Well, hello there!
If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, do you notice the leaves changing?
Do you notice yourself changing?
Welcome back to Into the Forests I Go. It's been a while, but I've been a busy bee.
During this time, I had family visiting - my sister, The Scientist's mother - traveled to Riga, Tallinn, Gdansk, spent the night in a castle (LIVING THE DREAM), found amber on beaches, and I may have driven to Warsaw to see an up-and-coming musician named Taylor Swift. (Yes, I was ready for it.) You could say I was making the most of Lithuania's short n' sweet summer.
But speaking of the country music genre, looking back at my summer, one experience really stands out. I made the bold decision to grab my cowboy boots and attend the Visaginas Country Festival instead of the closing year of Mėnuo Juodaragis. I should back it up, actually: a friend surprised me with tickets to this Visaginas festival, knowing I would get the biggest kick out of it. And oh, she was right. I looked forward to it all summer long. I had no idea what to expect.
What could possibly happen at a country music festival in a tiny European country?
I had to know.
Luckily for me, my friend had attended this festival numerous times so she was seasoned. We got there and immediately walked our boots into a line dancing session and I was hooked. These people had practiced, they knew their moves, and I looked like Bambi despite maybe being the only one to have Texas Two-Stepped at the White Horse in Austin.
But we had a blast trying - it was a great introduction. I laughed my way right over to the kepta duona su suris.
I was also compelled to come to this festival knowing it had an important feature: graham crackers. No, I can't find graham crackers anywhere in Lithuania to make s'mores, but the American Embassy cracked the code and I enjoyed gooey s'mores with graham crackers to the best of my ability. (Y'all in America, don't take them for granted! I beseech you!)
This was a big win for me as an American. You don't know what you're gonna miss when you decide to move around the world like The Scientist and I did. Who knew I was gonna become a s'mores proselytizer?
But the best part was seeing all the different country-inspired outfits from Lithuanians mixed with the sounds of Johnny Cash and Shania Twain. I have to wonder if I stood out clearly as someone, um, not from 'round these parts. Did my Cavenders boots give it away? Was it my casual comfort around the American flags and mechanical riding bull?
I was stupefied by the blend of Lithuanian and American culture. I took it in in a big way. I heard a famous Lithuanian country music artist (Virgis Stakėnas) play Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" in Lithuanian. (Yes, I almost lost my mind with excitement.) I listened to country music from people all over the world, and it really connected for me that this genre transcends geography. I'm talking about country music out of the Czech Republic, Norway, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and of course, the USA. Every time a new artist came on singing country songs from another random country, my head spun around like The Exorcist. Country music is centered on storytelling through music, whether it's about heartbreak, empowerment, or getting back on the road. No wonder it's gone so far.
While I walked around during a scavenger hunt to score a free shirt, I noticed a few racist outfits, as well as the Confederate flag in a few places. This was... well, it was like driving around the Bible Belt, so I wasn't as shocked as I could have been.
But it did serve as a reminder that American culture and values have a strong global impact, for better or worse, and sometimes that includes the underbelly of our proclivity for divisiveness and hate.
I wasn't so happy about that.
I have close family members with political signs in their yard I'm absolutely embarrassed and disgusted to be associated with, so I wonder if the people with the flags viewed this as a safe space for their views. Do they see me wincing? It's been a couple of months and I'm still thinking about this. I love them, but ouch, what a stark reminder. How do you reconcile that?
Either way, it was a smaller dark spot on an otherwise amazing experience of joy. And it was truly a unique experience as an American, to see my country through the lens of another. Was I proud of it?
For the most part, yes.
So a huge thank you goes out to my friend who surprised me with these tickets. I'll go back and listen to "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" three times in two and a half days any time with you! (Y'all are lucky: I almost hit my "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" quota in a tiny Lithuanian town next to a lake, but you reeled it back in just in time.)
As for now, Lithuania has truly entered into these Trevor Hall lyrics: "the fruitful darkness is all around us." After the manic summer, it's kind of like a sacred unwinding into the deep-down. Cozy up, folks - it's about to get cold. Yeehaw!
But at least I've got my cowboy boots to keep me company.
Feel free to let me know how you're doing in the comments, on the Connect page, or over on my Instagram. See y'all sooner rather than later!
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