Museums

It's autumn here in Lithuania and this week is fall break if you are a student and staff at LCC. I am thankful to say that I am not the RD on duty this week, leaving Erik and I free to explore the neighboring countries of this place we are beginning to call home. We took Saturday to recover from a full week of work and classes before we threw our packs on our backs and ran to the bus station this morning to catch the Eurolines Lux Express for a 5 hour bus ride north to Riga, the capitol city of Latvia. Since stepping off the bus in this beautiful city of ornate architecture and many statues, Erik and I have been wondering how it is that a city less that 150 miles away as the crow flies can actually feel as if we are in a completely different country, complete with its very own language. Although we can tell that the Latvian language is definitely related to Lithuanian, Erik and I are realizing that our basic Lithuanian phrases aren't getting us anywhere now that we are in Latvia. Good thing so many of the young people here speak English.

The bulk of our afternoon was spent in the Occupation Museum of Latvia in Old Town. This was our second time seeing and hearing the telling of the Russian and German occupations of Eastern Europe since making a Baltic nation our home. The first time was earlier in October when we travelled to Vilnius, Lithuania's capitol city. We spent hours walking through The Museum of Genocide Victims (also called the KGB Museum), hearing and reading about the people and events of Lithuania's tumultuous and tragic history over the last hundred years. Both museums do an incredibly detailed job of recounting the story of the Baltic perspective to those of us that lived on the other side of the globe and were less involved in the struggles caused by the Soviet and Nazi regimes. I have included a web address below for you to check out if you are interested in hearing about our time at the KGB Museum in a round about sort of way by reading the blog entry of a friend of ours that experienced the museum with us. I would highly recommend checking it out as she is an excellent writer. Once you get to Michelle's blog, you will need to scroll down to her October 4 entry.

http://mwebsterhein.blogspot.com/

So what do I do with this story I am learning? What I read and saw today at the Occupation Museum of Latvia is adding to my understanding of people here. Not only am I becoming informed of the atrocities that people here faced - deportation, imprisonment, executions - I am also starting to understand the ways this story has affected the current generation through my interactions with and observations of students at LCC. I am by no means an expert on the whole topic, but I am thankful for this hands-on way to have history and today connect in such an unmistakable way. It is my hope to share with you as Erik and I see, hear, and continue to take it all in.

Fall Retreat

"Oh, man." This is a phrase that I have noticed myself saying a lot lately. Why don't I ever say, "Oh, woman." I don't know. I guess it doesn't come out that way. Erik and I have just returned from our first official RA retreat with my very first RA staff as an RD . I have so many fond memories of RA (Resident Assistant for those non-Student Life people) retreats from my time in student leadership at Northwestern College. There was the round-trip van ride to Chicago with a day in between to explore downtown Chicago one year. And then there was the camping trip north of Duluth, MN where we used much of our hiking energy to stop and take staff portraits along the way, trying to capture how beautiful we were amidst the autumn colors. What I remember thinking about these retreats was how lucky I was to be an RA. I loved the fact that we were required to take a weekend each semester to get to know each other. What's better than "mandatory hanging out?"

Mandatory hanging out doesn't seem to get the same response from students here. We have midterms coming up this next week at LCC and I felt like I was having a hard time convincing my staff to relax and have fun for the 24 hours I stole out of their busy schedules to spend an evening and a day for the purpose of having fun with each other. We "retreated" to a staff member's summer cottage that is located on a beautiful wooded lot, complete with indoor sauna and multiple fireplaces. I was looking forward to getting away from campus and all of our discipline issues of the last month and I could tell my RAs were needing a break as well. We ate lots of food, played games, watched a movie, visited the sauna, and had a group discussion to check-in about the year. Now I am back home and find myself wondering if people enjoyed themselves. I know that it ultimately isn't in my control. I can only be intentional in providing opportunities for people to connect.

I am just learning more and more how different this place is. Work and relationships seem to be so very separate. My RAs seek to be excellent in all of the areas they invest themselves individually. They strive to get good grades academically. They are motivated to interact with the residents on their halls, make sure policies are enforced, and plan floor events. As well, each of them is highly social within their own friend groups. I am noticing that this doesn't necessarily carry over into our time together as a staff. For the most part, all of them respect each other and even like each other enough to call one another friends. Something that I am noticing when we are all together as a staff is that business is purely business and not as much relational effort is put forth (I should clarify that it's not as much relational effort as I would expect to see.) If it's required, they want to know my agenda and what they can expect to gain from our time together. This approach isn't necessarily wrong, it is just so different from my past experiences in Student Life and even my personal approach as an individual. It doesn't mean I won't continue to dream and hope and put energy into creating a united team in ways that I have experienced it in my life. It may have to be through other means...maybe non-mandatory fun opportunities. The end result may even look different than how I imagine it now. I may have to get there though a different approach. So, once again, I am remembering that I am here at LCC seeking to understand more than to be understood. I know Erik and I have a lot to bring to this place. I also know we have a lot to learn from this place. This is just one observation along the way...As well as one photo I have to document the retreat. I kept waiting until I could tell that everyone was really enjoying themselves, but then decided I had better at least capture something.

And then another picture of us from a different weekend. This is already out-dated because 24 hours after the picture was taken, Erik shaved off the beard. Seems about right. Winter is coming and he gets rid of the beard. It has been funny to see people's reactions to his bare face. Lots of comments and looks of surprise.