Cebando maté

Cebando maté in Lithuania is very different from cebando in Argentina. Of course the people here have not had the years of practice to know the "rules" of maté. What are they exactly? Funny you should ask...

Do not...

1. Take the bombilla (metal straw) out of the maté to look at it. This will only cause little sticks to go up the straw. Also, it is hard to put the straw back, making it close to impossible to finish all of the liquid.
   
2. Blow on the bombilla. Air will not get down the straw to cool down the liquid. This is rude and in non-verbal language tells me that you have a problem with me.
   
3. Wait for it to cool. If you do other people won't get a chance to try maté. Also, by the time it cools it will be too strong to enjoy. It´s not my fault you can´t stand boiling hot water.
   
4. Complain about how hot it is. Who likes luke-warm water? Yuck.
5. Pass on the maté only half finished. I made it for you...not your neighbor.
6. Say thank-you unless you really are finished.

First photo, my roommate Oleg from Belarus. Second of his girlfriend Natasha from Moldova. Third is of Natasha´s mom Sveta, who was visiting. I made it clear to them that I do not hold them to my rules. I guess they thought my matés tasted like grass. They might be right. ;)

Long awaited information

Joshua Greenman
Karklu G. 5
LT- 91001 Klaipeda
Lietuva

Don't send anything ensured over $20. ;) Oh...and make sure you look at the comments.

Walk with a view

This is what I see on my way to LCC:





P.S. I couldn't get into Economic Politics and instead will probably take Math...which is probably better because the credits will actually transfer to Taylor.

First day of school

Today was the first day of school. I guess I've been ready for quite a long time now, ever since I we drove to Klaipeda. I can't really comment too much on them since they were just introduced today. So far I am only enrolled in three classes but I am planning on adding a fourth this Wednesday. The classes that I am taking include: SOC 100 Introduction to Sociology, THE 341 Introduction to Theology, and PSY 221 Interpersonal Communication. I need a minimal of 12 credits to be considered a full time time student and with my 2 credit internship I only have 11 credits, so I've decided to add HIS 315 Political Economy. I'm not sure how much is focused on politics and how much is focused on economy, but this class comes highly recommended. I'm told that it should create a challenge...

The walk to school is roughly between 25 - 30 minutes long. Today I walked to and from school twice, equaling two hours of exercise. I've decided that since I don't run on a regular basis any more, I might as well take advantage of the weather and try to keep my heart in shape. This also creates time to be alone, or have a good conversation with someone who lives in the same dorm as me. I'll post photos of my walk to school soon before the weather turns bad again. The sun actually peeked through the clouds today, the first time since I've been in Lithuania.

HBH!

We went to a really cool restaurant today. After attending mass at a Lithuanian church the LCC folks took us over to a restaurant with a "natural" theme park. The name of the restaurant is HBH and it has all sorts of games to play on. Even the walk through the woods was amazing due to all of the art made out of logs and sticks. While at the restaurant I ordered a litter of gyra, a drink made out of fermented bread (note: NOT alcoholic...just in case some profs at Taylor are reading this or something...je je je). Sadly, I couldn't finish the drink so I had to receive help from a friend. My goal is to be able to drink the whole litter the next time we go back to the restaurant at the end of our semester.