Welcome to Lithuania
My journey has gotten off to a slightly bumpy start but now that I have found the town centre and the internet cafe in Kaunas I'm sure all will be fine.
Yesterday when I arrived I quickly realized I was about the only person who wasn't actually Lithuanian on the Ryan Air flight when everybody else was escorted away from the tiny airport by family and friends. Myself and two British tourists were left to wait for the bus that arrived half an hour later than scheduled. Then when I got on I only had a large note in Litas and no coins and the woman had no change. Thankfully the British couple gave me some coins in exchange for a pound. The airport was 12 km from Kaunas city centre so the bus trip took a while, going through some villages that were quite rough around the edges. I wasn't really sure where to get off the bus, so I hopped off at the bus station and then caught a taxi to my accomodation by pointing at the address on the piece of paper.
Oh, must add at this stage, barely anyone speaks english here. And I speak no Lithuanian.
Found my accommodation fine and it's perfectly adequate... it's a B and B, but I am the only guest! It's just one room at the back of a car rental office. Breakfast this morning was salami and bread. Mmm haha.
Back to yesterday, after having a nap I decided to explore the town. Went for a walk searching for the town centre, but I now know I walked in completely the wrong direction... ended up in a suburban area where the streets were lined with scary looking soviet style buildings. There was a clothes shop there that looked like I needed to present a passport or identity card to get in, the architecture didn't scream "welcome". Was hungry, went to a little shop to buy food, couldn't order cos nobody spoke English so I just pointed at something. It turned out to be some pasta and sour cream type dish that was perfectly fine so that was all good. Then went to a supermarket to buy supplies but was confounded by the lack of recognizable goods... chocolate biscuits and pumpkin seeds seemed the safest options. And they don't give out plastic bags at supermarkets in Lithuania you are expected to bring your own, so lucky I wasn't up for a big shopping spree.
I tried to catch a trolleybus at one stage in an attempt to find the town centre but was confounded when the driver started saying something to me in Lithuanian and pointing grumpily at a sign I couldn't read. It said 1 Lt and that's what I gave him, but in confusion I just got off and walked some more.
Eventually I decided to head back and sleep off the RyanAir 7am flight hangover that was plaguing me. I tossed and turned a fair bit, I am still suffering London separation anxiety.
Anyway, today has gotten off to a much better start with me actually locating the main part of town which is quite pleasant, lots of trees and shops and stuff, as well as the old town which is nice.
Except I did fall over and graze my knee when I tried to get out of the way of a crazy truck that drove up on the footpath randomly. And the stitching in my sneakers is coming undone which is concerning because it will be many months before I am back in an english speaking country and the only other shoes I have are flip flops and boots that are made for walking... limited distances.
Yesterday when I arrived I quickly realized I was about the only person who wasn't actually Lithuanian on the Ryan Air flight when everybody else was escorted away from the tiny airport by family and friends. Myself and two British tourists were left to wait for the bus that arrived half an hour later than scheduled. Then when I got on I only had a large note in Litas and no coins and the woman had no change. Thankfully the British couple gave me some coins in exchange for a pound. The airport was 12 km from Kaunas city centre so the bus trip took a while, going through some villages that were quite rough around the edges. I wasn't really sure where to get off the bus, so I hopped off at the bus station and then caught a taxi to my accomodation by pointing at the address on the piece of paper.
Oh, must add at this stage, barely anyone speaks english here. And I speak no Lithuanian.
Found my accommodation fine and it's perfectly adequate... it's a B and B, but I am the only guest! It's just one room at the back of a car rental office. Breakfast this morning was salami and bread. Mmm haha.
Back to yesterday, after having a nap I decided to explore the town. Went for a walk searching for the town centre, but I now know I walked in completely the wrong direction... ended up in a suburban area where the streets were lined with scary looking soviet style buildings. There was a clothes shop there that looked like I needed to present a passport or identity card to get in, the architecture didn't scream "welcome". Was hungry, went to a little shop to buy food, couldn't order cos nobody spoke English so I just pointed at something. It turned out to be some pasta and sour cream type dish that was perfectly fine so that was all good. Then went to a supermarket to buy supplies but was confounded by the lack of recognizable goods... chocolate biscuits and pumpkin seeds seemed the safest options. And they don't give out plastic bags at supermarkets in Lithuania you are expected to bring your own, so lucky I wasn't up for a big shopping spree.
I tried to catch a trolleybus at one stage in an attempt to find the town centre but was confounded when the driver started saying something to me in Lithuanian and pointing grumpily at a sign I couldn't read. It said 1 Lt and that's what I gave him, but in confusion I just got off and walked some more.
Eventually I decided to head back and sleep off the RyanAir 7am flight hangover that was plaguing me. I tossed and turned a fair bit, I am still suffering London separation anxiety.
Anyway, today has gotten off to a much better start with me actually locating the main part of town which is quite pleasant, lots of trees and shops and stuff, as well as the old town which is nice.
Except I did fall over and graze my knee when I tried to get out of the way of a crazy truck that drove up on the footpath randomly. And the stitching in my sneakers is coming undone which is concerning because it will be many months before I am back in an english speaking country and the only other shoes I have are flip flops and boots that are made for walking... limited distances.
posted by Ashlee at 6:06:00 pm
2 Comments:
Hello from the US! I did a search for "Lithuania" in Blogger's search engine, and your blog popped up. Just wanted to say I'll be headed over to Lithuania myself in a couple of weeks to teach English, but, like you, I have no experience with Lithuania whatsoever (hence I'm looking up all the information I can find). Sorry if this was kind of random, but just thought I'd drop a note.
Hi, I am a teacher of English residing in Vilnius, Lithuania. If you have any questions, just e-mail me azartas@satent.lt or skype me. My nick there is azartas1
Regards,
Arturas
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