Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas gifts from the family in USA











Christmas gifts from the states arrived in good time this year and the boys had a goot long while to anticipate. They excitement was fun to watch as they got games and things they were eager to try out.

The phrase christmas is for kids certainly seems to ring true. It was really fun watching them and they are used to how the gift giving works now. They appreciate the gifts and are not just stuck on- more, give me more.

But Christmas was also a good time for us. We had opportunity to participate in several advent events and reflect in new ways on the season upon us. And we did not have responsibilities for the Silute service, other than to bring a laptop computer. More pictures of our christmas at home and the Silute service in another post.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

"Kucios"- Christmas Eve


We shared Christmas eve with Nathan and Dawn Hall, also missionaries living in Klaipeda. A few years ago before the boys arrived we had also had a kuchios meal and invited tem. So we knew they would know what they might be in for! But this time I did things simpler. I did not keep all the rules. I did not use the white table cloth, but probably we did have 12 different dishes including the drinks though. And it was meatless. And we did serve fish. But, we had a live poinsettia on the table which is strictly against tradition. And we did not eat the beloved herring that is part of many of the dishes on a typical kuchios table. We did have beet salad though. And I made kisielis- a thickened fruit drink.

It seems important to me for the boys to experience something of kuchios, at least as long as we are living in their home country where others will speak of it too.

On the other hand, each day they seem to become more and more Americanized so that other than knowing basic Lihuanian language and he cultural exposure of the preschool, they do not seem to identify too much with Lithuania. A few cultural carryovers are eating beet salad, oatmeal, buckwheat, and raw cucumbers...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Preschool Christmas program moments




The boys were to dress in costumes and this year we did not make the costumes. I realized at the program that everyone in Eastern Europe knows that "Nykstukai" dwarfs where red- except us! David's group boys were to be nykstukai which was certainly clear and easy to the local parents.
Another interesting difference in culture is that the children prepare for a while before the event to say poems and do dances and since songs. And grandfather Christmas is also prepared with about a half hour of his own games and things for the children to do.




In Erik's group they could wear what they wanted. Erik did not want to wear the spiderman mask only over his hair so when I came to see if he was dressed before the program I relented and let him take it off. His teacher had helped him get ready- and told him he could not wear the mask over his face. Made sense to me. She had it nicely over his head, but to no avail! Erik said his poem like the other children did, only he had a few hints from the teacher. We were proud of him.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

You are wasting my time!

This morning Erik was impatient to keep watching a movie DVD downstairs and needed help. He yelled up to us- still getting dressed- for help. When the answer was wait- he responds- come on you're wasting my time!

I have also lost count of how many times the last week either of the boys have told me what is cool!

And of course there is the frequest questions, where's the remote?

Though the boys' language still has gaps, it is amazing how much they do really sound like American kids. At least the LCC students recognize that when comparing to their own command of English language!

Friday, December 18, 2009

LCC Christmas

earlier I wanted to post pictures but the link to my Facebook did not go through on Blogger. Sorry for the delay. Here are a few:





unfortunately at the time Erik was Sick and Gregg not the strongest so just David and I got to participate. There was a nice dessert reception afterward as well.

We also had quite a time putting up our Christmas tree with little helpers from storybook tales! The local custom for Children celebrating Christmas in schools is to be in costume. We had just gotten their costumes (I did not spend so much time creating a costume like I did last year!).