February 3, 2010

Fellow Rotarians,

The transition to Eastern Europe has been good. It’s a clear sunny winter day; the Old City is where I’m located, but you can see across the river to where the modern construction has been taking place.
It’s very charming this morning, with Sunday morning church bells and such.

I’ve been meeting people rapidly, and have great co-workers. It turns out that the Embassy here likes Fulbrighters, so Friday evening was my first Embassy party. I’m assured there will be more. Friday they had a promotion ceremony for one of the Marines detached here, he made First Sergeant and a re-assignment to southern California.

Last night I made it to the symphony for the first time here. Very good, actually; they performed (among other things) the “Rite of Spring” which I view as still a bit optimistic at this point! Costs of tickets in Eastern Europe are very low by world standards.

RZ-USM-university-of-Management-and-Economics

Tonight I’ve been invited to a Super Bowl party with the expat community.  I have yet to decide; I’ve spent a week fighting jet lag, finally am mostly on track, and the idea of starting a football game at 1:00 a.m. is not ideal. I’ll probably attend…what the heck.

For the size of the city (over half a million), the Old City is a small, and apparently tight, community. After a week folks are starting to recognize me. My obvious non-Lithuanian nature may contribute to that at
least in part.

My classes start soon, so the reality of actually WORKING here will settle in before long. And Tuesday I hope to make up a Rotary meeting here.

Yours in Rotary,
Phil Benson

p.s. All things mentioned are within easy walking distance. I have yet to avail myself of a “taksi”.