Gile Vilnius

It rained pretty much all day today. Which helped me make a decision. I stayed in and read submissions for the workshops all day instead of going to any events. Took a long time and I got a chance to do some laundry. Wow - what a culture shock. One load in this minuscule machine took an hour and a half. Just the wash. Thinking I learned my lesson the next load was a "short wash ...

After a stop-off in the lovely village on a lake of Trakai, with its beautiful setting and castle (and where it seems half of Lithuanians get married judging by the amount of wedding parties in town), it was a relatively short drive to Vilnius, one of the most laid back capital cities of anywhere we'd been, and with a population of only 500,000. Lithuanians are ...

... masterpiece of late Lithuanian gothic. Actually, all that is called St. Anne's Church in the colloquial language of tourists today is in reality an architectural ensemble comprising the smaller church - St. Anne's - and a much larger St.Francis and Bernardine Church. Anyway, one of the few lucky survivors throughout the stormy Vilnius history which has pulled off a feat of reaching our time almost unchanged, it has now become one of the symbols of Vilnius. There is this legend ...

... tradition and reputation, I found a way to attend a wedding, 2 in fact. It was easier than I would've anticipated, I just asked permission to be part of the shebang, took some pictures, and yes all girls were hot. They were kicked to have my presence, apparently my reputation precedes me! But everywhere I went, there were weddings so I couldn't help it really. I proceeded to Gediminas St. which is the new town bit - swanky shops, hotels, casinos and the works. Spend ...

... high angle" or because "editing was excellent". For I've got no clue what good editing is. Or high-angle shot. I can with impunity just listen to my own feeling and say what I heard. And so, even if I didn't check the watch, wondering how much it was until the end, "Broken Flowers" moved me less than "Chronicles of Narnia". With all due respect towards Jim Jarmouche, Bill Murray, Sharon Stone and the rest of the crew, I've seen better movies.

... same problems, so that is good. I often learn what they need to know at the same time that I teach them, but fortunately I learn much faster so I am always a step ahead - of course I am just one small step ahead. I have learnt over the last couple of weeks a few things about grammar like what present perfect is, what a modal verb is and how to find the past participle of a verb. I also learnt that there are between 20 and 22 tenses in English ...

... in order to cover up their crimes just before they were ousted from the country; in another room, 1970s surveillance equipment used by KGB agents to tap phones and track the movements of suspected radicals or human rights activists was left where it had been installed during the Soviet reign of terror. Upstairs, there were several brilliant multimedia displays dedicated to the hardships, including mass murder and forced deportations ...

... were just as heart retching. On the lighter side, the Lithuanian word for thank you is aiciu, which is pronounced simliar to Ahchoo, like a sneeze! Useful to know so that you don't think the person you just held the door open for is sneezing on you. I definitely wasn't hungry when I left the museum, I actually thought I would be sick. Thankfully by the time I had walked back to the center my appetite was back. On the walk back it started to ...

... laugh...Aciu, pronounced ashoo, or a typical sneezing sound... The hostel we stayed at in Vilnius was great! It was called the Vilnius Backpackers and it had heated floors in the bathroom! It could only sleep about 24 people so we found it very cozy...the first night, the hostel was short on beds so Sam and I had to share a bunk, but it was fairly comfy and we had a place to sleep so ...

Today I went to Trakai which is about 45 mins out of Vilnius by bus, and was possibly at one time the capital of Lithuania. It is also home to the Karaime people who originate from modern day Iraq but follow a sort of Judaism. They were brought to Lithuania by one of the grand dukes as bodyguards back in the 1700's I think, but now only about 300 of their descendents are alive and ...