Yellow, red and green

No, I'm not talking about bell peppers :)  These are the colors of the Lithuanian flag.  Alex and I learned this, among many things, over the last few months spending time with lovely Lithuanian friends.  I must say, I probably couldn't even find the small country quickly on a map and, until moving to Luxembourg, I certainly hadn't ever met anyone from there. 

Lucky for me, that all changed with Martyna & Paulius.  The cute couple has lived in Luxembourg for several years now and connected with other Lithuanians in town.  They have also opened up this community of precious friends to us and we are having a blast getting to know them!

Last weekend was Paulius' birthday and these Lithuanians certainly know how to have fun!  Their studio apartment in the hip Claussen neighborhood filled up quickly with a few Russians, two Americans (yours truly) and a whole lot of Lithuanians who have made Luxembourg home.

Here's a picture of the group...you can probably identify the birthday boy :)

And here's a photo of a few of us girls...



At Paulius' party, Alex and I got to witness several Lithuanian birthday traditions.  The first and very tasty tradition was the "honey cake" that had come straight from a Lithuanian bakery in London.  The delicate and multi-layered treat was just delicious and very popular in Lithuania and surrounding countries including Latvia.  Click here for a honey cake recipe!  I need to try this ASAP!

The second tradition that was introduced to us took place right after Paulius blew out his candles.  All of the men in the room lifted Paulius up in a chair above their heads.  Up and down he went 29 times - one for each year.  Excuse the lack of lighting, but here is a short video glimpse of the scene...

Looks like fun, right!?

Over time (and several parties at Paulius and Martyna's house), we've had the chance to get to know a few other couples from this eastern European country.  Last night, Alex and hosted two of the couples for dinner.  We learned a lot about the history of Lithuania, the hardships when the Russians took their independence and what life was like when they got it back just 20 years ago in 1991!  We heard stories of parents and grandparents hiding from the Russian army, a few escaping to the U.S. and one in particular who spent decades away from her husband only to be reunited 23 years later.  What a love story!  The first-hand tales are fascinating and the people, just lovely.  I'm thankful to call them friends :)

Love from Luxembourg...Melanie