The American-Lithuanian who breeds African snails in his Vilnius bathroom

Text: Aage Myhre

‘This snail is around one year old. It loves to explore
my shirt,’ explains Arturas.

Arturas Bakanauskas, 49, was born in California to an American father and a mother of Lithuanian ancestry. When Arturas was three years old, his father died. That was the beginning of a long journey with his mother from state to state in the U.S. – from California to Chicago, Maryland and Arkansas before finally ending up in Texas, where Arturas grew up on a homestead with his mother and stepfather.

It was during the years in Texas that Arturas began to take interest in languages. He discovered that he had a fairly unique way of organising grammar and associating vocabulary that made it possible for him to learn faster than many others who usually focus much more on grammar instead of on vocabulary.

But he was awarded a teaching degree from the Texas university where he met the woman who became his first wife. After graduation they moved to Virginia, where Arturas taught for a year.

‘When did you first take an interest in Europe?’

Arturas and I sat at a cafe table in Vilnius on Saturday afternoon last week, and I wanted to find out more about why someone who was born, raised and has lived most of his life in the United States, decided to move to Europe as an adult.

‘I wanted to move to Holland in the 4th grade when I first heard of Europe. The next year I learned about my Lithuanian roots and I concluded it was there that I wanted to live, not in the US. But under Soviet rule, that was not a possibility, even to visit. While married, any plans of Lithuania were decidedly on the back burner since my wife was not Lithuanian or had any interest in Europe or foreign languages.

Only after Lithuania’s independence in 1990-91 and my divorce in 1993 was it possible to think about Lithuania once again. I corresponded with Lithuanians for a year or so before my first visit in 1995. Only when one of them sent a copy of Lithuania in the World did I realise that the images of famine, no housing, and gangsters shooting it out on every street corner that were the only word we got of Lithuania in my part of the States were not reflective of reality and I resolved to see for myself.’ This is what he tells me when I ask him why he wanted to return to his ancestral homeland.

It felt like I had finally come home, but I also felt like I had gone 50 years back in time’ he adds over the cafe table this late autumn day in Vilnius.’

It is now fourteen years since Arturas permanently moved to Lithuania because it took him less than a year to settle all his affairs in the States and move abroad. And here we sit on a late autumn day at a cafe table in the Lithuanian capital, talking about African snails and other aspects of the life of this man who so clearly prefers a life off the beaten track.

The first months after Arturas moved to Lithuania, he lived in the western Lithuanian town of Telšiai where he worked as a teacher. But after a time he concluded that it probably would be better to live in a bigger city and so Vilnius became his new home. While living here, he met the woman who became his wife and together they have an 11-year old daughter. Arturas was so dedicated about living in Lithuania that he even renounced his US citizenship so he could become a Lithuanian citizen.

Arturas’ main occupation nowadays is translating texts such as article summaries, articles, dissertations, and reports from Lithuanian into English. If you want to see a sample of his work, look for the movie Tomas Donela’s Farewell on DVD in March.

‘Is your work characterised by anything special,’ I want to find out.

‘What distinguishes my work is that I research unlisted terms, for example, stove tile names, which takes a lot of time to do. An everyday translator usually just makes a literal translation of the terms so that the basic idea is understood, expecting an expert in the field to edit the text and correct the technical jargon. For example, I just had the term “wick regulation device” in Lithuanian. While most translators would have stopped there, I did the research and found that in English it is called a “wick knob”.

I eventually started concentrating on archaeology texts as there are very few people specialising in this area. I especially enjoy being able to make a contribution by increasing and correcting the dictionary in this field, rather than just following in others’ footsteps.’

‘Snails are easier to care for than traditional pets,’
claims Arturas.

Still, it was neither archaeology nor book translations that became the main topic of conversation when we met at a cafe table this Saturday afternoon. Arturas had brought a box that he carefully placed in the middle of the table. The packaging around the box was slowly removed. And there they were; the big African snails that Arturas now breeds in his home’s bathroom here in Vilnius.

And here is how he explains his very special interest in these huge African creatures:

‘When I heard that snails can grow to 30 cm in length, I knew I had to have one if the opportunity ever presented itself. Finally it did last year and I have never regretted the decision. Not only are they easier to care for than traditional pets, they also interact strongly with their handlers.

For example, last summer we drove out to the coast one day with two of the snails in a box I was holding to keep it from vibrating. While waiting for a friend on the edge of Vilnius, I opened the snail box to see how they were taking the trip thus far. Both had woken up and seemed a bit worried about their new surroundings. So I offered one some food, which s/he refused. I looked away and when I looked back, I was just in time to see the snail very enthusiastically begin to engage the other in sex, which they continued to engage in until disturbed near the end of the trip.

On the way back, they got badly shook up on the back seat. When I noticed the situation, one snail was racing around the top of the box and the other had poked his head out of the soil, where he had tried to go to sleep, and it was just vibrating like crazy even on my legs. So I held them in my hands for about 15 minutes until they calmed down. The one snail went back to sleep, the other continued to casually look for a way out for an hour or so and then went to sleep.’

‘What did this experience tell you?’

‘This not only shows how much these primitive animals can feel and interact with people, it also shows how deeply rooted some of our instincts may be. The biggest pair of snails has become part of the family and everyone enjoys watching them eat, even for hours at a time.

Snails definitely have personalities and compete with one another. For example, you have to give two hungry snails two dishes of food. Otherwise one will cover the dish to keep the other from eating.’

So here he is, the American-Lithuanian translator and snail lover who has decided to stay in Lithuania, probably for good.

And, of course, at the end of our cafe chat this afternoon, I cannot resist asking him if he really enjoys living here.

‘Living in Lithuania has been a dream come true. Not only are the people friendly if you speak Lithuanian, the food good, and the climate great, I also have a job I love, a wonderful family, and even exotic pets.’