Happy Holidays!

As it happens, the time I decide to sit down and actually update my blog about adventures in Lithuania is the exact time that we are on vacation...not in Lithuania.  More about our vacation spot and my difficulty in understanding certain wardrobe choices of bikini clad women later in the blog.  

Back in July of this year, I attended two events on the same day that were not necessarily mutually exclusive, depending on your perspective - the Pride Parade and the Depeche Mode concert.  Earlier on in the day, I donned my rain proof (and egg proof) jacket and walked down to the city center to participate in the Baltic Pride parade, which this year was held in Vilnius.  Hard to believe that just three years ago, the last time the rotating Baltic parade was held in Vilnius, only a few hundred people dared to march in the parade but this year the participant numbers swelled to several thousand.  Stuart Milk, the late Harvey Milk's grandson, also marched among the thousands and gave a short speech at the end of the march.  A swift five hours later, we were on our way to the Depeche Mode concert in an outdoor park area in Vilnius.  Call it irony, call it funny, call it ignorant, call it what you want but as we looked around the concert goers, we couldn't help but notice that the same people who were taunting us during the parade and throwing us the bird, were singing and dancing along to the Depeche Mode songs and having a merry old time.  

Baltic Pride Parade 2013

Reach out and touch faith....

Towards the end of summer, we were super excited with an influx of visitors from the States.  My parents came at the end of August and we took them on a whirlwind adventure in Lithuania and a quick jaunt to Paris one weekend.  They absolutely loved Lithuania to include the charm of Old Town Vilnius, the food, the ambiance, and of course, the cleanliness of the streets.  Aside from seeing us, I think the well kept streets and the great sartorial taste of the locals were most definitely my mom's highlights.  The same day my parents left Vilnius, four of my co-ed flag football teammates from Virginia arrived!  It was so great to see them and explore various parts of Lithuania, as well as Riga and Estonia, together.  

Trakai Castle

Tallinn, Estonia with Bomber Football teammates

As November rolled around and days were becoming shorter and colder, along with many other women, I was in terrible angst figuring out what to wear to the one and only annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball.  After going back and forth during an internal struggle, I finally decided (gasp!) that I would re-use a dress that I had worn to two other events over the past few years.  Around the same time, the Gunnery Sergeant asked me if I would be willing to take on the job of MC of the birthday ball.  To be completely honest, at first I thought he was joking and trying to pull a fast one on me.  But, after realizing that he was being serious, I told him that I would be honored and of course I would do it!  When the night finally came, I had a phenomenal time acting as the MC and thankfully, I did not trip on the small train of my dress after having to go up and down the stage.  If anything, that was probably the thing I was most afraid of during that evening!

Happy Birthday Marines!

3rd time is a charm for this dress!

And now, to discuss my vexation with certain wardrobe choices while on vacation in Punta Cana.  Disclaimer - I am not some American prude who shudders at the sight of someone's derriere or décolletage.  However, a line must be drawn!  Ladies - a few recommendations from me.  DO go topless for the feeling of freedom and absence of tan lines.  DON'T walk up topless to the bar at the resort (while wearing a paper floss thong bottom to boot) to ask for a drink; please don your cover-up.  DO apply extra sunscreen to your bum while wearing a thong bikini bottom (one can only imagine what a sun burn to the bum will do to a person).  DON'T try the downward-dog yoga pose while straddling your lover and wearing a barely there thong bikini.  To be fair, the nudity didn't bother me or distract me from my goal while on vacation (to relax and have a good time), but merely offered cheap entertainment and comic relief before ordering another margarita from the bar.

Appropriate attire....bikini on t-shirt

Happy Holidays from Punta Cana

Happy Holidays from Vilnius, ya'll!

New year, new findings

Although we're a third of the way into the new year, I have finally determined what my new year's resolutions are.  One of them is to update my blog at least once a month!  Hopefully my new super fast computer (pending delivery) will push me to publish more times, especially with upcoming trips and events that are on the schedule for the next couple of months.

American & Lithuanian snowman says hello!

When I last posted several months ago, I had just found out the wonderful news that I was a new aunt!  My younger brother beat me to the punch once again - this time it was with the baby train.  He and his parter had a beautiful and chunky little girl with a complete full head of hair, which I attribute to his Romanian and her Mexican roots.  Now, I'm sure that there are many aunts in the world who think that their nieces are the cutest and loveliest, but I must say that my niece most definitely came off the assembly line from the adorable factory.  She has so much personality and her smiles and laughs just make my heart melt.  Last fall, I was incredibly lucky that I got the chance to go back to the States to attend my annual trip with my college girlfriends and at the same time, I got to meet the newest addition to the Comsa family.  Now, I've held many babies in my time, but for whatever reason, when I held my not yet 2 month old niece, it was as if I had never even held a potato sack before!  My back was arched so far back when I was holding her, that I probably looked like I was trying to perform a back bend.  In my effort to not make her uncomfortable, I nearly took out my back!  Luckily, after the fifth or sixth hold (along with the help of a martini), I was doing just fine.  Now, months later, all of us get to talk to and see each other over skype quite often.  I constantly find myself cooing and awwing to her, just like those crazy family relatives!  But, she needs to know that she has a loving, albeit sometimes strange, aunt and an uncle who live far, far away.

Love at first cry

Lovely Theta ladies

Shortly after my return from the States, I began to notice an unattractive and common habit among people in Vilnius once the weather reached the sub-freezing temperatures.  Time and time again when I walked around town bundled up in my thick marshmallow jacket, I would look around and notice that people openly and without shame, blew snot rockets in public!  This new habit took my repulsion of spitting in public to a whole new level.  Men and women alike, old and young, seemingly of middle class background stopped in their tracks, removed their gloves and squeezed each nostril to blow their noses, sans tissue or hankerchief.  Yuck!  In all fairness, I may be able to understand this habit if people were to perform it in private, but in front of everyone walking along the street, I mean come on!  Is it so difficult to pre-pack a hanky or tissue in a pocket or purse, or even hidden in a glove?  The other day I went for a run outside and about half way through my run, I began to sniffle and could not stop.  Due to my aversion to snot rockets in public, I waited until I was able to run along a path without any person in sight, and then let it loose all natural style, without tissue or hanky.  Immediately after, I still turned my head in every direction to make sure no one saw.  

 

Yuck

To finish off this quick blog, I would just briefly like to touch on our once in a lifetime adventure throughout southeast Asia.  I say 'briefly' only because I feel like I can devote pages and pages to the experiences and sights and tastes that we encountered.  In January, we embarked on our vacation from Thailand to Laos to Vietnam to Cambodia, all in a three week time period.  Lots of flights, lots of hotels, no upset stomachs, and so many memories.  It was great to get away, not only because we always wanted to go to these places, but because we got a brief break from the bitter cold winter in Vilnius.

The beautiful Halong Bay