People

July 11

I’m afraid to say that people in general here don’t have such friendly demeanors. They don’t smile. They don’t look at you. They don’t return your smile or hello when you do look at them, you know walking down a path or town road. Or just in those instances where you/we/I would normally greet someone or smile at them. They seem to generally look grim which can be a little unnerving. Maybe they have mistrust inbedded in them. Sometimes I feel more uncomfortable than I did when I was in Africa. There was one evening, for example, when I was staying in Silute/Heydekrug, and since it doesn’t get dark until after 11 I thought I’d go for a bit of a walk. It was only about 8pm. But all of the stores were closed already and the streets were pretty quiet. The people that seemed to be around looked unfriendly, most were men (because women I imagine have things to do at home) or young guys out loitering and probably having had a few drinks already. So I went back to the hotel because it just didn’t feel comfortable enough.


All that having been said, it seems that that is the outside impression one first gets. At least, I have. But once I start talking to someone they are really very nice and helpful and friendly. There was the woman at the museum in Silute/Heydekrug. She and I talked for ages. She was born there of German parents. She’d be about my mother’s age I’d guess. They spoke German at home and Lithuanian at school. We shared many stories and she’s quite bitter about being of German heritage because of all the hardships that created, particularly post WW2. We talked about history and young people today and the Zemaitija people and school and all kinds of things. I must have been there for a few hours though the actual museum would have actually only taken about 15 minutes to view. The people in the service industry are friendly. Most know enough English or German to be able to communicate. But I’ve also been to places, like yesterday, when I went to the pharmacy where I spoke English and she Lithuanian and we understood each other quite clearly enough. Hand signs were helpful too. But she was very friendly.


Yesterday evening I walked about the streets of Klaipeda/Memel because it seemed like one of those nice summer evenings where you just need to be out and about. I found a folk festival happening along the banks of the river. It was very beautiful. There were many groups who danced and sang and played dressed in their beautiful, traditional outfits. There was a lot of smiling and people were happy and obviously having a lot of fun. Besides Lithuanian groups, there were also visiting folks from other places. One group was from Flanders, another from Italy. I even managed to understand that one group was from Zemaitija. The dance groups would show a dance and then invite people from the ‘audience’ to participate. It was neat to see all sorts of people, including young people getting up and dancing…or those from other dance groups, learning each other’s dances. It was interesting to note that costumes in this whole European area are all very similar Different but similar. They have the same aspects; the skirt, the apron, some kind of adorning embroidery, head wear…Dances are in essence also quite similar with the polka or waltz step being often a basic. It reminded me of when I was Miss Vienna and during Caravan there would be an after hour party/dance at one of the clubs each night. I remember the night at the Vilnius club being the most fun. We polkaed so hard and so fast that I remember the dance floor coming up to whack me in the head, so dizzy was I. I was kind of itching to join in yesterday but there were so many people and I had too many things with me.
The group from Italy was a group of men all dressed in medieval outfits, colourful tights with both legs not of the same colour. They played trumpets and drums and did a whole flag throwing art thing which made them look like they felt much more manly in their tights. Actually it was very beautiful and obviously looked like it takes quite a bit of skill.