Faculty/staff retreat

Here is a photo that was taken at our Faculty/Staff retreat this week.

2012-2013 LCC International University Faculty and Staff

Res Life Retreat

Another retreat!  It seems like all we do around here this month is retreat.  Can't beat that!  :)  Last night we took the RAs on an overnight retreat.  I've wanted to arrange something like this since I came to Lithuania, but am just now getting comfortable enough with navigating the countryside and culture to actually organize it.  My main goal was to create some team spirit/space for group bonding.  I think the event succeeded at doing that. 

We drove out to the camp on Friday evening.  We made shaslik for dinner and then played several rounds of Scribblish (one of my new favorite games!).  After the game we spent some time in the sauna.  The we ate snacks and chatted.  Around midnight we played a game of Apples to Apples.  And around 1:30 we all turned in for the night.  In the morning we had breakfast, cleaned up, and headed back to campus.  I think the time away from campus together was so worthwhile.  I feel like I got to know several students much better and came away feeling excited and energized about the great group of RAs we have this year!

Festive decor at the camp

Josh was the griller and the others supervised him.

Josh, Ausrius, Ieva, Toms, and Vadim

A nice shot of the group

front row: Toms, Melisa, Vadim, and Josh

middle row: Alisha, Amanda, me, Kristine, and Ira

back row: Sarune, Ieva, and Ausrius

mandatory funny photo!  :)

Student Life Retreat

Thursday was our annual Student Life Retreat day!  I decided that I felt well enough to join the group for the day.  (Honestly, I would have been heartbroken to stay home and miss this day of fun with my colleagues/friends!)  I watched some of the activities from a hammock when I got a little tired and skipped the sauna to take a nap, but still had a wonderful time of fellowship with these great people!

Bethany, Amanda, and Olena made a 

Lithuania/LCC/Student Life version of Jeopardy for us!

My relaxation spot!

Student Life 2012-2013

front: Amanda, Bethany, me, Alisha, Josh, and Olena

rear: Margarita, Elena, Vaida, Egle, Demas, and Ina

And the amazing Community Life Team!

Amanda, Alisha, me, Olena, and Josh

First (and hopefully last) Lithuanian hospital stay

Last week was rough...really rough!  I woke up Monday morning and was very dizzy.  I then proceeded to have "digestive issues" for the next several hours.  A couple of my Lithuanian co-workers came to check on me after lunch and decided to call the ambulance to evaluate my condition.  (Here calling the ambulance is more like a doctor/paramedic making a house call - they come to assess the situation.)  The paramedic decided that I was likely dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital.  I took my first ambulance ride (ever!) and went to the hospital.  Upon arriving my condition was assessed by a doctor who concurred with the paramedic that I was dehydrated and needed more fluids.  So, I was admitted and hooked up to an IV.  It was a pretty uneventful hospital stay.  My room had no television or phone, so I slept most of the time.  I did, however, have my smart phone with me and was able to update friends on my condition via Facebook and called my mom on Skype to let her know what was going on.  I felt well enough to go home the next morning and called a co-worker to come pick me up.  I spent the next two days on the couch or in bed pushing as much fluid as my system could hold.  It still isn't clear exactly what was wrong with me...maybe food poisoning, maybe a stomach bug, or maybe as the doctor said, I had "viral diarrhea"...which between my groggy state and the thick accent I at first thought he called "wild diarrhea"!  

Here are some photos of my medical journey...

Looking up at my IV pole

My bed and nightstand

sink in room

My meds were in powder form.  I dissolved them in my cup of water.

Seriously?!  THIS was my dinner...I am vomiting and they give me a hot dog?!  

I only ate the piece of bread.

This is the card and flower that my thoughtful Res Life team brought me when I came home from the hospital.  The card was handmade by Alisha and was a little flip book where you can change the head, torso and legs on the character.  This combo was the beauty queen face, my torso (holding yummy looking cupcakes) and the LCC Moose legs!  :)  

Community Life Retreat!

Yesterday I took the Community Life team on a retreat.  I wanted to start the year with some work, some fun, and a good dose of team bonding.  We met on campus in the morning.  We started out in the Res Life resource room doing some talking about ourselves, the year ahead and the theme we will have for the year.  After that we did a mini service project on campus and spent time picking up garbage around the pond on campus.  After that we went out to a camp about 20 minutes from campus where we ate lunch, shot paintball guns at a target, rode 4 wheelers, and in true Lithuanian fashion - sat in the sauna.  It was a fun day and I am hopeful that it has us starting out on a good foot together!

Olena, Josh, and Alisha with their trash bags

There was lots of garbage to be found around the lake!

The beautiful scene at our retreat center.

me taking aim!

Olena - the expert marksman 

Amanda looks awfully happy with that gun in her hands!

Ready. Aim. Fire!

Josh ready to go!

Amanda ready for the ride of her life!

Watch out world!  Here comes Alisha!  :)

Olena - manages to look ladylike even on a 4 wheeler!

Res Life 12-13

Olena!

This gal cracks me up!  :)

Lovely ladies in the sauna

Doesn't this look like a fun group?!

Community Life 2012-2013

I am so excited about the work this group is going to accomplish!  

Food fun!

While making Vaida's birthday cake I had a bit of a disaster...the apple bundt cake came out of the pan in two parts.  Boo!  It tasted awesome though.  :)

My plan two was to make chocolate cupcakes...they weren't puffy on top, so I used the rest of the batter to make a cake (which was the dessert that we actually used for the celebration.)  Here are the cupcakes after Amanda decorated them!  The recipe I found online was called the "BEST chocolate cake ever."  I don't know if I'd call it that, but it was very rich and chocolaty.

Tonight for dinner I made the roasted summer vegetable recipe from the "Simply in Season" cookbook.  It was wonderful...onions, zucchini, potato, red bell pepper, onion, and carrots!

Here it is in the bowl mixed with some pasta.  (And my cherry limeade crystal light drink!)

Haircuts!

Bethany, Amanda, and I went to the mall last night together and got our hair cut!  It was a fun "group bonding" outing!  :)

before

after

My hair looks basically the same, but the stylist actually cut a good amount off the back - you just can't see it in this photo.  But don't the girls both look adorable?!?!  This was Amanda's first proper salon experience in her life...or at least in her adult life!  

Happy Birthday Vaida!

Vaida's birthday was last week.  We were all out of the office, so we started our Monday morning out with a birthday celebration!  A great way to start the year in my opinion.  :)  Here are some photos from the party.   

(Sorry the photos aren't great - we took them with my phone and the lighting wasn't the best, but at least we caught the moment for posterity!)  

Birthday lady!

Those who were around to celebrate (about half the department)

me, Amanda, Bethany, Olena, Vaida, and Margarita

Beauties!

Vaida, Olena, Amanda, and Bethany

Sea Festival Breakfast

A wonderful LCC tradition is the Friday morning breakfast before the Sea Festival.  A group of LCC women gather at Navalis for breakfast in the outdoor seating area and then head down to the city center for a morning/afternoon of shopping!  It's a mini kick off to the year as this is the first LCC gathering that many expat women participate in upon returning from summer travels in the US.  This year Amanda had flown across the ocean the day before and arrived in Lithuania just 7 hours before we met for breakfast!  :)

Ilona, Alisha, and Marlene

Jane, Amanda, me, and Rachel

RD dinner

Our Residence Life team for the 2012-2013 academic year are all now in Klaipeda!  Amanda just returned from America Thursday night/Friday morning.  So Friday night the Residence Life team got together for dinner and a movie.  Alisha had sent me a recipe for bruschetta that looked really good, so I made that.  Afterwards Josh went downtown and us gals stayed back and watched a movie and an episode of "Miranda".  (Miranda is a British tv show that is so so so funny!)  It was a great evening of team bonding, delicious food, and fun!  I'm so looking forward to the year ahead!  :)

Bruschetta with caramelized onions, oven roasted tomatoes and fresh mozzarella!  

Res Life 12-13

me, Amanda, Alisha, and Josh

Homemade Chinese!

One of the gals from my FYS class last year is living in Klaipeda this summer.  We both had some free time this week, so I went to her flat in the south end of town and we made Chinese food together for supper.  We made fried rice and egg rolls.  After dinner we watched a couple movies and spent time just chatting and laughing.  It was a good time of continuing to build relationship and invest in a student's life.

Fried rice is done (back burner) and egg rolls in process!  Yumm!

Charlotte's Web

My friend Rachel read "Charlotte's Web" to her children this summer.  I offered to let them watch my copy of the movie once they finished the movie.  They finished to book on Tuesday, so Wednesday they invited me over to watch the movie with them.  We made popcorn and had a fun time!

Chayah & Noah all excited before the movie began!

Family cuddle time during the movie...John, Chayah, Noah, and Rach.

Love this family!  

SLI

July/SLI was very busy!  The weeks were full of activities...an all campus BBQ, a pancake dinner, multiple karaoke events, two dance parties, a coffee/craft evening, games, worship, shopping, and learning English! The Residence Life staff tried to make sure that the students didn't have much of an opportunity to get bored.  I think they succeeded!  :)  

Here are a few photos from SLI.  (Sorry I was too busy at each event to catch much of it on film.)  

All of the faculty & staff who were a part of SLI 2012!

Our fabulous RA team!

The closing ceremony!