The Car Park of where I live.

This is not a typical suburb of Vilnius, but is one of the few new housing estates that have propped up in Post-Soviet times. However, this beautiful, modern housing estate is still surrounded by grey, Soviet tower blocks where the majority of Lithuanians live.

Teaching the little ones

I have one junior's group, aged 8-12, which is the most challenging of the lot. Like many groups of kids this age, they can be fun but difficult to teach. When teaching kids of this age, you have to deal with a whole range of issues such as spoilt kids, and kids who just simply drink too much cherryade and eat too many sweets. It is the same old story in most places around the world. It is often the girls behaving and the boys throwing shit around the room. When teaching this group, one way of dealing with them is to give them plenty of things to colour in and to do as many lesons in front of the computer as possible. This seemed to calm down my two worst students, Paulius and Lukas. I have never seen them so quiet and focused.
It's still pretty cold here. Lows of -15 and highs of -10. It is beginning to take it out of me. At lest the evenings are getting lighter, I suppose.

Festival fun in Vilnius

Saturday 25th February in Vilnius was a special day that supposedly marked the end of winter. (Yeah, right!! It's still bloody freezing here!!! A proper -10 average bbbrrrrrr!!) Anyway, this is a traditional pagan festival where people gather in traditional folk costumes. It also involves the burning of a symbol on Tauras hill in Vilnius. I was asked to wear some wooden folk-art mask and to participate in some drum banging in the city. My wooden folk-art mask managed to attract a fair amount of media attention as the press and tourists flocked to take pictures of me.
I also checked out a local dive in the middle of a Soviet tower block complex. We were probably the first ever foreigners to enter the place. Although this place was cheap at 30p a pint, it was pretty scary as it was like something out of the wild west. Could only manage half a pint before being intimidated and decided to move on elsewhere.

Introduction to Life as a teacher in the fridge of Vilnius, Lithuania.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Vilnius has come a long way in the way of development and culture. In the last few years, the country's infrastructure has improved and has good relations with the rest of Europe. However, the country is still battling with many problems such as curruption and poverty.
I came to Vilnius in January 2006 to work at one of the city's largest schools. There are currently 1,000 students at the school. Its clients range from young learners just starting out to big businesses and government agencies. Students tend to be highly-motivated and many insist on learning grammar as opposed to simple conversation classes.
Although teaching here is enjoyable, life in Lithuania is very tough for many people. Winters here are tough. Temperatures in January dropped to a bitter -33C. When the temperatures get this low, somehow, Vilnius continues to function. The snow lies from January right up to mid-March. Mild spells in winter are very short as the cold weather from Siberia comes back with a vengeance. What's more, the country has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe, as the country is still dealing with the social change that has seen the country move from the Soviet Union to the European Union.