Well, I thought I might try a visit to this giant mall they have here in Kaunas. I'm on a mission to get my haircut, if I can keep my nerve up that is! I found the three salons tucked back on the third floor behind the ice skating rink and next to the bowling ally. This place is big! I thought a plate of dumplings would calm my nerves so here I am in a booth with a view of the ice rink.
The Zamboni just ran so no skaters at the moment.
The dumplings were so good and did indeed fortify me for the haircut.
Then the skaters returned!
An interesting thing about this mall, and indeed the whole city(what I have seen of it at least) is the total lack of American stores or food venues. Seriously. Not even a McDonalds or a Starbucks anywhere! Poland had a Subway shop. Northern Thailand had a Dairy Queen. I've never been to a place without a McDonalds. How do they keep them out I wonder? As a result, there is very little English in this mall. I am really getting a feel for the locals.
The best thing is that there are so many young people. They seem lively, energetic and not mad about anything. Last evening we came upon an area with about 75 to 100 teenagers all gathered around. Loud techno music was playing. We worked our way into the crowd a little, enough to see that it was a dance off! They had appointed three "judges" that got to sit down on bean bags and had clipboards. Then one girl would dance and afterwards one boy about her age would dance. Never figured out who won but it sure was fun to watch. This video does not do it justice.
Yesterday afternoon as we were having some street side refreshments, a man beating a drum came down the street followed by about two hundred school age (looked like middle and high schoolers) all wearing white gloves and clapping. Still not sure what it all meant. Too bad I did not get my camera out in time! I have asked two locals what this was all about and neither one knew! Also there were fireworks last night but nobody knows why. I was in two rather lengthy conversations with local Lithuanians today. One young man who works in an office job in as furniture factory and a mid age woman who is a doctor and med school teacher. It was interesting to hear their views on their country and their hopes for its future. They both expressed fear that the Russians would try to come back into Lithuania as they are doing in Ukraine. The doctor grew up under communism and knew people who were imprisoned for years or sent to Siberia for expressing themselves too freely.
Well, back to the mall and more cheerful topics....
Things are not cheap to buy here. I kind of thought they might be but no. Also, I found out one must have an appointment at least a day ahead in order to get a haircut. Darn! I got to practice my one word of Lithuanian at the mall. Achoo means "thank you". Yes it sounds like a sneeze.
Below are some street scenes around the newer part of town.
Beautiful wide pedestrian-only street was lined with linden trees.
Street art. This was probably 10 ft tall. Kind of gets your attention, doesn't it?
Onward to Latvia !
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