Welcome back to Brussels!

Lithuania has Presidency for European Comission this semester and this is the first thing we see when enter Brussels.

Unexpectidily back to Cologne after 8 years!

Kcymaerxthaere in Lithuania

We met Eames Demetrios at TEDActive conference last February. Last week we installed his bronze plaque in Uzupis,  Vilnius!

Back on track... or at least trying...

Here we go!

a bit more than 3 (!) years passed after our first entry to start our journey to U.S. and we're still here: DT-- double trouble or dream team -- whichever is better for you:

Me on the left and Juste on the right... still smiling, still sarcastic, still being stubborn to change the world! So much changed over the past years: will try to keep up with adventure updates: both solo and together!

Good night!

TEDActive 2013 - wooooah!

Finally! Instead of writing tones of useless Facebook posts, e.g. I’m soooo blue, wanna goo backkk… and later iiiiiiiiiiii [happy], don’t be sad it passed, be happy it happened! I will try to put everything into one easy readable (or not so much, pardon) blog post. Plus, it is great way to start writing again after all travels in U.S. and Belgium…

Here we go…  all started 4 months ago when after TEDxVilnius 2012 our and TED patron Vladas Lasas came to us and said: Girls are going to save the world and you two are going to TEDActive! Wooooah! I still remember when 2 years ago at TEDxKids@Brussels we organized social media campaign with prize of the ticket to TEDActive 2012 and how jealous we were that organizers can’t go… and finally this is happening!

After few months of preparations, thoughts that this cannot be real and last minute packing we were on the road! As we were still students, we decided to travel cheaper way and instead of having flight from Vilnius, we started trip from Warsaw which meant 8 hour trip by bus… 1 airBnB night, 2hour flight to London and 11 hour flight to Los Angeles later, we were back in the States!

It was Friday, Feb 22^nd, when we came: we had to be at La Quinta only the  following day, so by the help of our amazing friends we spent a night at Kestutis Daugirdas place – Kestutis is wonderful Lithuanian composer, you should definitely check out his music – and ended up having house warming party with bunch of other composers...

Adventures continued the next day: after changing travel plans because of Aliaksandr's flight delays, being late for the bus, we finally ended up at the same car with 3 other fellow TEDActivators: Andre, Hugo and Tango! What a trip – it was definitely one of the highlights of the week – if we haven’t travelled with you guys, TEDActive experience would definitely be different… a bit more on that later.

So finally we are here!!!!! Before the start of official TED 2013 start we had two amazing days of TEDx workshop and behind the scenes travel to TED’s home in Long Beach. It was really great way to warm the feet before whole week, meet fellow organizers, see TED’s home and get inspired from the first moment. I almost had my TED moment when during TEDx workshop Kara from TEDxSanDiego shared that she programmed event rundown excel sheet, which makes scheduling event so easy, and that it’s available for everybody – how cool is that!!! Could be best birthday gift ever… but, please, don’t start sending me strange spreadsheets in June… Juste almost had hers the following day while visiting The Dream Room aka “media cave”, where everything is organized so perfectly and by color. If we didn’t know there was awesome week ahead, we would just stayed there…

Also learned that what we call “informal networking gathering with other attendees” we can simply call speed dating with TED side, which makes it so much easier for everybody to understand and also more attractive…

I will also dare copying Rives’ quote when having Plan C emergency on the stage: “Sorry guys, TED couldn’t show up, but ED is here…”

 

Ted and Ed

One of the best lessons learnt is that lying might be a solution, but I will keep it to myself. J

Few other funny stories include Walter saying that we look like grown ups now… FINALLY! :DD and while trying Scanadu’s Scout on me after it didn’t work Sam calling me a robot :D or we simple can be called TEDizens as someone from the crowd mentioned. ;)

The rest was AWESOME AWESOME week at La Quinta with fellow TEDActivators and astonishing talks, deep conversations in the morning, between the talks, and around the campfires (one of them led to very funny conversation and clarifying that Ruta in the mix of Latin, English, Hindi, and Chinese languages means “perfect law abiding wife” – don’t know where this one came from…), amazing workshops, running from one activity to another, lack of sleep, bunch of new friends, desire to travel even more and courage to save the word! There’s so much hidden in all these words, the ones who were together know what I mean, the rest will have to ask me, otherwise it would be a long long novel… Or you could read TED Fellow’s Nadin Farsad's wonderful post How TED makes you feel, which perfectly puts all dots in places. From me few pictures and quotes instead. J

Welcome to the Economics of Abundance – Erik Brynjolfsson, Innovation Researcher

We overestimate technology in the short term, but underestimate it in the long run – Rodney Brooks, Roboticist

What you do today, will have an impact for unborn children in the next few generations

Smart simply means that you are ready to learn!

Excellence is never the accident – Freeman Hrabowski, Educator

To achieve something you need a plan and lack of time! – Meg Jay

Build a School in the Cloud – Sugata Mitra: watch entire talk, otherwise I’ll have to rewrite every single word, which I could but believe it or not it will sound better from Sugata!

TED (x) role is to empower spread of ideas and activity but not take control over it – Chris Anderson, TED Curator

 I’m sticking to the alien version – Chris Anderson about Taylor Wilson

Last century was discovering things, this century is making things! – Stewart Brand

World in an interesting place and I need to go and explore it! – About Montessori education

PLANT SOME SHIT! – Ron Finley TEDTalk

Discovery of Dead Duck Day on June 5^th at 17:55 – Kees Moeliker

And these are only the few ones! Some talks are already online; you can check them out on ted.com

We also managed to take part in “How to TEDx…” video production on what it takes to organize TEDxKids event, check it out! Video: http://bit.ly/10gUNXe

Or be called as ACIU GIRLS – thanks to Tango! We promise to do Aciu song next year in Whistler!

TEDActive wasn’t the end to our travel, we spent two amazing days with Honorary Consul of Lithuania for Los Angeles Daiva… it was so great to meet Lithuanians who were born and living in the States… to see how much they love our country and maintain our traditions… This made me love Lithuania even more! More about that next time…

That’s about it… I feel sad, I get attached to people very quickly, I wish we had more days in Palm Springs for more deep conversations, more friendships, more new ideas and projects… But we are back, inspired as never before, having “let’s change the world” mode until next year when we will be refilled again, knowing that we are not alone here, that our people are all over the place – with same motivations and inspirations and that together as a community we will DO STUFF! As naive as it may sound, TED is really changing my life, TEDxBrussels did at first place, and I hope that I can do same for the people around me. J

See you in online, live and next year in Whistler!

Pavasaris Briusely / Spring in Brussels

Tikrai pavasaris... mažai lyja pastaruoju metu (tris kartus per kairį petį ir medin... )

Senokai berašėm, bet apie darbą dabar vėl nerašysim, nes jis vertas visai atskiro įrašo, tik galim pasakyt, kad darbelio jau tikrai nemažai ir kelios paskutinės savaitės tiesiog praskriejo :)

Kas nutiko nuo praėjusio įrašo... buvo atvažiavus Kamilė su Vaida, susitikom su Lapieniu, dirbom dirbom... prieš kelis savaitgalius buvom pietinėj Belgijoj "haikint", žygiavom 15 km, visai smagu, tik kad lijo pusę laiko ir nešilčiausias oras pasitaikė, bet jau norisi vėl kur nors taip eit. Dabar ruošiamės Velykoms, atvažiuoja DJ, bet tikimės ir Aido sulaukt :) Ir šiandien buvom Karališkųjų rūmų soduose, kiekvienais metais mėnesiui juos atidaro lankymui, visai įspūdinga, nuotraukos žemiau :) ir susitinkam gegužės 13 ;)

***

We wrote almost a month ago for the last time... But there won't be anything about job again... it is worth separate post, we promise to write it soon... all we can say for now is that there's quite a lot to do now and few past weeks passed very quickly :)

So what's happened since the last post... we had Kamile and Vaida visiting (friends from Lithuania), also met another friend Darius, then worked worked... Then we went hiking to Ardennes 2 weeks ago, hiked 15 km, amazing! We're getting ready for Easter now, will have couple Lithuanian friends coming as well (1 or 2). And today we visited Royal Gardens, they are open for public every year for a month, quite a view, pictures below :)

Salotos ir druska / English as well

Neturim laiko rašyt! Siaubas, reiktų parašyt apie praeitą savaitgalį Antverpene ir Turnhout, apie darbą, apie manifestą ir Europos komisiją, apie teatrą, skirtingų kultūrų festivalį, o kur dar kitos savaitės planai! Bet tiek daug rašyt...

Pabandysim atrinkt, kas įdomu:

1. Antverpenas visai nieko, priragavom daug alaus rūšių, prasmirdom kaip traktoristės (Belgijoj vis dar leidžiama rūkyt kabakuose!!!!!), buvom pažiopsot į deimantus, netgi laimėjom loterijoj po vieną netikrą deimantėlį. Paskui nuvažiavom į Turnhout, nuėjom į kortų muziejų (jo, tas mažas miestukas tuo ir žymus - kortom), vos nenutrenkė mūsų autobusas, pažiūrėjom italų (Compagnia Rodisio) spektaklį ir pasikvietėm italus į ASSITEJ festivalį rudenį Lietuvoj. :)
2. Ketvirtadienį turėjom susitikimą Europos Komisijoj 11 ryto, tai pavėlavom TIK pusvalandį. Manifestas. Uždarytos dvi metro stotelės prie komisijos, manifestuotojų prisigrūdę bele kiek  (30 000 manifestuotojų) gatvėse, policija užblokavusi patekimą į komisijos pastatą ir plius dar vos negavom kiaušinių į galvą, laiku susivokėm, kad ten ne šiaip tuštoka erdvė, o visa minia mėto kiaušinius į sieną...
3. Ketvirtadienį buvom airių teatro trupės spektaklyje. Pjesė Mcdonagh'o, tai nenormali, aišku (gerąja prasme), o pats spektaklis... M... Na, ne stebuklas visai, bet pjesės nesugadino. Tik žmonės atsinešė alaus ir traškučių į salę, kažkokia nesąmonė. ne?
4. Apie darbą parašysim kitą kartą, parašysiu tik, kad dabar bendraujam su mokyklom keliom, tai šeštadienį buvom vienoj mokykloj, ten buvo kažkokia kultūrų šventė. Ir visai ne mokyklinis renginukas ten, nustebino labai, visi taip įspūdingai pasiruošę buvo. Prisiragavom visokių skanumynų iš visur. Buvo lenkai, aišku. Turėjo žagarėlių, dešrelių ir kažkokių pyrožkų. Nėjom prie jų ;) Brazilai darė capirinha's, o vokiečiai ir prancūzai turėjo pyragų visokių, japonai suši, malaizijiečiai kažkokių keistų žalių dalykų, turkai kažkokių saldžių siūlų/vatos, ir kiti viso ko, bet nebepajėgėm daugiau valgyt jau :)

Nuotraukos su komentarais apačioj. Su gimtadieniu! Geros teatro dienos!

***

Hey,

There are so many things to write but we don't have time for blog! About Antwerp and Turnhout, work, manifest and EC, theatre, International Festival and plans for next week! Ok, long stories short:

1. Antwerp is a nice city, (actually, we liked it more than Brussels), we tried many many types of beer, got terribly stinky (everybody smokes in the bars in Belgium!!!!!), went to look at the diamonds (even won fake diamonds in a game). And then got to Turnhout, went to the museum of playing cards (probably the only thing which makes Turnhout special), almost got hit by a bus, and went to see the theatre performance by Compagnia Rodisio. 
2. We had a meeting in European Commission on Thursday at 11h00 and were late for half an hour. Manifestation. 2 metro stops by the Commission building were closed, streets jammed (30,000 people came there), police blocked the streets by the Commission building and we almost ran into the area where people were throwing eggs to the building.
3. We went to see theatre performance by Irish theatre group. And it wasn't too bad (it wasn't good either). And we were shocked when we saw that people brought beer and chips to the performance. Wtf?
4. Yesterday we went to International Festival in International School of Brussels. Very nice (and huge!) festival, all the countries had some special food (German and French pies, Brazilian capirinha's, Japaneese sushi, strange green Malaysian stuff, strange Turkish sweets and many other things which we weren't able to try.

Some pictures below:

Antwerp. Įspūdinga aikštė ir stotis, nors nuotraukose taip ir neatrodo. / Grand Platz and train station, in reality they look wayyy more impressive

Alus, kurio taurė garsesnė už jį patį. Beer which is not as famous as its' glass

Turnhout. Linksmas visai kortų muziejus. Museum of playing cards

Namas pakeliui į įtalų spektaklį. Funny building on the way to the theatre

Compagnia Rodisio! 

Kultūrų festivalis / International Festival @International School of Brussels

P.S. Mums baigėsi druska...

Su gimtadieniu!

Romai, kad jau neišeina mums susiskambinti, tai bloge:

Sveikinam Panevėžio Juozo Miltinio teatrą septyniasdešimtmečio proga ir linkim ilgai, sėkmingai, gyvuoti, turėti daug energijos kūrybai, pritraukti daug jaunimo į spektaklius ir viso kito ko geriausio!

Siunčiam pliūpsnį šilčiausių linkėjimų!

Kaip mes Briusely studijuosim daugiau nei visus 4 metus Ekofake... There's English version as well :))

Senokai berašėm, bet jau beveik praėjusi savaitė buvo visai užimta, tai nelabai ir buvo kada... O ir labai džiaugiamės, kad pagaliau buvom užimtos normaliai :)


Walter'is užsimanė su mumis pasidalint savo patirtim, tai dabar skaitom knygas ir diskutojam. Tiesa, tokią paskaitą/diskusiją turėjom dar tik vieną, kita laukia pirmadienį, įdomu :) skaitom Cory Doctorow Makers (jis bus vienas iš TEDxKids mentorių). Dar turėjom vieną interviu tam mūsų tyrimui, atsibodo jau jį daryt, greičiau reikia viską pribaigt. Kitą interviu turim Europos Komisijoj kitą ketvirtadienį, reiks rimtokai pasiruošt. Šiandien ir ryt sėdim mokymuose, kaip rašyti projektus Europos Komisijai: tikėjomės, kad bus nuobodu, bet tikrai kad ne, diena išvis greitai prabėgo, darėm nemažai užduočių, ryt turėtų būt dar geriau :) Ai, vakar buvo atvažiavęs Hansas, scorpų fanas iš Gento, kai vakarienę fainą turėjom :))) ir daug desertų, ačiū Hanso sesei, kuri netingėjo gamint :))


Ryt iškart po mokymų minam savaitgaliui į Antverpeną, pabūsim iki sekmadienio ryto, tada į Turnhout žiūrėt Compagnia Rodisio spektaklio "Vienos šeimos istorija", vaidins italai, kurie pas mus Assitej festivaly buvo prieš 2 metus, labai laukiam vėl susitikt (vaidins itališkai, bet kad jau kelis kartus matėm spektaklį, tai problemų neturėtų kilti :) Ir tada kita savaitė vėl užimta: minėtas interviu EK, Drupal mokymai (turinio valdymo sistema, angl. content management system), mokysimės programuot ir tvarkyt internetines svetaines (jau seniai buvom užsimanę išmokt, kad nereiktų kitų pagalbos prašyt)... Tada laukia dar spektaklis pagal McDonagh pjesę "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" ketvirtadienį, o penktadienį atvažiuoja į svečius Marc (kas buvo LOGIN pernai, turėtų jį atsimint). O kitą savaitę atvažiuoja Kamilė su drauge, ir dar su Julium turėtume susitikt, jeigu tik jis susiplanuos pagaliau viską: mėnuo užimtas ir labai smagu dėl to :)


O į Lietuvą grįšim gegužės 12 (jo, švęsim Arno gimtadienį oj švęsim :)), bet tik 5 dienom, po praktikos gynimų maunam atgal į Briuselį dar keliom savaitėm :)


P.S. Rūta labai džiaugiasi, kad baigiamasis egzaminas bus birželio 7 ir paskui visi masiškai švęs jos gimtadienį :)))
P.P.S. Justė praėjusį sekmadienį buvo Leuven, patyrinėjo studentišką miestelį, Rūta Antverpene keliuose muziejuose ir tada dar pabuvojo savo asmeninėj fotosesijoj... tai tiek :)


***


We're getting more and more lazy to write both in Lithuanian and English, but Hans already complained that he cannot understand when we make laugh at him here, so there's no other way, but just to translate...


Last week was pretty busy, and we're very happy about it! We had one interview for our research, another one is scheduled for the next Thursday at European Commission. We are having training on EU calls for proposals today and tomorrow, didn't sound so much interesting at the beginning, but it really was :) Also, Hans came to us yesterday, thank you once again for such an amazing dinner, we owe a lot to Cindy, and thank you for taking the bed back... finally :D

Tomorrow right after the training we leave to Antwerp for the weekend, we'll be there until Sunday morning, then going to Turnhout to see performance "The story of one Family" by Compagnia Rodisio, we met those guys at Assitej festival in Vilnius 2 years ago, can't wait to meet them again! :) The next week is busy as well: we have Drupal's training on Wednesday, then interview on Thursday, then the same evening is devoted for the performance "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" by Martin McDonagh, and Marc is coming on Friday. Few more friends are coming the week after the next one ;)

We're going back to Lithuania on May 12th, but only for 5 days, will be back to Brussels for few more weeks right after internships' presentations at uni.

P.S. Ruta is quite happy that final exam at university is on June 7th: everybody will celebrate her birthday :))

P.P.S. Last Sunday we did some stuff as well: Juste went to Leuven to explore student's city; Ruta went to Antwerp to couple of museums and then had a personal photoshoot.

Savaitgaliui praėjus / After the weekend

Žolė. Nors darbo teritorijoj belenkiek hektarų žolės, ja bėgiot negalim, nes pradeda pypt. Dviračiai irgi negalimi, nes gali sugadinti peizažą.

Šeštadienio žiburėlis. Visą naktį šokom ant stalų su keturiais britais, su kuriais paskui ir sutilpom septyniese į automobilį.

Pokalbiai pietaujant. Du mūsų kolegos turi kūdikius, tai valgydamos sužinom... ko tik nesužinom... apie centimetrus gimdymo metu, kokias priemones kur vaikui reikia įdėti ir kaip jaunos merginos prieš pastodamos turi patapšnot kačių šūdelį... akivaizdu, kad per daug neprisivalgom...

Turgūs. Kelios nuotraukos apačioj.

***

Grass. Although there are many hectares of the grass in the working territory, we cannot run on it, because it starts beeping. Bicycles are forbidden as well... "ruin the landscape".

Saturday's pool party. Danced on the tables all night with 4 British, went 7 people in the car afterwards.

Talks during lunch. We have 2 colleagues who have babies, so our lunch talks vary from centimeters during giving birth to what to do before getting pregnant for not "catching"various diseases... Clearly, we don't overeat...

Market. Few pictures below.