Happy Halloween!

It’s that time of year—fall in all its golden-leafed glory has settled into Vilnius and Halloween is just around the corner! On Saturday, October 26^th, the Embassy ushered in the spooky holiday almost a week early with the second annual “Monster Mash” 5k family run in Vingis Park. Employees, their families, and furry canine friends all braved the nippy autumn air to run (or stroll) through Vingis Park decked in an assortment of costumes and warm running clothes.

Everyone assembled at the starting line--on your marks, get set, go!

A view of the forest and river from the bridge in the park.

Some of the costumes were really creative! I know it was difficult for me to come up with my costume, so I was impressed with what others put together. I was particularly impressed with the Whitney family--they all coordinated as the Incredibles:

Cool costumes!

Danielle (our Presidential Management Fellow), Matt (the Political and Economic section intern), and I all improvised with what we had and this was our result:

 A pumpkin, Miley Cyrus, and Minnie Mouse.

The race was scenic and enjoyable. Vingis Park has paved running and cycling paths, and we weren’t the only ones out enjoying the crisp fall weather. In our bright orange t-shirts and interesting costume ensembles, we turned quite a few heads as we all circled around the running route! The race finished with the presentation of pumpkins to the first- and second-place winners, as well as the consumption of some delicious cake brought by the Deputy Chief of Mission and his wife.

 The winners with their pumpkin prizes--Jonathan Silberstein (R) and Drew Brown (L).

This race is just one of several great examples of how hard overseas posts work to coordinate family activities. Events like this are a nice way to get acquainted with the embassy community outside of the office—and for interns, that is definitely something to take advantage of.

Get Ready For Futbolas!

I will not say that Americans do not like soccer, known here as 'futbolas', but it certainly is not the most popular sport in the US. The great American sport is baseball, as many people know. In the recent past, however, football (American football, that is) has come to take the spotlight in America as the sport that people go absolutely nuts over. During football season, you can't go anywhere without seeing a team's jersey. People paint their faces, their bodies, buy foam fingers...they yell and scream and cheer as if the results of the game will determine the rest of their lives!

So you can imagine my excitement when a few of my Lithuanian friends invited me out to watch the UEFA (The Union of European Football Associations) Champions League Finale, between Bayern Munich and Dortmund. Before the game, we went out to dinner and one of my friends, Karolis, was wearing a T-shirt with his favorite Bayern player on it. As he was explaining to me the importance of this game, he kept pulling his T-shirt up to kiss it over and over. This to me was not strange, it was the same as any other American who is wishing that their team will win the Superbowl. Kissing his T-shirt was just a way of showing how much he wanted Bayern to win.