Following a summer of nearly internet-less existence, we are home at last, and our laptops are receiving some much-needed attention after months of sitting untouched. It seems absolutely impossible that I haven’t written since June, and equally impossible to recount everything that has happened in between. Thinking back over the summer, a slideshow of memories flicks through my mind: laundry and suitcases, airport codes, arriving in Edinburgh, castles, abbey ruins, bagpipes, the oven in the dormitory, chocolate chip cookies, highland cows, Hadrian’s Wall, Scottish thistle, good coffee, rain, old churches, towns where our ancestors once lived, people who smiled and said ‘hello.’ Of course, our dreamy Scottish summer had to come to an end, and while we were welcomed back to Klaipeda with some cool weather and a sneezy round of colds, there is something to be said for the comfort and familiarity of being in our own place. The ease of knowing where everything is in the grocery store, the blissful silence of a Sunday afternoon, drawers and hangers instead of suitcases, and the routine of daily life are things that just can’t be replaced with tourist shops and little bottles of hotel shampoo. I guess it really is true that there is ‘no place like home.’
Since our primary mode of transportation in Lithuania is foot-power, my husband has walked himself into pretty decent shape, though he still has that lithe, skinny physique you would expect from someone who spends his days teaching in a classroom. Yet, when trouble arises, the sensible awareness of his own limitations seem to vanish, and he is inexorably drawn to danger – like Superman to a faint cry or a flash of light in the sky.
On his way to work the other day, Nathan decided to walk down our main street, instead of taking his usual shortcut through the park. There really wasn’t any reason for him to take this route, but it did give him the opportunity to stop at a kiosk and pick up some more bus tickets. Behind the glass window, the kiosk lady was waiting for a young man to pay for his phone card, and an old man stood in line waiting his turn. The young man was taking an unusually long time flipping through his wallet, when he suddenly grabbed the phone card, along with the kiosk-lady’s gloves, and ran. Stunned, the lady called out for the boy to stop, but no one responded. Then, as she flashed a helpless look at Nathan, that mysterious instinct kicked in, and he took off chasing after the thief.
With a knapsack full of English grammar games slung over his shoulder, and his squeaky dress shoes splashing through puddles, he hardly looked the part of rescuer. Still, when he was across the street from the now winded crook, something in Nathan’s demeanor made the young man give up the fight. As Nathan pointed his finger, the boy cautiously extended his hand, giving over the phone card. Nathan had planned on offering his own gloves in order to ransom the kiosk lady’s pair, but the boy took off running again. Thankfully by that time, Nathan had realized that he was actually not wearing his Superman underwear, and decided to let the boy go.
When Nathan returned to the kiosk a few minutes later with the unopened phone card, the lady showered him with thanks. The cost of the card would likely have come from her paycheque if it hadn’t been returned. He bought his bus tickets, and left to the echoes of the woman’s repeated thanks and the quiet smile of approval from a little old man.
Life has been an absolute whirlwind of craziness for us these days, so luxurious things like blogging, not to mention laundry, have been temporarily put on hold. However, today’s little piece of exciting news is worthy of a brief interlude in our insanity. What is so thrilling that it can actually make the forces of work and school pause and take notice? We have heat. Yes, the city has decided we have been bundled in extra sweaters long enough, and our radiators are beginning to radiate. Of course, that also means that we will start paying for heat until the city deems the weather warm enough to turn it off again, but for now, my toes are extremely thankful. Though our apartment has an abundance of windows, it doesn’t get much sunlight on these fall days, and our un-insulated concrete walls constantly breathe cold air. Our old but reasonably efficient radiators will provide enough heat to keep out the winter frost. Just in time, too…after a late-night trip to the loo last night, I was thinking that without heat, we would soon need to keep an ice-scraper in the bathroom so we could sit down. That would have been most unpleasant.