Sometimes you find odd things...

Last week I was waiting on a friend to pick me up to go shopping.  As I stood in the square across from my apartment I glanced over at the benches where people hang out - usually smoking, drinking a beer, and chatting away.  I noticed a new addition to the area - this cute little ash tray.  It is no longer there, but I smiled when I saw it - her hand may be missing, but she was still kinda cute in her own little odd way.  :) 

Supper Club- week 2

This week we went to the new Thai place a couple streets over from my apartment.  SO GOOD!!!!

 We had the fried cheese appetizer.  They were good, but not very "Thai" tasting.

We also had the spring roll appetizer...yummy and very Thai tasting!  :)

(another fuzzy photo - sorry)

I had the Kao Pad.  Rice with vegetables and shrimp.  The sauce was a nice blend of sweet and spicy.  My mouth burned just a little after eating it - a perfect amount of spice!  :) 

I thought it was cute that they brought the check in a little wicker box.  :)

Flowers

Lithuanians are into flowers.  You give people flowers for their birthdays, you take flowers with you when you go to someone's house for dinner, etc..  It's not usually an entire bouquet and it's almost always an odd number of flowers - an even number are unlucky.  The other day one of my RDs came up to me and gave me 3 roses.  She said it was just to say thanks for being her boss.  SO sweet!  It totally made my day!  :)

My beautiful roses from Becky.  :)

More beautiful food...

Last Friday evening I went out to eat with my neighbors at a great little Italian place along the river.  The food was, as usual in Lithuania, displayed beautifully!

It's a sweet/sour tomato and shrimp dish with breadsticks.

 (Sorry this photo is a bit fuzzy.)

This was my apple pie with ice cream and sweetened heavy cream to drizzle over it...so wonderful! 

Snowmen!

Many of you know that I collect snowmen.  I have boxes and boxes of them stored back in Goshen.  It's a little sad for me to not have them here to start decorating with...I actually have a great window ledge spanning the length of my dining/living room where they would look perfect.  Oh well, I just can't have everything I own here.  So, I decided that rather than ship my snowmen here I would build a new collection...the international collection!  So, last weekend I was out shopping with some friends and I bought my first Lithuanina snowman.  He actually doesn't look any different than one I'd buy at home, and likely was made in China or somewhere else, but I bought him in Lithuania -so he's my first Lithuanian snowman!  :)

Isn't he cute?! 

LCC Basketball

You may have read in my blog earlier about an American basketball player, Luke Zeller, who was playing for the local pro basketball team.  I went to several of him games and was enjoying have a team to cheer for once again.  Right after fall break our AD, Andrew, told me that Luke had moved back to the USA and was no longer playing basketball in Lithuania.  I was kinda bummed to not have him on the team to cheer for.  But then I remembered that we have an LCC team and I can cheer for them!  :)  Last Friday I went to my first LCC basketball game...super fun!  Here are a few photos from that games... (note that LCC is in the maroon & white)

 Ball being played in the LCC gym.

Someone at the free throw line. 

 Final score...we won!

A self portrait of me & one of my RDs - Veslava

Supper Club

A few years ago some girlfriends and I had a "Supper Club" back in Goshen.  We met monthly and had dinner together.  Each one of us brought a different dish to the meal and the rule was that it had to be a recipe you had never made before.  We did that for a year or so and it was so much fun!  Eventually one of the gals moved out of state and it ended. 

What does that have to do with Susie in Lithuania you ask.  Well, I was realizing a couple of weeks ago that I was in a bit of a mode where I was living for Christmas vacation.  I was overly focused on getting through the next several weeks and going home to the US.  I knew this wasn't a wise use of my time and energy and also wasn't how God wanted me to use my time in Lithuania.  So, I decided to make several goals that would help me embrace life here to a fuller extent and would also help me get to know people & places better.  So, one of my goals was to start a Supper Club.  This supper club is different than the one I had back in the states.  The group meets weekly, rather than monthly.  The group shifts a bit each week.  And rather than each of us making a new dish, we try a new restaurant each week.  Sounds fun, right?!  It is!  :)

On November 4th we went to Luja.  It's a restaurant in a German looking building that I drive by every day on my busride to work.  Here are a few photos...

The lovely and ornate place settings.

My entree - Grilled Chicken Tenderloins, cheese raviolis, and a spinach/sour cream sauce.  It looked lovely, but tasted pretty bland.  Oh well, I had a fun time with the ladies!  :)

 This was the Chicken Cordon Bleu that one of my friends ordered.  She said it was delicious!