Dear Mrs. Engle’s Kindergarten Class at Hagan Elementary School,
I’m Ryan’s grandfather and I’m happy to meet all his kindergarten friends by email.
I live in Michigan most of the time but this fall I am a teacher (like Mrs. Engle) in Lithuania, a far-away country in Europe. Lithuania has about 3½ million people, a lot less than New York where you live. The weather here is like New York’s, with long, cold winters and hot summers. Right now the leaves are starting to change colors like they are doing in Poughkeepsie. 
As you can see from the map, Lithuania is along the Baltic Sea, which has salt water l,ike the ocean. I am in the city called Kaunas (pronounced cone-us). Can your teacher show you where it is on the map?
It’s complicated to get here from the United States and the trip took me about 24 hours—a full day—to come here from my house in Michigan. I went in2 cars, 1 bus and 3 airplanes s to get here.
The flag of Lithuania has 3 colors—so does the United States flag, but 2 of the colors are different. Lithuania’s flag has red, green and yellow stripes across it. The U.S. flag is red, white and blue and has stripes and stars.
Lithuanian flag
U.S..flag
how they sound. I am learning some important words, like hello (laba diena); goodbye (viso gero); please (prasam); thank you (aciu); yes (taip), no (ne) and OK (gerai).
Maybe Mrs. Engle can help you listen to some Lithuanian words on the Internet www.youtube.com/watch?v=b36SXjsfCmA&NR=1
One more thing: When you visit new places, you’re sometimes surprised by what you see, such as this cat and horse. They look different from cats and horses in Poughkeepsie, don’t they?
cat in Kaunas
a horse in the garden
In future letters, I’ll tell you more about this country and its people, including their foods, transportation, heroes, holidays, children and even fairy tales.
I hope you all enjoy this. You’ll hear from me again soon.
Ryan’s Grandfather, Eric Freedman
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ericinlithuania 