nine.

I'm going to take this time to write about my Thanksgiving night. I know I already had a post about Thanksgiving, but that was before I had a hilarious adventure.

During Shelbi's class she was talking about Thanksgiving. She was talking about why it is celebrated and what food we eat when Dima called me over. He asked if it was Thanksgiving and I told him it was. He said that if we wanted to, he would take us to Hesburger after teaching to have some hamburgers for Thanksgiving. I asked the other teachers if they wanted to and Shelbi and Kelby couldn't, but Hayden, Joni, and I all could. 

So after teaching we headed on out to Hesburger. On the way there, Dima asked us multiple times if we actually wanted Hesburger. We were fine with eating whatever, but Hesburger was closest. We pull up to Hesburger, park, walk in, and then Dima says, "I don't want this, I want KFC." We all said yes to that and back out we went to the car. It made me laugh that we all went in there, spoke some English a little too loudly, looked around, and then left. Typical Americans. Just kidding.

We ventured off to KFC, playing some good old 80s music on the way. We went inside and ordered our food. I had only had KFC once in my life before coming to Lithuania. Now I have had it at least 7 to 8 times. I'm pretty sure after this I probably won't ever have it again. But that's beside the point. We had our fried chicken and french fries and made that our little piece of home. We had a good time eating and enjoying each others company. 

When we were getting ready to leave, Dima asked if we wanted anything else. We decided that ice cream would be a good decision. Well, KFC doesn't really have ice cream. They have these drink things called Krushers. It's like they're melted milkshakes but not nearly as good. We didn't really think about this though. We just went up to the counter and ordered our Oreo Krushers. Dima was just standing there looking around and we asked if he wanted one, he said no because they weren't that good. We said we knew that but it's all they had here. I mentioned how McDonald's McFlurries are better, so right then we decided to go there. It was a little awkward because we had placed our order and we didn't know how to tell her we wanted to cancel it. Dima told Hayden to cancel it, but she didn't want to. So we booked it for the door. Literally ran. Then Dima blocked us so we could cancel it. But we wouldn't, and then he forgot how to say it in Lithuanian, so everyone is staring at us because we are laughing hysterically trying to get out the door, and finally Dima moved so I ran out and then he and Hayden followed me and then Joni came out after them. It was so funny. 

We went to McDonald's, laughing pretty much the whole way there because we had all just acted like 5 year olds. We got our McFlurries and it was the perfect end to the day.

That was my Thanksgiving day.

On Saturday, I went and played squash (like racquetball) with Dima and then I went to the Gariunai market with the girls. They have all sorts of things there, from appliances to underwear. And everything in between. 

My feet were freezing cold! When we finally left we had to wait for over 40 minutes for a bus. I felt so bad for my feet. But, the fact that we went to Vapiano afterwards made up for it. I had a delicious pizza and some delectable cheesecake with strawberry sauce. That was our official Thanksgiving meal since it was nicer.

Last week it started snowing! I have only fallen twice so far, but I have a massive bruise on my knee to show for it. I'm not very coordinated when it comes to snow and ice.

The kids have their Spectacle at the end of this week, which is the concert/play they put on at the end of the semester to show off what they have learned. So last week we started practicing for a substantial amount of time. Basically, all week I heard Christmas songs non-stop. But there was something about hearing the kids singing them that sent chills down my back and got me in the Christmas spirit. One of the teachers got sick last week, so I got to teach for her. Maybe it was the excitement of the snow, but the kids were CRAZY. It was tough. I can't believe it is our last week of teaching though. I'm going to miss these kids so much. 

This past weekend we went to an antique market with Natasha, Dima's wife, and then on a tour to see underground tunnels in Vilnius. I had absolutely no idea that they existed under the city. We went under the Vilnius Cathedral and saw some crypts and things. Then we went under some other places that had underground parts to them. The tour was in Lithuanian, so I didn't understand any of it, but Natasha and the tour guide explained some of it to us. Most of the time I made up my own stories about what happened in them. It was entertaining enough. Oh, and as cold as my feet were at Gariunai market, they were ten times colder on Saturday. I don't think I have ever felt that kind of pain in my feet. It was insane. On the bright side of things, I got to see the Christmas tree in Cathedral Square and the little Christmas market that they have set up. 

(This was at the antique market. I was crying from laughing.)

Yesterday we went to the Russian Branch for church and I said the closing prayer in sacrament meeting. I was a little intimidated, but it turned out fine. 

Hayden and I tried making some dumplings for dinner. We have basically only had pizza, pasta, quesadillas, chicken, and fries for dinner since we've been here. So we wanted to do something different to at least say we tried it. Well, that was a bad decision. We couldn't even finish it. So, what do you do when you have a terrible taste in your mouth and need something else? You run to Maxima to get a Milka and Sprite. That was a good decision. It saved my poor taste buds. 

Now I'm preparing myself for the final days here. 9 days. That's all I have left. I have to take everything in. 15 weeks has flown by. I'm not ready to leave. Lithuania has become my home.