Yesterday Monique and I went to the Russian-speaking service for the Klaipeda Evangelical Baptist Church. I was curious how it compared to Ukrainian Baptist services. The general feel was the same, although it was a very small congregation--only about 2o people, most of them elderly. I'm not sure if this is because church attendance is generally low here, Russian is being replaced by Lithuanian as the younger generation's language, or if the church is more traditional than younger people here want. That said, everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Several people were originally (30-40 years ago) from Ukraine and told me I speak Russian with a nice Ukrainian accent. :) Monique was warmly blessed in Russian by an old lady who gripped her hands tightly and didn't realize that she didn't speak English. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it back there again this summer, as there's another congregation in town I'd like to visit, but it was a good experience.
Teaching began today--so far, I have 16 students, 4 boys and 12 girls. 11 are Lithuanian, 2 are Polish, 1 is Latvian, and 2 are Russian--one from Kaliningrad, the Russian oblast that's on the Baltic and separated from Russia by Belarus, and one who is originally from Ukraine but lives in Moscow. One is an elementary school teacher and the rest are high school students.
I always get quirky students, and this summer appears to be no exception. I had the students write a description of themselves, and one student included this: "All I need from this life are friends, nature, and dangerous situation like survival on unknown island full of coconuts."
Well really, what more DO you need?
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