{"id":4828,"date":"2026-08-21T08:04:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atmintiesvietos.azuolynobiblioteka.lt\/memory-office\/jaq-greenspon\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T08:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:04:37","slug":"jaq-greenspon","status":"publish","type":"memory-office","link":"https:\/\/atmintiesvietos.azuolynobiblioteka.lt\/en\/memory-office\/jaq-greenspon\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaq Greenspon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaq Greenspon was born in 1967, Las Vegas, United States of America. Together with his sister, he grew up in a traditional Jewish family. Jaq says, that the biggest gift of his parents was the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since 2011, Jaq Greenspon is teaching at Vytautas Magnus University and is residing in Kaunas, Lithuania. He fell in love, created a family and has a two-year old daughter. J. Greenspon talks about cultural differences, stereotypes and difficulties that he encounters in his everyday life in Kaunas.<\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents gave me the courage to fail. I was involved in theatre since I was little, and my parents encouraged all of that. (\u2026) Even if they didn\u2019t understand it, they would put me into situation or position where I could learn or participate in anything that I was interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was coming to Kaunas and so I picked up a copy of the inner-pocket guide. I looked it up and researched in it. The way I was explaining it to my friends back home\u2026 \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m moving to Kaunas\u201d. I\u2019m not even sure if I pronounced it correctly. \u201cWhat it\u2019s like?\u201d I said, \u201cI don\u2019t really know. From everything I gathered, it\u2019s kinda like the San Francisco of Lithuania\u201d, meaning that it was very artsy. That\u2019s what I was expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

“I know, we tried to avoid \u201cKaunas is the most Lithuanian city\u201d, but I think it\u2019s part of its charm, that you do feel a little bit more of the Lithuanian culture. (\u2026) Kaunas is much more Lithuanian.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our daughter was born, we had a conversation, what to name her. Her first name is Lithuanian. It ends with an \u201ca\u201d sound. Because, you know, when I said this name, my wife would be \u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound like a girl\u2019s name\u201d. So, the deal was that I got to give her the middle name. And so, I gave her the middle name, which is not the Lithuanian name. And to the point, when we went to register her, her Lithuanian passport only has her first name (\u2026), because they wouldn\u2019t accept a middle name that wasn\u2019t a Lithuanian name. And Americans said, \u201cCan we give her the middle name that we want to have, even though it\u2019s not in her Lithuanian birth certificate?\u201d, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s fine\u201d. So, in American [passport] she has three names and in Lithuanian [passport] she has only two. But that was certainly a discussion that we are going to have a child, the child is going to have a Lithuanian name (…), that\u2019s a cultural conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cTravel is what kills close-mindedness. Opening yourself up to different cultures tells you that there are more people in the world. Any time of provincialism, any type of people, who never leave their home, don\u2019t understand that there\u2019s a world out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cShe talks to my parents every day, my daughter. She talks every day and sees them on a video in a chat. So, she understands their culture, she sees their house, she sees the way that they live. The more she grows, the more she\u2019ll learn about these different things and the more she\u2019ll learn about my background. I think it\u2019s fabulous. I think it opens the world to her so that she understands that there is no one way to do things. That everywhere you go they do things in a slightly different way, and so she will always be able to be open to that. I think it\u2019s awesome, I think it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Kaunas, I think it\u2019s a great city. (\u2026) When somebody asks me \u201cWhat\u2019s it like?\u201d, usually their question isn\u2019t \u201cWhat\u2019s it like?\u201d. Their question is \u201cHow is it different?\u201d. Nobody wants to know, what it\u2019s like to live in some place, they want to know what\u2019s different. Especially Americans. What you miss from home \u2013 that\u2019s what they want to know. (\u2026) I\u2019m from Las Vegas, so if somebody says \u201cWhat\u2019s Kaunas like?\u201d I say \u201cWell, it\u2019s not Las Vegas\u201d.”<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my folks come to visit, I absolutely take them to Spurgin\u0117. Absolutely. And I will tell them a story, how in post-soviet times it was bought by the women that worked there. We are already making plans, I will take them to Gr\u016bto Parkas to see that. Because for them, they\u2019ve never seen anything like that. That\u2019s a whole new world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interview date 2019 03 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaq Greenspon was born in 1967, Las Vegas, United States of America. Together with his sister, he grew up in a traditional Jewish family. Jaq says, that the biggest gift of his parents was the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. 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