Is my Lithuanian me dead?

Constanly wondering. That's what I'm like not only in my mind, but physically as well.
Since I finished highschool, I've lived in four countries in two years. Four different cultures, nations. Four different worlds, basically.

I have met a few Lithuanians along my way and they all seemed so different from what I see around me now, living in the capital of my belved country.

Now, getting to the point, I must say that every - or nearly every - Lithuanian who's lived - or is living - abroad complains a lot about my country, in the most extreme manner.

'There's nothing good about this country anymore - the people never smile, the prices are high, the jobs are shitty and none of them pay you well', they say.

I don't mean to say it is not at all like that, but c'mon - why did they come back if it's so bad for them here? I see what they're saying, but I see good things, too.

People here do smile - if you smile to them first and you can get a well-paid job, if you are willing to go that extra mile it demands.

I just don't understand why people who are living abroad spread all this negativity through their impolite and rude comments in Lithuanian online media. If you hate it so much, why go back to it? This really frustrates me and I have no way of telling that to people who are living their happy lives in their miraculous countries yet proving to be the most negative of all in the comments sections.

Every time I come back from my adventure abroad, I try to contain myself and not speak badly of my country. Yes, in Sweden you earn ten times more than in Lithuania and pay almost the same price for your groceries, but do I really have to point out that you are welcomed when you are searching for a job here instead of being dismissed as a foreigner in nationalist Swedish job market?

Personally, my adventures abroad make me love my own country more and more. Since I moved to Sweden for the first time, I became incomparably more patriotic than I was before. I got my values sorted out and the fact really sunk in - I just could not speak badly of the country I grew up and live happily in. Surely, there are bad things and I am free to point them out, but I don't see why I should compare it to something totally different.

Am I really the rare type? Someone please back me up.

Swing until you're calm

I moved to Vilnius the capital city of Lithuania one month ago and I've been loving it a lot. I got an internship in one pf the biggest online newspapers in the country and couldn't believe there's so much going on in town all the time - all the exhibitions, concerts, workshops etc. However, all the fuss and chaos of the city made me want a restart sometimes, or at least have a good break.

I may not be the first one to say this, but I have found a way to disconnect from everything for a short while. What you need to do is simply find some tree swings!

Every morning, on my way to work, I pass by a public garden and that is where I now find my peace every time I have 5 extra minutes. On my walk down a busy avenue, I just turn up there and sit on a semi-comfortable wooden swing under a giant oak, near a sculpture of a well-known Lithuanian writer Zemaite.

I couldn't wait to have those 5 extra minutes to try them out since I started working three weeks ago, and one day I did. The sun was shining and it was quite cool outside. Sellers were preparing their mobile shops for a weekend fair in the busy Gediminas avenue, and I sat on the swings for a while.

Trust me, life just feels better on swings.

Summer's come, summer's gone

So here I am, back on the last day of summer 2014, after months of silence. Did I only find the guts to write again only because it seemed absurd to not squeeze at least one post into my blog while it's still summer? Maybe. I'd say yes.
It's this strange feeling that's been all over me for a while. It's contradictory: I want to write and I don't at the same time. I barely write anything in the summer. No letters to my pen pals, no blog posts, no short stories in my notebook. I'll blame the summer, it's always like this:

However, pushing away my zero productiveness in writing as a hobby, I worked as a journalist for a local news website. This job made me face my fears and do things I've never been  comfortable doing (e.g. call people I've never met multiple times a day, five days a week), but at the same time it's been an adventure. I love interviewing, and I had plenty of opportunities to do that. One of my greatest memories of the whole summer is the day I interviewed an Australian guy and his American girlfriend, who, thanks to a house exchange program, moved to a Lithuanian countryside. The two people from big cities now use water from a well, take care of ducks and grow their own food. Meeting them definitely was an opportunity I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

Other than that, i also went to a music festival, which was way wetter than anyone could have expected. It rained for three days and tents were floating in water. We got lucky so our belongings didn't float, but others' did. Not being able to dry my wet clothes and cutting my toes whilst swimming on he sea on the first hour of a three-day festival was really annoying, but now that I am back and my cuts are healing, I remember that festival as one of the greatest adventures of the summer.

Yesterday I went to cheer for my friend and her boyfriend in the first-ever color run in Lithuania and that was amazing, too. Came back with my camera covered in pink dust paint and smiling from ear to ear :3

All in all, I can really say that my summer has been one of the best summers I had :)