Achoo very much

It was cold here, felt like Boston maybe a month ago (April). On my way home from the grocery store, the cabby ripped me off a bit. I was feeling a little discouraged here, even lonely, especially since finding someone who spoke English was very rare. But, as usual, time was, and would, go by very quickly with all the work there was left to be done. I hired a translator for Monday morning through the hotel, but man this was an expensive translator! It was about $100/hour.
I had bad dreams all last night and this morning, I woke up trying to yell “Dad!” Maybe I was missing the ‘rents.

The next day I ventured to the mall and I was very pleasantly surprised. The mall was very well developed, it even had an ice rink in the middle surrounded by restaurants so while you eat your unhealthy meal you can watch people fall on ice all over the place. But, I found that I had some major permission issues here. I started surveying with my book open in one of the grocery stores and was caught immediately and told to stop. The manager was suppose to meet me but did not, and when I went to look for her she was already gone. I couldn’t get permission until Monday and this was cutting it too close. I was going to have to stealth, which makes me so stressed out. I also, surprisingly, got kicked out immediately in a pharmacy (twice), trying to get prices for vitamin C. So frustrating! After leaving the mall the first day, I realized that I had a price tag stuck to my shoe when I took it off. Figures! Like I don’t see enough of them.

On the way out of the mall, I noticed the hype for the first time. While everyone was closing down and locking up, all the TV’s in the mall turned on and started blaring music. It was the Eurovision contest, which I had never heard of! Eurovision is the American Idol of the European countries; they all represent their countries and sing their hearts out for the crown. Once I left the mall, I found one of the recommended restaurants and watched while I ate my dinner. It was very entertaining and I gained a fondness for a couple of the songs, especially the one that won “I’m in Love with a Fairytale.”

My friend Emily (over facebook) left me a message that said “achoo” meant thank you in Lithuanian. That was going to be easy to remember!