The writing in the sand means "here was ..." :)
So, part of the appeal for going to Klaipeda was that the cultural festival Europeade was going on...folk dancers and singers from all over the continent come together once a year and put on a big show. I got to speak to children from all over about what this tradition means to them...although I didn't get to speak to any Lithuanian children there. A and I sort of hijacked into a dress rehearsal for the international dancers...and all of the Lithuanian children had already rehearsed. I talked to one parent about how his 5 year old daughter thinks that it is fun to dance, and he hopes someday she will learn why her parents care about the tradition so much. He choked up just speaking about it - about the changes from a Soviet past, about how his daughter is a part of something important...
A played along as an anthropologist too - and we were treated like rock stars while there with these children. Kids flocked to me and A - for example one Polish girl dragged a friend over who spoke fluent English - only to be reprimanded by a leader. Kids were so proud, it seemed, for some foreigner (non-European) to take interest in what they did for fun.
I was really impressed with the language knowledge of the kids I met in Klaipeda. Most were able to speak to me in some English. I heard two children (I'd estimate at 7 and 8 years old) speaking Russian to each other, and Lithuanian to their parent, and then English - PERFECTLY - to me.
Sidenote: A, who is Russian, pointed out that it is no surprise that Russians didn't seem to be invited...we played a folk-costume analysis game of figuring out by accents and costumes who was from where...and A and I found NO Russian participants.
At the same time, at my host mom's house, Russian folk dancing and singing is always performed in pop style on some channel...
Iki!
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