where I go to volunteer every morning and that I can't wait to get to know better. Because for know we just scratch the surface of it for now: the botanical trail near Paluse, the beautiful sculptures on the shore of the lake, Gianuci mill, etc. I have been doing a lot of different task, the first of witch is to translate to Spanish the flyer with information of the park. It´s useful for me because I´m learning new words in English and also about the places to visit in Aukstaitija.  Beside this, we work outside a couple of times, at Gianucis mill and restricted area, taking photos every ten minutes! One day we paint bird houses with some girls from the local school. I must say that all of them look very artistic..lucky birds!




 I even had the opportunity to see the snow, witch was like a little present for me because I´m not very use to it. It made me go back to the childhood, with snow bolls wars and our snow woman- Tina Turner. It just last for a couple of days and right now it´s meelting, but I really enjoy it! Now the spring it´s approaching, and I can imagine that the park will look even more beautifull. I´ll be waiting for it...