Who doesn't like really good free stuff? Google Analytics does some pretty awesome free website analysis. I'd never bothered with visit counters and so on. Now I get cool graphs and stuff, for free! Lose twenty pounds! Okay, maybe not that last part.

How's life in Lithuania been the last little while? Pretty good. Coming back from Fall Break was a bit of a kick in the teeth, but it finally started to snow, and now everything feels fresh and clean again. I'm sure there's lots of stuff that will need to get done before Christmas, but it doesn't seem overwhelming today. We're in the semi-finals in volleyball, I don't have to emergency-relief that solo for the Christmas program (on Dec. 2nd and 3rd! Papa sang bass...), and well, marking. Grading! Sorry, keep forgetting.

I guess I'm supposed to have pictures or stories here or something, but this is just a momentary procrastination. So in a mental rush, here's a list of some of those small cultural differences that creep up on you every day:

OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD:

well, the currency is called the "lita," but more importantly:


• light switches are hip-height, and *outside the bathroom* (hope you don't have hip-height kids)


• you have to "clamp" your bus tickets like a time-card: holes are bus-specific


• walking by parked cars? there's often people in them


• everyone has cell phones. I mean this literally.


• windows open at the top, not just the side


• all four wheels are turnable on shopping carts


• your heating depends on everyone else


• there are no driers; my washing machine cycle is 2h 45m


• very little public conversation, and it's never "boisterous"


• the air is wet


• the countryside is beautiful


• potato farmers! using tractors and horses


• van taxis, aka "pocket rockets"


• pointed dress shoes... for guys


• wedding procession? Must be a Saturday.


• high heels are the rule... cobblestones nothing!


• my ATM advises me to "keep your money in a secret"...


• which is good for PIN codes too, cause there's no personal space in lines...


• which you're often waiting in: cashiers insist on exact change... often plucking it from offered hands


• "Iki" - the grocery store name that means "see you later!"


• female janitors in male bathrooms... common occurrence! I mean really, mopping under my stall? LEAVE ME MY DIGNITY!


• the sport is basketball, not hockey


FOOD:


• fried stale-bread sticks and garlic... with cheese


• 1%? 2%? nope! sour cream is 35%! (or more)


• your milk is already expired


• ...unless it came in a box, in which case it expires in two years... unless you open it, then two days


• pizza sauce tastes like ketchup, but so does everything else


• sandwich meat: roast beef? chicken? turkey? nope. ham.


• pork!


• cabbage!


• potatos!


• (beef? chicken?)


• there's no such thing as fast food


• there's no such thing as preservatives (yet fridges are either nearly empty or... not there)


• there's no thing so good as the bacon here... it's almost Canadian Back


• missing: oh, baby carrots, syrup, dill pickles, salsa, roast anything, a big, juicy burger...


And, as a bonus, THE BEACH:


• wooden booths to change in on the sand at the beach... hope you don't mind showing your ankles!


• nude beaches... sure, what's so funny?


• trunks? nope, speedos only


• two words: sauna, snow

I know, I know: "there's a lot more!" or, "that's not true!" but hey, give a guy a break. I miss you too.