The long awaited splendid day finally came! The event was the Lithuanian Country Information Day. No one knew what to expect from the Lithuanians despite the incessant amount of information sent to the student mailing list and the strategically positioned posters that advertised the event. The approaching of the Lithuanian CID was highly anticipated. The Lithuanians even decorated the tables in the College Serveries with hay specially imported from Lithuania!

On the actual day, Klaus Bohnke, College Master of Mercator College, welcomed everyone and opened the event sharing some of his recent experiences with Lithuanian cuisine: “I’m proud to say that I already know something about Lithuania, especially after my first meeting with the Lithuanian students as part of our arrangements for today’s CID”

A thin air of anticipation hung across the packed Mercator Common Room. The event kicked off with a video clip featuring some of the most established Lithuanian basketball stars on campus – a game between the Lithuanian basketball team playing and an All-IUB team. During the match, dominant Lithuanian team players used their skills with relative ease to trounce their opponents with indisputable dexterity and mastery in the sport.

The video went on showing Eduardas Afanasjevas as ‘The Reason’ who lost his memory after having been run over by Aramark’s Mr. Paulik in the role of the ‘bad guy’. In the ensuing suspense and melodrama Eduardas’ friends tried to bring him back to his senses.

In the process of recovering Eduardas’ memory, he’s been taught about Lithuania - the Baltic state at crossroads. The country is neighbouring with Kaliningrad ( Russia) and Poland to the West, Latvia to the North and Belarus to the East. Its capital city is called Vilnius. Stretching on top of pine tree hills with crosses, Vilnius is an old city full of Gothic style architecture dating back to 1323 AD when Gediminas (a Lithuania Duke) established it as his ‘royal city’ and built a Teutonic Castle on a hill for defence purpose.

The audience’s attention was captured by a power-point presentation that provided a sneaky preview of pictures and geographical and political information about Lithuania. It has a 99km long sea coastline with an attractive beach. The highest point in Lithuania above the sea level is a 240m. Despite the past rulership by the Russian Tsar, Lithuania is now a democratic republic that gained its independence in 1991.

A typical Lithuanian setting was achieved by the trappings of daily life displayed during the CID. We even had the chance to enjoy a splendid performance of Lithuanian songs. A narration about the Lithuania’s enviable prowess in the world of sports, especially basketball, came as a counterpoint. Apparently, Lithuania dominates not only in Europe but also at the Olympic Games, where Lithuanians have won 2 gold medals. Currently, Lithuania is the European basketball champion.

Another highlight was familiarizing with the Lithuanian culture - from language to people. Popular Lithuanian words like Labus-Hi, Purpytes-‘chicks’ and Skeikata-cheers were introduced.

When, in the end, Eduardas recovered his memory, an authentic song and dance followed enhancing the traditional costumes and rhythmical body movements.

The Lithuanian CID had one other unique feature – participation of the audience. Three members of the public who had toured Lithuania in the past were called upon to share their experience.

Finally, the Lithuanian CID came to an end with the audience sampling a variety of Lithuanian speciality mouth-drooling food prepared by the students. The next CID was announced hosted by the United States on 7th April.

(written by Ibrahim Mbithi, edited by Konstantin Mihov)