Summer always begins with such optimism. Even the rain didn't bother me as I ran the Vilnius 10K, which serves as an opening salute to the warm weather everyone has been looking forward to all winter. It was actually quite refreshing as the temperature had peaked at nearly 30 that day, which for Lithuania is a heat wave.
The event attracts more and more runners every year. The numbering was a bit deceiving as I was 21206. There were actually just over 5000 participants. I hadn't done enough to get in shape and had to take a break at the 7,5 km mark but got myself going again, with people still gathered at the finish line cheering us stragglers along.
I got my medal, a bottle of water, an energy bar and walked home along the river, where the runners completing the half marathon course were starting to filter back into the Old Town. Some looked at me perplexedly as I had the medal hanging from my neck, which was the same for whatever distance you ran. So, they thought I was probably one of the top finishers. I let them think that with a wry smile.
Since the pandemic, Vilnius has been attracting a lot of young people back to the city, who have given it a breath of fresh air in the number of start-ups that have increased dramatically. It has become a very vibrant city that was recently ranked as the happiest country among Millennials and Zoomers in the world. I made sure to pass this article along to my daughters in Australia, hoping to lure them back.
Of course you have to take such indices with a grain of salt. As one young person interviewed in the article said, that happiness can be taken away at a moment's notice. There is still a lot of anxiety over Russia but for Lithuania's 20-somethings that is something they don't fully understand as they have lived in a free country since birth. It wasn't the same for Daina, who grew up in Soviet Lithuania, and so that anxiety of losing that freedom is still very strong, as it is for most 50-somethings. Yet, life has improved significantly for older generations as well.
While the pay scale hasn't kept up with the cost of living, it is much better now. Even still many young people dream of starting their own businesses where they can be their own boss. Successes like Vinted have inspired this generation. It has given rise to a wide range of eateries and coffee bars that didn't exist before, allowing you to sample pretty much any food you like. Vegan restaurants have become very popular although I'm not so much smitten by them as is my youngest daughter.
That diversity is also reflected in the ever-changing demographics. There are more and more immigrants from Asian, African and South American countries. Young persons are more open to the new arrivals than are older persons. Daina is always remarking on how quickly immigrants profiled on television pick up Lithuanian compared to me, as I continue to struggle with the language 26 years later. Although I have to say I have improved recently, but I'm too old to be profiled these days.
We watch as our profession is taken over by the younger generation. It doesn't bother me as we still get plenty of projects. Nevertheless, it is kind of funny to hear them talk about sustainable design as if they are pioneers when I had been promoting it in this country ever since I came in 1997. At one point I was teaching architecture at Vilnius Gediminas University, so I like to think I inspired this generation a little bit myself. Let's hope they make it a better place than how they found it.
Time will tell. There is still much room for improvement in the city. It has spread out in such a chaotic nature that it is going to take some creative and clever thinking to rein it back in again and make it function as a vibrant whole.
In the meantime, I just enjoy the warm weather. It is very fleeting and all too soon I will be bracing myself against the "Siberian clipper," as I call it, when the cold winds blow in from the Northeast in late fall and turn the city back into an icy set of hazards, which is usually when I put up my running shoes and take my calisthenics indoors.
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