Lithuania: Day 2.5

I say day 2.5 because this was New Years Eve Day on into New Years.

The day began at 1:00, when I woke up. First on the list was the turgus (flea market). Lokys' mother told us that most of the stuff there is cheap crap, imported from China, so it kind of dampened my stated desire of "throwing my American dollars around and bring home armloads of Lithuanian crap."

We ended up buying some spicy sausage from the smoked meat building and also a large hunk of homemade dark chocolate for my dad. We then took the trolleybus to downtown, where we ate sandwiches with the smoked meat we bought and then went up into the touristy area to buy more gifts for my family. With some amber doodads in my bag, we returned home. Lithuania is known for its amber deposits, just in case for some reason you don't know that. Nicest in the world, it is said.

Anyhoo, after that we went back to the grocery store via Microbus and met Aras at the supermarket, in preparation for the pre-festivities meal. We bought some ground beef with bacon mixed in. Wait. Let me stop here and state the sheer awesomeness of the fact that at a Lithuanian grocery stores you can walk up to the deli counter and get a hunk of ground beef with bacon mixed in. Absolutely amazing. Anyhow, then we went home and while Lokys, Liepa, and Sirvydas did something else, Aras and I cooked steak fries and 2/3 pound hamburgers, made from the bacon-beef with onions mixed in. Suffice to say, the burgers were huge and incredibly delicious.

After that, we quickly spruced up and were off to downtown Vilnius for New Year's Eve Night. First stop was a party at the house of a guy that Aras knew. Apparently, the guy, Aidas, is the director of Delta Air Lines' call center in Lithuania. Interestingly enough, when you call Delta's main customer service number, you are connected with someone in India, the U.S., or Lithuania. So yeah. He lives in his parents' ridiculously nice apartment, right close to the Cathedral square, which is the Times Square of Vilnius (no hookers though). The idea was to stay there until just before midnight, then go out to the cathedral square and experience New Years there.

Buuuuttt that was just the plan, and never actually happened. One thing of note before I move on. I drank the following things while at the party: krupnikas (a honey liquor that is 80 proof) and starka (whiskey-like rye liquor). Neither in great amount, probably a grand total of like 3 shots over the 2 hours we were there. Totally in control.

Then, after everyone kissed and hugged and said Happy New Year, it was time to get back to business. The plan was to go to a club via the Cathedral square. We did so, and on the way I got to experience a Lithuanian tradition (apparently): the throwing of champagne and other liquor bottles all over the fuckin place on New Years. There was a heavy police presence, but none of them seemed to care when drunken revelers were chucking their champagne bottles absolutely everywhere, scattering broken glass across the entirety of the cathedral square.

Next up was the club. This marked the first time I had ever gone to a club, in the U.S. or elsewhere. Here, Lokys bought me a Lithuanian beer, because Lithuanian beer is noted as being pretty good, way better than piss American beer, according to Lokys. I nursed it over a 25 minute period or so, it tasted like poo. I've determined I just don't like beer. I'll stick to liquor, thank you... Also, I had some shots of this lemonade/vodka mix that Lokys' drunk friend ordered - not bad. Speaking of Lokys' drunk friend, by the time we were all clubbed out, reflexes kicked in and I was the one who dragged him out of the club after he booted all over himself and fell asleep leaning against a post.

Some conclusions about clubbing. Firstly, I can appreciate techno music now, if not for form, then for function. It's not great music - anyone who knows me knows that I am all about vocals, which techno obviously doesn't have. But I see why it's good to dance to - nothing but a very clear beat to dance to. I couldn't tell you what the song sounded like, I just know it was good to dance to and it did the job of giving everyone something to dance to. Secondly, Lithuanian people don't dance very well. I probably can dance as well as them, and I suck at dancing. Thirdly, Lithuanian young people are fairly attractive. The smoke in the club was not very pleasing to the eyes, but I'll tell ya, the people were.

Anyway, having drank a few things and still feeling completely the same, I and the others left the club and crammed 7 of us into a Toyota Matrix that was our cab. The drunk kid disappeared into some cab off the street, by himself, which is totally something you don't do in Lithuania because of the crime there. Anyhoo, we went back to the house and ate fried black bread (Lithuanian equivalent to beer nuts) and then passed out around 5:30 or 6:00AM. Thus ends our story for now. Stay tuned.