In August 2002, we sold virtually everything we owned, let people borrow the rest & moved from Newberg, Oregon to Klaipeda, Lithuania to work for LCC. Andrew was 26 years old & Kim was 27. We had been married two years. Andrew was hired to be the Sports & Recreation and Student Orientation Coordinator, and Kim to be the Director of Leadership & Service. In 2002, LCC had approximately 500 students and only approximately 20 of them were international students (not counting students from neighboring Latvia).
We had to raise $19,000 for our first year here. The value of one US dollar was 3.54 Lithuanian Lita (LTL). For every $100 that was donated to us, we got 354 LTL - it was a great deal! As I write today, April 6, 2008 we currently get 2.2 LTL to every US dollar. This year we need to raise $37,000 to cover our living expenses. To read more of our perspectives about the changing economy in Lithuania, click here.
From 2002-2003 we lived on the 5th floor of a red brick Soviet-bloc apartment building that looked identical to the 50 other buildings in our neighborhood - some were 12 story while some (like ours) were only 5. There were 3 apartments on every floor. Our apartment had two bedrooms as well as a two-room bathroom (tub, sink & washer in one, toilet in the other) & a small balcony. We didn't own cell phones. Or a car.
In the spring of 2003 we moved to the 3rd floor of a small German house on a quaint, tree-lined cobblestone street named Vilties Gatve (Hope Street). It houses an Oil company office on the 1st floor, a family with 3 kids on the 2nd & us at the top. Our apartment has two bedrooms & the room for the toilet is inside the larger bathroom in this one. We have a nice big balcony, but no bathtub. We got cell phones, but not a car.
In the fall of 2003 we acquired our first baby, Astorijus the cat. A colleague heard him crying in her parking lot when he was only 3 week old & rescued him. She didn't want a cat, but knew we did. We thought she was a girl, so we named her Astorija (Astoria) to remind us of the beautiful city in Oregon, but with a Lithuanian spelling. As she grew bigger she grew parts that only boy cats have, and since Lithuanian names can easily be converted to the opposite gender, we changed his name to Astorijus (A-story-oos). We call him Asti. He comes when we call & is always waiting at the door when we come home. He loves to play, but never uses his claws on people - only the furniture.
In September of 2005, Ieva Kirstine was born in the Baltic American Clinic in our capital city of Vilnius. If you want to read more or see photos, go back to our earlier blogs here. She has been the highlight of our lives since the day she was born!
Now in 2008, we're nearly finished with our 6th academic year at LCC. The school has changed its' name to LCC International University. Andrew is now the Athletic Director & Kim the Director of Community Life. The president who has served for the vast majority of LCC's 17- year life, Jim Mininger, is about to retire after 14 years of service. Our student population has grown to 600 students, nearly half of whom are internationals.
We've lived in our little house in the trees (as my dear Aunt Shelley calls it) for 5 years and have started our family here. We still don't have a bathtub or a car (despite our temptations to purchase both), and Kim still uses the same cell phone she bought in 2003 (who needs new technology??) Andrew is now 31 & Kim 33 years old. We just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary last month & adore playing with our 2-1/2 year old daughter. We've lived in Lithuania for approximately 65% of our married life and have worked at LCC longer than either of us have worked any other job.
This is Lithuania: our home.
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