Lithuania Summer Trip: How will the Residents of Clipped Live?

Clepeda is gradually being transformed from an industrial city to a tourist resort. However, given the short beach season, it is less likely to be the makers of many holidays. However, the city’s beaches are improving.

After winter storms and hurricanes, the mounds are strengthened, cleaned, wooden paths are repaired in the mounds so that people do not pass over the sand and grass, without disturbing the vegetation of the mounds. The beaches have special space for wheelchair users in the form of wooden arbors, convenient to drive on wooden walkways, and there is a dressing room and benches.

Through the jungle along the coast, behind the hills, there are pedestrian and bicycle paths from Melange to Girulia (4 km), where walking is very beautiful. There were cycling paths in some areas of the city (like in Europe), there was not much, but I did not see many cyclists.

The newly created pedestrian street in the center of the city has a very pleasant impression – Mazvido Alley, named after the author of the first Lithuanian printed book, Martinus Mazvidas.

It used to be a pedestrian, but now it is decorated with granite benches with small sculptures on each level. The most notable sculpture of 45 centimeters is a boy with a coat of arms of Clyped.

What’s new in town?

It is a well-organized separate garbage collection from the population, but it has not heard anything about recycling anything in every yard. It often has semicircular containers of about three colors – for paper and cardboard, for plastic and glass.

And in the yard of a tall building, there are large containers for household waste. Supermarkets have special vending machines for bottle delivery; People call them “Taromat” separately for glass bottles and plastic. You throw a bottle, and “Taromat” issues a check for 10 cents. Bottles of champagne and some wine are not accepted. You have to read the bottle label – is it possible to hand it over?

I spent ten days in Klepeda, as planned. I have met relatives, former colleagues, my alumni – they are now 50 years old, and all our conversations related to life, work opportunities and language issues, and international relations during meetings. After analyzing everything, I have come to a conclusion that, in general, life abroad is going on quite normally among the Russian-speaking population, but somewhat unhappily. I would divide everyone into three age groups.

The first – people over 70 years of age, pensioners who received pensions during the Soviet era. Pensions are not very different from the Russians, only a slight increase in unmarried female widows. For most products, store prices are comparable to ours – some more expensive, some lower. Bread cooked in private bakeries is more expensive as the old bakery is closed. Many pensioners from the old days have summer cottages, diligently growing vegetables, and fruits, even breeding chickens to prepare for winter – this is a significant help.

Lithuanian languages ​​are very little known in this group. Still, with it is distributed, it is self-service in stores, when market merchants want to sell products, they also understand Russian. If they buy clothes, there are plenty of second-hand stores like this and the prices there are also cheap. As my friend said, we live in 3D – eat, finish, survive.

When there is a problem with not knowing the language when it is necessary to consult a doctor, it is better if the grandchildren can go with them. Drugs are very expensive, never used in a past life.

This group is the most difficult. They watch Russian television, only communicate with the closest people if they talk about politics, but a whisper, softly, so that no one else knows. They regret that they did not leave for Russia, they would like to go home, but the visa is too expensive.

The second group is the retirement age of 45 years, up to about 65 years of age. These people received education and specialization during the Soviet era. Many speak the state language well. But getting a well-paid job or building a career with a Russian nickname can be a problem for you even after opening your own business.

It is easy for men who once graduated from naval school to go to sea to get jobs on ships of various European companies. They have a “nomadic” life but earn good money, providing for their families. And women work as teachers in either Russian kindergartens and schools or in the service sector.

Russian Kindergarten operates in Klipeda and has five schools with Russian language teaching, including three gymnasiums (9th grade) and two gymnasiums. However, kindergarten principals, directors, and most administrations of Russian schools have Lithuanian names.

Only one of my alumni (with a Lithuanian name) holds a senior position in the police. From this group, many returned to Lithuania in the 90’s and 2000’s to Russia, Great Britain, Cyprus, Israel, Spain, USA.

But the group has adapted to a new life. However, many are nostalgic for union life, complaining that it is so difficult to get a multiple-entry visa to Russia, where I want to go more often because there are so many relatives. But thanks to the freedom of movement in the European Union, people travel west to rest – Spain, Italy, etc.

The third group is young people born after the nineties who only know about the life of the USSR from stories and movies. Young people speak Lithuanian well, and many speak English. Of course, they studied in Russian schools, but according to Lithuanian textbooks, where history is presented in a distorted form. Many families here, depending on the parents, if they want to preserve the correct Russian language in the children, their love for Russian literature and culture must make a lot of effort.

A very small percentage of this group goes to Russia to study at the end of graduation because it is difficult to do, the study is given. And rarely comes for special quotas. From this group, the largest flow of EU countries, no need to study, work first, and see. Surprisingly, there are only a handful of young people on the streets of Clipper. According to Mohar, condemnation is welcome (as in Europe and the United States). And if mixed marriages were not rare before, now it is extremely rare.

I did not see a clear negative attitude from the Lithuanians, but somehow I asked if I would get on the 2nd bus route at the bus stop. Debrecen (I forgot the route a bit), so the two women snapped at something and went back. The third said softly: “Get over there.”

In general, I was left with the impression that our journey to Russia in the 1990s was right.