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Took the 4pm bus from Riga for Panavezys in Lithuania to meet up with the fellas I met in Penjikent, Tajikistan about a month before. While waiting in the platform a young man approached me asking if I speak English, he enumerated his miseries, he is from Vilnius wanting to head back home but has not enough money, I gave him a second look and realized it was the same dude yesterday saying the same thing to me when I arrived from Talinn on the afternoon bus! Your scheme sucks, I want to tell him but he moved on when I gazed at him, no one paid attention to him and btw he is nicely dressed, better than yesterday. The bus pulled up, nice comfortable seats with Eurolines, we stopped at the airport and have to sit there for half hour then we hit traffic but out of the city the ride was smooth and before you know it I arrived at Panavezys.

Right there waiting in the platform are the 2 boys, Mindas and Bernard, did not recognized them at first, they don't look shabby anymore, well dressed and shaven, I have to make sure this is indeed my friends, and they are! Big hugs and quick reminiscing of our short times together in Penjikent, but memorable. Bernard drove us to his flat where I dropped off my things and we headed for a walk around the small city, then we grabbed something to eat at this nice restaurant and I had the cepilini for the 1st time, it was good especially washed down by good local beers. From there we headed straight to the Maxima supermarket and bought more booze, some herby alcoholic concoction and we headed back to Bernards cool digs to get more drunk! he has this cool projector and we watched some videos for awhile then we went to bed at 2am!

Early morning we got up to head to Mindas' town called Pakroujis it was gloomy but weather turned better later and the sun came out, Bernard dropped us off at Mindas' apartment and we walked to his school where he works as an engineer at the high school in town.I was introduced to his teacher peers, everyone is warm and friendly, some trying to avoid me cause they dont speak good English. Ingga the psychologist was cool, she chatted with me and gave me some background on the school and life as a teacher in a small town. Then comes Kristina, the English teacher, who invited me to observe her class which I did. The kids stared at me, these are teenagers learning English and I have to make a speech about my travels, no one asked me a question at first, everyone was shy, but when Kristina asked again later, one boy asked how old are you?? Well i have to be crafty and change the subject quickly.

I stayed for the next class and same thing I have to give a speech about my travels, one boy could not believe I dont sleep in hotels, just hostels. Mindas came and took our photo then we headed down the old cafeteria for some lunch, today its pancake day and we had some crepes with cottage cheese filling and strawberry sauce, yum. The rest of the afternoon were spent chatting with Ingga and Audra, the dance teacher who was at first scared to be left in the room with me because she cant speak English, too bad she is a real cutie! I thoroughly enjoyed my time hanging out at the teacher's lounge and chatting with 2 attractive teachers, then Mindas came and took me to the library and museum, he is busy helping out a peer with students registrations, as this week was just the start of school and everything is still chaotic. having finished his task we went for a walk quickly back to his digs, met up with his friend also named Mindas to buy some booze and watch basketball, Lithuania vs China on tv. His friend does not speak English and is so funny, he cant remember a thing I teach him.

We later on after dinner went for a walk to hang out with teenage kids at this garage place, the town is so dark at night they dont turn on the street lights, we made it there afetr stopping at a store to buy booze, and mingled with 18-19 year olds, they were cool though and most speak English, we did not stay for long and went back and chilled in Mindas' apartment. I slept in his bed while he slept in the sofa, oh it was the most comfortable bed I slept on in a while i did not get up until almost noon the next day! Mindas' mom brought sandwiches for breakfast and I ate it the whole day, big portions!Bernard came in the eve and we drove to Panevezys with him and then drove around the countryside, and at a spur of the moment we decided to stop in one of the forest roads to pick mushrooms, we found lots! And amazing how these boys know which is edible and not, I had fun picking different types of this fungus, I accidentally picked one of the most poisonous so we have to throw it out.

Back in Pakruojis we stopped at a store to buy local beers and then we decided to cook the mushrooms and make a sauce off it, we raided Mindas' parents' kitchen, Bernard cleaned the peeled the mushrooms while I cook a sacue for the pasta, they have never seen mushrooms cook the way I did, they usually boil it first not fry in the pan, so now I have converted them and Mindas who normally dislike them is now a fan, this is the season here for mushroom picking and you see lots of cars parked near a forest to pick these morsels, its free if you can find them! Bernard is a hunter and he showed us also where he hunts and we stopped to view a deer grazing in the fields, he has a keen eye for them, I would have not noticed it.

The next day Bernard and I picked up Mindas and his coworkers in school and we went to Siauliai to visit the Hills of crosses. Ben was supposed to be at work so he can't be seen on major roads so we took the back roads and got lost going through picturesque villages even them have never been to, eventually we made it there and it was quite different. it was not a hill really, but I was impressed at the number of crosses left by pilgrims, different sizes and shapes, for me it is more the artistic side that I like than the religious aspect, pilgrims from all walks of life from all over the world left their own version of a crucifix and hence lots of designs I wasnt familiar to. Getting back was worse, we got lost and enede up in an abandoned airport! Found the backroads back to Pakruojis, Ben dropped me off to Mindas'.

In the eve teenagers, friends of Mindas came over to watch basketball Lithuania vs Argentina on his projector screen, it was rowdy,but fun, national sport of Lithuania, one can only cheer with them with delight. One of the dudes stayed behind to chat and speak English with me, a law student, Robin was too drunk and we were concerned he won't make it home but he insisted on getting home and he gave me a pack of tissue paper as a parting gift!? drunk and bewildered he was. he wants to take me crayfishing but we will have to see how it goes, the teenage boys wanted to take me mushrooming in the morning but too early for me, 6am! so I begged off, now its time for the well needed sleep at 3am!

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