Ed Shakalis
A Lithuanian Class Reunion
Ed Shakalis is a retired Electrical Engineer,P.E. and presently an Amateur Radio Operator with USA call sign of KD1BJ and Lithuanian call sign LY3CJ. He is also on the Board of the Lithuanian- American Community of Cape Cod.
I made my first radio contact with Jonas (LY2ZZ) an amateur radio operator from Šiauliai, Lithuania in 1988. All communications were in Lithuanian. My friend Bruno Davis (Uždavinys) KB1PI from Norwood, Massachusetts and I would get together on two meters after talking with the LYs (Lithuanian Hams) and discuss what was said. It was then that I realized that my Lithuanian vocabulary was limited and if I was to continue talking with the Lithuanians, I had to improve my language skills.
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| The reunion by the water. Standing (from left to right): Myron
Miller, Ed Gonski, Birutė Skricki, Irena Kveragaitė-Šebedienė
(teacher), Mary Knasas, Pat Adakonis, Alfredas Šebeda, Pat Plevock,
Aidas Kupčinskas, Rev. Peter Shakalis, Arnold Plevock. Sitting
(from left to right): Bill Olewitz, Ramona Gonski, Brenda (Birutė)
Bates, Nancy Davis (behind), Ed Shakalis (host), Gita Kupčinskienė,
Ted Schilling.
Photo: Ed Shakalis |
In 1990 I heard of an Adult Education Lithuanian Class that was being taught by Irena Kveragaitė, a recent arrival from Lithuania. At the age of 69, I enrolled in Irenas class, which lasted for two years. Each Saturday for four hours Irena taught us the modern Lithuanian grammar. I soon discovered that the Lithuanian I learned as a child contained many Slavic words and had to be purged from my vocabulary.
Irena was a great teacher; she showed a lot of patience and understanding. It was all worth while when a Lithuanian ham asked me where was I born in Lithuania, and I said, Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside of Rokiškis.
Younger people and older American-Lithuanians like me should consider signing up for a class. Give yourself a treat; it is a lot of fun as well as challenging.
In June 1991, the "Lietuvos Radijo Megėjų Draugija" (Lithuanian Amateur Radio Society) invited my sons Bill and Rick, Bruno, his wife Blance and daughter Nancy, Vilius Rapšys from Palatine Illinois and me to visit with the Amateur Radio Club members in Lithuania. Jonas, LY2ZZ, met us in Riga, Latvia with a touring bus and drove us all over Lithuania. We visited Amateur Radio Clubs in Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Vilnius, Klaipėda and Marijampolė.
Each city's club would be our hosts in their city. For example, we were guests of the Vilnius Club and after a couple of days of sightseeing, the bus took us to the outskirts of Kaunas. There the Vilnius club members got off the bus and the Kaunas club would take over. This was repeated throughout Lithuania. It was a trip I will never forget.
Several months ago I met Irena Sebeda (married name) and we reminisced about our Lithuanian class experience and thought that it would be nice to have a class reunion. It was agreed to have it on Sunday July 11th at my place called WATAVUE, located in Plymouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod Bay. Twenty-three students and friends showed up. We had beautiful weather, and plenty of food and drink, including dešra and kopūstai. It was very pleasant to be with so many Lithuanian-philes.
One of the Alumni at the reunion was Ted Schilling, The Lithuanian Consigliare of Cape Cod" said that he decided to take Irenas Lithuanian language course after he came back from Lithuania where he attended a lawyers' conference. I wondered why the other students wanted to study Lithuanian; so, I asked Irena if she knew. Irena then asked some of her students to submit an essay on Why I am Studying Lithuanian.
I was impressed with the essays written by David Skirkey and Glenn Johnson. These are included, as follows:
I have been interested in Lithuanian language and culture since I was quite young. My father is Lithuanian; his mother was born in Panošiškės, a small village near Trakai. He, being of the Im just an American now persuasion., gave me little to go on, but did not discourage me. In high school, I studied Latin and then Spanish. Spanish was especially easy and fun, but as I learned about the culture, I began to ask questions about my own. I found a booklet that my father had saved -- The Lithuanian Language: A Characterization by Alfred Senn.
When I first saw Lithuanian words in print, I was hooked. The words resonated with me in a way that I can only describe as eerie, as if I had always known Lithuanian, but only forgotten. As I had little spending money, I got a copy of Dambriūnass Introduction to Modern Lithuanian from the library and copied the lessons by hand into a notebook. Since then, Ive learned most of what I know from books and old tapes. Ive always been on the lookout for a native speaker who would be willing to coach me on pronunciation and conversation. So, meeting Irena was a godsend.
Ive long been used to explaining to people why Ive gone through so much trouble to learn such a difficult and relatively obscure language. I often say that it's because Im of Lithuanian descent. But it's really not that simple. In fact, most of the reasons Ive come up with dont adequately explain it. Its a gut feeling, a calling, something in my blood, I guess. On one level, I appreciate the Lithuanian language as an aesthetic object. Language is a kind of social edifice. It contains and preserves the collective experience of the race that creates it. As such, our Lithuanian language is an ancient and rich source. It has a character that is yet young, playful and childlike, full of music and love of life, of plants and animals, of natural and cosmic phenomena. Before poetry, it is itself poetry.
On another, more personal level, Im the last one in my family that still knows the language, and I feel honor-bound to hold on to it. And, having recently visited Lithuania for the first time, the real Lithuania, stripped of all the romance and fairy-tales, I feel challenged and encouraged to continue. It was quite a thing for me to sit at my aunts kitchen table in Vilnius and simply discuss this and that.
A couple of weeks ago, a woman from Kaunas (an English teacher) asked me, "Why would you want to learn Lithuanian? What will you use it for?" I could only answer, "What do you use it for?"
In May 1989, I visited Lithuania for the first time as part of a Soviet Union tour. The tour covered Moscow, Leningrad, and Vilnius. Prior to that trip, I have never really given Lithuania much thought. I had probably learned about Lithuania in geography class as a child, but it wasnt an everyday thought, like a country such as Japan, Mexico or Russia. My mother is German and my father, Scottish. So, I have no Lithuanian bloodline that I know of. I often am asked why I study Lithuanian if I have no connection? My answers vary, but my outlook on life changed after visiting and learning the history of the country.
While in Vilnius, I was exposed to an old and historic culture, beautiful land and friendly people. I visited again in November of 1989 for two weeks. I "adopted" a new country. After that visit, I knew that I wanted to learn the Lithuanian language to be able to communicate with the locals. I was introduced to lrena, bought the Green book, and studied with her for two years.
I again visited Lithuania in July of 1990 and in July 1991, four times in 2 years. Friends who had met me during earlier visits were amazed that I could communicate with them in their native tongue. I have met many Lithuanians throughout the country from my connections in Vilnius and with lrena.
I also attended the Vilnius University summer program in 1991. While my grammar was good, my vocabulary was limited and still is. I met friends and their relatives while traveling throughout Lithuania. It has been a wonderful experience, as learning a new language and facts about a new culture should be. The fact that I visited the country and was treated like a family member helped spark the desire to learn more.
Learning a new, unique language was fun. Ive read some history, followed news events, and kept in touch with old friends. Studying Lithuanian has helped my knowledge of the English language and grammar, as well. Knowledge of Lithuanian has not developed into a job in Vilnius, but perhaps someday it will.
lrena made my weekly drives from Newport, Rhode Island to Boston worth the trip. If I didnt have such a good teacher who made the learning process fun, I probably would not have remained a student or kept my interest for so long. Im sure that many of her students would give a similar comment. (Also, the green book, if you complete the chapters and problems, is a very good teaching tool.)
My "quest for knowledge" was based on my first trip abroad. I realized how much I didnt know about many things. While Spanish is spoken in many areas and continents, Lithuanian is only spoken in one region in Europe. Besides, its fun to know something different from most other people. If only I had more people to converse with