Where am I from?
I was
born in 1982 in windy Klaipeda on the coast of the Baltic Sea. At
present I live in Vilnius, in the capital of Lithuania. I feel at
home in Berlin too, where I lived in 2004-2005. I like very much to
be in Riga and be delighted with the well-ordered chaos of London,
where the part of my family lives. Some day I will reside in
Croatia. It’s almost decided :) | |
Who am I?
I have a
bachelor degree of political science. I studied in the Vilnius
University and the Free University of Berlin. Next year I’m going to
have master degree of semiotics as well as of administration of the
eGovernment. Now I work as an officer in the ministry of Agriculture and try to do something useful in the branch of
eGovernment in Lithuania. | | | | . |
My reflections about the most touching event in my life in 2006...
It’s raining here. Day after day, night after night. You know it, Officers, don’t you? It’s a rainy land. It’s Hallowmas’ eve, and it’s raining.
Running by escalator at Schiphol airport I asked Eva if we could swap the tickets and she could go to Vilnius and I could go to Budapest. It was four days ago, four days before Hallowmas. Our flights were almost at the same time, almost from the same gates. The gates number 44 and 49 are opposite to each other. You know, Officers, that numbering of the gates at Schiphol airport hasn’t got any logic. You know it, don’t you…?
It was early and dark. And it was raining. In Scheveningen, in The Hague, in Schiphol, and I guess even in Amsterdam, although I’m not sure about this last city with 165 channels, not 88 as many people think. It was exactly four days before Hallowmas, and it was raining in Holland. You know it, Officers. Don’t you, or were you in your beautiful countries already, or were you sleeping in Bilderberg Hotel, where only very deserving kind of people could stay.
We knew it was raining, but we were inside. I and Eva were running by horizontal escalator to the gates no. 44 and 49 throughout the whole terminal No. 1 and we hadn’t got any time to think about rain that caught us there and catch me in my country. We hadn’t got any time even to think about my proposal to swap our tickets. Maybe it was just a joke. Maybe, but who knows. We hadn’t any time even to understand if it was a joke or it wasn’t. The tall man with an uniform had caught Eva at the gate no. 49, and she had to go.
I stood alone opposite to the gate no. 44. You know, Officers, Schiphol airport is huge enough and many people were around at that moment. You know it for sure, and can imagine it, even if you have never flown from Schiphol airport. But you have, and you can imagine it much better than the most of people who have never flown and never been in Holland.
I stood alone, and actually it had stopped to rain. It was four days before Hallowmas, and Eva had gone to Budapest, and it was no rain, and even the last joke was unaccomplished. Do you want to swap the tickets… and go to Vilnius? It’s too late for joking. I was alone opposite to the gate no. 44, and one other man with an uniform asked me if I were looking for the flight to Vilnius. It was no queue anymore and only few minutes were left before boarding had began. I stood face to face to this man with an uniform, and there were many people around. Yes, Sir, I do… I’m going to Vilnius, although…
What could I say him? The man was staring at me, probably at the last passenger of the flight to Vilnius at that morning four days before Hallowmas. Could I say him about Eva boarding from the gate opposite to the gate No. 44? Maybe about Peter, Sanja, Diana… About core messages, crisis communication, or about the smart PR team of PM Balkenende and the funny portrait of the Queen Beatrix in the main hall of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport?
But I couldn’t say anything except of ‘Yes, Sir, Vilnius.’ It was two reasons why I couldn’t say anything more. First, it was few time, second, I promised to be serious at that day when we were at TV. I promised to be serious with the all officers. And he was an officer, even with the uniform. Maybe he was better officer than all of us. He knows his job exactly. He don’t need to go to The Hague and have the courses and share experience with the colleagues from Airport of Frederic Chopin or Ferihegy Airport, or the colleagues from International Airports of Riga or Vilnius, which unfortunately haven’t got any names. What a pity, nameless airports! What do you think, Officers?
Finally, it would be at least silly to say him about core messages, Bilderberg or the nice labyrinth building of the Academy of Finance.
Yes, Sir, I do. No, Sir, it’s wrong. So are all my messages here in my country as well. Serious, clear and direct. Quasi everyone would be the officer with an uniform, like this one who thieved Eva and this one from my gate.
And it’s always raining here. And officers with uniforms are around, it’s a huge crowd. Like the people at Schiphol. You can imagine it, you, Officers without uniforms. You can imagine everything.
Oh, dear… I’m too tired in order to continue… Good night, Officers. Sweet dreams.
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What am I interested
in?
It was a foggy march of 2006 and I wrote:
"There are so many things that I like… I like the
books of Boris Akunin, the songs of Bulat Okudzava, the musicals
“The Phantom of the Opera” and “Three Penny Opera”. I like big
cities and empty streets. I like Klaipeda in the sun and Vilnius in
the rain. I always build sand castles in summer. I like to speak and
to hear Balkan languages. I like modern airplanes and coffee to go.
I like play piano, especially Georg Haendel (like buuum, buuum, with
pathos) and Edward Grieg (bum-bum-bum, but very lightly :). I would
like the subway in Vilnius, if it is built one
day…"
Today is 23 May 2006. Almost the Christmas eve. The Germans would say "es hat sich alles überschlagen"... I have found many authors who replaced the books of Akunin in my bookcase, I haven't played either Okudzhava's songs nor 3Penny anymore, but I use my Walkman in order to hear quite other style of music everyday. I hadn't built nice sand castles this summer, because I had my vacation in the UK, and I was in Brighton twice, but they don't have sand there :) But I still like modern airplanes and especially to fly with Alitalia.
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