Shopping, eating, laundry

It’s my turn, now, to contribute to the blog. My assignment: writing about food and shopping! The shopping’s the more fun so I’ll start with that! I’ve already begun the important task of souvenir shopping which includes not only purchasing goods but, when possible, first doing some comparison shopping and, if conditions permit, bargaining. Of course, the most prevalent souvenir is amber and there’s some to be found on the streets as well as in the shops. Today, we went to the Amber Museum in Palanga and there is the finest, and most expensive, of the amber that we’ve seen thus far. I had NO idea that there are so many different types of amber! And the exhibits at the museum indicate that some people get VERY excited about the thought of inclusions in their amber (insects or other detritus that can be found in the amber)—beyond comprehension. Needless to say, we did NOT purchase any amber with inclusions in it!

On Friday, which was a national holiday, we went to the town closest to the Hill of Crosses and there first encountered a fine tea shop that is based in Vilnius. That’s where Andrew wowed them with his instrumental use of German—all for the worthy cause of purchasing a very fun teapot! Bargaining was not to be entered upon in these fine establishments; however, I was able to put some bargaining skills to use at the Hill of Crosses and in Palanga. I’m certainly glad that I did at the Hill of Crosses or I would have been even more disappointed to get to a bookshop in town to see the same items one litas LESS than what I’d bargained for earlier in the day! I’m looking forward to more shopping as I become more comfortable with how things work here.

The food’s a bit more complicated. I’m enjoying going into the grocery stores. I keep thinking back to my days in Russia and am amazed with how modern and varied the stores are here. Not knowing what they were like in Soviet times, it’s probably not fair to compare them but it still is remarkable to me to see all the variety. If I was more adventurous, I’d have already purchased many interesting looking items and taken them back to the apartment to cook. However, between the thought of carrying so much home and, even more of a deterrent, of doing so in this blistering rain, it’s easier to just go out to eat.
Today was another "domestic day" in which I did some laundry. The washing machine, (which is brand new!) holds about half of our regular load and takes two and a half hours!!! I have no idea what it's doing all that time, I only know that it's all computerized and you can't change the time to be shorter! Then, once the clothes come out of the machine, they're still pretty wet and need to be strung all around the apartment to dry. If this time is similar to last, it will take about three days for the stuff to dry! However; I’ve found the iron and ironing board since then so I can iron dry some of the clothes to shorten that time : )! But that's not the fun stuff. While the first load was in the washing machine, I went to the old market and had a grand time walking around, looking at the fruits and vegetables (okay, not much in the way of fruit and a lot of potatoes!) as well as meat, cheese, flowers and "goods." I bought two small bouquets of flowers for a total of eighty cents and then saw another bouquet with that flower that is one of my very favorite kinds of salvia that i can't find anywhere. However, that bouquet was two dollars so I am being frugal and will wait until my current flowers fade before i go and get the other kind, if they still have it. The market reminded me quite a bit of Russia; and, actually, most of the vendors are Russian so that was kind of fun. I’m finding that I can use my Russian at times to help navigate through some situations. However, it's so rusty, it's really embarrassing! It seems that the older people speak Russian and the younger ones speak English. Today, i was in the grocery store (the second part of my shopping expedition) and some old woman came up to me, asking in Lithuanian, what the price of something was. I told her I couldn't understand then I said it to her in Russian which she immediately responded to. She said that she couldn't read the price so i told it to her in Russian. Then, I went to the pastry counter and was trying to speak in my monosyllabic Lithuanian. The young girl asked me if I speak English and completed the transaction in English! So much for my multi-culturalism! Part of the fun in the grocery store is looking at all the stuff they have that's different from what we have. They have a big section of frozen foods that I spent about five minutes looking at the various packages, trying to figure out what they all are. I find it really entertaining! Since Andrew’s not quite as taken with all of that, I’m saving those excursions for times when I’m by myself! After my shopping expeditions, I headed to school, which is where I am now. On the way, I checked in the store where I’d seen a cute skirt. Man!, clothing prices are expensive here! The skirt is on sale for $30!!!