I've been soooo uninspired to write lately (judging from the last post it seems that my kind of 'lately' lasts for about 3 months) that I'm almost ashamed of it. But it's time for me to break that damn laziness-induced writer's block, because the fact that I'm not writing doesn't mean that I'm sitting around doing nothing. I'm doing stuff alright!

#Painting

A couple of months ago I bought some aquarelle paint and started pouring out my artistic talents on paper. It's a really easy way to pretend that you're actually capable of producing something nice, because at least for me it seems that basically anything painted with aquarelle looks good. So I've been experimenting with various techniques and unleashing my inner muse from time to time. My specialty is abstractionism for obvious reasons.

#Longboard

I have no idea why it took me so long to actually give longboarding a decent chance, however, better later than never. I'm not interested in the downhill part, I'm more of a newbie cruiser, however, speed is definitely exciting! I've already had my first harsh landing after trying to go down quite a steep hill, so I'm sticking to flat surfaces for now. My confidence is growing with every try and it's fun to feel a tiny bit of progress.

#Europa park

Finally (and I mean FINALLY) we went. I can't say that it blew my mind, but the biggest rollercoasters were fun! We picked a good day weather and people wise, on average the waiting times were around 20 mins, so we did Silver Star, Blue Fire and Wodan twice. My favorite one hands down is Silver Star because of quite long air times. What I really missed was a good water coaster, cause the ones they have could be definitely better. Otherwise, the theme park itself is really nicely maintained with a lot of green areas and entertaining stuff everywhere. It's divided into sections dedicated to European countries (hence the name), so you feel like walking around the map of Europe. I'd be definitely down to go there again, because we unintentionally missed some of the rides and didn't go to any of the shows.

Over these last few weeks on top of my adaptation process I've also had a rude awakening. I've always known that I'm pretty bad with directions (to say the least...), my inner GPS either didn't get the latest upgrade or there's simply nothing to upgrade at all. However, I used to think that I'm at least good with figuring out the transportation systems when being abroad, afterall I was always the one carrying the tube maps and navigating through underground connections. Boy was I wrong... In the last 3 weeks I've managed to get on the S-Bahn taking me to the wrong direction, even though I've taken this particular one several times, after having trouble even FINDING the stop in the first place when following the simplest directions 'left and then left again'. I guess I'm just not that keen on going left... I've also missed my train cause I went to a different platform and waited there for a while. There's a couple even more embarrassing ones, but I'm not gonna bore you with details, cause the diagnosis is clear enough - I'm in a desperate need of a guide dog or something. Conveniently enough, my birthday is coming up.

This is not a guide dog sadly. This is Kora, the reason why my pants are covered in dog drool most of the time.

Talking about my birthday, I'm gonna celebrate it in Europa Park, which basically lies right in my neighbourhood - I live like 15mins away. I think it's one of the top most acceptable places to commemorate one's 24th birthday and treat that inner child. I seriously can't wait to just scream my lungs out and get that  long awaited adrenaline fix. I don't need much really, I shiver like a leaf even waiting for 45mins in the line to a ride with excitement bursting out of my ears. However, Europa Park offers some thrilling rollercoasters and I think that I should just rest my vocal chords for this special occasion.

To be honest, basically all they've been doing is pretty much resting, except for Thursdays, when I'm all alone with those 2 little monsters of mine, who, it seems, are stuck in a some sort self-destruct mode. Then I use my angry voice. Which is followed by some more disobedience - which is followed by lower pitched angry voice - which is followed by tears. Fun times! All in all, it's not so bad, given my limited vocabulary options. I get a chance to use modal verbs in practice a lot, which is our topic in the German course. Everything seems to be working out.

2 partners in crime looking for trouble.

Since the weather's been disappointingly shitty most of the time, and especially on the weekends, there's not that much happening in the entertainment department. However, I can finally check Django Unchained off my list - Tarantino, all hats are off, seriously, you rule. I'm going to be totally unoriginal and just say that besides an awesome storyline, cinematography and acting I liked the soundtrack very very much.

Okay, and since going out is not that much of an option these days, we found ways to make staying in more fun. I present to you epic meal time (minus the bacon strips): slightly less fabulous home edition ->

This leftover bottle has been sitting in the fridge for far too long. We've used it for cooking ground beef and I must say - it adds a sweet note to the meat and leaves a nice aftertaste. Definitely a must try! Just don't go overboard you latent alcoholics. ;}

Coming up: 10 things that will annoy the heck out of you in (Southern) Germany. Stay tuned.

A couple of days ago I stepped my foot on the German land again. It took me a while to figure out how I want to go about starting my life here, and I think I found a decent solution. For at least 6 months I'm going to work as an Au-Pair in a small city near the border of France and Switzerland. It's interesting how life keeps on guiding me to 'in-betweener' cities: firstly Maastricht, which is crammed between Belgium and Germany, and now Lahr. Well, I can't say that I don't like it - it gives me an easy access to different countries, and I'm definitely gonna be using that soon! Oh, almost forgot - for all of those who have no clue what Au-Pair is, I can make a short introduction. Basically it's a worldwide nanny program allowing to spend some time abroad. You live with a family in a foreign country, help them with their everyday tasks, look after the kids and in the meantime learn the local language and try to get to know a new culture. Since I have a lot of experience dealing with youth and I'd like to study something related to education in Germany later on, this was a great first step. To be honest, I didn't put that much effort into looking for a family - they found me. I've just registered in the Au-Pair World website, didn't even fill in my profile, and the next day I already had a couple of letters from various families. So I was the one choosing in this case. And I think I've chosen well! So far it's going great, and even though I can't understand half of the things that are being said to me, I think that soon I'm going to be making some progress in the speaking-and-understanding-German department. This week I'm starting a language course and on top of that I'm just going to bombard myself with German in every possible way. Since I have a TV in my room, maybe I'm even going to start watching it again and experience how all the movies and TV series are being butchered with German dubbing for myself...

The recent episode of the Simpsons reminded me of some other TV series that have referred to Lithuania/Lithuanians in one way or another. It's funny how 1 silly quote can actually create an image of a nation in one's mind, especially if that person has never heard of this country or spoken to anyone of that origin. This is how stereotypes get created or at least maintained. However, to me every unexpected Lithuanian-related reference is just amusing. It also reminds me that the Lithuanian community in the states is pretty strong. So, here it is, the collection of TV series references:

Remember The List? Well, I can proudly announce that it's coming along pretty damn well! I've recently tackled one major task of 2013 - got my driver's license. I've been stressing out about that for the past month, and all this stress paid off first try. I've heard lots of legends and rumors about the Lithuanian DMV aka Regitra, but now that I've been through this myself I can't say one bad word about it. Well, except maybe for the crappy photo booth where you have to take a picture for your license. It totally distorts your face and turns you into a vampire. In my case, a pretty fat vampire. Maybe it's their crazy way of preventing people from breaking the law while driving - you know, so nobody, including the police officers, would see your monster face. On Friday I'm finally gonna get my driver's license card and hopefully drive back home as a new official road threat. With this new obsession playing in the background:

Būtų gėda šį įrašą rašyti nelietuviškai, todėl trumpam keičiu anglų kalbą gimtąja. Neseniai sužinojau, jog šiais metais vėl organizuojamas Nacionalinis diktantas ir apsidžiaugiau galimybe pagaliau jame sudalyvauti. Džiugu, jog 2005 m. debiutavęs lietuvių kalbą puoselėjantis renginys kasmet auga ir siūlo dalyvauti ne tik Lietuvoje, bet ir užsienyje gyventiems lietuviams. Taigi, prie vasario 23 d. organizuojamo pirmojo diktanto etapo noriu paskatinti prisijungti ir jus. Gyvenantys Lietuvoje - ieškokit informacijos savo savivaldybių, visi kiti - Lietuvos ambasadų jūsų gyvenamoje šalyje puslapiuose. Siūlyčiau labai nedelsti, nes dažnai reikia užsiregistruoti iki tam tikros numatytos dienos. Jei dėl raštingiausiojo titulo varžytis nenorit, tačiau smalsu pasitikrinti savo lietuvių kalbos žinias, diktantą LRT radijas transliuos vasario 23 d. 11 val., o savo tekstą patikrinti galėsit vasario 25 d. savaitraščio Atgimimas, Delfi ir Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos svetainėse. Nepraleiskit progos prisijungti prie šio viso pasaulio lietuvius vienijančio projekto ir trumpam stabtelėti pasigrožėti mūsų unikalios kalbos daugialypumo ir skambesio grožiu.