satellite burns down house
The trip started out like any other. I drove into Manhattan and the car overheated when I got there. My dad took over driving from there, and we went the rest of the way to Newark the heat on full blast. I made it to the airport about an hour late, but check in went fine. In stockholm, I heard my first Lithuanian of the trip. Always an interesting moment when this happens. I usually catch myself paying extra close attention when I hear foreign tongues and had been doing so, but not understanding the Swedish.
The first Lithuanian I heard, of course was political debating on the presidential races which the impeached president was getting ready to run in. I began listening lest the group of 10 or so Lithuanians mention anything Ilona Stulpiniene - Liberal Center Union candidate for parliament from Siauliai region (meaning RURAL). After a sufficient amount of eavesdropping, I gathered up the nerve to strike up a conversation with one of the women, Antanina, who, it turns out lives near Siauliai and had heard of Ilona. Antanina, by the way owns a cafe in which she keeps a live brown bear!! (Miško Užeiga in Kelmės raj., Lithuania: +370 699 53 261)
I spoke with a girl and a guy there too, and they were both pretty nice. The guy was from Siauliai too, and said he would vote for Ilona, but that he's actually from Siauliai city, not the region. I sat next to him on the flight from Stockholm to vilnius, and we traded stories on car accidents. Turns out he's much more lucky to be alive than I am...although I guess we both are, as the propellor plane flight from Stockholm to Vilnius was...vibracious.
I arrived in Vilnius at around 1000, and the rest of that day was a blur of activity. First to the apartment to drop off my stuff and mistakenly fall asleep during the hour that I wanted to wash up. From there, it was off to the Mayor's office, which recently moved into Vilnius' first skyscraper (click for a photo...it's the non-round skyscraper). Of course, I met the Mayor (Arturas Zuokas - notice all the people staring at him in the photo), unshaven, smelly, worn, and dressed like a schlub. It just so happens that that day I also shook hands with Arturas Paulauskas (acting President - the one getting some chin makeup), Valdas Adamkus (former President and current candidate for President), Brazauskas (PM - far right), Petras Auðtrevicius (presidential candidate), and the top lawyer in the country.
From my mom's office, we grabbed a quick dinner at the new mall right next to the new skyscrapers in Vilnius, and then booked it over to the main Cathedral Square, where a large event was taking place to welcome Lithuania into the EU (at midnight). That's where I met all those bigshots. The event was organized by the Lithuanian equivalent of PBS, and was not too bad...kinda boring though. Lithuanian reactions, while vastly improved from even a couple years ago where noticeably "clap weakly for your favorite band"-ish. One problem with the event was that another concert was taking place simultaneously...get this...with the same bands playing at both. Don't ask me to get into the skinny of it, but it had to with some nasty politicking by the Mayor's opponents.
The same opponents organized a promotion where they distributed tons of these lights to people all over the country. At 2140, people were supposed to turn on all their lights and point them to the sky as a satellite's orbit passed over Europe, making Lithuania the brightest country in Europe as it joined the EU. The only problem...minor detail...the satellite wasn't scheduled to fly over until 2240. Duh. I didn't see anyone flashing any lights in Cathedral Square at 2240, but that's probably because everyone had entered that zombie mode Lithuanians get into when there's a promise of fireworks. (turns out there was no news the day after about the outcome of the lights thing, except that some guy in Panevezys left his lights on when he left his house in order to ensure the satellite would see, and his house burned down. go figure).
After that I went to start drinking with a couple girls who my mother and Ilona had met while bar hopping the week before. We got flaming Metaxas and debated women's rights, etc. I must say that they are some of the first Lithuanians I have met who I probably couldn't tell were Lithuanians if I just saw them on the street. Jurga fell asleep towards 4am, and Vaida got her a cab. Meanwhile, I had to get back into the apartment without keys or a phone, and my mom out carousing with her crazy artist/rich friends. I figured out where she was and got the keys, but not after getting dragged into the apartment to spend a couple of really uncomfortable moments watching millionaires and eccentrics do their thing. Mind you I hadn't slept since the beginning of this blog, and had only slept 4 hours between the 48 hours before that.
I got home around 0400, only to have to go let my mom in at 0700!
-dr-
The first Lithuanian I heard, of course was political debating on the presidential races which the impeached president was getting ready to run in. I began listening lest the group of 10 or so Lithuanians mention anything Ilona Stulpiniene - Liberal Center Union candidate for parliament from Siauliai region (meaning RURAL). After a sufficient amount of eavesdropping, I gathered up the nerve to strike up a conversation with one of the women, Antanina, who, it turns out lives near Siauliai and had heard of Ilona. Antanina, by the way owns a cafe in which she keeps a live brown bear!! (Miško Užeiga in Kelmės raj., Lithuania: +370 699 53 261)
I spoke with a girl and a guy there too, and they were both pretty nice. The guy was from Siauliai too, and said he would vote for Ilona, but that he's actually from Siauliai city, not the region. I sat next to him on the flight from Stockholm to vilnius, and we traded stories on car accidents. Turns out he's much more lucky to be alive than I am...although I guess we both are, as the propellor plane flight from Stockholm to Vilnius was...vibracious.
I arrived in Vilnius at around 1000, and the rest of that day was a blur of activity. First to the apartment to drop off my stuff and mistakenly fall asleep during the hour that I wanted to wash up. From there, it was off to the Mayor's office, which recently moved into Vilnius' first skyscraper (click for a photo...it's the non-round skyscraper). Of course, I met the Mayor (Arturas Zuokas - notice all the people staring at him in the photo), unshaven, smelly, worn, and dressed like a schlub. It just so happens that that day I also shook hands with Arturas Paulauskas (acting President - the one getting some chin makeup), Valdas Adamkus (former President and current candidate for President), Brazauskas (PM - far right), Petras Auðtrevicius (presidential candidate), and the top lawyer in the country.
From my mom's office, we grabbed a quick dinner at the new mall right next to the new skyscrapers in Vilnius, and then booked it over to the main Cathedral Square, where a large event was taking place to welcome Lithuania into the EU (at midnight). That's where I met all those bigshots. The event was organized by the Lithuanian equivalent of PBS, and was not too bad...kinda boring though. Lithuanian reactions, while vastly improved from even a couple years ago where noticeably "clap weakly for your favorite band"-ish. One problem with the event was that another concert was taking place simultaneously...get this...with the same bands playing at both. Don't ask me to get into the skinny of it, but it had to with some nasty politicking by the Mayor's opponents.
The same opponents organized a promotion where they distributed tons of these lights to people all over the country. At 2140, people were supposed to turn on all their lights and point them to the sky as a satellite's orbit passed over Europe, making Lithuania the brightest country in Europe as it joined the EU. The only problem...minor detail...the satellite wasn't scheduled to fly over until 2240. Duh. I didn't see anyone flashing any lights in Cathedral Square at 2240, but that's probably because everyone had entered that zombie mode Lithuanians get into when there's a promise of fireworks. (turns out there was no news the day after about the outcome of the lights thing, except that some guy in Panevezys left his lights on when he left his house in order to ensure the satellite would see, and his house burned down. go figure).
After that I went to start drinking with a couple girls who my mother and Ilona had met while bar hopping the week before. We got flaming Metaxas and debated women's rights, etc. I must say that they are some of the first Lithuanians I have met who I probably couldn't tell were Lithuanians if I just saw them on the street. Jurga fell asleep towards 4am, and Vaida got her a cab. Meanwhile, I had to get back into the apartment without keys or a phone, and my mom out carousing with her crazy artist/rich friends. I figured out where she was and got the keys, but not after getting dragged into the apartment to spend a couple of really uncomfortable moments watching millionaires and eccentrics do their thing. Mind you I hadn't slept since the beginning of this blog, and had only slept 4 hours between the 48 hours before that.
I got home around 0400, only to have to go let my mom in at 0700!
-dr-
posted by mrdarius at
Friday, April 30, 2004
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