Dour, 電通-controlled, family-centric Belgian Neocolonialism, enthusiastically jaded observations, support for state-owned neoliberalist media and occasional rants from the twisted mind of a privileged middle-class expatriate atheist and とてもくだらないひと projecting some leftist ideals with my ridicule of Tucker Carlson (from The Blogs Formerly Known As Sponge Bear and Kaminoge 物語)
*see disclaimer below
I was hoping to take a final shot of Old Town from the Hill of Crosses, but the wet weather this afternoon prompted a change in plans. Instead I'll make due with this photo of the rear of the Presidential Palace, with the still-closed Gediminas Castle in the background
This upcoming Friday our nearly 26-month tour in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, will come to an end. The movers packed up and took away most of our possessions last Thursday and Friday, so we've been living in an eerily-empty apartment since. My final day at work will be on Thursday, then it's an early-morning departure from Vilnius Airport on Friday. The first stop will be Taiwan, where we'll stay for about three works, before flying to Seatac for a month-and-a-half of Home Leave in Bremerton. We're due to arrive in Falls Church on Labor Day, where I'll begin ten months of training in Amharic, the official working language of Ethiopia. There will be some additional trainings once I've complete language, with an ETA in Addis Ababa at the end of July 2019.
And so the latest adventure is coming to an end. It's been great having the opportunity to live and work in a charming city like Vilnius and a beautiful country such as Lithuania. Regular followers of this blog will know that we've certainly taken advantage of what is on offer here. Am I sad that we're leaving? Not really, for I'm looking forward to what Addis Ababa has in store for us starting next summer. But there's a lot I'm going to miss about Vilnius and Lithuania - the beautiful springs/summers, the rural scenery, the cathedrals and restaurants of Old Town, the beer. Not to mention the travel opportunities that come with living in an EU/Schengen Area country - in the short time we've been here, we've traveled to Bavaria, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, England and Scotland, the Czech Republic, Italy and Slovenia. I'm NOT going to miss the winters - not so much the cold and darkness, but because of the lack of sunlight during the daylight hours due to almost-constant cloud cover - but I'm pleased with myself how quickly I adapted to the unfamiliar (for me) conditions. It also goes without saying that I'm going to miss my colleagues, a great group of people and a pleasure to work with. And, finally, there will be that little twinge of sadness in knowing I won't be seeing this sight again from our living room windows:
Any regrets? Just a couple - although we did visit Tallinn, Riga and Jurmala, I wish we could've had more time to explore Lithuania's Baltic neighbors Estonia and Latvia. I'm also sorry I never mastered Lithuanian. I was supposed to have studied the language in preparation for working here, but the powers-that-be made the unilateral decision to enroll me in Russian instead (without so much as a by your leave), a resentment I'm still feeling. But overall I'm satisfied that we made the most of this tour (just as we did in Shanghai), and my memories of the city, country and people will be uniformly good ones.
So barring something calamitous or at the very least unexpected, this will be the last blog post from Lithuania, with the next one coming from Taiwan. With all the preparations involved in moving from one continent to another, we haven't gone out much in the past few weeks, but here are a few final images from Vilnius. Enjoy...
June 15 was Culture Night, with over 200 art light projects set up around central Vilnius. Several cathedrals were open until late in the evening - I went inside to have a look around the interior of the St. Apostles Philip and Jacob Church:
A large TV screen had been set up in Cathedral Square to show the Portugal-Spain World Cup match (it ended in a 3-3 tie, with Ronaldo scoring a hat trick, as if you didn't know that already):
Taking place in the inner courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania was this odd performance. Art is art...:
Pilies gatvė:
An operatic performance being staged in front of the Vilnius Town Hall:
The Contemporary Art Centre's doors were open that evening, welcoming the crowds and offering a good view across to the Town Hall square:
The Lutheran Church's spire was lit up in the spirit of the evening:
One of the art light projects noted above:
A mysterious sign set up in the park behind our apartment building:
My daughter was lucky enough to join a kayaking excursion on the Neris the day after Culture Night:
Amber with one of her classmates. All this moving I fear will get harder for her as she gets older and friendships become more important:
Father's Day at the Belgai restaurant. Good beer, good food, but the same couldn't be said of the company as my wife was in one of her moods and made it clear she couldn't wait to get back home to resume the online roleplaying game she's become addicted to. No wonder I drink:
This past Friday was Open Kitchen, where cafes and restaurants in Vilnius set up booths at the Tymas market. Actually, every Friday and Saturday is Open Kitchen during the summer months, but this would be our last chance to experience the market, so I took Amber along on Friday evening (Shu-E usually skips dinner). The timing was good, as the weather was still warm - Saturday turned chilly and today has been rainy. On the way we passed a series of signboards promoting Poland that had been set up in Constantine Sirvydo Square:
My daughter plays by a fountain with the French embassy serving as a backdrop:
Eating tikka wraps and spring rolls, and drinking orange-and-berry lemonade, at Open Kitchen:
The Dalai Lama was recently in town and there's a Tibet Square just outside of the Užupis alternative community. In honor of his visit, stone stupas had been set up in the Vilnia River, while photos of Tibet were placed on the riverbank wall across from the Užupio kavinė cafe (making for an unusual juxtaposition with the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Theotokos in the background):
Amber dips her feet in the Vilnia:
Checking out a series of photographs of Astana. One of my daughter's classmates is from Kazakhstan. During our time here, she's also made friends from Azerbaijan, South Korea, Lithuania and Russia, as well as from the U.S.:
This building was recently renamed Zappa Square. If you're wondering why, across the street stands Vilnius' famous statue of the eclectic musician (which you can just make out in the background):
And so I'll end my two-year-long Lithuanian-themed series of blog posts with an anecdote I've probably related on this blog before. Back in my college days, when Lithuania was still part of the Soviet Union but was already showing signs of wanting to break away, I had a summer job cleaning dorm buildings. One of my coworkers was of Lithuanian descent and predicted that the country would soon regain its independence due to Gorbachev's reforms and the nationalist sentiments they inadvertently unleashed. I confidently told him it wouldn't happen in our lifetimes. Never had I been so happy to have been proven so wrong.
A partially-pink train at the Lithuanian Railway Museum
I had a Negativland Helter Stupidmoment a few hours before posting this. I was walking along Antakalino gatvė (see below) this afternoon when a small convoy of military vehicles passed by going in the opposite direction. I snapped a picture of the lead vehicle...:
...then posted it on Facebook after getting back, joking that the Lithuanian government had just been overthrown in a coup and that the military is patrolling the streets. I didn't think it would be taken seriously, but within minutes people were expressing their concerns. I appreciate the responses, but I'm confused as to why they didn't first check the usual news sites to see if there was any "breaking news" (it's what I would've done). Lithuania is a stable democracy and European Union member, and a coup d'etat is highly unlikely, but I learned a lesson today. The FB post has since been deleted and unlikely to be repeated.
A few non-Lithuanian-related observations before getting to some of the things we've been up to in Vilnius as our time winds down. Bear with me, please...
First, this post on New Bloom on a recent wave of brutal murders of women in Taiwan. My initial reaction was that this was going to be one of those "only in Taiwan" articles that ends up describing trends that take place throughout the Northeast Asia region, yet are somehow unique to Formosa according to the author. This story, fortunately, isn't one of those. The writer's assertion that the deaths are due to Taiwan's "toxic masculinity" is a subject for debate (and it isn't made clear how the murder of a Hong Kong woman by her Hong Kong partner while the two of them were vacationing in Taiwan fits into the thesis - would the violence never have occurred had the two traveled elsewhere?), but the statistics he provides on domestic violence levels in Taiwan is sobering to say the least. Such data tends to highlight the hollowness of assertions by certain resident Westerners in Taipei 台北 that the island is close to a paradise for women, or at least for those who are fair of skin and therefore the recipients of favorable attention and treatment. I've blogged in the past on the bubble that seems to envelop many Western residents in Taiwan's capital (see here, here and, more recently, here - scroll down towards the bottom for the latter rant), but I was reminded yet again of that phenomenon by a Facebook comment regarding the New Bloom article - "This is disgraceful, not my Taiwan at all".
His Taiwan turns out to be in Taipei, of course (according to his FB profile). Though I wasn't aware of any specific incidents, I sadly wouldn't have been surprised had these come to light in my Taiwan (see the rants linked above for details).
Click here for more examples of Taiwanese toxic masculinity. However, for my next observation I turn toward Japan, or more specifically, Okinawa 沖縄. Or, to be even more specific, how the prefecture seems to get the short end of the stick from the self-designated travel "experts" on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum. This recent thread highlights what I'm referring to - notice how the original poster (OP) changes their mind about including the southwest islands 南西諸島 on their itinerary after the "advice" given by several forum regulars. The latter focus almost exclusively on Okinawa's beaches, comparing them unfavorably to other destinations in Southeast Asia, as if those were the only reason to visit the prefecture. Much is made also of the expense of getting there, even though the OP apparently has enough in the way of funds to spend five weeks traveling around Japan (and air passes can go a long way towards saving money on flights), and of how it's somehow remote, even though there are daily direct flights from other Japanese cities to Naha 那覇, Miyako-jima 宮古島 and Ishgaki-jima 石垣島. The real message being promoted by the regulars is that Okinawa is not the "real Japan", and that travelers should stick to those places featured in glossy coffee table books on the country - you know, geishas 芸者 on the cherry blossom-strewn streets of Kyōto 京都, autumn leaves in Buddhist temples, a bullet train 新幹線 train passing between Mt. Fuji 富士山 and a golden-colored field of rice etc.). There was only one dissenting voice on the thread - mine. I wish I had made a stronger case for visiting Okinawa, so I'll do it here:
Okinawa is as much a part of Japan as any other region of the country, and yet at the same time one of its most unique. It's well worth a visit for several reasons - atmosphere, culture, cuisine and, yes, beaches! Speaking of which, Yonaha-Maehama 与那覇前浜ビーチ and Sunayama 砂山ビーチ (both on Miyako-jima) are stunning, while Yonehara Beach 米原海岸 on Ishigaki-jima is a prime snorkeling spot (the Kerama archipelago 慶良間諸島 just off the main island 沖縄本島 is also reported to be worth visiting, but I haven't been there - yet). But there's more to visiting Okinawa than just hanging out on a beach - the reconstructed Shuri-jō 首里城 castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while Kokusai-dōri 国際通り is one of the most enjoyable streets in Japan for just hanging out and taking in the scene. Visiting the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum 沖縄県立平和祈念資料館 and Peace Memorial Park 平和記念公園 is highly recommended, and serves as a sobering complement to what you will see at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum 広島記念資料館. Miyako-jima and Ishigaki-jima are great places to explore by rental car or scooter, while the latter also serves as the jumping-off point to visit the charming island of Taketomi-jima 武富島 and Japan's last frontier, Iriomote-jima 西表島. Don't let the others talk you out of it - just pick an island (or two) and go! You won't regret it!
And while on the topic of Japan, this idiotic meme popped up again on Facebook, thanks to a long-term resident friend there who ought to know better than to share ignorant tripe like this:
No, it isn't. Those of you who recognize the stuffed animal and the figures on the wall in the background will understand when I assert that the photo was taken in a Moomins-themed cafe, where all the tables are provided with cute plush creatures, regardless of how many diners are in the party. It's part of the draw. And I should know, because my extensive knowledge of all things Japanese means that my interpretations of Japan to a Western readership should never be questioned or argued with...that, plus the fact we visited just such a cafe in Fukuoka 福岡 three years ago at my daughter's insistence! You can read about it here or take a look at this photo which I submit as evidence:
But when it comes to Japan, many people will believe only what they want to believe, at least judging by most of the comments left at the original post. One woman went so far as to assert that "(i)n Asia eating alone is seen as socially odd". I assume she hasn't spent much time in Japanese cities, where it's very common and not unusual at all to see people enjoying mid-morning or mid-afternoon breaks by themselves in cafes and restaurants, taking respites from work, shopping or studies. And as one of the few astute comments noted, it's a novelty to take photos with a life-sized Moomin, not an escape from loneliness. But for some reason many people make up their minds about Japan without having ever visiting the country (or only spending a few days with the other gaijin 外人 tourist hordes in Kyoto or Tōkyō 東京). Like the Bubble people living in Taipei, they don't see the country for what it is and prefer to imagine they are living out an anime アニメ-inspired journey.
Speaking of anime etc., and with fortuitous timing, comes this article from the Japan Times, which asserts the following:
"The young people who marvel at the cityscapes of “Ghost in the Shell,” go crazy about ramen and stack their bookshelves with manga genuinely think that anything Japanese is much cooler than anything from their own culture. That, of course, is an attitude that will need a reality check at some point. Still, it is a preferable position to be in than smugly looking down on a foreign culture."
I'm not so sure. The writer, a German essayist/novelist based in Tokyo, is referring to Edward Said's classic and controversial Orientalism, a work that has influenced not only the way I perceive Asia, but my perception of how other Westerners approach the region, its cultures and peoples. One of Said's criticisms was of how some Western observers simplify complex Oriental societies into easily-digestible exotic stereotypes, and then assume the self-appointed roles of interpreters unraveling the mysteries of the East to their colleagues back home. Said's book was published in 1978, but this particular thesis can still be observed in the Taiwan blogosphere, where white people constantly debate each other on what it means to be Taiwanese. As for the JT article, while today's anime and cosplay コスプレ fans might mean well in their earnest enthusiasm, their "looking up" to Japan is just as unrealistic as the "looking down" colonial mentality of old, and presents a different kind of typecasting that they will happily spread through ridiculous social media memes, and angrily defend now matter how many facts suggest otherwise. The stereotypes might change with the times, but the underlying theme of a different, exotic Other stubbornly persists with each new generation.
I could go on (and on and on...), but I'll save those rants for another time. Meanwhile, back in Lithuania...
A parade of hot air balloons floating past our living room, one of the sights of Vilnius that we're going to miss:
A different kind of balloon, hanging from the ceiling of Gusto Blyninė on Aušros Vartų gatvė. My daughter wanted to go there one final time:
Amber had the pancakes eggettes, supposedly a Hong Kong street snack according to the menu:
I had the potato pancake with fried egg and onions:
Pondering my role in the grand scheme of things while preparing to dig into a pancake cake:
Preparing to smack a piñata at a schoolmate's birthday party. The most difficult thing about this lifestyle for Amber is the constant uprooting and having to make new friendships in new places, but she's been handling it very well so far:
I passed by this car parked near the headquarters of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense in Old Town, and wondered why it was advertising a Fujiwara Tōfu Shop 藤原とうふ店. Thanks to Google and Wikipedia, I can confidently assume it has something to do with an anime/manga 漫画 series called Initial D 頭文字D. Shades of my days in Taiwan when I filled up my old blog with photos I took of (often bizarre) 日本語 examples I came across in daily life there:
A show of pride in a very Catholic former Soviet country. I was proud (pun intended) to have taken part in the 2016 Baltic Pride March, though I won't be here when it's Lithuania's turn to host the event next year. Lithuania, however, seems very progressive in comparison to my next post:
On a warm Sunday afternoon I took a long walk to the Naujininkai area, located on the other side of the tracks from where we live. Past the LFF Stadium is an Old Believers cemetery, the final resting place of Eastern Orthodox Christians who "maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church as they existed prior to the reforms of Patriarch Nikon on Moscow between 1652 and 1666." Which explains why nearly all of the tombstones are engraved in Cyrillic:
According to this web site, Old Believers first came to Lithuania from Russia as refugees in the late 17th century, though the oldest grave I could find in Vilnius' cemetery was that of an infant from the late 19th century. Judging by their expiration dates, most of the cemetery residents were considered Soviet citizens at the time of entombment. In the center stands the St. Basil's Church Tihon Zadonski Chapel, which unfortunately was locked up when I stopped by:
The saddest sights in any cemetery are the graves of small children, followed by those of young adults who didn't survive past their early twenties. But the most sobering grave I came across on this afternoon had to be this one - that of a family of three that tragically perished (according to the tombstone) on June 22, 1975:
Just outside the cemetery gates stands the Свято-Покровский молельный дом, or Holy Protection Prayer House, according to Google Translate. It was also closed:
The neighborhood next to the cemetery is filled with a number of old wooden buildings:
Passing through Vilnius Railway Station on the way home from Naujininkai:
On the fifth of June, I took my daughter to see a soccer game at LFF Stadium. Lithuania was playing host to Latvia in a Baltic Cup match, but unfortunately neither one of us enjoyed it much. Our seats were behind the goal located in the southeast corner of the stadium, meaning we were looking directly into the bright sun for the duration of the game (and I had neglected to bring a cap or sunglasses, so I had only my hand in a futile attempt to shield my face from the glare). The only reason I was able to get this shot of the action was when a lone cloud temporarily blocked the sun (Lithuania is in red):
As if the sunshine wasn't uncomfortable enough, it was also surprisingly chilly. Temperatures had been in the 20's Celsius until that Tuesday evening, when they suddenly plummeted to the low teens (13°C/55°F when I checked my phone), and even though I was wearing a sweater and jeans, it felt even colder than what the thermometer was indicating. A look at the crowd behind us confirmed I wasn't the only one feeling the chill:
The game itself was a dull affair, with Latvia scoring in the 46th minute. With five minutes remaining, the cold and the glare becoming too much to deal with and wanting to get a head start on the drive home, Amber and I left. And of course the Lithuanians chose that moment to equalize in the 86th minute (the game ended in a 1-1 tie). Screw you, soccer, I'm sticking to baseball this summer.
This past Saturday morning (with temperatures back in the comfortable 20's again), while Amber and Shu-E were out doing some birthday and Father's Day shopping, I strolled into Old Town to visit St. Michael the Archangel Church. The building is one of the few examples of late Renaissance architecture in Vilnius, dating from the early 17th-century:
The church is now home to the Treasury of Vilnius Cathedral, with an extensive collection of items such as chalices, reliquaries and votive plaques, most of which are related to St. Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania:
Among the other items of sacral art in the museum are many examples of Lithuanian liturgical vestments from the 18th and 19th centuries:
It's possible to purchase combined tickets for the museum plus the belfry and crypts at Vilnius Cathedral, but having already visited the latter two, this day I paid for only the exhibitions. Leaving the church, I went off in search of lunch, only to be informed that the girls had returned from their shopping expedition. In an example of how quickly my little girl is growing up, for the first time ever, my daughter left home by herself and met up with me a couple of blocks away from our apartment building. Off the two of us went for lunch at the Little Mavis Cafe, a delightful British cafe located very close to the Gates of Dawn, which explained the non-stop procession of tour groups pausing outside on the street just in front of the restaurant. Amber took this shot of me while we were waiting for our food to arrive:
The last time Amber took a similar picture, it caused some bruised feelings on Facebook over the fact that a large, dynamic continent such as Africa is reduced to a single Lonely Planet volume. I concurred with the unfairness of it all, but made the mistake of trying to explain that Asia (especially the Southeast region) had gotten a large head start in the guidebook market thanks to the original Hippie trail (and its spoiled, indulged offspring, the Banana Pancake Trail), but when people are emotionally invested in a topic, the last thing they want to do is listen to (or in this case read) reason. At least I was able to prevent the chain of comments from turning into an unnecessary grad schoolish seminar on Western colonialism in Africa (nice try Andrew, but not on my thread!). Here's hoping this photo doesn't upset anyone.
Speaking of Brits, the British Embassy hosted a reception to honor the Queen's birthday, to which I was not proffered an invitation, even though (with the exception of another officer) I'm the most British person posted at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius (and my more qualified colleague couldn't attend, either). I was still miffed over the deliberate snub as I tucked into my jacket potato with brie and bacon at Little Mavis:
After lunch, the two of us strolled over to the Vilnius railway station and the Lithuanian Railway Museum. The latter isn't worth going out of your way to see, but at this point in our tour we've been to just about everywhere else in Old Town and its immediate surroundings, so why not? The main exhibits aren't very exciting...:
...but my daughter did get a kick out of the model railways on display, especially the one with the working signal gates:
Unfortunately, we had shown up just a little too late to go inside the outdoor exhibit, but were able to see some of the trains from the outside:
Lithuania has a decent railway network, but because we have our own vehicle here, we've only taken advantage of it on a few occasions (to Paneriai, Trakai and Kaunas early in our tour). With the proper visas, it's possible to travel by train from Vilnius to Minsk and Saint Petersburg:
A reminder of a sad past and an insight into current attitudes toward Russia. Mourning and Hope Day corresponds with my birthday:
Today (Sunday) was another beautiful day and I almost went out for a bike ride. "Almost" because in the end I decided to walk the planned route (or some of it at least) instead. My reasoning (likely to be incomprehensible to my cycling-obsessed friends and acquaintances) is that I haven't been on the bicycle in a while, and to start again now, when our bikes are going to be boxed up and put in storage for the next year, didn't seem worth the effort. So instead I hoofed it, walking past Cathedral Square down to the Neris River, and then started heading northeast on the bike trail paralleling the water (while still in Old Town I passed a soccer game set up on a temporary artificial turf pitch and apparently sponsored by the good people at Red Bull):
For the return home, I walked along Antakalino gatvė rather than backtracking along the Neris (see above). Along the way I passed by the Neo-baroque Vileišis Palace, dating from the early 20th-century, and now home to the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore:
Fake news about democratically-elected governments being ousted aside, it was a good workout this afternoon. If Google Maps can be believed, I covered roughly 11.5 kilometers (7.1 miles) in around three hours. So of course I undid a lot of that hard work by taking Amber for dinner at Jammi, where I gorged myself on a huge chicken kebab (plus fries) and washed it down with a large soda. Two steps (rimshot) forward, one back:
We had hoped to dine outside on Jammi's roof, but there were too many smokers up there. We did go upstairs for a look before returning home, however:
Leaving Lithuania soon for China, Armenia and Ethiopia, respectively:
