I surprisingly wasn’t extremely jet lagged this first morning and luckily for me I would be eased into workouts since we were starting with only yoga in the morning. Unlucky for me, this yoga sucked. Apparently we were going to be doing this for a few days so this first day was only an intro about concentration, breathing, your mentality, etc. And what does that mean? All talking. Not too great when I don’t understand the language. Rima was kind enough to translate for the majority of it but it lasted 3 HOURS. At least there were 2 other non-Lithuanian speakers in our group, but I think I can speak for Aija and Tanya when I say that we wanted to poke ourselves in the eye with a sharp object for the majority of the time. (Oh that’s NOT what I should be thinking about during a lecture about relaxation? Oops, guess I’m no good at yoga...Too bad.)
After all that madness we had lunch and then some down time in the afternoon, which was perfect timing for a much needed nap. At 5 we had legit workouts and I’m happy to say that all things considered, it wasn’t too bad. Our strength coach, Marius, apparently sat in on some of the LT men’s national team workouts and got some new ideas for us to do. This was exciting because when it comes to training, it’s always nice to have a variety of things to do. Our workout took place in a little soccer field near the cabins and the best/worst part about it was that right over the ridge next to us was the beach and the sea. It was awesome because how often can you say that your workouts are in a field where you have the sounds and smells of the sea around you. It’s pretty surreal to think that THAT’S my job. :) However, I also say that this was the worst part about it also, because the whole time I was busting my butt and sweating like a dog, I kept being teased by the amazing sounds of the calming ocean. All I wanted to do was go jump in! Well after a mildly intense workout (intense for Europe, not for America) my dream came true! Right after we got done we all headed to the beach and stripped down to our skivvies (spandex and sports bras) and ran into the sea! Although it was a little cold, it felt so refreshing and was so much fun to hang out there, wading around and jumping into the oncoming waves. Again, this is my “job”? Awesome.
After another yummy team dinner cooked by Justas (yes, he cooks too! I’m telling you the man does EVERYTHING for us!), Marina and a friend came back to visit and this time the 3 of us and Vita walked down to the beach, also accompanied by Justas and Migle’s dog, Pira. We hung out down there a little bit, taking in the sunset, and then came back to the cabins to drop Pira off. We also picked up Tanya and Aija, and met Mante and Santa as we took a walk into the town of Sventoji. Like I said, it’s a little touristy summer town so the main road is full of booths for food, souvenirs, games, etc. We all had fun just strolling around, and yes even played some games. If you remember during our Belarus trip this spring Marina and I got into some heated battles on the war game Call of Duty for XBOX. So of course when we saw a little shooting gallery booth we had to challenge each other. We each had a little pellet gun and about 10 bullets to shoot at various targets of metal cans. After going shot for shot and keep score, I was up for the entire game (and of course rubbing it in a little :) ). However, when we had only one shot left each I was only up by 1 and Marina had the bright idea of making the last shot worth 2 points if you could hit one of the moving targets that was going by. I accepted this on the thought that neither of us would hit it and I would still win. But, after missing my shot, wouldn’t you know that she hit hers and the gloating ensued for the rest of the night. Still, it was fun to continue our competition and it was pretty good entertainment for our whole group.
After all that madness we had lunch and then some down time in the afternoon, which was perfect timing for a much needed nap. At 5 we had legit workouts and I’m happy to say that all things considered, it wasn’t too bad. Our strength coach, Marius, apparently sat in on some of the LT men’s national team workouts and got some new ideas for us to do. This was exciting because when it comes to training, it’s always nice to have a variety of things to do. Our workout took place in a little soccer field near the cabins and the best/worst part about it was that right over the ridge next to us was the beach and the sea. It was awesome because how often can you say that your workouts are in a field where you have the sounds and smells of the sea around you. It’s pretty surreal to think that THAT’S my job. :) However, I also say that this was the worst part about it also, because the whole time I was busting my butt and sweating like a dog, I kept being teased by the amazing sounds of the calming ocean. All I wanted to do was go jump in! Well after a mildly intense workout (intense for Europe, not for America) my dream came true! Right after we got done we all headed to the beach and stripped down to our skivvies (spandex and sports bras) and ran into the sea! Although it was a little cold, it felt so refreshing and was so much fun to hang out there, wading around and jumping into the oncoming waves. Again, this is my “job”? Awesome.
After another yummy team dinner cooked by Justas (yes, he cooks too! I’m telling you the man does EVERYTHING for us!), Marina and a friend came back to visit and this time the 3 of us and Vita walked down to the beach, also accompanied by Justas and Migle’s dog, Pira. We hung out down there a little bit, taking in the sunset, and then came back to the cabins to drop Pira off. We also picked up Tanya and Aija, and met Mante and Santa as we took a walk into the town of Sventoji. Like I said, it’s a little touristy summer town so the main road is full of booths for food, souvenirs, games, etc. We all had fun just strolling around, and yes even played some games. If you remember during our Belarus trip this spring Marina and I got into some heated battles on the war game Call of Duty for XBOX. So of course when we saw a little shooting gallery booth we had to challenge each other. We each had a little pellet gun and about 10 bullets to shoot at various targets of metal cans. After going shot for shot and keep score, I was up for the entire game (and of course rubbing it in a little :) ). However, when we had only one shot left each I was only up by 1 and Marina had the bright idea of making the last shot worth 2 points if you could hit one of the moving targets that was going by. I accepted this on the thought that neither of us would hit it and I would still win. But, after missing my shot, wouldn’t you know that she hit hers and the gloating ensued for the rest of the night. Still, it was fun to continue our competition and it was pretty good entertainment for our whole group.
We all strolled up and down the street a little more, and I have to say, after having snow on the ground for about 75% of my time here last year, it was nice to be out and about in nice summer evening weather. This is the kind of Lithuania I could get used to!
Cabins
Where we sat for 3 hours of yoga talk
(i'm just out of the pic to the right)
In the Baltic Sea after workouts!
So pretty there!!
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