Greetings from Lithuania!

It was a wild and wooly week here.  I am now teaching
23 hours a week, with 138 students.  After taking a close
look at what needs to be done in the Institute class,
I think it will be ok.  Crunch time will definitely be
in four weeks when all classes will have projects due
the Friday before Finals and during Finals.

Thanks for all your prayers.  I am feeling quite a bit
better.

This letter is later than normal because I had a stress
reduction weekend.  Friday night, I went to see the "new"
Bond film _Tomorrow Never Dies_, followed by San Marcos
pizza.  Saturday and Sunday, my friends invited me to Vilnius.
The weekend was wonderful, and I feel much more relaxed.

Last Sunday, I led singing at the KIF worship service for
the second time.  It was again an interesting experience.
The worship leaders wanted to use two different hymnals,
and my attempts at directing were frustrated by the
time notations of 3/2, 4/4 & 2/4, and 3/4.  I finally gave
up and just pretended like I was actually giving a beat.
Great fun, really.  The sermon was delivered by Nathan, 
my guitar accompanist from last time.  He did a great job
working through the tricky minefield of confrontation, Christian
style.

I also got my first Lithuanian haircut.  I had wanted to see
how long I could get my hair before just absolutely having
to have a haircut.  The answer was two and a half months.
They did a good job on it, despite the fact that I was completely
unable to understand what they were asking.  

The sick staffer made it home ok.  He sent me a detailed email
with attachments listing future assignments and previous grading.
He also volunteered to grade the remaining assignments if I
wanted him to, but I think I can cover it.

Thursday, I was absolutely exhausted, however.  It was my first
day with the Institute classes.  I hadn't realized that I don't
have 4 classes of 20 meeting 2 hours a week, but 8 classes of
10 meeting once a week.  That means I have just four more
class preps to deal with.

The Vilnius trip was wonderful.  We left at 8:00am from here,
and stopped at the new Kaunas McDonald's.  I hadn't realized
just how badly I missed American cooking until I had that
double cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke.  We drove to the
castle at Trakai for a little afternoon sightseeing.  Trakai
was the original seat of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.  It
has been rebuilt, and they did a nice job with it.

Vilnius seems much more Westernerized than Klaipeda.  At least
two years ahead.  Old Town there is filled with nifty restaurants.
One, Lokys, is in the basement, accessible through a narrow
bricklined spiral stairway reminiscent of the Fat Man's Squeeze
at Mammoth Cave.  We were there for the chocolate bylinai which
is a chocolate crepe containing ice cream.  Really good.

Sunday, we visited the main cathedral, which was packed for
Palm Sunday.  They must have been holding continuous services
because there was a constant stream of people heading to and
from the church.  We didn't get further than the doorway.
We climbed Gedimus Hill to see the city, and had dinner at
Rita's Hideaway, which was hidden away on the main street
running along the river.  Rita's is owned by a former 
UofChicago grad student.  She wound up as the press representative
for the Sajudis movement which freed the country, and afterwards
started the first pizza delivery service in Vilnius.  She started
with $1000, $400 for supplies for one day and $600 for advertising.
Rita's is noteworthy for its phenomenal staff who are friendly
and efficient.  It could pass for an American restaurant.

I understand that it is now Daylight Savings Time in the US.
Europe switched last week, except for Lithuania which is switching
from Moscow time to Western Europe time.  Sort of like Indiana
only completely different.

Anway, I have to run.  The Susses have invited me to dinner
as their way of keeping me from exhausting myself with the
new workload.  It's only four weeks, right?

Take care, everybody!

In Christ,
David