Great first month

One month has passed since I landed in snowy Lithuania and fortunately it is Spring already.  It was not an easy month especially as this is my first time going abroad for such a long time and being away from my family and friends.

Sometimes I felt kind of lonely but thanks to my Lithuanian teacher, Astra, whose family I live with, I felt like home since the very beginning  – she welcomed me with a delicious Easter lunch and hot tea and takes care of me when I am sick or sth (just like my mother).  Ačiū, Astra!

So, soon after I arrived Daniele and I went to Kulautuva for our on-arrival training, where  I had great time, meeting and becoming friends with the other volunteers and of course, I learnt a lot of important and valuable things about the project.

After coming back I finally went to the park and met its radiant employees. Everybody was so nice even though not many of them spoke English. But this is where our mentor, Linas, comes – he always helps with anything we need – from translation to repairing a former volunteer’s bike so I can use it. Labai ačiū, Linas!   

The first two weeks it was snowing every single day and I thought this winter would never come to an end – with my luck I came to Lithuania when it experiences one of its longest winters... And there was not much to do those days because it was quite cold and I am really much more a summer type of a person. But soon spring decided it was enough “suffering” and started pushing its way through the snow. Daniele and I went out for a couple of walks and enjoyed the warmer temperatures. We "found" (there are like hundreds of lakes around here) a lake with ducks and swans nearby home and we used to spent quite a long time there feeding the birds.

One sunny day we had a great surprise at work – Edouard, the first year volunteer from France, came to visit us. He is really amazing – he has been in Australia and has also spent two years in New Zealand  and many many other interesting things. Anyway, the important thing is that thanks to him we went to the sauna that night, so labai labai ačiū, Edouard! It was great – sauna, hot tube under the stars, drinking brandy, eating agurkas and svogunas, and listening to the wind in the trees. We were even treated with this very special thing called vanta – while being in the sauna somebody “beats” you (in a very gentle way, of course) with a bunch of twigs and herbs and sprinkles hot and then cold water on your skin. I really enjoyed it but I cannot say the same for Daniele according to the screams I heard from inside while he was getting his treatment. 

But enough with the sauna!.. As the weather continued being warm and nice Daniele and I decided to visit our friends Marion from France and Olesia from Russia who are volunteers in Gražutės Regional Park. They live in a small village called Salakas which being read backwards means felcon in Lithuanian and this species of bird is the symbol of their park. Quite interesting, ha? We had a lot of fun taking part in their spring celebration with multicultural songs and dances, designing our own slippers and visiting the local baras. 

But this first month was not only fun - I had to get used to a different culture, speaking all the time in a foreign language and start learning Lithuanian. Speaking of the Lithuanian language I would like to tell you guys how incredibly difficult it is – there are cases, conjugations and stuff, but we have the best teacher so I have no doubt that we will learn it (one day). And after seeing Edouard speaking with Astra and the employees of the park so well, my motivation definitely raised – my stay will not be of full value if I don’t learn how to communicate with these great people. 

We did some work as well - we helped at the Beekeeping museum and the Watermill in Ginučiai, preparing them for their opening soon, and we started refreshing the marks on the trees on the Botanical trail (in my opinion they looked much better before our intervention). 

And the last weekend Daniele and I went to Vilnius and Neries Regional Park to take part in a bicycle tour. It was a real challenge for me because we rode for 23 km in the forest on a muddy road and the weather was nasty – the sky was all grey, it was quite cold and about to start raining at every moment . But on the other hand the forest was so peaceful and I really enjoyed it though I can barely walk now... Before that I helped the other volunteers in the park, Lenka from Slovakia and Adrian from Spain, plant oaks. We had to make a wish to the new trees but as I couldn’t think of anything I wrote the text of a very beautiful Bulgarian song, dedicated to the forest. 

So this is more or less my experience so far. As spring is already here I am facing a lot of new things that lie ahead – many new places to visit and people to meet, different celebrations to take part in and, of course, a lot of learning and work. I can’t wait!