Emigration etc.

Thank you! Free dictionary began to provide pronunciation in American English and British English. Previously only American English was available and I was stuck trying to work out what should it sound like if I tried to make it sound as similar to the transcription provided by the dictionary in my laptop. No wonder the Irish guys I work with can't seem to understand me sometimes (hopefully not most of the time).

Actually, it has become a bit of a challenge to improve one's English if one works in customer service in Ireland. On one hand, the industry is dominated by foreigners. On the other - I could easily get away with 100 words and 5 catchphrases. After all, you enter the shop in order to buy, rather than to communicate (apart from a few customers we have).

It's a grand day.
Would you like a plastic bag?
I do like it here.
Irish are friendly.
This wine is fantastic.

When I was a student, going to the USA for the summer with the J-1 visa was popular. Oftentimes whoever stayed on the East Coast, somewhere around Atlantic City, returned to Lithuania with far worse knowledge of English than they had before boarding the plane. They were speaking Russian in the USA. Or Lithuanian - as there were so many of them in that area.

I sometimes feel like this country is heading in a similar direction. That's why I blog and spend some time trying to improve the language - I know there is much more to say than it's a grand day. Unfortunately, my improvement has slowed down, as there are no native English speakers-boyfriends around.

Yet, as Clarence Darrow has said, even if I do learn to speak correct English, whom am I going to speak it to?

If they don't like it here why don't they go back?

It was a very good point. The conversation took place in the USA, I think it was 2002. We were talking about America with Americans. Everybody had agreed on the imperfections and flaws of the country, i.e. dumb politicians, citizens' naivety, horrifying criminal situation. Yet despite constant grumbles the USA for many still is THE promised land - the country of unlimited opportunities and acknowledgment. In other words - you've had expectations, you've made it to get the visa (which for the citizens of my country, daring to cross the threshold of the embassy of the USA, is something in between Darwin's fight for survival and a sacrifice of one's privacy*), therefore please have respect for a country that has welcomed you, do the best you can and perhaps then it will indeed turn out to become your Eldorado.

I guess the same attitude could be applied in any country, be it New Zealand, Tanzania or Ireland. We all cross the borders with expectations - greater or smaller. And when the reality doesn't meet them we start to bitch. The cost of living, the amount junk food sold (and consumed), nasty weather, unpredictable public transport, filthy streets, knackers, junkies, beggars, narrow-minded press, boring music on the radio, tracksuits, spoiled kids, obese girls, binge drinking blokes... I could go on and on...

Some of us get trapped in this fussy list and forget the question posed in the beginning. If you nearly hate this place why don't you go back to Poland, Latvia, Slovak Republic or Lithuania? Oh... I see... The pay is ten times less and despite being the citizens of the EU many locals still behave as if they were cavemen?

Fair enough. Then ask yourself if your country would be as welcoming as Ireland (or UK, or Sweden or any other EU country that has its borders wide open for accession countries' labour force). Would it embrace and open its borders to thousands of foreigners: black, Chinese, Asian, gypsies, homosexuals, transsexuals, former criminals escaping their past, inexperienced students, unemployed elders, abrupt countrymen, losers trying to break through once again and illiterate cheep labour force unable to utter a single word in your language. The list could go on and on.

I can assure you my country is not ready for a tsunami like this. I remind myself about it now and again and that makes me stop my moans. After all perfect countries don't exist. As the saying goes, far away hills are always blue. Yet once you approach them you start to notice that even tigers have flaws. Therefore although it might be hard we should accept imperfections, try to live with them and learn to become more flexible. Then it is easier to notice that there are still plenty of good things around. And you might live happier ever after...


* the latter meaning that you have to submit heaps of documents stating your income and financial obligations, moreover you must participate in an interview that might strip you of any privacy and all of the above - for the cause of eliminating any possibilities you might chance to stay in the USA after the expiry of your visa

The People. June 17th.

A two page story by Alan Hart "So 'Nia and Yet So Where?" about Lithuania. Great pictures yet a misspelled name of our capital Vilnius on the map. I hope Vilnuis is a proof reading mistake.

"After showing my friends the holiday photos they're queueing up to go to Lithuania," writes A. Hart.

It seems the journalist has impressed his mates with the choice of the country and activities. Finally the British come to Lithuania for something different than a stag party!

Deliana had a pale skin and incredibly blond hair. She used to wear a rasta hat and whenever asked she used to say she's from Jamaica. With a slight Eastern European accent. Sometimes she was lucky and even the toughest sceptics would start believing her. In fact she was Bulgarian and had won a green card a while ago. She would assure if somebody was after an honest reply she would definitely tell, but wasn't going to open her heart to everybody. She didn't want to be considered as another girl from Eastern Europe.

I perfectly understand Deliana and whoever has lived abroad should too. Especially girls from Eastern Europe.

A while ago I was strolling the streets of a Jewish quarter in Seville (Spain) with two girls - one from Norway and another from Poland. After getting lost we stopped a passer-by.

Where are you from? - he asked.

Dominica barely mentioned she's from Poland and thus the praises for Eastern Europe and beauties from Czech Republic began to flow. The middle-aged passer-by turned to the Norwegian girl and asked if she's from Poland too. Hilda explained she's Norwegian.

Oh, you're a different story, - said he and I could see disappointment in his face.

Once, after walking into a very dark cul-de-sac in Dublin I came across a sticker saying Eastern European girls looking for fun.

It's no secret that crowds of tourists come to Lithuania thinking it's enough to utter a word in English and the girls will melt like last winter's snow. When in West it is enough to mention the country of my origin and I hear a borat-like reply "Very nice". And somewhere in the back of my head I hear myself finishing his sentence "How much?"

It is true though, Lithuanian girls do tend to dissolve like a spoonful of sugar in a cup of tea without even asking what do those strangers do and what do they like in life - perhaps they are peasants from the most remote of English villages or boring young clerks working in a stuffy London City office and looking for fun and frolics. But look - the girls are already coiling lazily on the dance floor of one of those British pubs we have in Vilnius. There's free fizz flooding and the boys start whispering unheard secrets to them - the girls never got a chance to learn that kind of words in school. It's the body language that helps to communicate...

And one sees our local boys quietly sipping on their pints, but their beer is not smooth anymore, since all the girls care about are foreign boys - they buy the drinks and purchase three red roses from the girl who makes her living selling the flowers in nightclubs. The girl is happy, the lass - giddy and the English boy is stumbling over the words he's txting to the mates back home. Before getting into a cab he takes a leak in front of the Presidential Palace.

And so the story starts to spread about Lithuanian girls looking for fun. As if we would not suite for anything else.

But what should one do if she doesn't wear high-heels, uses lipstick rarely and rather wears pants than skirts? You can say you're from Norway, because you're a different story. Or from Jamaica. But it might be harder to convince...