Ordinary No Longer

Friday, February 16 was a holiday celebrating Lithuania's Independence from Russia in 1918. There is another holiday in March which will fall over Spring Break, celebrating Lithuania's Independence from Russia...again...in 1991. Lithuanian flags were on the corners of every building - something nice to see for once, as flags are rarely flown here and my American eyes are used to seeing national emblems slapped on everything, everywhere. A bikini with the United States' flag on it? No problem. A bikini with the Lithuanian flag on it? No way. Anyway...They were taken down at dusk, so now the city is back to being itself - minus some color.

The holiday lent a day off to everyone and the weather was beautiful! Crisp, clear and no wind to speak of. It was impossible not to go enjoy it, so Regis and I took a trip to the Curonian Spit and strolled around taking photos. We found a homeless cat sunning itself on the concrete masses that make up the waterbreak for the harbor, forgotten changing stations for summer tourists, ice floes and a beautiful sunset from the same waterbreak that juts into the sea. I uploaded some photos to my Yahoo album, if you care to see. The lighting was perfect for taking pictures, and I've still got to steal some from Regis, so I'll post more when I get them.

Some of my favorite moments are taking more than a moment to really look at something ordinary and see more to it. Whether it's the rundown building I pass on my way to the bus stop every morning or the war bunkers used by the Nazis still looming over the beach or the forgotten concrete relics on the Spit shore - everything has a story and is amazing when it's given a chance to speak. The fact that there is a pile of huge concrete wall fragments and other miscellaneous constructed giants just laying on the shore of the Spit in full view of the harbor may be no big deal, but when you look at them for more than a second - you wonder who put them there, when and for what purpose? What did they used to keep in or out? They certainly are no playground, with rusted rebar and holes to fall into, but they have a certain charm because they are so isolated and completely lacking anymore human interference.

I watched the movie 'Everything is Illuminated' tonight, and was touched by some similarities of the Ukrainian backdrop to the story and my own experiences here. It's about Elijah Wood going to Ukraine to find out more about his Jewish Ukrainian grandfather, with the help of a young man and his own grandfather leading the way. When Elijah looks at a huge Soviet-style apartment building that has been left to decay and asks 'what is it?' - the Ukrainian young man looks at the same building and replies 'Soviets.' Elijah continues, 'what happened?' and the Ukrainian young man pauses and says 'independence.' I sometimes see the same feeling or idea in some of the landscapes that I see everyday. I intend to try to go some more places in Lithuania before I leave, to soak up as much of the scenery as I can before I leave my beloved Lietuva for a long time. Hopefully over spring break I can maybe venture to Kaunas or some other unexplored part of the country...