Sveiki lietuva

Here's a little background to my blog and why I am here in Lithuania.

Lithuania, which is not a country in Africa, was where one of my grandparents was born. Basically, I have always wanted to go the country where he is from and meet the family we still have there. I was never taught Lithuanian growing up, so I also thought I could learn a little Lithuanian. With as complex as Lithuanian is (it happens to be one of the oldest Indo-European languages still existing), I am not sure how little I can learn. I am certainly up for trying though. Thank goodness for family that speak English. They are helping me a ton. I have no idea for sure how long I will be staying, but a few months is very possible. That is another reason why I came when I did. I wanted to come when I still had the flexibility of coming for a longer period of time.

I got to Lithuania without any problem a couple of days ago. On the way, I had a long layover in Stockholm and managed to see a little bit of the old city. I had to choose between sleeping, which I really needed, and site-seeing. I had no idea if I would ever be there again so I decided to postpone sleeping. All I have to say is that I am so lucky that I know English. If that were not the case, I may not have been able to do what I wanted with such ease.

Oh, and the name of the blog, dienos saulėje, means days in the sun. I chose that because the city where I am staying means sun city.

And just another fun fact... This year just happens to be the 1000th anniversary of the first time Lithuania was formed. I am guessing there will be some neat festivals to attend.

As always, I will be posting some pictures in future posts. Anyone who wants to be a "follower" can just sign up by clicking the link on my blog.

Iki pasimatymo,

Joe