A Laugh with BAFF

What an amazing few days it has been here in Portland, Maine!

Ever since Sunday when everyone arrived, I have had a feeling of excitement for the 34 students we have studying here for 3 weeks. They are intelligent, they are engaged, and they are quite entertaining! 

Each night during free time I have had the most fun because the BAFF (Baltic-American Freedom Foundation) students are eager to show me what their home countries are like! The first night, Egle and Vilte showed me some popular Lithuanian memes, and we just laughed and laughed for about an hour long!

Here's my favorite one. It basically translates to "When you don't let the opera singer on the bus..." (Make sure you have the volume on ;) )

The second night, Rodijs (from Latvia) and many others surrounded the computer to show us their favorite Eurovision Song Contest performances. Again, we laughed and laughed at some of these rather crazy videos! And at times everyone joined along to sing!

The third night, Marta, Roberts, Indrikis (all from Latvia), and Gabriele (Lithuania) brought me to Google Maps and took me through the best places to visit in the Baltic States. Plus they told me about the incredible Latvian Song and Dance Festival, which I absolutely adored. Many of them had performed at this festival so it was great to celebrate their accomplishments with them. Here is one of the traditional songs they sing. Note that there are 30,000 performers at this festival!

It was such a joy to learn about these amazing countries, their histories, and their cultures, and it was even better to see the pride and joy each of the students had while sharing with me. I can't wait for more YouTube videos and sing-alongs! :)

-Sam