what I learned about Lithuania while staying in Germany.

You know, strange thing happened here, while staying in Germany. It may sound funny, but I learned a lot about Lithuania here. The thing is that being from a country, that nobody actually knows, where exactly that is, makes you feel like you are talking about the movie, that no one else has seen. You all should agree with me that it's way more easier for people, who are from well-known countries: you can say one word (that you won't be asked to repeat!), France, and that's it. The response, like Oh, Paris is so beautiful! or I love omelette du fromage! is guaranteed. But when you say Lithuania, it's like abracadabra - and everyone stops talking and stares at you with this poker face, when they pretend that they know, where that is, but at the same time they are scared, that you can ask them something about it. 

For you to image it better, this is how the statistics would look like:

What I think people think when I say I am from Lithuania:

80% - Baltic states

10% - Vilnius

5% - basketball

What people really think when I say I am from Lithuania: 

80% - Latvia

10% - WTF?????

5% - is this a country??

Here some examples how my conversations looked like:

-Woher kommst du?

-Aus Litauen.

-Aaa! Riga ist ein schönes Stadt.

-... na ja, das stimmt.. aber das ist nicht in Litauen.

- ...

-Woher kommst du?

- Aus Litauen.

- Ich habe zwei Freundinen aus Litauen!

- Woher aus Litauen kommen sie?

- Aus Riga.

-Woher kommst du?

-Aus Litauen. Wenn ich sage, dass ich aus Litauen komme, alle Leute sagen mir etwas über Riga..

- (pokerface).

-................

-Nein... Riga... ist... in...

- ...in Lettland..

-Woher kommst du?

- Aus Litauen.

- Ist Litauen ähnlich mit Belgien?

- Warum?

-............

-Das war eine Frage für mich?

-Ja.

-.............

-Woher kommst du?

-Aus Litauen.

-Meinst du Lettland?

-Nein, ich meine LITAUEN.

-Der Haupstadt ist Riga.

-Nein, der Haupstadt ist Vilnius.

-Bist du sicher?

-????????????????????????

So at first, I must say I was really tolerant and I sincerely explained people, that it is one of the Baltic States countries, that our capital is not Riga, that we don't write in russian alphabet and so on and so on... And I got so many questions like How many citizens live in the capital? or What's the biggest industry in Lithuania? and sometimes the questions were so unexpected that I didn't know the answers myself and I understood how much I must know just because I'm from a little country. I bet that people from well-known countries know far more less about their countries, because they are never asked to tell about them. 

Then later, I started being just too lazy to explain everything again and again. And when I saw the poker face again, I just started to ignore it and usually try to talk about something else. Because, you know, whatever, no one knows it anyway and when you talk with someone, maybe it's not important, where are you from, we all humans and blablabla.

But now at the end I got really pissed off with these people - how many people are there really, that did saw the map recently?? I mean, CO-MMON, how hard could that be to remember that there are 3 little countries by the Baltic sea!!! I don't ask to remember the capitals, it's just that we actually exist, you know.

And at that moment I probably got it. It's not about them, it's not about that they don't know. It's all about that I know, what I know and how I tell about it. Because, you know, I googled all the answers that I couldn't answer to those people and not because I wanted them to know, but because I was ashamed not knowing something about MY country. 

Because, you know, we actually exist and I love it :)!

P. S. not the only one, who experienced that - my course mate in Netherlands posted this in September :).

P. S. P. S. by the way, there is one more thing to remember: Lithuania is the land of the beautiful ladies, haha :).

xoxo

Ak.