Farewell to Pluto

In 1930 an astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh made a discovery, the likes of which would not be replicated for another 70 years. He found a planet which later came to be known as Pluto. This discovery not only added another word to the mnemonic device "Many Visitors Eat Many Jelly Sandwiches Until Night Passes", but it also inspired the name of a dog beloved by Mickey Mouse and his many fans. You can read all about Pluto here.

If you want to read the tragic story of how Clyde's wife is taking the news that her husband's discovery is being demoted, click here.

My question now is - what's going to happen to Disney's Pluto???????

He's done a lot in 76 years. He had quin-puplets, he has a kid-brother, he's been a faithful companion to Mickey, Minnie Mouse, Donald and Goofy. He starred in 48 of his own cartoons, and he never broke his contract because he wanted more money. He never jumped up and down on couches declaring his love for some new labradoodle, or spouted strange demonic religions.

He never spattered the headlines because of some midnight drunken accident, never had to apologize for thoughtless words, never sparked any media scandal, never made embarrassing comments about how he hates America, never raised money for baby-killers or crooked politicians.

Now that the planet is being demoted, will he have to change his name? Will he go nameless until they discover another planet to name him after? If you are concerned about the fate of Pluto, I urge you to contact Disney and let them know that you don't want Pluto abandoned despite the fact that the science community is abandoning the planet.

For the moment, we'll be gathering names of people who are willing to adopt Pluto in case Disney is looking to "bring him to a farm."

Let's Be Serious...

So, you're at the airport. You've picked up a newspaper and the headlines read all about the terror plot planned to down 10 planes flying over the Atlantic by Muslim terrorists. Disturbing indeed. The news reports on the monitors show pictures of planes, the World Trade Centers crashing and other forms of hysteria. You think about the stepped up security, how you can't have your Starbucks with you at the moment, and that expensive Clinique lotion you had to discard before going through the security line. And you're okay with that. Life with chapped hands is better than being blown up over the Atlantic.

And then you see these guys come into your gate. You think either, they're Muslim male models who take themselves way too seriously, OR they've just spent all of their suicide bomber money on Western clothes before carrying out their mission. That's what the other passengers thought, and refused to get on the plane until they were removed.

When I first read the story I was a bit sympathetic to these guys. They're just getting on a plane... what if someone sees my innocent Irish face and thinks I'm on some sort of a bomber mission?!?!?! But then again, I don't look like I've just returned from a training camp in Syria.

The other reason that they may have rebelled is the excessive cologne, but to be fair - that was not in the article.

Here's my advice to these guys: If you don't want to kicked off any more planes in the near future - try shaving, and stop dressing like thugs. You might even want to do something about those eyebrows. And buddy, grease goes into your car- not the hair. Just a thought.

We Are The Winners

For all you aficionados of Lithuanian culture out there, you probably already know that Lithuania made quite the splash this year in the Eurovision contest with their home grown band, LT United.

For you Ameri-centrist, we might describe Eurovision as a European knock off of American Idol - except that Eurovision has been around for about 50 years (ah hem). But you get the idea.

LT United, whose website can be found at www.winnersofeurovision.com, operates along the philosophy that subtlety is bad, and if you just say something over and over again, it may just come true.

You have to check out this link, and download the video of the National ESC Selection Final Show:

http://www.winnersofeurovision.com/en/downloads/

Unfortunately, they did not win the Eurovision contest this year, but came in sixth. Which is consistent with my opinions of the taste of our Europeans neighbors - cuz these guys are cool.

GO LT UNITED.

Gates of Dawn

So, even though I'm back, I'll start posting pictures and continue the adventures :)))

The Gates of Dawn, known in Lithuanian as Austro Vartu, is the only city gate from the original wall that still exists around Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. This Gate has been graced by the presence of an miraculous image of Our Lady.

The Holy Father was invited to visit here in 1986, but the Soviets refused to allow him. So, he sent his hat instead. When he visited in 1993, he left another hat. These are kept in the sacristy.

On my last day in Lithuania, I went there at 6am because I wanted to be among the first there to visit Our Lady. As I waited for the door to open, a delivery boy on a bicycle rode through the gate, stopped his bike, turned around and prayed for about 10 minutes before continuing on his paper route.

People going to work would walk through the gate, turn and bless themselves to show honor to Our Lady.

When the door to the chapel finally opened, there were about three elderly ladies who entered with me, but they walked up the stairs on their knees.

I'm now in the Baltic port town of Klaipeda. It is a major shipping route, and also a resort town for wealthy vacationing Lithuanians.

We visted the town of Nida which was originally a fishing village. It is now a resort town primarily where the residents rent out their flats during the winter. After a few years of such enterprise, they are able to actually buy another summer home, while supporting themselves on their seasonal income from the summer.

There are also giant sand dunes in this lovely peninsula. Apparently, when the Teutonic Knights came to settle here, they cut down all the trees on the strip to build villages. The sand began to erode as a result, and completely covered the villages. The villages now lay 50-60 kilometers beneath the sandy surface.

AND - I saw Russia. We were about two kilometers from the Russian border, but this small area of Russia tucked between Lithuania and the Baltic sea is primarily a military outpost, and visitors are greatly discouraged. We did get pictures, so maybe you can help analyze them, Jim :)

And, of the more cultural experiences of Lithuania, I purchased a We Are the Winners.

I'll try to do a quick post on just the food. Its horrible here - and I just don't understand it. The cafeteria, I'm told does a very good job serving quality food to campers and teachers alike. I'm also told that they serve very traditional food, just like Lithuanian mothers around the country make for their growing boys and girls.

For breakfast this morning they served a version of cream of wheat - except I don't think that wheat had anything to do with it. It looked liquidy - but when one of the teachers made a smiley face in it, it stayed, like a weird jello mold.

For lunch today they served a soup, as they do at every lunch. This soup was made with giant snail shaped pasta, and something that tasted like milk and sugar.

The best is that national food of Lithuania which is called cepelinai. It involves grinding meat, rolling it into a ball, then rolling that into a potato mixture, and then deep frying it. At first, it looks like a giant supplie, but the ingredients are totally foreign to my tastebuds. They cover it in a cheese sauce that doesn't taste like cheese, but could be likened to a thick cream.

We went to a restaurant the other day and I ordered roast chicken with vegetable salad. They served fried chicken fingers with cole slaw.

For all of the griping among the teachers though about the food, which the Lithuanians are happy to gobble up, their beverages are really quite good. For lunch they usually serve something that it like lemonade, but it tastes fruitier and is very tastey. Also, the flavors include lemon, orange, peach, pear, and many more.

Among the adult beverages, cider is very popular but doesn't really taste fruity - more like alcoholic kool aid. They do have a collection of vodkas, and the fad seems to be to add fruit to it. While it sounds like a good idea, there's no disguising vodka for the nasty stuff that it really is. The gentlemen in my group of grown fond of a beer called Svyterus - which they affectionately pronounce, Sweet Tourist.

Rumor has it that Lithuania also has a collection of Mead wine, but when I tried to order it the other day, the restaurant did not have any!!

Hi everyone! I'm at the camp!!! We're in Birstonas on the bank of the Leguna river. The camp is very beautiful, surrounded by a pine forest. There is a wide river that separates the camp from the village, and there is an old ferry boat that takes us across.

I'm in a room with two girls, Jen and Julia and we're all 20-ish ;). We did testing of the kids today to determine what class we should place them in. While the other teachers were doing testing, Julia and I tried to explain Kickball - but it didn't work out too well. The kids could hardly understand the rules, especially because words like "out" and "base" and pitcher, and home run were not in their vocabulary. There were a few boys who understood that it was like baseball without the bat.

Later, ultimate frisbee and mafia - renamed "murder" went much better.

They served the traditional meal of Lithuania for lunch today. Its something like mashed potatoes surrounding ground beef. I heard that the beef was alright, but the meat was good. I stuck with the soup that was like chicken and rice but without any chicken. For breakfast this morning they served a boiled egg cut in half, and a sort of pea salad with a white dressing on it. The salad was actually pretty good. They also served something-like-salami meat with tomatoes on bread, as well as sweet rolls with raisins. The coffee here is so strong that it walks out of the pot into the cup. The Lithuanians do not put milk in their coffee, and there is usually 1/4 ince of grounds left at the bottom. They always serve lemonade with lunch, and there are sweets as a snack. However, the kids didn't like them, so I thought I would pass as well.

The kids are all really nice, but there is not much for them to do when we're not teaching classes. In earlier years they were allowed to go into town by themselves, and here they can't leave the camp because town is so far away, and the ferry only runs between 5pm and 7pm. It runs in the morning but the kids are in classes at that time. The pool also is unavailalbe.

There's been some contraversy lately because the technology situation has been quite grim. We were just taken to the secondary school, and they have a whole computer lab that is great. There has been great speculation in the last 24 hours though that we wouldn't have access. Its been worked out though, and I'm able to update.

I'm also downloading a driver for a copier/printer that we do have at the camp, so everything should work out quite well.

I'm hoping to have pictures the next time I post, and hopefully less rambling.

Hello from Vilnius, Lithuania!! I arrived last night at around 5:30 and was taken too an 11 story building where I'll be staying for two days. Since then, I've learned how to say hello, good morning, see you and thank you so I'm on the fast track to Lithuanian language learning.

The Old City here is very beautiful, and they are making great efforts to restore the medieval churches and city building and rid themselves of the soviet era gray, dark, depressing landscape.

I've seen St. Anna's church which was built I believe in the 13th century. The story goes that Napolean like this church so much that he said he wanted to take it home in the palm of his hand. The inside is rather dark, and simple, but I noticed a chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is, which looks more richly adorned.

I'm also hoping to get to the Gates of Dawn this afternoon, and when I get my camera going, then I'll be able to upload some pictures to here.

Most of the streets are cobblestone, done in the shape of a fan - just like in Rome. There are older streets that are paved with round stones, I won't be wearing heels on those streets.

The food has been good. We were served fresh tomoatoes, cucumbers and cold ham this morning, along with some round thick pancakes covered with something like hollandaise sauce. The coffee is quite strong, and there's about a 1/2 inch of dark thick grounds left at the bottom of the cup when you drink it. The tea is very good, but I suspect that its British.

Its about time to go. We'll have lunch at 1pm, and then I'll make a mad rush around the city to see the Cathedral, the Amber museum, and the Gates of Dawn.

I wish my family was here to see all of these great things with me.