Val's Adventures

Dec. 16 - The first of the lasts

2010-12-17T21:47:00.000+04:00

Last day of school and what a day! Since it was my last day, Co-teach and I decided to just play English games with the kids and have a fun good-bye. And that’s what we did, but the director chose today to sit in and observe all of my classes. Not a big deal for me, but it confused the kids. As I finished my last class, Co-teach told me that the director wanted me to write my biography as well as my "thoughts about education and ideas for the school". It’s going to go on a poster with photos of me in the school lobby. So, no pressure.

Plans for the suphra were still up in the air, so while Co-teach and I hung around waiting to find out if we were having a party in the school or going out, I wrote something. Since we were waiting in our classroom, all of the kids came to find me as their classes ended. It was weird. They all wanted my picture and autograph. I honestly don’t know how many photos I was in. Several of the girls were crying and that was enough to make me want to cry too. I honestly thought that the kids didn’t really like me (for the first 3 weeks they all told the other teachers that I was very strict), but I guess I was wrong. I told them that I would get an e-mail address where they could contact me and give Co-teach the info for them.

Finally, the suphra happened, at school, which was fine by me. There was atchma, a dish with layers of cheese and pastry, kinda like lasagna, but with no sauce (and Georgian cheese). The teachers also brought the most amazing cake I have ever seen. It was so spectacular that I took a bunch of pictures. And it tasted as good as it looked. The decorations were chocolate and marzipan and the filling had chunks of marzipan, too. We all chatted and toasted with a really nice, sweet champagne. I commented on how much I liked it and Co-teach laughed because they’d bought a bottle for me as a gift. There was also a book all about Georgia, in Georgian. Co-teach had asked them to keep things small, so that I could pack them. The whole thing was really sweet and I’m going to miss everyone.

When the suphra ended, an hour and a half later, I went to get my things out of our classroom to find that one of my students had graffitied the wall outside the room with a message of love for me. Then I left the school to find six of my gr 9's waiting outside. They took a bunch of pictures for us and left when I did. Then they walked home with me. Kinda. They sort of surrounded me while we all walked in the same direction, but didn’t talk to me.

I was later getting home than normal, which made the evening fly by. Between the internet and reading and then helping HB1 with his homework, it was bedtime before I knew it.

Dec. 15 - Counting the days

2010-12-16T16:47:00.002+04:00

Gave two tests today and caught about 12 kids cheating. Out of 35. That’s over 1/3 of the students in those two classes. Caught with cheat sheets, or the answers written on their hands, or talking to everyone around them. And this is a normal occurrance in Georgian schools. Luckily, Co-teach showed the director the cheat sheets that we’d confiscated and finally got the ok to write 0's in the official register. I don’t know what kind of an impact it’ll make, but it’s a step in the right direction.

At home, I did a little reading, marked some workbooks and helped HB1 with his English homework. While I was eating, HB3 came in to eat with me. HM reminded him that I was leaving soon, and he said "Don’t go," in Georgian. It was cute. I love that kid.

It’s hard to believe that I only have 2 more days in this house, and then I’ll be on my way to T’bilisi and then home. It’s crazy and I’m getting anxious, because travel in Georgia never goes as expected. But the teachers at my school have decided that we’re going out for dinner tomorrow, since it’s my last day teaching. They were trying to make it a surprise, but Co-teach didn’t want me to make other plans, so she told me. She really didn’t have to worry. All the people I would have plans with are home by now.

Dec. 13 - Family moments

2010-12-16T16:44:00.000+04:00

Mom’s birthday today. I was a little sad, because I’d missed it, and my closest friends all got on planes this morning. School was fine, but the weather was terrible, so only about 2/3 of the student’s showed. It made test review a lot easier, the groups were nice and small. Gr 12 didn’t show up, again, but it’s not quite as annoying now, since I have to teach gr 10 the period before, anyway.

I spent the afternoon in isolation with the internet. I charged my kobo and my mp3, since I never know when I’m going to be without power. Mostly I killed time on my computer until Mum called. I’d had Daddy leave her birthday present for her, so we chatted about it. We covered a bunch of other topics too. When the call dropped, I went back to my Spider solitare game. HM stopped in to ask if I was hungry (I wasn’t) and I gave her my Skype info.

A little bit later, HM came in with HB1 and HB2, carrying the internet and their laptop. She wanted me to check my Skype to make sure it was me. After some confusion, I remembered, that the texting feature only works when both people are online. With HB1’s help I explained that, and then confirmed that it was really me she’d added. While we were looking, HB3 started calling for her. It was the Georgian version of "Mom, c’mere!" "No, you come here." "No, You come here." It was hilarious.

HB3 made his way upstairs and joined us in my room. Then, HM asked me to upload my music onto her computer. When she told me that she wanted all of the songs, I had to do some quick thinking, because not all of my music is child- (or mom-) friendly. Luckily, because I was using my mp3 player, there were a lot of files that weren’t music, so I removed those and sneakily got rid of some other tracks, like Closer by Nine Inch Nails.

After the music, she asked me to share any photos I had of the family. This I agreed to with no trepidation. And used the opportunity to give her and the boys the framed photos I’d put together. They examined them while I copied my photos onto a flash drive for her. HM actually got quite emotional after looking at the pictures. It was really sweet. While I was copying the photos, HB1 started playing some of my music. When it was done, I gave HM her flash drive, and she and the boys left, HB1 carrying the laptop that was still playing music. The whole situation was adorable. These are the family kind of moments that I’m going to miss when I leave.

Dec 11 - Packing and cake

2010-12-12T10:20:00.001+04:00

Hung out with Sailor for the last time today. Tomorrow, she catches the train into T’bilisi and then Monday she flies out. I slept in later than intended and only had a half hour to get ready before I needed to go out to try and catch the bus. One went by while I was getting ready, so when I was ready to go, I started walking. Partway down the mountain, another bus came by and I caught it.

I met Sailor in Batumi. She’s still not feeling well, but she’d arranged to meet someone else to say goodbye, so she was there. She also brought her computer, so that I could chack my e-mail. We all had drinks and I had cake and we had a good visit. Eventually, we all left to run errands. I actually didn’t have any, so I tagged along with Sailor while she did hers and then we caught a marshrutka home together. While in Batumi, Kiwi called about my plans for getting to T’bilisi. Since TLG fell through on that, too (big surprise) I arranged to go on the train and stay in a hostel with her and Mom

Since it was only 1pm when I got back to Kobuleti, and there was lots of light, I decided to walk back home. Knowing that there was probably no power at the house, and that I had no plans for the rest of the day, was an influence. I only got a little way up the road, before the host family drove by on their way home. Obviously, they stopped and picked me up.

The power was out, as expected, so I spent a couple of hours hanging out on the balcony with my sudoku book. The cat came up to join me, and he blissed out in my lap for a while. When it got too windy to sit outside, I came in. The light wasn’t good enough to read or puzzle, so I was at loose ends. I started tidying and putting things away, but I realized that it was pointless to put clothes in drawers when I’m leaving so soon. So I started packing!!! I pulled out the clothes that I’d need for the next week and everything else went into the suitcases. My room doesn’t look any emptier, but now only 1 dresser drawer, and 1 night-table drawer have anything in them.

I made one brief foray downstairs, but the children had instruments and were trying to sing/ play Jingle Bells. It was cute, but no good for my headache. I spent the rest of the afternoon talking on the phone, and reading. I lost track of time until HM called me down for tea at 8:30. I had a bite to eat and then came back upstairs to watch tv and finish my book.

Dre-e-e-eam, dream, dream, dre-eam

2010-12-12T10:12:00.002+04:00

This week I’ve been having some crazy dreams and want to share them.

1. This dream was Tuesday night after the fiasco with ITA Georgia, the company responsible for booking my plane ticket.
I dreamt that I had gone to the Flight Reservation place in person. It started out just as frustrating as in real life, except that the guy working was American. So he let me see my ticket for myself and then stood up for me when his boss tried to get him in trouble for it. The boss went away and the guy went back to answering my questions, except that I woke up just as I was asking the one question that I really wanted answered. For a split second I felt really good, until I realized that I’m still in Georgia, nothing had actually been resolved and the people at the reservation place are still Georgian. Then it was back to feeling like crap.

2. There’s no set-up for this one from Wednesday night, except I really want out of this country:
I was trying to come back to Georgia and couldn’t find my passport. I knew I’d used it to close my Liberty Bank account (in Canada) but didn’t know where it had gone. I was retracing my steps and asking my friends (other tlg volunteers) to wait for me to find it before checking in themselves. I was very stressed out in my dream, but when I woke up I was like, why would I be going back? Silly brain. And felt relieved that once I get home I don’t have to come back here.

3. Thursday’s dream made me think "WTF? I’m not even on drugs. But this dream made me wonder if I should be."
In this dream I got a baby (one minute I was not pregnant and the next I had a baby and she was mine). When I showed her to the daddy, he was like, "Wanna get married?" and I said, "Sure". Then I left the baby with him and he put her on a shelf and left her there. When I came back she was a boston cream donut, which I was in the process of eating when he came back. He asked where the baby was, I looked at the half of donut that was left and said, "I couldn’t help myself, she was Boston cream." Then we snuggled on the couch to watch a reality show called, "You, Me and the Baby Makes Three" about pregnant woman and her husband and daughter (I know the math doesn’t add up).

Dec.10 - That's so Georgia

2010-12-12T10:04:00.001+04:00

I officially have less than a week of school left. Nothing interesting or amazing happened in any of my classes, today or yesterday. They’re pretty much the same as always. Today’s gr. 12 class had 2 boys, so we ended really early. Co-teach’s getting under my skin a lot, though I don’t know if I’m just moodier than usual, or if she is. Our water at the house was out today, which didn’t help. I found out from HM that it’s because the streams that run down from the mountain (which are our main supply) are clogged with leaves and that blocks the flow. It may be days before I can shower again. Thanks, Georgia.

Yesterday after school I went into Batumi for the final beanboat dinner. Boston, Joker, Lush and Gent took the train to T’bilisi today and they fly out on Monday. Sailor also goes on Monday, but she’s just going to go right to the airport Sunday night.

I missed my bus down the mountain, so I started out walking. Partway down, I got picked up by a friend of HD’s. He works in Batumi, so he drove me all the way in. Batumi is a construction-zone-wasteland. I mean, it has been for a while, but now the construction has moved to the streets I actually frequent. And they don’t block anything off, either, so it’s entirely possible to walk straight into a giant hole in the ground. Pre-dinner I went to the library to internet and meet Sailor. There were a couple of incidences of Georgian-ness that I happened to overhear, but was in no way a part of. They’re really funny, when they’re not happening to me.

First, a friend of mine wanted to print something, so he asked the girl to set it up. She asked how many copies (1) and how many pages of the document he wanted (all of them). Then she pointed out where she’d written the instructions (half English/ half Russian), then she tried to print without turning on the printer. Next, Lush wanted to return some books, but she didn’t actually have a library card. She told the girl this and gave her her id to copy. The girl says, "Fine, but I need your number, to find the cards for the books." Lush tells her again, that she doesn’t have a number and the girl tells her to look at her card (which she doesn’t have, because she NEVER got one). This goes on for a good 2 or 3 minutes before Sailor yells across the library in Georgian, "She doesn’t have a number because she doesn’t have a card!" Hilarious.

Dinner was good. There were 7 of us total, so the anecdotes were flying fast, and no one actually completed one. We got side-tracked frequently. We all headed over to Goodwill after to stock up on various items. Just as we finished up, the power went out. We stood around outside to say good-bye to each other. I’m sad that we’re not all going together, but I know that if anyone needed to get out early it was Boston and Joker. Sailor and I marshrutka’d home together and made plans for tonight.

HB1 had more English homework, so we worked on that. We didn’t get finished until 11:45, though, because he was busy doing all of his other homework and didn’t even get to English until after 10. The kid is 9 or 10 years old. There’s no way he should have 5 hours of homework a night. I did get to see the Simpsons on Turkish tv (subtitled) so that was awsome.

Sailor was supposed to come play this afternoon, but she wasn’t feeling well. I spent many hours alone in my room with my sudoku book. Thank goodness I have it because (I can’t believe I’m going to write this) I’m getting sick of reading. It feels like I’ve re-read the books that I like millions of times and I’m glad I have something new to do.

I ate with the family and watched the kids run around like crazy people. It was entertaining. Then I had tea with HM. We saw on the news that while digging the foundation of a new hotel in Kobuleti, they found a ring and earrings that are 400 years old. I think HM also said that they found some things dating back 1800 years (but between her English and my Georgian, I could be wrong). Something was definitely 1800 years, though, because I wrote down the number to be sure.

Dec. 8 - Still Counting down

2010-12-12T10:01:00.001+04:00

School went better than expected, considering I had both gr 10 and 12. I don’t actually teach gr 10, since they don’t understand me, but I did go over pronounciation with them. Today I made them all stick out their tongues, to say "th". And my gr 12's are starting to get the idea of outlining. It’s a slow process, but if they learn nothing else from me, at least they’ll know how to organize their ideas.

Hammer called me at the end of school and confirmed that we are on the same flight. I’m so relieved. I was afraid that it would get messed up, like everything else here, and we wouldn’t be together. Bebia’s still in Batumi, so I was home alone again. I started tidying and going throw papers and things in prep for going home and I found my Sudoku book. Best thing to happen to me in weeks. I spent all afternoon doing puzzles and not thinking about anything.

When the family came home, I helped HB1 finish his English. We did it early, cuz tonight’s Veronica Mars night and I wanted to be sure to be free. I was sitting upstairs, watching Leno, when the cutest thing happened. HB3 opened the door and said my name. I asked him what he wanted and he replied with a string of Georgian/ baby talk that I couldn’t understand, but I made out the word for ‘mom’ and ‘you want’ and he kept pointing downstairs. So I got up to go with him and he kept checking to make sure I was still there. He led me into the kitchen where HM had made lobiani (bread stuffed with beans). So I sat down with the family and ate, before coming back upstairs.

Dec. 7 - WTF, Georgia?

2010-12-10T08:59:00.002+04:00

Since my time at school is coming to an end, I decided to do some class pictures today. I don’t think the kids have ever done anything like it, because it was like herding cats to get them to line up. And they’re all the exact same height, so having 2 rows was problematic. It was fun, though, and all of the kids were enthusiastic. Gr 7 was chill, as always. My gr. 9's wanted individual pictures, so we had a solid 5 minutes of posing (after the bell, so not during class time). And gr 8 was very concerned that I’m not coming back. When I told them that I was going home to my family, they told me to bring my family here. Not likely!

On my way home I passed some men working on the power lines. Explains why every day the power is out during work hours. If someone had told me this weeks ago.... Not having power wasn’t a surprise and I was alone, again. Used the last of my computer battery to check my e-mail and since the message I was expecting from the airline wasn’t there, I decided to call them.
First, I tried to explain my situation to the guy on the phone. I told him I’d spoken to someone on Friday, and he transferred me to her, even though she actually had nothing to do with what I wanted this time. She told me I had to talk to the other office and gave me a number. But the number was the same as hers and the automated voice is Georgian, so I was asking her HOW to get through to the other office and she just kept telling me to call them. Finally she understood me and told me what I needed.

When I called the other office, I got the same guy again. He started to transfer me and I told him, "No, I want to check my ticket and I need your office." So he asks for my name and takes ages to look it up. While I’m waiting I tell him that the problem was with my name, so I want to make sure it’s corrected. He says, "It’s fine. Don’t worry." I said, "Can you please spell the ‘corrected’ version to me, so I can make sure." He huffs, but does it. Eventually. And it was correct, so I apologized. Then I asked him to check on whether my departure date had been changed like I’d asked. He tells me that I can’t change the date. When I asked why, he huffed again (gee, I’m sorry for making you do your JOB) and said, "It’s already booked, you can’t change the date." Since "it" is a nice vague pronoun, I asked what he meant. He says, "What I say is what I mean." So I tried to clarify, "is the plane full on that date or is there another reason?" He said, "Your ticket has already been bought, so you can’t change the date." But I know for a fact that the date’s already been changed once, so I said again, "Why?" To which he scoffed and then hung up on me.

I was livid. I had to call Sailor to vent and get myself calmed down, before calling back for an actual answer. I tried to call 7 times and every single time, they hung up on me. Inentionally. The first time I got a woman who spoke English and asked her, but she told me just a minute, set down the phone (so I could hear them speaking in the background) and then about 5 minutes later hung up, without saying a word. The next couple of times, I got women who don’t speak English and I could hear them talking to the guy in Georgian, but he wouldn’t take the call. The next bunch of times they just said, "No English, Sorry" and hung up without even trying. I finally had to stop calling when I ran out of money on my phone (that’s what happens when you’re on hold for 30 cumulative minutes). Only in Georgia would a business be allowed to operate this way. In Canada I would’ve had that guy’s @ss in a sling and he would’ve been out of a job, so freakin’ fast.

I stayed angry for a good portion of the evening, in spite of trying to distract myself. HB1 had a boatload of English homework (like, 5 pages) so we spent a lot of time working on that. I finally had to call a break for food, with a page and a half left, and then he told me that he doesn’t have English again until Thursday. So we agreed to finish it tomorrow. I ate with the family and then watched Leno and Gossip Girl.

Dec. 6 - Stop the world I wanna get off

2010-12-10T08:53:00.001+04:00

The closer I get to going home, the less patience I have for the ridiculous things happening at school. Today, it was trying to hash out the next step of lessons for the gr. 10s. I want to work on letter sounds and pronounciation while I’m still here so they can learn what things are supposed to sound like. Co-teach thinks that they’ll learn that as they go. When I pointed out that many of our gr 9 and 12 students still can’t say things correctly, she caved. Then it was a battle to decide which sounds we should teach first. She wanted to start with combinations like ‘sh’ and ‘th’, while I thought it was more important to work on individual letter sounds.

Gr. 12 was a treat of its own. We’re working on composition and they don’t even know how to do an outline. In Georgian. So I go through the whole thing; topic sentence, main ideas, examples, while Co-teach translates. Then I gave them the topic and asked them to write an outline (in Georgian) and then their composition (in English). Many of them stared blankly and a couple started just writing in English. Co-teach asked me what I wanted, I said "Outline in Georgian, composition in English". I went through the instructions again, for the students, with Co-teach translating. Then they started writing their compositions in Georgian. So I went back to the board and showed them the outline. I told them this is what it should look like, it’s just NOTES! It’s not sentences. Then Co-teach says, "What are they writing in Georgian?" She didn’t understand what I wanted, but instead of asking, she just translated what she thought and we wasted the whole class with the kids doing the wrong thing. And you just know they’re not going to do the homework.

The power was still out when I got home. And the family was still out, too. Bebia’s been in Batumi since Saturday, so I had the house to myself. It would’ve been much more awsome if I’d had power. I used the last of my computer battery to check my e-mail, finished a book and had some food. The power came on just as the family got home.

I hung out downstairs with them, and helped HB1 with his English. HM wanted to try doing some veggies in the slow cooker, so I told her which ones and how to prep them. They came out really well, except that being Georgian, she had to cover them with coriander as soon as they were done. I’ve gotten really good at brushing excess leaves off of my food, so I enjoyed the veggies to their fullest.

Hammer called to chat. Since we were on the same flight here, we figure we’ll be on the same flight home. The name on her ticket is wrong too, so I gave her the name and number of the woman that I spoke to, to get it fixed. She also told me about something horrible that happened at her school, which is a frustratingly good example of typical Georgian apathy and lack of forethought. A gr 3 girl collapsed in the middle of class. Someone called the ambulance, which took 30 minutes to arrive. Upon arrival, the paramedics walked into the school and they had no equipment with them (even though they’d been told what happened) and on the way to the hospital, the girl died. Hammer’s really shaken up, with good reason. The girl had pre-existing heart problems, but still. If they’d just hurried, or been better prepared, she might not have died.

Dec. 5 - Ultimate lazy day

2010-12-09T15:39:00.001+04:00

Today was epic in its laziness, made even better by the fact that Bebia wasn’t here. In spite of my intention to sleep in, I found myself awake at 8:30 and unable to go back to sleep. So I did what I always do, laid in bed with my book until the hunger pangs got too much to ignore. I had a lovely breaky of cereal and yogurt, before retreating upstairs with the internet.

Online, I checked my e-mail and did some non-essential surfing that I haven’t been able to do without power all week. I got a new e-book and spent the afternoon reading it. HM roasted a chicken in the new slow cooker. I had roast chicken and bread for lunch and it was amazing. Once I finished my book, I took some time to work on my resume, since I’ll have to start the job hunt as soon as I get home.

This evening, I got 2 calls from home. They think they’re as excited as I am, that I’ll be there soon, but they’re not. They’re excited enough, though. Blue Eyes is even counting down, but he thinks that when I get home, I’ll be going home to London. He doesn’t remember that my home is in Stratford, now. It’s really cute.

Dec. 4 - Day drinking and a walk in the sea

2010-12-09T15:37:00.000+04:00

Boston slept in really late today, but it was fine, because she’s been through a lot and I was happy just to let her have some peace. I was halfway through a dubbed episode of Glee when she finally surfaced. Of course, the power went out with about 10 minutes left, so we went down to breakfast. Our plan was to head into Batumi for the day, since so many people are leaving really soon and most of them were going to be in town. When we ate breakfast, HM came in to tell me that the family was going to Batumi. When I told her we were also going, she said that we could all go together in the new car.

Boston and I rushed to finish eating and get dressed and were completely ready to go within a half hour. We had to wait for HD to get back, but then we all piled into the car and got ready to go. HD and Bebia sat in the front, while Boston, HM, HB3 and I crowded into the back seat. HB1 and HB2 sat in the hatchback compartment. It was really safe, especially with the way HD drives. But we got to town alive, barely, and proceded about our day.

We met Lush for lunch, where Joker joined us. Then us girls took a bottle of wine to the beach, while Joker ran some errands. Since the sea was so calm and the day so nice, I took off my socks and shoes and went walking in the sea. In December!!! It felt like any of the Great Lakes in May; cold, but bearable. Joker and Hammer joined us just as we were finishing the bottle, but we all hung out on the beach for a while. We spent a lot of time throwing stones into the sea, an hilarious enterprise when several people involved have been drinking.

When we were done at the sea, we went to Vinyl cafй, a place I’d never been. I had to go on a chocolate run, for something to go with my Bailey’s, since the cafй doesn’t really have food. We all chatted and laughed, while we had our drinks. Boston needed to go by her house, Lush wanted to spend some time at hers, and I wanted to meet up with Sailor, so we split up and all headed our separate ways.Sailor wasn’t answering her phone, so I went to the Lit cafй, assuming she was there. And she was there, hanging out with some other teachers. We hung out there until Pop made it, since tomorrow he’s leaving Batumi for T’bilisi and then home. Since we all live in the Kobuleti direction, we left the cafй together. After a brief stop at Goodwill,so we could all stock up on groceries, we got on a marshrutka and headed home. Back at the casa, I watched some tv (Harrison Ford was on Conan and he is HILARIOUS. If he weren’t so old, I’d totally marry him.) and went to bed, fully intending to sleep in tomorrow and spend the whole day doing nothing and going nowhere.

Dec. 3 - dinner and a show

2010-12-09T15:31:00.004+04:00

This morning in the middle of first period, Co-teach’s phone rang. She hit ignore and went back to teaching the grammar lesson. It immediately rang again, and this time she answered it, leaving the room and taking the book (from which she was teHB1ng) with her. I gave the kids something to do until she came back in (she’d been teaching in Georgian, so I had no idea what she’d said, or covered). When she returned, she told me that it was another teacher and they were going to Turkey, so she had to leave. We finished that class and then she left. I taught gr. 6 by myself (with no vocab list, because the photocopier still wasn’t working) and had to fight to avoid teHB1ng gr 10 (who at this point have had 1 class in English). I made my point and got to leave right after gr. 6.

I had lunch at home with Bebia, HM and HB3, where HM showed me the newest purchase. It’s a toaster oven/ slow cooker, thing. But the problem is, the instructions and recipes are in English, so they don’t understand them. Since there was no power, we couldn’t test it out, but we agreed to try it out together later. Then I headed into Batumi for our regular Friday night beanboats, but I had some things to accomplish before dinner. I went to the library to use the internet and met up with Sailor there. Then we went shopping. We were both looking for the last of our souvenirs and I found mine. Along our travels, we ran into many of our colleagues. Everyone’s really excited to be going home, but they’re all upset about the lack of information from TLG.

We met up with Boston and Joker and Hammer at the restaurant. While we waited for Joker to show, the girls chatted while I called the Airline about some issues with my ticket; mostly that my name was wrong. After some typical Georgian-ness, where we talked in circles for 5 minutes about what my problem actually was, she was quite helpful. She told me that they’d e-mail my new ticket to me, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that everything will work out.

After dinner, Boston came back to the village with me. We hung out with my host family for a couple of hours. We had a bite to eat and some wine. They’re all very upset that Boston’s leaving so soon. When everyone finished eating, we started trying to translate some of the ingredients for the new kitchen toy. This was especially funny considering we were each about 2 glasses of wine deep. I gobbled like a turkey, to get that across, then Boston tried to act out a raisin. She also successfully used pidgeon English and Georgian to explain that ingredients get stuffed inside the quail. Quail-shi is my new favourite non-phrase. The children got bored with recipe talk, so they pulled out the toys. And once Boston was in possession of the toy sword, things took a crazy turn. She and HB1 had a sword fight (Boston had the sword and HB1 had a bracer) at the end when he “got her really good” she performed the most epic death scene I’ve ever seen.

Exhausted from being the entertainment, we came upstairs and watched mtv until Conan came on. After Conan, we went to bed.

Dec. 2 - Aftermath

2010-12-09T15:29:00.002+04:00

School was the same as always today. I had made up a vocab list for gr. 6 and Co-teach wrote out the Georgian words. We couldn’t photocopy, of course, because there was no ink, but we’ll get it done in the morning. All other classes were pretty much as expected, except that gr 8 (which is usually the last class of the day) came for their lesson during our break, so we finished early.

As we were planning Friday lessons, Boston called me. She’s still shaken from her experience last night, so Pop was going into Batumi to get her out of her apartment. Since I was done early and my house had no power, I headed into town as well. We met up at the cafe, where I’d run into Hammer, and then we all went to the Italian place, where we met Joker for dinner. Some others also stopped by and we had a good visit.

After dinner, we went to a baklava place that Joker and Pop knew about and I had a chocolate pudding with marshmallow fluff. It was delicious. We finished dessert and headed back to the cafe before we all headed in our different homeward bound directions.

Dec 1 - My Life of the "G" List

2010-12-07T15:50:00.000+04:00

It’s December!!! The countdown has officially begun. I received a one word text from Sailor this morning, letting me know that she’s as excited as I am. It just said "December!" At school, gr 8 was amazing (as always) and gr. 12 was 15 minutes late and no one had books. So I gave them an in-class writing assignment, similar to what they have to do for the national exam. Two of them stayed for the entire class and didn’t even write their names on paper. And I’m not allowed to give a mark below 5/10, so there’s no way to penalize them.

After the farce that is gr. 12, Co-teach and I were enjoying our 2 class break. We went outside, sat in the sun, and watched a couple of classes have P.E. Just after the bell rang to start the second period of our 2 period break, one of the students leans out a window and yells something to Co-teach in Georgian. She looks at me and says, "We have to teach gr. 10." When I asked her when, she said, "now." We had no lesson plan, no books, and no idea what these kids know. I complained for a minute, going so far as to tell her that I wasn’t going to teach them. But of course, after venting the worst of my frustration, I sucked it up and went into class. We focused on the alphabet; writing the letters and pronouncing the letter names. One thing I will say for these kids, because they want to be there, they pay attention and actually listen. If I weren’t so furious about the situation, I’d probably actually enjoy teHB1ng them.

Got home from school to find no power. Again. It’s the 4th day in a row and it’s really annoying. I folded some laundry, tidied my room, prepped a vocab list for gr. 6, played some solitare, talked on the phone and read a little. Mom called and I talked to her until we got cut off. While I was talking to mom, the power came back, which made it possible for computer use. Thank God.

I had just finished an English lesson with Atchi and settled in with Veronica Mars, when Boston called. She had a weird experience on her walk home and wanted someone to talk to for the rest of the way. So we chatted and suddenly we got cut off. I blamed Geocell and tried to call her back, but it took a couple of tries to get through. When I finally did, she was breathless and incoherant.

From a text message and a call later, I learned that she’d been attacked in the stairwell of her apartment building. The guy grabbed her from behind and tried to take her purse. Our call got cut off when she dropped the phone. A 4:30am text message, assured me that everything was fine and that she’d been at the police station answering questions.

Nov. 30 - Nothing Good Can Stay

2010-12-07T15:48:00.001+04:00

With school starting later, I have a lot more free time in the mornings. I’m trying to make use of it by writing my journal, then. This morning, as I was finishing up, the power went off. Thinking that this didn’t bode too well for interneting in the afternoon, I made plans to go to the library in Batumi.

School was fine. My classes were all good and there was no mention of gr 10. I’m hoping that this works out like everything else here; a lot of talk, but no action. My gr 8's had a class cancelled during my break, so we got their lesson over and finished early (they’re normally the last class of the day).

After school, I dropped my things at home and caught the bus right away. In Batumi I had some errands to run, and they went smoothly as well. Picked up my things at Goodwill, with no trouble and didn’t have to wait very long to add minutes to my phone. I had a snack in the park and then met Sailor at the library.

I was disappointed in the lack of response to some of my e-mail queries, but otherwise, got done what I needed to. From the library, Sailor and I hit up one of the souvenir stores by the Italian restaurant and we both founds gifts for those hard-to-buy-for people. We started heading back toward the marshrutka and ran into a bunch of different people along the way. Even after stopping to chat for a while, we made it to Goodwill quite early. So we decided to buy drinks and hang out for a bit before going home. I found chocolate milk in the dairy section. I haven’t had chocolate milk since home. It was delicious.

On the marshrutka, we managed to get the front seats by being the first ones there. No one made us move and it was still light outside. We had a quiet ride home and Sailor got the guy to stop at her stop on the first try (it usually takes 2 or 3). I rode the rest of the way on my own, appreciating how pretty everything is at dusk. By the time we stopped in Kobuleti, it was dark. I couldn’t find the handle, so I set my things on the seat while I looked. I finally found it and grabbed my purse before climbing down.

The bus wasn’t where it should’ve been, so I resigned myself to taking a cab. One of the cab drivers who knows me was there and he drove me home. About 30 seconds from my house, I realized that I didn’t have the bag with my souvenir. I’d left it on the marshrutka. I’m hoping for one of those random Georgian coincidences, where on Friday I get the same guy and he hands me my things, but I’m not holding my breath.

Power was still out when I got home, and the generator was running. So I sat with my Kobo in the family room, to conserve power, until the town electricity came back. Once power was restored, I came upstairs and busied myself with my computer and tv.

Nov. 29 - You want me to WHAT?

2010-12-06T15:20:00.001+04:00

School was annoying. The first class went really well and everything was fine. Then on break, Co-teach was busy talking to the assistant director and the French teacher about what is happening with gr. 10, since we’re supposed to start teaching them this week. They figured out that the French teacher (who was also the English teacher until Co-teach started) could teach them the basics and Co-teach will take over next year.

So just before our next class started, Co-teach went into the director’s office to tell her. Apparently, the parents want the English specialist (in spite of the fact that these kids probably don’t even know the alphabet, yet) so this solution is not ok. On our next break, the director dragged us into the gr 10 classroom (while they were supposed to be in a lesson) to talk to their teacher and them. Of course, the entire discussion was in Georgian and I understood nothing. After 15 minutes, Co-teach and I were allowed to leave, and she just told me that we have to teach them.

Supremely angry, we went back to our classroom and started planning lessons for tomorrow. We’d finished one class when the director came back. She wanted us to go watch a video on teHB1ng methodology from the States, dubbed into Georgian. It was all about classroom management and engaging the kids and everything that I spent the last year at school learning. A lot of it was also the things that I wanted to implement in our classroom, while everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Co-teach kept trying to translate, but I was like, "I know exactly what they’re doing. This is what I’ve been trying to do." The video ended and we finally got to go back to class.

When it was time for gr 12, they had all left, except for 3 boys, who all take private lessons. Since our planned lesson was directed toward the poorer students, we sent them home. I arrived home to find the power out again. NB stopped by for a tutoring session, which killed some time. Then I read by sunlight until it got too dark and then wandered around the compound on the phone with Pop.

The power came back on around 7:30 and I returned to my room. I got on the internet and sent the e-mails that needed sending. I watched my English tv and then went to bed.

Nov. 27 and 28 - We don't need no stinkin' GALA

2010-12-06T15:18:00.001+04:00

Saturday I lounged. I woke up late. I ate breakfast late. And I spent most of the day reading a book. Sailor had school, because last week they cancelled Friday so the kids could help with the mandarin harvest. But she came over when she was finished, to spend the night. The Batumi crowd were all going to a promo party that didn’t even start until 10. I was just as happy to be staying home.

The entire time Sailor was here, we spent talking with English TV on in the background. We ate with the family, but she’s still new enough that HB3 is nervous around her. This worked in my favour when HM brought him up at bedtime, because he wanted me. She went to lay him on the couch, but Sailor was there, and he wouldn’t stay. It was awsome.

We ended up going to bed around 2 (which is late for both of us) but Sailor is an early bird as well, so we were both up by 8:30. We ate, and relaxed upstairs. She did some work and I read a book. We talked authors and e-books for a bit; since she’s coming back, she’s thinking about getting an e-reader.

The power went out, as usual, so when Sailor left to go home, I went with her, for a bit of a walk. I walked her most of the way down the mountain, until her turn off, and then headed back. Still no power, but the entire family was here, so I hung out with them.

The extended family had gone and the power came back around 8. And I came right back upstairs for my nightly dose of English TV. I was talking to Boston on the phone when Bebia brought HB3 in. He played on the couch and she alternately watched him and me, while I tried to have a conversation. When I hung up with Boston, she left the room, only to return with some clothes. Apparently it was show and tell time, and the clothes had been brought back from Italy for her, by her son. I made the appropriate noises, and then HB3 wanted to show me what he’d gotten, so we went and found it. Again, I made the appropriate noises, before leaving the two of them in Bebia’s room and going back to my TV. I watched my shows and went to bed.

Nov. 26 - Friday Randomness

2010-12-05T11:54:00.000+04:00

Today was marginally better. Once I’d calmed down a little, I realized that not everything is terrible. My classes today were surprisingly good. Even gr 9 did their work and weren’t too noisy.

I went to Batumi after school, for a follow up doctor’s appointment and dinner. The clinic in Batumi is much less creepy than the one in Mestia, though with more people around, the service wasn’t as quick, or as personal. My symptoms had been better with the anti-biotics, in Mestia, but got worse again when I got back to Adjara. The doctor listened to my chest, and looked at my throat. She perscribed cough syrup and some pills (not sure what for). She also recommended warm fluids, like tea with lemon.

I got my scrip filled and stocked up on supplies. I was just finishing up in the store, when Sailor called me. She’d gotten kicked out of the library (for typing too loud?) and wanted to meet up. We had about a half hour before dinner, so we arranged a place and met up. She is also getting fed up with the program and was not pleased to have school scheduled for Saturday. We chatted and wandered until we got to the restaurant and waited for the others. A bunch of people came for dinner and it was nice to see everyone. I feel like I’m a little out of the Batumi loop, though. They were all making plans for Saturday night party, which neither Sailor or I could attend, since we live in villages and hadn’t arranged for a place to stay. It was cool, though, because once plans had been made, we all shared our personal tlg issues and everyone listened and sympathized.

I got home to find the (outside) cat curled up on my bed and my socks and underwear missing from the drying rack. It was weird. The cat started meowing as soon as he saw me. He wanted attention. So I picked him up and carried him outside, where I spent a couple of minutes giving him the love.

Then I went to move my clothes from the line to the drying rack. Someone had already taken my clothes from the line (for which I was thankful, because it was raining), but my socks and underwear that had been on the drying rack were missing. I imagine that whoever gathered the families’ things, grabbed mine by mistake, but I don’t know where they are.

I socialized with the family for a bit, before going to my room. I read for a while, but being sick and angry takes a lot out of me, so I went to sleep early.

Nov. 25 - Some days you just shouldn't get out of bed

2010-12-05T11:51:00.000+04:00

I should’ve stayed in Mestia. Georgia is conspiring to make me crazy today. First, they’ve changed the school start time to 9:30 for winter. But no one thought I needed to know that, so I showed up before 9 as usual, only to find no other teachers there. Then, my students told me that Co-teach wasn’t coming today, because she would be in Kutaisi. It was my first day back in almost a week. I had no idea what has been covered, or what was for homework. Luckily, about 10 minutes into the first class, Co-teach walked in; she’d changed her mind about going. We got through our first two classes, with little difficulty.

On break, Co-teach tells me that starting next week, we have to teach English to gr. 10. Currently the gr 10 class is taking French, but they and their parents have decided that they want English so they wrote a letter to the ERC. Instead of waiting the month to finish the semester, they want it now, regardless of anyone else’s thoughts. They have no textbooks, nor have they ever taken English before. So Co-teach and I are expected to add 3 classes a week to our schedule and design an entirely new curriculum for them.

I got home from school and had some lunch. Then I got online. I was having a really low "I hate Georgia" day, so I spent a lot of time on the phone with my friends and then went to bed.

Nov. 22-24 - Mestia Adventure Part 2

2010-12-05T11:45:00.004+04:00

Monday
Linguist had school today, so Boston and I were left to our own devices. We slept very late; for the first time, she was up before me. We took our time getting ready, but then decided to hit the town. Sore muscles stretched and felt better as we moved, but my knees were in agony. My sinuses were also much worse. They hadn’t bothered me too much on the hike, but by this afternoon, I couldn’t breathe.

Since the day was cloudy and drizzly, Boston suggested that I just see a doctor in Mestia. I called the Insurance company and they contacted a clinic for me. I called the woman at the clinic to set up a time and get the address, and things started to get weird. The woman didn’t know the address. She just kept telling me to ask someone in the street and they will tell me where –clinic is. I couldn’t make out the name of the clinic, so I asked again for her just to give me the address (Boston and I had found a city map in the main square, so we were pretty sure we could find it). She kept telling me it was no problem, just ask someone. I explained that I don’t speak Georgian and most of the townspeople don’t speak English, but she repeated, "It’s no problem, just ask someone". I finally got forceful and demanded the address and she said she’d have to call me back. When she called me back, she rattled off the address in a rapid-fire Georgian accent and repeated that "It’s no problem, just ask someone where –clinic is." I still didn’t catch either name, and she decided to tell me the doctor’s name too. After a couple of minutes of this, I asked her to text the information to me. She didn’t answer and hung up (because Georgian’s don’t say good-bye on the phone). She did send a text, and good thing too, because she told me the clinic was number 12, but in the text she wrote 13 and 12 was NOT the right place. We finally figured out where to go and got to the clinic with no more mishaps.

At reception, I told the woman the name of the doctor and she led me down a dark, narrow and creepy hallway. It reminded me of the unused halls in Stephen King’s "Kingdom Hospital". The room she took me to was brightly lit and warm, thanks to a space heater and the doctor asked me what was wrong, in decent (but not excellent) English. (Boston stayed with me the whole time, which I wanted, but no one ever asked if I wanted privacy). I explained about my sinuses and what meds I had already tried. She put on the headband and flipped the mirror down to examine my throat. She made a weird noise and I can only assume that it’s because my throat looked as bad as it felt. Then she looked in my nose. When I started coughing, she decided that we had to go somewhere else, and gestured to her chest. I thought maybe for x-rays (though it seemed excessive) but no. We just had to go down the hall to the woman who had the stethoscope.

Doctor 2 listened to my chest and asked Doctor 1 questions in Georgian, which were then relayed to me. After answering all the questions, the second doctor pulled out a scrap of paper and started writing my perscription. She handed the finished product to the first doctor and we went back to the first room, where she explained what each item was for. There were anti-biotics, as well as cough syrup, throat lozenges and nose drops. Perscription in hand, I thanked the doctor and we left.

Having seen a sign for a pharmacy in the main square, we went back there. But the pharmacy wasn’t open. So I stopped a lady walking past and she pointed around the corner. We thanked her and went in that direction, but there were no signs on any of the doors. As we crossed the square, Boston said, "those people look like they came from a doctor, and they’re walking with purpose. Let’s follow them." So we did and they led us to the pharmacy, where I got all four perscriptions filled for approximately $7.

We went back to the house, through the drizzle, and decided to read by the fire. We settled in and got cozy, but Linguist’s 6 year-old host sister was home from school and she wanted attention. I had my phone on my lap while I read and she noticed the sticker I had on the back. So she went and got her own stickers to decorate my phone. When the sticker she wanted to give me was too big for the phone, she stuck it to the back of my Kobo. It was all very cute.

We spent the whole evening with Linguist and his host family. In preparation for the feastival, host mom and dad used the beeswax from their own bees, to make candles. They warmed the wax on the woodstove and then rolled it over the wick. They cut them apart and rubbed the end on the stove to flatten it. It was really cool to see.

Host dad invited Boston and I to come to the church with him in the morning to watch them bless the sheep for the festival. Since we wanted to go and the blessing needed to be done before sunrise, we went to bed early and got a good night sleep.

Tuesday
The festival today is called Giorgoba, or St George’s name day. In Mestia, to honour St. George, people take an animal to be blessed at church, before sunrise, and then sacrifice it and eat the meat. According to one Svan man, St. George likes sheep best. So before dawn, we were roused from our beds to walk with host dad and a ram through the dark, muddy streets to the church. There were a bunch of men standing around outside the church, some with animals to be blessed (there were many calves, but we had the only sheep), some with khajapuri and some with vodka. And no, the spirits were not for the blessing of the animals, those were for the people, standing in the cold, pre-dawn air.

While the officiant (don’t know if it’s a priest, minister, reverend, pastor or other) used a candle to make the sign of the cross around the sheep, we had a shot of vodka and khajapuri. The next step was turning the sheep 3 times in a circle, then we had to walk it once around the church, before making it turn 3 circles again. Blessing finished, we hung out and socialized for a while longer. The others had more vodka shots, while I watched the sun rise over the mountains behind the church. We walked the sheep back to the house, where host Dad told us to take a nap before the actual sacrifice.

We didn’t nap, but we did relax by the fire until we were called into Linguist’s room, where we could see the backyard through the window. It wasn’t time for the sheep, yet, but host dad’s brother and some friends had a bull, which they were skinning and carving before the sheep could happen. While we watched in horrified fascination, Linguist’s host sisters came in to watch as well. They’re hardy, rugged girls and handled the whole thing much better than me. We played around with the girls during the intermission between bull and sheep, and then finally it was time.

Linguist wanted to be right in the action, so he helped hold down the sheep, while Boston stood in the doorway and took pictures. I sat on the bed at the window, with both sisters on my lap. They killed the sheep by cutting it’s throat. Since sheep have small necks, they were able to cut right through and remove the head. Even with the head gone, the body was still trying to escape, which was actually less disturbing than the bull’s legs moving while they skinned it, because it still had it’s head and for a minute I thought it was still alive. The head and feet get set aside (to be made into a special dish), the horns are cleaned and used for drinking horns and the rest is partioned out and cooked for dinner.

While the men finished skinning the sheep, Boston and I played with the girls. Linguist came back in and we hungout in his room for a while. Once the meat was brought in, we went into the living room, to watch what happened. The testicles of the sheep were fried up and eaten as a delicacy. I had a lot of firsts this weekend, but eating sheep’s balls was not one of them, though Boston and Linguist both tried it. And apparently the right hind leg is particularily lucky, so it got roasted and then we had to pray to St George before they could eat it.

Since it’s a festival day and no one had school, Native (he’s British, but has lived in Georgia for 11 years) and Practically Georgian came over for feasting. Some police also stopped by, so we had a couple of drinks with them. When one of them (already drunk) toasted to "peace in the universe", I looked at Boston and promptly toasted "to the Federation" (a la Star Trek). That remained our fallback toast throughout the day. The food was put out around 1:30pm and we sat at the able eating and drinking for about 6 hours. Linguist’s host dad had been drinking all day, and took a liking to Boston and host mom had to put him to bed around 5, but he came back around 7. Boston, Practically Georgian and I also went for a walk down the main street, because Boston was looking for Mestia souvenirs. The day was beautiful and sunny, though brisk. I was really glad for my hat and scarf.

During the suphra, Boston and I both fielded calls from people expecting us to be home and wondering how our trip was. Tipsy as we were, there was not a whole lot of info shared. Eventually, the suphra wound down and host mom wanted to put host dad to bed for the night. Boston and I also got ready for bed, because the marshrutka to leave Mestia goes at 6am, so we have to be there at 5 to get seats. We said our goodbyes to the family, knowing that they wouldn’t be up in the morning and went to bed.

Wednesday
Another day of travelling. Yipee! We dragged our buts out of bed at 4:15 and got ready to go. Linguist’s host mom got up to put out some breakfast for us. Boston ate, but I only had some bread, not wanting to have a full stomach for the marshrutka ride. We got to the stop and managed to score the 2 front seats. There was a moment of concern when the marshrutka started going in the opposite direction and then turned down a creepy back alley that was barely wider than the vehicle. Three guys got out and disappeared into a building and came out carrying something that may or may not have been a dead body (human, cow, or possibly just a bag of flour). After that, though, we got going in the right direction and the rest of the trip to Zugdidi was uneventful. It was also far less terrifying, thanks to the darkness and the haze I was in from the antibiotics and gravol.

In Zugdidi, I decided to grab a snack (again, nothing big for fear of motion sickness) and went into a store. I wanted a pack of cookies that cost 1 lari, but only had a 5 lari bill on me. The woman couldn’t make change. Not didn’t know how, but didn’t have change for a 5. I was so angry. I found a little market stall and bought a banana and a different pack of cookies, which I shared with Boston while we waited for the marshrutka to leave.

The trip back to Batumi was really quick. There was little traffic, and aside from some near incidents with cows on the road, I didn’t fear for my life. I got out at the station in Kobuleti, though the driver didn’t want to let me. He kept telling me that it wasn’t Batumi. I finally convinced him that I knew what I was doing and he let me out. I caught a cab home. I ate and then had a nap when I finally arrived. I had some texts from various people asking me to confirm safe arrival, which I did. The rest of the day was spent the same as all others; internet, reading, eating, tv, and bed.

Mestia Adventure Part 1 - Nov 20 & 21

2010-12-02T08:42:00.000+04:00

Saturday

Up at 5:30, so that we can get ready, get to the marshrutka stand, and get good seats for the 7am marshrutka. At 7:15, after sitting on the marshrutka for an hour, we finally get underway. The marshrutka wasn’t full, so there was lots of stopping, to let people on and off. The trip to Zugdidi was an uneventful 3 hours.

In Zugdidi, we got dropped off right at the stop for marshrutkas to Mestia. When we got on, we discovered three other tlg volunteers. They were from a later group and are placed in and around Rustavi. They shared their travel adventures, but we are so over the novelty of travel in Georgia, that we couldn’t get excited for them.

On the marshrutka, there were two seats open on the first bench behind the driver and 3 in the back. Of course, Boston and I wanted to sit closer to the front (hello motion sickness) so we sat on the middle bench. Well, the guy told us we had to move to the back. We were like, "no" and then he started tapping his watch, like "we’re not going until you move and you’re holding everyone up." Not having sufficient Georgian to argue, we decided it wasn’t worth it and moved, so that a woman (who had just walked up) could take our seats.

We finally got underway and the drive through the mountains is breathtaking, for more than one reason. First, going through a tunnel, the driver stopped under a crack where water was running, to wash the car. The roads were not in great shape, so we spent a lot of time swerving around potholes and driving on the wrong side. This is also the reason that it took us 5 hours to go 112 km.

Also, lack of health and safety standards are evident in the fact that for 95% of the road, there are no guardrails. There were times when Boston (sitting beside a window) could not see the road and could only see the drop off of the cliff. It was terrifying. And that’s without the driver being drunk, as often happens.
There is one stop on the way, where food and wine was readily available. The other TLGers were very into joining the men for soup and toasts. Boston and I watched them and rolled our eyes. We remembered when we had that much enthusiasm for new experiences while travelling. We just huddled in the room far from the door with a space heater and ate some of our own roadtrip food. We also didn’t drink, because drinking = peeing and peeing = squat toilets, with no toilet paper or hand washing facilities.

We all piled back into the marshrutka and got under way. Upon arrival in Mestia, we stopped on a corner and our driver went to get a woman (we found out later that she runs a hostel). I told them we were staying with Linguist (called because he speaks, like, 10 languages) and she directed me to his house. So, bags in hand, we started off down the street, while I called Linguist and told him we had arrived. After a wrong turn, we met up and he took us into his house.

Linguist’s host family were lovely. His host mom was still making up our beds when we got there, and his two little host sisters were running around "helping". Linguist showed us around the house, while his hm finished up. Then we all had tea. After tea we went for an evening walk through the city and went to a tower.

The Svan people (as in people who live in Svaneti) have traditionally built these defensive towers (called Svan towers). Each family had their own, and they date back centuries. For once the lack of health and safety standards worked in my favour, because we were allowed to enter and fully explore a tower, just the three of us. The tower, called Margiani Tower, is attached to an old Svan house, which has been preserved as a museum and Linguist knows the woman who runs it. So he got the key from her and we had a personal tour of both.

Margiani tower is about 6 stories tall. There are windows on the lower stories where you could actually walk right out into open air. There is also access to the roof. We climbed the rickety ladders all the way up and then I climbed out onto the roof to take in the nighttime view of Mestia. Boston doesn’t do too well with heights, so she decided to skip the roof, but Linguist came out. I had been fine up there alone, but as soon as someone was between me and safety, I started to get nervous. So we only stayed up for a few more minutes before navigating our way back to the ground. We worked out a system where I went first and Boston passed her bag down, before following me and Linguist brought up the rear.

When we reached the ground, we headed over to the museum. There is no electricity in the house, since it’s authentic. So we used flashlights to wander around and Boston took a billion pictures (my batteries had died). I climbed up to the "sleeping area" and then Boston and I both climbed into where the animals would have slept. After that photo op, we went around the outside to the basement, pausing on the way to take a look over the edge of the cliff.

The basement was used for storage, so there were all sorts of neat cubby holes along the walls. It was probably completely unremarkable by daylight, but at night, by flashlight, it was creepy and awesome. There is also a door (added only for museum goers) that leads into the dungeon. Traditionally, the only entrance is a hole from above and the Svan people would lower their enemies down and leave them to die. So, of course, we had another photo op in what was probably the sleeping area. It was fabulous.

After the museum, we headed over to Practically Georgian’s (she has adapted really well) house to visit. Her host mom presented us with meat pie, which no one ate because we were all still full from the "tea" at Linguist’s house. The warmth was making me and Boston sleepy (since we’d been up since 5:30), so after planning for a hike in the morning, we headed back to Linguist’s house and had an early night.

Sunday

In spite of the fact that Linguist wanted to get an early start on the hike, Boston and I both slept in and when we did finally get up, we took our time getting ready. After a leisurely breakfast, and part of an episode of Glee, we got underway. We stopped at the store for supplies, and then met Practically Georgian on our way out of town. While we walked, Linguist explained that we would be coming very close to the Russian border (it’s on the other side of the mountain passes). Boston and I were both interested in going, but apparently, they shoot first and ask questions never, so for safety’s sake we stayed far away.

Saturday night, when we’d been planning this hike, Boston and I made sure that Linguist was well aware of our skill and endurance levels (which are both 0) and he told us we’d be going on the "easy" hike to the glacier. Well, the hike itself wasn’t that difficult, but it was long. About 9 hours after leaving home in the morning, we finally got back. Granted, Boston and I probably extended the hike by about an hour, just by stopping for pictures every 5 minutes.

The first leg of the hike was about 5 km of road. You had to walk that just to get to the base of the mountain. There were a bunch of large puddles and little creeks criss-crossing the road. These were not an obstacle on our way out, but coming back in the dark was significantly more difficult. Especially since Boston and I were both in a lot of pain.

Once we reached the mountain, the path was not too steep. It meandered it’s way up through the trees. Being late autumn, though, the path was covered with leaves and damp rocks, making the going a little treacherous. Eventually we came out in a valley, where we could see the glacier, but there was a field of giant rocks and boulders between it and us. So we went bouldering. I think that was my favourite part of the hike; scrambling over and around huge rocks is fun.

In the middle of the boulder field, we paused to take some Christmas-y pictures. Practically Georgian found a tiny evergreen that looked a lot like the Christmas tree from "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown". We spent a long time taking pictures of the tree, and us with the tree and it was hilarious. Moving on from the tree, we came to the glacier itself.

We had followed a river right to the glacier, and where the water was coming from, there was a hollow inside the glacier itself. It was amazing. Everyone else jumped across the small channel to go right inside, but fearing my lack of coordination would land me in the water, I didn’t. I got lots of pictures from outside, though and it was really cool.

By this point, it was getting late and Boston and I were already tired. Including a stop for lunch, we’d been hiking for about 5 and a half hours, and the sun was starting to go down. We all wanted to get back quickly. As we were making our way back over the boulders, my knees were getting more and more painful. I slowed down significantly, and found myself bringing up the rear. It was all I could do to keep moving. When we got back into the trees, I often lost sight of the others in the twists and turns of the path. We’d all been talking and laughing on the way out, but on the way back, I could barely string two words together.

Just before we got to the base of the mountain, Linguist and Practically Georgian wanted to stop and visit with the Georgian border guards. Linguist knew a couple and Practically Georgian’s neighbour was working and we were hopeful of a ride home. Of course, neither of them knew the exact way to get to the border guards hut, so we scrambled around through the trees (Boston and I were lass than enthusiastic by this point, but the prospect of a ride pushed us on) until we found it. Then we found out that the guy working wasn’t one of the ones that Linguist knows and Practically Georgian’s neighbour was working at another hut. So we went back to the main path and carried on down the mountain.

By the time we reached the road, it was almost dark. And full dark comes quickly in the mountains. Luckily, our cell phones have flashlights, and I used mine to watch for loose stones and potholes in the road. Unfortunately, all of those puddles and creeks that were no trouble in the daylight were incredibly troublesome in the dark, especially when my legs were shaking from fatigue. I made it through most of them and then slipped off of a rock on the second last one and soaked my right foot. So now I was sore, cold, tired and wet.

Finally, on the main road, some guys stopped and offered us a ride to town, which we gratefully accepted. Back at the house, Linguist’s host mom had food ready for us and we ate like we were starving. We visited for a while, and Linguist’s host sisters mauled Boston and I (but mostly Boston). They’re 3 and 6 and the youngest decided to play a fun game of "let’s pile things on top of Boston’s head". When being a living doll got old, we called it an early night, due to extreme pain and exhaustion.

Nov. 19 - Beanboats and Shadow Puppets

2010-11-25T08:18:00.001+04:00

Last day of school before Mestia. We have 4 classes on Friday, but since gr 12 is very unpredictable and I had to prepare for Mestia, Co-teach let me leave right after gr 7. I came home and finished packing then ate some lunch and headed into Batumi.

I got there really early (due to leaving school early) and so I ran some errands, ending up at the library. After returning my books and using the internet for a while, I met Boston and we headed to Goodwill. While there, we stocked up on breakfast and roadtrip food for the morning. Since it was still early, we wandered up the coast and sat of a bench overlooking the port. When Joker finished at the Sheraton, he joined us and we all had beanboats for dinner.

After dinner, Boston and I headed back to her place. After a sketchy walk through some not great streets, we arrived at her building, only to realize that the power was out. I met her family and did not join them for dinner (in spite of pressure from them to do so) since we had just finished eating.

We escaped the awkwardness and hid out in Boston’s room, where she packed by flashlight. When Boston was done packing, we used the flashlight to make shadow puppets on the wall. We’re not bery good, but it was incredibly entertaining. Knowing that we had to be up at 5:30 to catch our marshrutka, we called it a night and were in bed by 10.

Nov. 18 - All by Myself

2010-11-25T08:18:00.000+04:00

I feel like ass. My sinuses kept me awake most of the night. But it’s ok, I just have to get to the end of the week and then Boston and I are going to Mestia, which is in Northern Georgia. We’re both super excited.
At 8:45 today, I received a text from Co-teach, telling me that she wouldn’t be at school. So I had to teach by myself. Still feeling like crap, I went in. I taught gr. 6 and 7, but there was no way I was up to teaching gr 8 or 9, especially, since I don’t have my own copy of their textbooks. So I talked to the director and she let me cancel those classes and come home early. I spent the rest of the day napping and lounging.

Nov. 17 - safety, schmafety

2010-11-18T14:40:00.001+04:00

The official story on HB3’s leg is that he fractured a bone in the top of his foot. There is an actual cast on it, and he generally seems to be ok. He keeps wanting to go to sleep on the couch where I am, which would be fine by me, except that Bebia doesn’t help at all. HB3 will be laying there almost asleep and she’ll come barreling into the room. The door makes a loud noise every time it’s opened, so no matter how close to sleep HB3 is, the sound wakes him up. Then he realizes how close he was and starts crying and calling out, at which point I return him to his mother, because I did not sign up to be a nanny.

Several interesting things happened today. I say that everyday, and yet it continues. In gr 12, one of the students used the handout I gave him to make a paper airplane. He was smart enough not to fly it in my class. I guess he got tired of having a grounded plane, because then he refolded it into a hat, which the boy next to him put on. It looked lovely.

On my break I saw the gr 6's playing in the yard. They had a wooden plank placed across a bench. The plank wasn’t attached to anything, but they were using it as a see-saw. And this was ok. I mean, smart of them to devise their own entertainment, but safety standards? Hello?

At home, HD had the chainsaw out again. This time the victim was the other tree that overhangs the pool deck. I missed all of the branches coming off, but I did get a killer series of pics of the tree coming down. This was after I’d had to move from where I was sitting, due to the possibility of the tree falling on me. It didn’t even fall that way, but I was grateful for the precaution.

Nov. 15 - Bizarre or just Georgian?

2010-11-16T15:53:00.001+04:00

At breakfast today, HM came in carrying HB3. She told me that he broke his leg yesterday. I think. He had a huge bandage on, but I couldn’t tell if there was a cast underneath or not. Medicine here is a little strange. Either way, he didn’t seem to be too fussy and enjoyed his caviar and butter on bread for breakfast (he had the same thing for dinner).

School was the same as always. On Monday I don’t have gr. 9 or 6, so it usually goes the smoothest. In my gr. 12 class, only 4 boys showed up and they hadn’t done the homework (surprise, surprise). I think I might actually die of shock if someone in that class did the homework, but I keep assigning it anyway, just in case.

After school, I came home to find my host dad with a chain saw. At first he was just attacking the tree stump across the street. He didn’t do anything major to it, just shaved off a few pieces from where there used to be branches. Next thing I know, HM wants my camera because HD has the chainsaw in the top of a tree (he was there with it). I spent the majority of the afternoon reading on the pooldeck and watching him dismember this huge tree, piece by piece.

I also tried to do some interneting, but the connection was slower than molasses and the power was out. So when my battery died, after 50 minutes, I headed outside to where there was light. I’m reading some Edgar Allan Poe and I can’t say I’m loving it. There is a lot of superfluous crap in his stories and we all know I like to stick to the plot. I’m alternating the Poe with some Irish legends. I’m enjoying those much more.

After dinner, I was watching English tv when HM came up with HB3. Apparently he wanted to hang out with me and wouldn’t settle to sleep. I was surprised that he’d done that with her; until now it had only been with Bebia. Usually he wants nothing to do with me if his mom’s around. But anyway, she laid him on the couch and then left. Unnatural History seems to be the best way to get the kid to drift off. Once he’d been asleep for a bit, I got HM and she transported him to bed. I finished my show and headed to bed myself.

Nov 13 - The Harvest

2010-11-15T15:09:00.002+04:00

Today was so weird. I did some organizing. Helped dress Bebia. Made friends with some goats. Almost fell out of a tree. Had a song-association sing-along. Watched music videos with my friend’s host dad. Waited while the men flagged down a bus. And saw a whole bunch of men (including police) hanging around at a fork in the road to my house.

It started out normal enough. I slept in later than usual and then had breakfast. There were a bunch of people here to help with the mandarins, but by the time I got downstairs, they were all outside already. After breakfast, I spent a couple of hours on my computer, writing and organizing photos.

Sailor had invited me to come help her family pick the mandarins at her house. I had initially turned her down, but as the afternoon stretched before me, I called and asked if I could still come. She said sure,so I got ready to go. Just as I was walking out the door, Bebia stopped me. I told her where I was going and she said something in a string of rapid-fire Georgian. I had no idea what she wanted, but she started leading me upstairs, so I followed. I finally figured out that she wanted me to help her put her stockings on. It was even weirder than helping with the boots last week.

It seems she only needed help getting the stockings over her feet, so once that was done, I was out of there. I’ve only been to Sailor’s house once before and we came from a different direction, so I called her for directions. As she was trying to describe where to go, her host dad decided that they would come get me. Since I was unsure which road to take, I sat down on a rock and waited for them.

While I was waiting, two guys in a house across the road let their two hairy goats out of the yard to graze. The goats must have thought I looked friendly, because they made a beeline for where I was sitting. Sailor and the others (Boston and Gem [called because he’s quiet, but every time he opens his mouth it’s a gem]) drove up, just as the goats were approaching me. Luckily, they got pics of me with the goats, cuz I only got a pic of the goats.
I said goodbye to my new animal friends and joined my human ones. We got to the house and greeted the family. Then we headed out into the mandarin orchard. I’ve picked a mandarin here and there from our trees, but this was large scale harvest for the purpose of taking them to the market.

We weren’t allowed on the ladders, because they’re not safe, but we could climb any tree we wanted. The others had been picking mandarins all day, and they’d been up trees enough. So I got to climb. Of course, the one branch I was standing on broke off from under my foot. Luckily I had a good grip and a secure perch, so the worst I got was a scrape on my knee.

We stopped harvesting when the sun was going down. We were told to sit at the outside table and were presented with a bowl of fruit (persimmons and pears) and a plate of feijoas. At one point in the conversation, Boston burst into song (someone had said something to make her think of it). I, of course, joined in. Then one line of the song made me think of another song, which I started singing. We all laughed and continued talking, but it wasn’t very long before we were singing again. The song-association went on for about 10 minutes, with one song leading right into the next. Songs sung included; Rainbow Connection, Phenomenon, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Carry on my Wayward Son, Jesse’s Girl, and so many more.

When it got too dark to see each other across the table, we went inside. Dinner wasn’t ready yet, so we watched some music videos on Russian TV. Dinner was good, but typically Georgian. After dinner Sailor’s host dad said he’d drive Boston and Gem to where they could catch a marshrutka and me home.

We got to the main road and parked and the host dad got out. When Sailor and I tried to get out, he told us no. Then we thought he said something about how marshrutkas only stop for girls, so we tried to get out again, but he wouldn’t let us. Instead, he called for Gem to come stand outside with him. A bus came fairly quickly and then we were allowed to get out of the car (we had to, because Boston was in the middle).

On the way up to my place, there was a huge crowd gathered at one of the forks in the road. All men of course, because women don’t out after dark. There were police cars and search lights and about 50 men. I couldn’t see what they were looking at, but it was bizarre. At home, I said hey to the family, put the lemons that I had gotten from the village in the kitchen and came upstairs for English tv.

Nov. 12 - Kids are my life (and I hate it)

2010-11-15T14:50:00.002+04:00

School is becoming routine. Even the excuses for homework not being done have stagnated. Nothing new and inventive anymore, bacause the kids don’t care. Though I do keep getting indications that they like me, which is gratifying, since I spend a large portion of class time being stern with them. One of my gr 8s even told another teacher that if he were my age he’d marry me. And this is a high compliment from a Georgian male, never mind that I have no interest in marriage. I thought it was sweet.

At home on Thursday night, HD and HM were out somewhere, so Bebia was at home with the kids. HB1 was with his parents and Host Cousin (a host cousin) was here, playing with the younger boys. While I was eating my dinner, HB3 started to fuss and I heard the Georgian equivalent of "Take him to Valerie in the kitchen. He likes her, he’ll stop fussing".

Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled. I’m not here to be a free babysitter because Bebia wants to watch her serials. Luckily, Host Cousin ’s a responsible 11 year old and continued playing with HB3, even after she’d brought him to see me in the kitchen, so I didn’t actually have to do anything. I did stay and play with them for a bit after I’d finished eating.

When I left to come upstairs for a shower, HB3 followed me, calling my name. When I answered, he said, "Shen modi, Valerie. Shen modi," which is Georgian for "come here". He’s also the only person in this house who can pronounce my name correctly. I figure it’s because he doesn’t know that Valerie is supposed to be a man’s name, so it doesn’t confuse him.

Tonight I went into Batumi as soon as school was over. My host family was busy putting the mandarins from the orchard into crates to be shipped off, so none of them could flag down a car for me. I missed the bus, so I started walking down the mountain. Partway down, a busload of teachers from my school stopped and picked me up. They were also going to Batumi, so after a quick (for Gerogians) stop in Kobuleti we were on our way.

They dropped me right by Goodwill and I walked to the library. I was hoping that the library internet connection would be stable enough for me to post some pics on fb, but the computers there were slower than mine. I hung out in the library ‘til Boston met me there. We stayed a little longer, chatting and looking up stuff online. She’d posted something new on her blog that she wanted me to see.

We left the library and went to meet Joker at the Georgian restaurant. None of us orded khingali this time, we all got bean boats (lobiani khajapuri). Delicious. It was just the three of us, which was nice. We all broke down the funny and frustrating stories from our week and shared amusing anecdotes about our host families. It’s the exact same thing we do every Friday, but we need that sense of normalcy.

After a quick stop at Goodwill, for dessert, we parted ways and I came home. The air quality is really bad in Batumi, and it triggered my allergies. By the time I got home, I had a horrible sinus headache, so I read for a little bit and then went to bed.

Nov. 10 - Weirdness abounds

2010-11-11T14:15:00.000+04:00

School today was full of bizarre, random Georgian weirdness. In my first class, one of the girls was late and when she came in, she had two bunches of flowers; one for Co-teach and one for me. They were really pretty and looked like they’d been cut fresh from the garden. This was weirdness number 1. Then Co-teach gets two calls during class, while I was teaching. When class ended, she told me that her father had guests from Poland at their house and she had to go. So I would have to teach gr 12 by myself. Weirdness number 2. The entire grade 12 class was a joke. I wanted to try mad libs with them, but they didn’t get it and without Co-teach there to explain, it was a free-for-all of nonsense. Toss in the fact that there were 3 kids there that I’ve never seen before and that they avoided doing work by telling me about one of my students’ recent marraige and you have Weirdness number 3. I let grade 12 go early and had started grading some assignments when my phone rang. It was Co-teach, calling from her house to find out why I wasn’t there yet. I didn’t know I’d been invited. But I went and met her dad and the guests (who don’t speak English). Then Co-teach apologized to me for not calling sooner, but she was busy serving. She had had to leave her job to go home and serve snacks and drinks to her father and his guests, because heaven forbid a Georgian man serve his own damn self. Weirdness number 4.

I spent the whole day talking to and texting back and forth with Boston. We’ve finally gotten some answers to questions that we’ve been asking the TLG staff for a month. Right now it’s a matter of "We don’t know, but we’ll let you know when we do." And I’m fine with that. It’s the Georgian tendency not to send confirmation e-mails, as we do in North America, that was causing some serious anxiety.

I also had loads of time online today and accomplished many personal missions. Otherwise, not much is happening in my home world. Had an English lesson with HB1. He’s getting much better at working by himself and only asking me for answers when he needs help, leaving me free to do my own thing, as long as I’m nearby. I rounded out my day with Veronica Mars and then bed.

Nov. 9 - Productivity and resignation

2010-11-10T14:04:00.001+04:00

School is frustrating. I just don’t know how I am supposed to make a difference and help these kids, when the entire system is flawed. There’s nothing I can do to motivate the kids and consequences are non-existent. The kids all know that I have no actual power and though they like me, they have no incentive to work. It doesn’t help when I’m instructing the kids and ask Co-teach to translate and she looks at them and says, "Understand?" In Georgian, but still. I want the instructions in Georgian as well, so that there are no misunderstandings.

\Yesterday after school, I came home with some specific goals. One was laundry - mission accomplished. Another was to download my pictures off of my camera - mission accomplished. Several other goals involved the internet. I sent an e-mail to the TLG staff with some questions for them. Checked my million of messages on facebook and started trying to figure out what to order people for Christmas - eventually all accomplished.

Of course thanks to interruptions, these few things took me about 4 hours to complete. First N.B. came over for help with his English. Fine. He’s working on the exam with his tutor, so at least I don’t have to deal with that waste of paper anymore. Then HB1 needed help with his homework. So we did that. He mostly just needs someone to stand over him and make sure he’s working. He understands most of the exercises by now.

After English lessons and completing my goals, I was called down for dinner. Just as I was finishing up I got a call from home. Chatted with Cousin for a bit; we had a really nice talk. Of course my phone dropped the call, big surprise. So I went back downstairs and finished my tea.

Then I came back upstairs to watch my Monday night sitcoms. I was almost at the end of Big Bang Theory when Bebia came up with HB3. It was cute once, but the second night, it’s a delay tactic. She didn’t just leave, either, cuz that would’ve been fine. She made me change the tv to Georgian Idol and then ignored it to watch HB3 perform his "I’m really tired, but don’t want to go to bed" act. So he wouldn’t settle, because he had an audience, and by the time she let me change the channel back, my show was over. Since it was 11pm by this point, I said goodnight and left her to her own devices with the small one.

Today, Pop was supposed to come visit, but he’d had a crap day and decided to go into Batumi. Co-teach got called into the ERC in Kobuletti and cancelled our last class, so I decided to head into Batumi too. I called the regulars to let them know what was up and headed in. Met up with Pop at the café and Boston and Joker joined us there. Then we went to the Coffee House. It’s the place we went to after our polar bear swim. I ordered the Greek salad and a cheesecake, neither of which were made with Georgian cheese. I was thrilled.

Everyone else was still chilling and Lush had joined us, when I had to leave. I wanted to catch the bus up the mountain, so that I wouldn’t have to pay for a cab. By 5:50, after a quick stop at Goodwill, I was on a marshrutka. The blasted thing didn’t actually leave Batumi until 6:20. Then we stopped at a gas station, though no gas was purchased. Once we got moving, the pace was good, so I was still hopeful. I had forgotten that this is Georgia, where "leaving at 7" could mean leaving at 7:20 or leaving at 6:45. Tonight was a 6:45 night. But I cought a cab without trouble and made it home safely.

I spent the rest of the evening in my room, organizing my photos. As a gift for my host family, I’ve decided to print out pics of the boys and one of me and the boys and have them framed. So that’s what I was arranging.

Nov. 7 - Real life is weirder than movies

2010-11-10T14:01:00.002+04:00

Lounging is one of the best things in the world. Sailor had to make a phone call home around 5:30am and rather than wiggle back into bed, she slept on the couch outside. When I woke up, I sent her back into the bedroom and she and Boston slept for a couple more hours.

Once the girls were mobile, we had breakfast and then returned to lounging. We watched Finding Nemo and Men in Tights. Both awsome!! While we were watching the movies, Bebia kept coming through the room for various reasons. The first time, she was in her underwear, because her robe was on the balcony. Another time, she needed the couch to sit on to put on her tights. And the last time, she needed help putting her boots on, so guess who got to do that. That’s right. It was me.

Just as the second movie finished, HB1 came up to tell us to go play tennis. I thought he was inviting us to play tennis with HD, but no. HD thought we needed some fresh air after being holed up in the room all day, so he just wanted us to go play.
Instead, Sailor and I went for a walk through the orchard while Boston showered and dressed. The mandarins are finally ripe, so we ate a few right off of the trees. It was fantastic. HD was ready for a game of tennis by the time we returned, and we had just started playing when Boston appeared. While I played tennis with HD, Sailor took Boston through the orchard. I quit fairly quickly and joined the girls for lunch.

After lunch it was time for the girls to go. We packed up their things and headed out to the side of the road. Both HM and Bebia were at a funeral, and HD was watching tv, so we tried to flag down a car by ourselves. The first problem was that it was 4:15 on a Sunday afternoon. No one was going to town. Then a car did pass us, but it was full. Another car passed, just as HM got back, but it wouldn’t stop for me. The bus also wouldn’t stop, though it wasn’t full (I still don’t know why). Finally, after 45 minutes a car finally stopped and the girls were on their way.

I retreated to my room and did a little reading, a little writing and took a shower. When I was watching my English tv (at 10pm) Bebia came up with HB3. I guess she was trying to get him to sleep, and he was fussing because he wanted to be with me. So I took him from Bebia and he snuggled right into my lap. Then he laid down on the couch and watched Unnatural History with me, while Bebia went into her room to watch really loud Georgian tv. He fell asleep quickly and when Bebia was ready to go to bed, I carried him into her room. It was so cute. After some more tv I went to bed myself.

Nov. 6 - All day slumber party!

2010-11-10T13:59:00.001+04:00

Boston and I started the day watching music videos in our pj’s. We had some breaky, of course, but then we did some serious loafing until Sailor showed up. When she did Bebia hollered my name from the front yard until I answered and then Sailor came up.

The three of us went for a "hike", by which I mean that we walked on the paved road up the mountain and then back down then mountain. We tooks loads of pictures. On our way down the mountain, we scrambled over the verge across from my house and we took a little side thing, that may or may not have been a road. Eventually we ended up at a river with a giant pipe across it. Sailor decided that walking across the pipe was a good plan, so she did while Boston and I photographed. From that point we could also see some snowy mountains in the distance, so we spent quite a long time taking pictures. On the way back, we passed the house of a woman who works at the school. She invited us in for tea, but we declined (graciously, of course) and continued home.

Back at the casa, we cleaned up a bit (our shoes were super muddy from taking the road(?)s less travelled. Then we had lunch. While we were eating lunch Bebia came into the kitchen in a tizzy because her son had come to visit and brought guests from Italy.

After we tidied our lunch mess, we went out and visited for a bit. It was cool, but weird. Only one of the Italians spoke any English, and I think only 1 or 2 spoke Georgian. After the initial small talk, we were pretty much ignored, so we escaped to inside.

We turned the tv to music videos again and each spent time doing our own thing; I was reading (surprise!), Sailor was creating a test for her gr 3 class, and Boston was working on the cover letter for an application. We then spent a solid couple of hours helping her revise and edit said letter. In the end it was amazing.

Food came next, since it had been a solid 5 hours since we’d last eaten. The girls have gotten really good at finding their way around the kitchen here, and between the three of us we had dinner and cleaned up in no time. Then we decided to watch Pirate Radio, one of the movies Boston brought. It was pretty darn funny. By the time it was over, Sailor and I were both exhausted, so we called it a night and all went to bed.

Nov. 5 - TGIF

2010-11-08T15:13:00.000+04:00

Today, I had an assignment due in gr. 9. The entire project was done outside of class time and I didn’t have much hope of getting them handed in, but I was pleasantly surprised. Four out of the five groups handed them in and they looked pretty good.

In the afternoon, some of the teachers decided to go into Batumi today for dinner. I already had plans with my friends, so I declined. However, the teachers who were going all finished class earlier than Co-teach and I, so they pressured her into cancelling our gr. 12 class (last of the day) so that they could get a move on. So she cancelled it, and we all left early.

I went into Batumi right away, which meant that I had time for the haircut that I didn’t get on Wed before everyone else was ready to meet. I went into the salon and asked for a cut the same way I did last time. This time,though, they thought I was Russian and took me through the well lit, public salon area and up a stairway in the back, to what looked like a woman’s apartment. I was a little freaked out, but she gave me an amazing cut and a great blow dry, so I was happy.
After my haircut, I hung out at the café, which is a pretty central meeting place. Hammer, Boston and Sailor eventually all showed up. Joker was meeting us at the restaurant, because it was closer to his house.

Over dinner, we did a fun rehash of our weeks. Turns out we had lots of time to talk because our food took forever. They also brought us a gigantic order of the wrong thing. Since servers here never write anything down, this is not uncommon, but it’s never happened on such a big scale. Normally, I wouldn’t have worried, except that 4/5 of us are vegetarian and they brought us meat khingali, in spite of the fact that Joker clearly said potato.

Once they got our order right, the food was really good. When our bill came, though, they’d charged us for the wrong order as well. We ended up being pretty rude (not that rude is even a thing in Georgia) just because we don’t possess the language skills to be polite in Georgian. It was a whole big thing and it took forever to fix it and then it took ages to get our change. It was almost 9 by the time Boston and I got back to my house.

Once we got here, we decided to visit with the family. The kids were around and had some plastic ball-pit balls out. HB3 gave one to Boston and she tried to play catch with him. HB2 wanted to play too, except that he can’t really catch. When he tried, it looked like he was having a seizure and more often than not he wound up on his ass. It was so funny to watch. HB1 also wanted to be included and we ended up with an hilarious free-for-all of me, Boston and all 3 of my host brothers whipping 4 different balls around the room at each other. It ended when HM started yelling and Sarha and I discreetly collected the balls.

After "catch" HD wanted to play "Joker". This time we played with partners. It’s not actually any different than regular play, except that you add your score to your partners at the end. HM was my partner and we won by a large margin. This was not cool with HD, who tried to blame the whole thing on Boston, though she had played much better than he had. When she started to argue back (all in good fun) I decided we’d had enough family time and dragged her upstairs.
It was pretty late by that point, so we came straight to bed.

Nov. 4 - Livin' the life

2010-11-08T15:10:00.001+04:00

Did some laundry this morning. I have to pick and choose my days carefully now that the weather’s turned. The balcony on which I used to drape my clothes (which is sheltered from the rain) no longer gets any sun. So if I want my clothes to dry in less than 4 days, I have to hang them on the line, which is not sheltered from the rain. Anyway, I put a load in this morning before school and then hung them to dry when I got home.

I have less and less patience with what is deemed acceptable classroom behaviour here. Especially since these kids have been dealing with me for a month and a half. I have never once picked someone who is calling "Mast! Mast! Mast!" (It’s a short form for the Georgian word for teacher) and waving their hands at me. Why do they still look suprised when I choose to ignore this behaviour?

Other than my general bitchiness, school was the same as always. At break, I showed Co-teach my pics from the weekend, including the party and the sea. I skipped a lot of the party pictures, because I didn’t really want to explain things like ‘beer pong’. She also told me that Boston and I are lucky that we didn’t get seriously ill from our 5 minutes in the sea. I didn’t feel like arguing, so I agreed and changed the subject.

I had lunch with Bebia, including another fruit that I’ve never seen before. This one looks like a persimmon with a pointy bottom. The inside is soft textured like a plum and orange. It tastes familiar, but I can’t place the flavour. Anyway, it’s delicious and I’m really glad they’re in season right now.

After lunch I was chilling in my room with my lappy and mp3 player when 2 of my students stopped by for help. I assigned a project for my gr. 9 class. They have to research a Georgian city and create a brochure. It’s due tomorrow. So Monkey came over with one of his group members so that I could proofread their rough copy. Of course he didn’t come empty handed (because he never does). Today’s fruit was mandarins. They’re finally ripe and he brought me 3 of them. I’m excited.

Nov. 3 - Gobble, gobble

2010-11-08T14:50:00.002+04:00

Today I ducked out of school early to go to Turkey with Boston and Joker (even though they both went yesterday). I would’ve felt guilty, except that I only missed one class, it was gr. 9 (whom I hate) and they were writing a test. And, I’ve learned, here in Georgia, actual test results don’t matter, because teachers don’t write any mark lower than 5/10 in the official register. After making my feelings on that topic perfectly clear (words like ‘ridiculous’, ‘pointless’ and ‘seriously?’ were used) Co-teach asked someone if we could record the actual marks and she was told ‘no’. Gee, and I wondered why none of my students put in any effort. Grr.

But anyway, we went to Turkey and it was magical. Since I finished school way earlier than the others, I planned to get a haircut in Batumi. When I left school, I stopped by the house to drop off a few things and pick up a few different things. I found Bebia sick in bed, which meant that she couldn’t flag down a car for me. It was a gorgeous, sunny fall day, so I decided to walk until I could hail the bus.

Well, the one bus that passed me didn’t stop when I hailed it. So instead of getting down the mountain and being in Batumi by 11:30ish, I walked all the way down. I got to the bottom at about 11:45. But once at the bottom I caught a marshrutka quickly and was on my way. It turned out to be the slowest marshrutka ever, so by the time I got to Batumi, I no longer had time for a haircut.

I exchanged some money (some of the US$ that I had taken out the last time I went to Turkey) and went to the café for lunch. There is a stray cat that lives near the café and he and I became friends. He joined me at my table and I shared my lunch. Joker showed up after a bit and we went to meet Boston at the marshrutka stop.

Transportation into Turkey and walking across the border were uneventful. No issues or fantastic stories. Except that from Batumi, you can see snow on some of the distant, high mountain peaks. It was beautiful.

Once in Turkey, it was up to me to get us where we were going, because neither of the others had been to the little shops Co-teach’s friends took us to and they wanted to go. I got out at a place that looked familiar, but then the street didn’t actually have all that many shops on it. A little way down the road, I happened to glance down an alley and saw a familiar shop on a parrallel street. We ducked down the alley and found the area we’d been aiming for all along. Now I know exactly how to get there, without any false starts.

Once we found the shops that we’d wanted, the shopping began in earnest. I found a jade ring for me (ridiculously cheap) and some more souvenirs for people. I had been commissioned by Sailor to pick up some things for her people, so I took care of that as well. Also for me, I picked up some really cheap (but cute) little camis and a funky watch (the battery died on my good watch).

When all missions were accomplished we went to the Istanbul Bazar for delicious food. Also, Boston and Joker were buying space heaters, because indoor heat doesn’t get turned on until the end of the month (even though the temp has dropped to about 5 degrees already). I didn’t need to buy a heater, since HD had brought one upstairs for me yesterday. After successful shopping and eating ventures at the I.B. we caught a marshrutka back to the border.

There was practically no line, so we got through really quickly. The ride back to Batumi was fine. Everything was so quick that I thought I was going to catch my last bus up the mountain. I neglected to consider that I was on the second slowest marshrutka in the world on the way back to Kobuleti. Also, we had to stop for gas. While we were there, A guy pulled up to a different pump and handed a plastic bottle to the attendant to fill with gas. Safety standards? What?

I missed my bus, but my cab driver was there, so I got home with no difficulty. At home, the kids were just finishing dinner and then HB1 came up for help with English. He’s getting much better at doing the excercises by himself. When we finished I curled up with my Kobo in front of the heater and watched tv. Sadly, Turkey has daylight savings time, so when Veronica is on there at 8pm, it’s actually 10pm here (last week it was nine). So after Veronica, I went right to bed.

Oct. 31 - I'm a Polar Bear for Hallowe'en

2010-11-02T15:31:00.001+04:00

It’s Hallowe’en and it was definitely scary. After last night’s activities, we had all expected to sleep in, but I was awake by a little after 8. Everyone else was up by nine. We all did the run down from last night.

Half of the people left pretty early. When there were only some of us left, Mom made banana pancakes. There was no syrup, but we ate them with nutella instead. They were amazing. We hung out for a little longer, before I had to head into Batumi to meet Boston. She and I had planned to do a Polar Bear swim in the Black Sea. Kiwi came with me, to laugh and take pics and Sailor and Joker came too. We all met at the Sheraton.

After chatting for a while and catching the others up on what they missed from the party, I changed into my suit and we headed for the beach. The weather was not co-operative. It was windy and cold and there had been hail earlier. But to the beach we went.

At first, we just took pictures of the waves, because they were huge and really cool. While Boston and I worked up our nerve, Joker and Sailor went closer to the water. A huge wave caught them off guard and soaked them from the knees down. Joker was wearing rubber boots, and the water got inside, but poor Sailor was just wearing jeans and sneakers.

Boston and I gave our cameras to the others and stripped down. It was freaking cold! We approached the water cautiously, not wanting to get caught off guard. I was wearing my crocs (wanting something to protect my feet from the stones) but after the first wave almost removed them, I threw them back at the others. We stayed in the water for a few more waves. I was really cold and decided that the next wave would be my last. Boston agreed. The wave was huge and knocked me on my ass. I barely kept my head above water. Luckily, with the waves being so big, I had some time before the next one hit. I was on my feet and out of the water faster than I could think.

We were shivering and numb as we toweled off. Sailor and Joker had a great time taking pictures of me and Sarah, while we were miserable. P.S. I have lost a lot of weight and looked fantastic in my bikini. I didn’t even mind the pics.

We removed our wet suits from under our towels, put on dry clothes and headed to a café for hot drinks. Since Sailor was hungry, we went to a café that also had food. It was fantastic. I had hot chocolate with Bailey’s. And Sailor’s Greek salad had actual feta cheese. I will definitely be going back there.

After eating, we stopped at Populi, Elit Electronics, and Goodwill. Boston and Kiwi left us after Populi and we split up with Joker after Goodwill. Sailor and I caught a marshrutka home with no problems.

At home, I discovered the power out and upstairs freezing. I took my Kobo and flaslight downstairs and watched Bebia trying to build a fire. The kids were playing and it was a cozy, if noisy, situation. After a while, the power came back on. I had a cup of tea and came upstairs to write and watch tv.

We (the English teachers) are officially a big deal. Bebia just got me to watch a Georgian comedy show, with a sketch about an English teacher. What I could understand of it was pretty funny. I figure once you’ve made the mainstream media (and not just the news) you’ve really made it.

Oct. 30 - Party in the sakhlshi (aka house)

2010-11-02T15:27:00.002+04:00

The storm was still goin’ strong and the winds were crazy. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I had originally wanted to go into Batumi a little early and try to buy costume pieces. But the weather was too bad to wander the unfinished streets of Batumi. So I lay in bed and read for most of the day. My costume degenerated from goddess to shark attack victim (inspired by my book), which only required my bikini, a roll of tp and a red marker. As soon as I left my cozy bed I decided that it was too freaking cold for a bikini and decided on the lamest costume ever; a small child, requiring only pj’s, and pigtails.

Boston, Joker, Lush and I were meeting at the Georgian restaurant for dinner before catching a ride to the party with Lush’s co-teacher. Gent’s house is in a village outside of Batumi, which we could get to by marshrutka, but if you can get a ride, take it. Since we weren’t meeting til 4:30ish, I left my house around 3:30, so that I had time to stop at Goodwill for provisions.

HD arranged for me to get a ride with his brother in law into Batumi. He dropped me at Goodwill and I quickly found everything that I wanted. As I was getting in the checkout line, I saw Joker, so I waited for him and we checked out together and headed across the street to the restaurant. We met the girls and ate and then stood outside in the pouring down rain waiting for our ride. With minor difficulty (and one wrong turn), we made it down the dark, narrow, twisty mountain road up to Gent’s house.

We all changed into our costumes and greeted the other party people. Everyone was dressed up and had creative costumes, especially given that there’s not a lot of costume pieces in Georgia. Since the speakers and plastic cups came with us, the party couldn’t really start until we’d gotten there.

But start it did. Mom (pretty self-explanitory, she's the responsible one), who’d done most of the organizing, had made super delicious brownies and arranged for everyone else to bring snacks and whatever they wanted to drink. There was tons of fantastic food, and I decided to have a screwdriver with ice cream. It was pretty delicious, but it seems my body can’t handle alcohol any more, because my stomach started rolling. So that was my first and last drink of the evening. That was fine, though, because other people more than made up for my lack.

When we got there I explored the house. The main party room was connected to Gent’s bedroom. There was a double door, with both sides propped open. I spent the first part of the night saying hey to everyone and catching up with people that I haven’t seen in forever. Then, everyone gradually seperated into cliques and I found myself hanging out with Boston and Joker (oh darn *snap*). We were typically catty and horrible and hilarious.

The music was pretty good and we were dancing and having a good time. Many pictures were taken and everyone was having a good time and probably drinking too much. Sadly, when Lush’s co-teacher was ready to go, Boston and Joker had to go with her. A few other people left too, but they didn’t bother me as much.

A while later, Hammer was no longer holding her alcohol. She puked and we put her to bed in Gent’s room, so that we could keep an eye on who was near her. I the tried to figure out sleeping arrangements for the 10 other people who were spending the night. Gent was useless, except for complaining about Hammer being in his bed.

While I was talking to the other sober people about sleeping arrangements, Lush and Chanchal were arguing with 2 Georgian guys in the corner and Gent decided to go to bed. Everyone gradually drifted to their respective beds and went to sleep.

Oct 29 - No sickness like home sickness

2010-11-02T15:24:00.002+04:00

Things here have settled into a routine and I’ve been homesick lately. I’ve come to realize that in spite of the smell of leaves and woodsmoke in the crisp air, the colours are all wrong. The leaves here don’t change, or if they do, it’s just to yellow or brown as they die. With Thanksgiving and Hallowe’en not being celebrated, I’m really missing home and familiarity. In school, this has been manifesting in me having no patience with the kids and yelling a lot. I finally started feeling healthy on Wed., but then emotionally I’m a bit of a mess.

I’ve been going from my house to school and back since last Saturday. Thinking that isolation may be a contributing factor to my homesickness, I decided to go into Batumi for Italian dinner with Boston and Joker. Before I met up with them, I ran some errands. My friend Gent (called because he is a Southern Gentleman) is having a Hallowe’en party tomorrow so I was looking to pick up some costume pieces. I decided to re-use my Greek goddess costume, figuring that all I needed was a bedsheet. Couldn’t find one, so the plan needs to change.

When I was finished with my errands, I still had some time to kill, so I headed to the Sheraton to meet Joker. He was finishing his workout, so I read for a while in the lobby. While we were leaving, we ran into Sailor, so we made her come with us for dinner. Boston was waiting for us in the pizza place and she told us that Lush (the girl likes to drink) was also going to join us.

I hadn’t seen anyone in a really long time, so it was great to hear the day to day stories. It was also good to find out that everyone’s been dealing with homesickness lately. For some reason, it’s easier to go through, knowing that everyone else is going through it too. Also, knowing that tomorrow we’re going to have and entire night to hang out with a bunch of other foreign people.

Sailor and I rode the marshrutka home together and she missed her stop. Since it was dark and stormy, we decided to share a cab, stopping at my house first and then going on to hers. We made tentative plans to do a slumber party at my house sometime soon. We didn’t want to try for definite plans, because Georgia hates advanced planning and would probably smite us.

At home, I secured myself in my room (preferring to remain isolated from many things Georgian) and got absorbed in a book. It wasn’t new, but it was English. More and more I find I’m missing real books. E-books give me stories, but they don’t give me the physical sensations of holding, and smelling, and reading a real book.

Oct. 27 - A million updates

2010-10-27T14:20:00.003+04:00

Sorry about the million and one updates all at once. This is what happens when one doesn't have internet for a week.
Today was good (as Wednesdays are). Kids were good, class was fine and my fortune looks rosy (according to my coffee grounds. I just had a lunch of cereal with warm milk (yum) and applesauce. Now I am hanging out, and I have the house to MYSELF!
I have no new knowledge of yesterday's weird flying things, but as soon as I find out, it will be posted (if I can get the internet).

Oct. 26 - UFO sighting

2010-10-27T14:19:00.000+04:00

Holy Hannah!!! UFO’s in broad daylight. And I’m not the only one who saw them. About 2:15pm (local time) I was in class, writing on the board. Co-teach asked me to come look out the window, where she and the students were gathered. I went to look and there were about 10 jet-streams, not going across the sky, but vertically, with metallic objects at the bottom of them.

Supremely weirded out, I immediately sent a text to all of my friends to see who had seen what and who knew anything. A few of them had seen, but I was still in class, so I couldn’t answer when they called. At the end of class, about a half hour later, I got a text from Boston that she could see "a bunch of things burning and turning to smoke..." in the sky.

When I got home I spoke to Pop for a bit. Living in the north end of Kobuleti, he not only saw my UFO’s, but hours later he is continuing to see planes flying really low over the sea. We speculated that they’re coming from Turkey or Armenia, but we have no idea what the final destination is.
On top of all of this intrigue, I’m still not healthy. I decided to play hooky yesterday, though I don’t think it’s playing if one is legitimately not well. After spending the entire day in bed reading (leaving only to pee, eat and make tea), I helped HB1 with his English homework and watched a couple of hours of tv (which exhausted me).

Today, I dragged myself out of bed and to school. Pretty sure I have a sinus infection that’s affecting my inner ear. Gotta love those dizzy spells. Feeling exhausted after a long day of school (and the excitement of UFO’s) I laid down on my bed and finished Alexandre Dumas’ sequel to Three Musketeers, which I actually liked better than the first one.

Oct. 24 - My life as a sloth

2010-10-27T14:18:00.001+04:00

Today, Boston and I both slept in. We had no plans and nowhere to be and it was phenomenal. When we finally made it downstairs we found pancakes for breakfast. So with tea and fig jam and honey we enjoyed our meal. We topped the whole thing off by splitting a pomegranate. They are so good.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon lounging in the upstairs tv room. Finally, Boston figured that she’d better head back to Batumi. After a late lunch, she caught the bus and made it home safely.

For my part, I retreated upstairs with my Kobo. I also had a little nap. By the evening, I was on my computer in the tv room. Imagine my surprise (not) and my annoyance (much) when Bebia walked in and told me to put it on Adjara TV (one of the local stations). I did and the Georgian news was on. Interestingly enough, they showed something from Haiti and something else from West Palm Beach.

I left Bebia watching the news and went downstairs for tea. While I was there, HD had a Russian station on. They were interviewing a bunch of teens. I’m not sure what it was about, but one of the kids said, "English are sexy." He coulda meant the people or the language, but either way, it made me giggle. Back upstairs, Bebia had dozed off watching tv, so I waited a few minutes and then turned it back to my station (and the show I actually wanted to watch). About 20 minutes later she woke up and went to her bedroom (ostensibly to sleep).

I finished my show and then went to bed myself.

Oct. 23 - Canadian Politeness is my downfall

2010-10-27T14:14:00.002+04:00

This week I have felt like crap. Thursday I was an absolute witch to my classes and Friday wasn’t much better. Luckily, for my last class on Friday afternoon, only 3 girls bothered to show up. We got quite a bit done. I found out later from Neighbour Boy that everyone else was visiting a classmate and his new baby. This isn’t like in North America, this classmate also had a wife, who was also a former classmate. Of course, since she’s already a wife and mother (the pinnacle of a Gerogian woman’s ambition) she no longer needs an education.

After school on Friday, Neighbour Boy came over for help preparing for his English tutorial. Then Boston got here, cuz she’s spending the weekend. Once we’d greeted the family and had a bite to eat, we came upstairs to watch movies. Boston had brought her computer and some videos from home. We watched a Doris Day and Rock Hudson rom/com and It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

After the movies we went to bed. I had made arrangements with the private school teacher to have lunch with her today, so I got up near my regular time, but let Boston sleep in. We had a leisurely breakfast of bread with peanut butter and jam and tea. Then got ready to go. I still wasn’t feeling great, but I just wanted to get this meeting over with.

This crazy lady (CL) texted me at 10:30 to confirm our attendance. I texted back in the affirmative. We were waiting to catch a ride down the mountain when she called at ten to eleven. "Where are you?" she asks. I told her that we were still in the village, but coming soon. She remined me to meet her at the bazaar and told me that she was already there. We caught a ride shortly after this canversation and were in Kobuleti minutes later. As we headed to the bazaar, I got another phone call. "Where are you?" I told her we’d just got to Kobuleti and that we would be there soon. She said ok and hung up. Ten minutes later, another call. "Where are you?" I said that we were almost there, and I would call her when we got there.

Finally, the bazaar is in sight and I was just pulling out my phone to call this woman when I get a text. "When you get to bazari call me." I just showed Boston and she was like (paraphrased to maintain a PG rating) , "Well, duh. You just told her you would." As she was saying this, the woman emerged from a store behind her. I performed introductions and we were on our way.

While we were on our way to her house, CL is explaining that they haven’t had water, so she couldn’t make me a cake, but that it’s ok because she will make me a cake for my second visit. (I raised my eyebrows at Boston. There will be no second visit.) Then she mentioned us visiting her school with her. (Though this had been part of the original arrangement, through text msgs, I got the impression that this was no longer part of the visit.) She also explained that her apartment is very small, so we will be entertained in her aunt’s apartment which is in the same building. And that they will boil khingali (giant dumplings filled with meat) for us. I expained that I’m vegetarian and that the fruit would be just fine. She seemed upset, but we moved on... or rather back to the lack of water and thus cake. Again, I told her that was fine and conversation moved on.

We arrived at her aunt’s apartment and met one of CL’s private students. He was a 13 year old boy and nervous about speaking in front of foreigners. Boston and I tried to break the ice while CL and her aunt prepared lunch. Then CL came back and yelled at the boy for being shy. We both assured her that we are also shy sometimes and it was fine.

Food was served and we tucked in to some fruit and chestnuts. CL mentioned going to buy khajapuri (bread and Georgian cheese) for me to eat. I convinced her not to go and told her that I wasn’t feeling well (it’s the only way to get Georgians to stop feeding you). They switched out our plates for clean ones (giving me a new one, in spite of the fact that I said I was finished eating.) The kkingali was brought out and everyone took one except me. I was happy drinking my juice because at this point my throat was on fire and I was having dizzy spells. While everyone else was happily eating their dead things, CL kept telling me to take one. I explained again that I don’t eat meat and she said, "but they’re very delicious" I told her that I’m sure they are and I’ve had potato ones and cheese ones, but I don’t eat meat. On about the 5th time she told me to take one, Boston jumped in for me and said quite forcefully that there was no way I was going to eat the meat. I loved her for it. Of course, about 5 minutes later, she was arguing her own case for not eating more. She was perfectly pleasant, but the "forceful voice" did make an appearance.

At this point, I realized that there was no way I could sit through a lesson at CL’s school. Even for politeness sake. So as she was gathering her things to leave, I made my apologies and told her that I was too sick to go. Once I assured her that I would be ok and that Boston would take care of me (a process which took 15 minutes, in spite of the fact that she was late to teach her lesson) she spoke to a cab driver and arranged for him to bring us back to my house.

On the way home, we passed the cinema. Apparently it does show movies. There were signs up and a whole crowd of kids waiting outside. I saw on the news that it was showing a cartoon. The cartoon looked an awul lot like the Eastern European Itchy and Scratchy from the Simpsons.

After a morning of so much Georgianness and politeness, we decided to watch an American movie featuring horrible people. Eurotrip was exactly what we needed. And FYI Bratislava looks an awful lot like Georgia. It made us laugh so hard. After the movie, we went downstairs for tea and sweets and then returned to the couch.

At one point, Uncle Suliko stopped by to take Bebia to Batumi for a birthday party. He wanted to see me, so I went down and made Boston come with me. He was surprised and pleased to see her. It’s always so funny when he’s here; we laughed so much that I coughed for ages. After he left, we had another cup of tea and then came back upstairs.

We watched some English tv programs and then turned on the music video channel, so that we could have a nap. The rest of the afternoon we lounged and watched tv. I was not good company at all, but Boston was ok with it. After she watched Mad Men, we both went to bed.

Oct. 20 - My life on the G-list

2010-10-27T14:12:00.000+04:00

School happened. Kids were the same. There was a staff meeting announced about 20 minutes before it happened (typically Georgian) on the break between 2nd and 3rd periods. Since all of the teachers were at this meeting, the kids got a half an hour break at that time. So bizzare.

After school I came home, to find that the cleaning lady was here. I wish they would tell me when she was coming, so that I could clear off the floor, dresser and bedside tables. Instead, I spent the afternoon, trying to figure out where they’d put my things when they moved them. Still, the inconvenience is worth not having to do my own dusting.

We’ve also had glorious weather all week and today was no exception. It was actually warm enough that I thought about going for a swim. I got my suit on and made it to the pool, but the water has cooled significantly and I didn’t do more than sit on the edge with my legs in the water. Then I lounged on a chaise and got some sun. I’m trying to store up all the vitamin D that I can get with the approaching winter.

HM’s mother was visiting, so I had dinner with her, HM and Bebia. After dinner, HB1 came upstairs to practice speaking English. Then HM followed him, so we had a combined, hour long lesson. Normally I wouldn’t care, except that the hour they were here happened to be the hour that Veronica was on tv.

As I’m sitting here watching CSI: New York, a huge wind storm is blowing in. It sounded like rain, but when I looked it was just the wind blowing the leaves off of the treas. It truly is fall.

Oct. 19 - Nose in a book, as per usual

2010-10-20T19:06:00.002+04:00

Not a whole lot going on these last couple of days. On Sunday night I started reading the Three Musketeers and I couldn’t put it down. This week has basically been school (where I read on my breaks) and then home (where I read until bedtime). I finished it tonight and I’ve gotta admit, I wasn’t impressed with the ending. I mean, it was ok, but in my head some things happened differently.

Also on Sunday night, a neighbour and cousin got into a car accident. He’s in pretty rough shape and everyone’s worried. I’ve never met the guy, so I don’t feel it as intensely as everyone else does. Also, he was driving drunk and the accident was his own fault, so my sympathy is tempered by that.

I haven’t been feeling that great the last few days. I don’t know if it’s my sinuses, the atmospheric pressure or something unknown, but I’ve been having dizzy spells. Which means I’ve also been feeling nauseous and haven’t wanted to eat much. Of course try explaining this to women who solve all problems with food and across a language barrier.

Last night, I didn’t want to have the discussion, so I let HM feed me fish (whole, battered and bbq’d) and eggplant (served the way I don’t like). Luckily, there was bread to cut the taste and they’re used to me only eating a little. Much as I hate to admit it, the protein probably did me some good.

Tonight, I had cereal with milk. The milk was just warm enough to soften the chocolate chunks in my muesli, so it was perfect. After I ate, I came back upstairs to watch the season premier of Gossip Girl and finish Musketeers. Then it was bed time.

Oct. 17 - Tea Time

2010-10-18T17:43:00.002+04:00

I slept in again. I also threw in a load of laundry, since it was a glorious fall day and the sun was shining brightly. I have to do the wash when I can, because there is no dryer here and I have to hang everything outside to dry. Since the temperature has dropped, it takes at least 2 or 3 days to get things dry, and that’s only if it doesn’t rain.

Then I spent the morning reading. I have a Madeline L’Engle book out of the library. It was good, but more theological and philosophical than I had expected. Even so, I was in exactly the right mood for it and being a children’s book, I got through it very quickly.

In the afternoon, Co-teach called me to come over for lunch/ tea at her house, The whole thing was orchestrated by her mother, who has a 26 year-old, unmarried son. She wanted me to meet him. Luckily for me, he was shy and didn’t want to meet me, because he doesn’t speak English. He wouldn’t even come into the room, which was fine with me.

There was tons of food, in typical Georgian style. Also in typical Georgian style everything tasted a little off from what I was expecting. It was all good, just not what I would imagine, judging by how things looked. I did finally learn that the grape-puddingy-stuff is called pelamushi. Co-teach’s mom was really mad at her, because she didn’t tell her that I’m a vegitarian until the morning of and she was worried about what to feed me. I told her not to worry about it, but she was still upset.

After tea, I came home and the extended family was here. There was a car accident involving one of the neighbours (who is also a cousin) and everyone was very worried. I didn’t find this out until later, as I was on the phone for quite a while with Boston.

When I got off the phone and went downstairs to socialize, everyone else had disappeared, so I retreated back upstairs to English tv and my Kobo. I started reading the Three Musketeers and I’m really enjoying it. I was so stuffed from my afternoon tea that I didn’t have supper or a bed time snack. I watched tv until bed time and then went to sleep.

Oct. 16 - A Georgian Wedding

2010-10-18T15:38:00.004+04:00

I slept in today. It was fantastic. I had nowhere to be and nothing in particular to do, so I slept until 8:30. Then I lay in bed reading until 9:30, before going down to breakfast. After breakfast, I lounged around some more and then finally decided to shower. I had a luxuriously long, hot shower. Wasn’t worried about the power going out because it was daytime. When my shower was over, I returned to my room and lounged around in my robe, finishing my book (sadly, not a new book, but still an enjoyable one).

Apparently, I spent too much time in my room, because Bebia came up and yelled at me in Georgian for a bit. All I could make out was the word ‘yard’ and she was gesturing to outside. So, assuming she was telling me to go outside, I said ‘yes, yes’ and gestured to my robe and wet hair, indicating that I had to get ready first. This must have been ok, because she left me alone and I dressed and did my hair.

I went downstairs and watched the kids play outside. I’d decided that since the dog and I had made friends, I could probably get close enough to snap a picture of him. This was not the case. It seems that when he’s in his yard, he’d nobody’s friend, though I did manage a couple of really bad shots.

Having failed at my photography attempts, I decided to go online (while everyone else was busy outside). I grabbed the modem and came back to my room. I’d been on for a while (updating the blog and checking e-mail) when HM came to my door.

She had just received a call from the assistant director of my school, inviting me to a wedding. Today. It was 2:10 pm when HM came to talk to me, and I was supposed to be ready by 3. Luckily, I had already showered and thanks to a heads up from Keti yesterday, I’d already been thinking about what to wear.

I managed to dress, make-up and do my hair by 3. I just making my last stop at the bathroom when Bebia started hollering for me. She met me downstairs and walked me to the assistant director’s house, where we waited until 3:50 for the marshrutka to come. While we were waiting, a neighbour stopped by with her 11 year old granddaughter, to speak English with me. I didn’t mind in the least, since it helped pass the time and her English was pretty good.

Once we were on the marshrutka, we had to go up to the school to get the other teachers. The wedding we were going to was the school director’s nephew. Everyone was all dressed up and all wearing heels. Once I saw the others, I understood why Bebia was yelling at me for wearing flats. Luckily, I get away with a lot of things because I’m foreign.

We didn’t actually go to the ceremony part of the wedding, just the dinner. When we got to the restaurant, everyone was standing around outside. I wondered why we couldn’t go in until the bride and groom got there. I got my answer when we went inside. People sit down at tables and start eating right away. Even when the bride and groom entered the building, most people just kept eating.

A Georgian wedding reception isn’t all that different from a Canadian one. The wedding party sits at a highly decorated head table and the parents have a table to themselves. There are speeches and the wedding couple has their first dance. However, throughout all of this, the guests are eating dinner, but the wedding party just has sweets. The food is on the tables and stays on the tables for the entire shindig. And most people talk and eat through the toasts and speeches.

There were some traditions that are done differently than what I’m used to. When the wedding party entered, the mother of the groom threw wrapped chocolates on them and to the guests (like we would throw confetti) and if the young girls eat this chocolate, it means that they’ll be getting married soon.

There’s also a tradition called the Bride’s Dinner, where her family, brings 2 traditional kinds of cake in baskets and each basket had a flare on it. Since there were about 7 or 8 baskets, it was bright and smokey. One of the sweets is like baklava and the other is like a giant uncooked sugar cookie. I really liked it.

Once the traditional stuff was over, the reception turned into just another dance party. There was lots of traditional music and drunk people trying to show off their traditional dance moves. A few of my students were also there,and they asked me to dance with them, so Co-teach and I did. Then the teachers decided that I needed to dance a ‘slow dance’ with a boy so they grabbed one and made him ask me (it was so highschool). I got up and danced with him and he was perfectly nice, but I would’ve much rather been dancing with his hot friend. Co-teach took a million pictures of us dancing, including one where I’m giving her the I-can’t-believe-you-did-this-to-me look.

We left pretty early, which was fine by me. Once the novelty wears off, it’s hard to enjoy a party where you don’t know the people, music or language. One marshrutka ride back up the mountain and I was safe at home, where I learned that HM and HD were also at a wedding. Luckily, Bebia didn’t force me to eat, since she assumed I was full from the wedding, which I was. I retreated to my room to decompress and relax.

Oct. 15 - FML

2010-10-18T15:08:00.004+04:00

Back to the regular routine, but it was still a long day. Had breakfast and went to school as usual. Except that with the holiday, the private schools got Thurs and Fri off. Since the kids had no school, and HM never works on Fridays, I was ready and leaving before the family was up. HM met me at the front door, which I opened to find my new best friend, the dog, waiting for me. I said hello and stopped him from jumping up (while HM watched without helping). Then he followed me to the gate and tried to come to school with me. I got it closed before he could get out.

At school, I met Co-teach in class, and most of the students were ready to work (surprising, I know). The grade 9s were making a poster and their homework was to find the info in the text. Most of them did it and they got right down to work. I was annoyed though, because even after instructions in English and Georgian and a diagram on the board, they still ALL did it wrong.
Grade 6 was next and they were fine. They liked the activity and the one really enthusiastic student wasn’t there, so class was easier to manage. On the break between period 2 and 4, managed to get a mosquito bite ON MY PALM. I don’t know how, but it’s really aggravating. My 7s as always were a dream and then there was grade 12.

On Friday, Co-teach and I have a break right before the grade 12 class in period 6. The gr 12s also have a break then, so they asked, the first week of school, if we could have class in period 5 instead and then we could all go early. Obviously, we agreed and we’ve been doing it that way since. Well today, they didn’t show up in period 5.

We went to the cafeteria and visited for a bit, until the bell rang to end class. I went up to class to be ready to start period 6 when the bell rang. 5 minutes later, Co-teach came up and there was still no class, so she went to look for them. Another 5 minutes and she’s back, because she couldn’t find them. We decided to go and packed up. We were literally walking out the door when 6 boys came to class, 15 minutes late.

During class, one had his cell phone out. He was given the option to put the phone away or give it to me. He put it away, until 10 minutes later it rang and he "had to take it". So I told him to leave. A few minutes later he called one of the other boys into the hall to talk, and then there were 4, though the other boy did come back.

Near the end of class, two boys left to catch the bus, leaving us with 3. We finished the activity we were doing and I sent them all home. Mostly because I, too, needed to catch the bus down the mountain.

I got home and changed, tossed what I needed into my new purse and was ready to go in about 10 minutes. I had to go to the library, to geocell and I’d made plans to have dinner with Joker. The whole family was outside when I got there, watching HD get ready to shoot things.
They had a target (which was an opened up box with a + printed on it) strung up in the tree opposite the gate, with nothing but (downward sloping) mountainside behind it. HD had a rifle-y-looking gun (I dunno what it was) and he was standing halfway up the outside stairs. He shot across the courtyard, over the perimetre wall and across the street at the target. It was loud and frightning. I think the scariest thing is that he had no visibility of the street. Anyone could have been walking by and you wouldn’t have known.

They flagged down a car for me and I escaped without injury. In Kobuleti I flagged down a marshrutka. It was really nice and only me and two other guys got on. They sat in the front so I had the whole back to myself. In spite of the crazy, windy detour, I got to Batumi without needing a gravol. Once in the city, though, things got weird. The driver turned down a street where marshrutkas don’t normally turn and dropped off the guys. Then he asked me where I was going.

In turn, I asked where he was going and he said the station. That was fine with me, so he took me to the station. He was very concerned for me, but I told him I was meeting a friend nearby and everything was fine. He wouldn’t let me pay him and told me to have a good day.

Unfortunately, because he drove around the station before letting me out, I’d lost my bearings. But I picked a direction and started walking like I knew right where I was going. I didn’t. I wandered around for a good 45 minutes, looking for the library. I’d spotted landmarks and made my way to them, but I was always just a little off. Finally Joker called just as I figured out where I was and how to get where I was going. I had been planning to run all of my errands before meeting him and instead, just met him at the Sheraton. On our way to dinner we passed the library street. Since he had books to return as well, we stopped in.

The restaurant that I thought was a Chinese restaurant wasn’t, but it was pretty cheap and had lots of veggie options and an English menu. Joker and I both had kartophili khingali (giant dumplings filled with mashed potatoes) and lobiani khadjapuri (bread boat filled with bean paste). It was really good and we watched a storm move in over the water while we ate.

After dinner we both had to go to Goodwill. I stocked up on cereal and chocolate, since I never know when I’ll be able to get to a store. I also bought a chocolate dessert. The bottom was about 1/4 inch of sponge cake and then a dome of chocolate mousse. Inside there was a pocket of liquid dark chocolate and nuts and the whole thing had a dark chocolate shell. It was quite possibly the best thing I’d ever eaten.

I was one of the first people on the marshrutka I caught to Kobuleti, so I got to sit in a single seat by the door. It was the second marshrutka today that had seatbelts. I was surprised, because no one wears seatbelts here, even in private vehicles. The trip back was uneventful and I easily caught a cab up the mountain.

At home, I read for a bit upstairs. Then I joined the family for a couple of cups of tea. I’m still feeling under the weather, and my throat is scratchy, so I went to bed early.

Oct. 14 - My Version of Turkey Day

2010-10-16T13:24:00.002+04:00

I went to Turkey. And it was awsome! But it was a lo-ong day. Since we had a holiday from school, the others wanted to get an early start. Good thing too, because we were gone for 12 hours. After breakfast and getting ready, my day started with a call from Co-teach at 7:50 that they would be coming in about 10 mins. Expecting things to move at Georgian speed, I decided to sit and read on the balcony, where I could see them coming down the mountain. To my surprise, I saw them coming right at 8.

I tossed my Kobo in my room and grabbed my purse. I was hoping to get out front to meet them, but I got waylaid by the giant dog standing at the front door. Normally, this dog (a German Shepherd mix) lives in it’s own little yard attached to the main courtyard, but at night it is let out to guard the castle. I have never been up and out before the family, so the dog is usually back in his yard by the time I go out. Not so today.

He stood and stared at me, blocking the whole door (did I mention he’s huge?). I tried to slip past him, and he tried to jump on me. I pushed him down with a hand on his (massive) chest and finally made it outside. Since shutting the door required 2 hands, the dog was then free to jump up on me. He almost knocked me over and when I caught my balance he started trying to be very friendly. I pushed him down again, and backed toward the gate, telling him to "stay" the whole time (like he understands English). When I turned to unlock and open the gate, he raced to my side. I swear he would’ve followed me anywhere. I squeezed through the gate and got it closed before he could get out (for this I was thankful that he’s so big). Co-teach and co were waiting for me when I emerged.

My first battle fought and won, all before 8:05.

Instead of a trip with Co-teach and 1 other teacher from school, there were actually 5 of us going. And the other 2 women were buying things in Turkey to sell here in Georgia. We hitchhiked down the mountain and caught a marshrutka to Batumi with litte problems. My biggest issue was the closure of the tunnel, causing us to take the twisty windy detour through the mountains.
Since my motion sickness is always worse when I’m tired, I’d already taken a gravol. But it makes me sleepier and when one of the women asked if I was tired, I tried to explain to Co-teach about my vertigo and the pill.

She was very worried about me, and asked me every 5 minutes if I wanted to switch places with her and if I was alright. It was sweet, but the best thing to do is leave me the hell alone to fight the nausea. The other woman, who was very interested in me was also trying to make conversation. Her topic wasn’t my health, but my lack of husband. 3 different times on the 45 minute trip to Batumi, I was asked "Do you not want a Georgian husband?" However, we arrived in Batumi with no accidents (or murders) and the walk to the next marshrutka cleared my head.

Battles number 2 and 3 fought and won by 9:15.

The border was bizarre. You have to go past a Georgian border guard who looks at your passport and makes sure you’re on the video screen. He stamps your passport with the exit date. Then you walk through (quite a way) to the Turkish window.

Since I’d never been to Turkey, I had to go past where they stamp the passports to the visa office, which was literally 4 huge buildings away. Co-teach came with me to translate, in case I needed it, but most of the border guards spoke some English. By the time we got to the visa office, we were already well on the Turkish side of the border. Whatever. I got my visa (for less money than I’d expected) and Co-teach and I ran back to where everyone else was still in line to get their entry stamps. Being a foreigner, I got to go in the foreigner’s line (which was practically non-existent) and Co-teach and I were through before the others.

Once in Turkey, we caught a marshrutka to a border town called Kamel Pasha (that’s the phonetic spelling, I don’t know how it’s actually spelled). We got out and stopped for some food since the others hadn’t eaten, yet. We had pastries and coffee with milk and sugar. Photo was really annoyed, because she couldn’t smoke inside the café. I thought it was awsome that Turkey’s going smoke-free, but I kept my mouth shut.

After food, we went into a nearby mosque to take some pictures. I’ve never seen the inside of a mosque before. It was beautiful, but empty. There are no pews, or benches, or even those little kneely things the catholics use. I was suprised by how disrepectful the others were. It’s like they didn’t recognize it as a holy place. I know it’s not their religion, but it’s holy to some people and should be respected as such. But again, I kept my mouth shut.

We took a few more pictures in the square outside of the mosque, but then it was on to shopping. Basically, we walked down the main street and stopped at every single shop. At times it was entertaining, interesting, and boring, but it was never expensive. I bought a pair of shoes, a purse, a tiny change purse and a skirt for about $25. I also managed to pick up some gifts for people at home and some odds and ends (like nail polish for $.30 a piece). I even managed to find a jade ring that I loved, but it was too big (for my middle finger) and they didn’t have another one. But I’ve decided to look when I go back and if they still have it, I’ll buy it and get it resized at home.

5 hours later, though, I was getting tired and hungry. At the end of the row of shops was something that I was sure was a mirage. The Istanbul Bazar. I have never been so happy to see a mall or a Burger King in my life. I wanted to cry.

Since everyone was hungry, we went straight to the "food court." There were only 2 restaurants, but one was BK, so I was happy. I felt it pulling me like a magnet and headed right for it. Co-teach asked me if I didn’t want tolma (my favourite Georgian food) at the other restaurant and I was like, "I want this". But I didn’t know how to explain to her that while I like tolma, BK tastes like home. I had chicken tenders, fries and a milkshake. Then I went back and had the apple pie dessert thing with ice cream on top. It was heaven.

I was much more ready to troll the mall after that. Co-teach was still looking for a few things, so we hit the stores. It was fantastic. There was more than one of everything and things had price tags. I didn’t have to ask them the cost. It was funny, though, because one of the other women we were with, kept shouting out "ra ghirs" (how much?), because nothing in Georgia has price tags, exept in Goodwill.

When we finished at the mall, we got a marshrutka back to the border, but we had to sit and wait until it filled up. That turned out to be a good thing, because two of Co-teach’s bags had been left behind in the mall. She asked the driver to wait and ran back to get them. There were no more adventures in getting to the border.

At the border was another story entirely. There were tons of people trying to get back to Georgia and it was raining. A woman behind me had an umbrella, the edge of which was right over my head (which meant I caught all of the run-off) and the woman directly in front of me was using her massive purse to cover her head and every time she turned her head, she almost smacked me in the face with it. And they line up at the border just like they do everywhere else in Georgia (which is to say that there is no actual line).

Again, you have to get an exit stamp from the Turkish border guard. The guy I gave my passport to, checked my passport and just sat there and looked at me. Then he made a motion with his hand. I asked what was wrong and he stared at me. Thinking he just didn’t understand me, I tried to ask in Georgian, with the same result. I called Keti back and when she asked in English what the problem was, he said "no problem". And handed back my passport. It was bizarre.

Once we got through Turkish customs, we had to deal with the Georgian side. For goods weighing more than 30kg or costing more than 500 gel, you have to pay duty. Since neither Co-teach or I spent that much, we were each given a bag (by one of the women we were with) and asked to bring it through customs. I was the last one through and had my bags plus the extra one beside me.

I handed my passport to the woman and she looked at it for a really long time. Then she looked at me for a really long time. There was a guy there who’d been talking to my companions and he asked me if the bag was mine. I said yes. The woman with my passport still hadn’t said anything. Finally she gave me my passport back and I went through into the next section.

Georgian Customs has 2 big x-ray machines (like in the airport for luggage) that weigh and scan your merchandise. The guy who’d asked me about the bag guided me past the scanners saying "touristi" every time someone tried to stop us. I got through and waited at the other side for my companions, who were also allowed to bypass the scanners because they were with the "touristi". It was insane.

We hopped on a marshrutka back to Batumi with no problems. I needed another gravol, but the girls mostly left me alone (as Co-teach was too tired to translate much) and I zoned out. The driver dropped us off right where we needed to catch our next marshrutka and we got on one of those right away as well. Back in Kobuleti, we grabbed a cab. But 3 of us were sitting and waiting for about 10 mins in the cab while the other 2 and the driver were watching a fight that was happening nearby.

I finally got home and then had to give a rundown of my purchases to the family. Bebia really liked the bag and shoes. While I’d been out of the country, I missed a call from Mom, so I came upstairs to put away my things and await her next call. We chatted for a bit and I went to bed pretty early, knowing that I have to get up for school tomorrow.

Oct. 13 - I'm Useful

2010-10-16T13:20:00.002+04:00

This morning I had breakfast before the family. The spaghetti was still in the frying pan when I finished. I think HM might be sick. I was a little later than usual to leave, because I was just getting to the good stuff in "Emma". I was about halfway to school when I realized that I’d left the key to our classroom on my dresser. I hurried home to grab it and HD offered me a ride to school. Even with the ride, I was late.

Co-teach was back today and it was nice to see her. Our classes were pretty good and we got all of our planning done for next class, so all in all, the day was a win. Since tomorrow’s a holiday, we confirmed our plans to go to Turkey with the other teacher who is going with us.

I came home in the rain and came right upstairs to change. I stayed in my room reading (trying to finish Emma) until Bebia called me for lunch. I went down and had lobio (made with kidney beans this time, not green) and creamed spinach. It’s so good to get greens, even if they are stewed in a pot until you can’t tell what they were originally. They’re still green.

I read a little more, until it got too cold to stay in my room. Then I went to the kitchen to make some tea. When I got there, Bebia had a huge pan of walnuts sitting on the table. I made my tea and sat down to watch what she was doing. Turns out, she was digging the nut meat (he he he) out of the walnuts in preparation for making the walnut sauce that’s really popular here. Finally spying a job that I could help with, I got a knife and started helping.

Not too long after that, Neighbour Boy rang the bell. He’d come over for help with his English work. For once it wasn’t the stupid practice exam. It’s funny. Every time he comes over he says "Just fifteen nimutes," but it’s usually closer to 45 minutes or an hour. Today I helped him for 25 minutes and then went back to helping Bebia with the walnuts.

While we were working, the rest of the family came home. The boys were in and out of the kitchen and playing with really loud toys in the tv room (which is the only room attached to the kitchen). The power went out once while we were working, but I think there’s a generator that gets used if it’s already dark, so it wasn’t out for long. When we finished with the walnuts, I came back up to my room.

I finished Emma and had just started writing here when HM asked for an English lesson. It wasn’t long. She has a book. Mostly, she studies on her own and then she reads and translates, while I listen, correct her pronounciation and answer questions. Being an adult, she can cover more lessons than HB1 and she’s more motivated, so it’s nice to work with.

Tonight is VM night. And I have to go to bed early, because we are leaving early for Turkey in the morning. I am so excited. One more country to cross of my list of places I’ve never been. Sadly, I probably won’t get to Istanbul, but I’m sure the rest of Turkey has stuff going for it, too.

Oct. 12 - Hazelnut Strings and Other Things

2010-10-16T13:17:00.002+04:00

Co-teach was not at school today, so the woman who used to teach English was helping me with my classes. It was nice to have backup, but I didn’t really need it. The kids were really good. I don’t know if it was the novelty of the situation, or if it was because the desks were in rows and not groups (I gave 2 tests today) but they were attentive.

We also played hangman for the first time. It’s kind of perfect. The kids like it because it’s a game, and I like it because it forces them to practice vocabulary and saying the letter names. In Georgian letters are named for the sound they make. If you want the sound "luh" you write the letter called "luh", so they don’t really get that a letter called "b-ee" makes a "b-uh" sound.
After school, I walked home in the 5 minutes of sun we had between showers. There were some pretty spectacular skies, because from my mountain vantage point, while we had sun, I could see the clouds moving (and raining) over other peaks. Then when we were in rain again, I could still see the sun in the distance.

When I got home, I ate, as usual and retreated to my room for internet time. It wasn’t long, though before Bebia called me. She was in the winter kitchen in the basement. It was here that I finally got to see the culmination of the hazlenut project. Hung over 2 beams were strings and strings of roasted hazelnuts and on the stove was a giant pot filled with grape-pudding-type-stuff (I can’t remember what it’s actually called). They dipped each string in the pot and completely coated the nuts with the grape stuff before re-hanging them over the beams. I took pictures of the whole process.

This is the same grape stuff that they put on plates and serve as pudding (which is what they did with the left overs, once the nuts were finished). This paste is made of grape juice (literally from crushed grapes), water, sugar and flour. It’s pretty good, but almost too sweet for me. I haven’t had a chance to try the nuts, yet, but I’m excited.

I ate dinner with the family and retreated to my room pretty early. I read a book on my computer, because I like to save the battery in my Kobo for when the power is out. Which it was a couple of times tonight. Luckily, the longest outage happened while the sun was still shining, so I had light to read by, though one time I did have to resort to the flashlight on my cell phone.

Oct. 11 - Staff party, but no Thanksgiving

2010-10-16T13:12:00.004+04:00

Today school was the norm. Except that I had the key for our classroom, since Co-teach had to leave early on Friday. It was nice to get into the room at 8:50 instead of 9 for my 9 o’clock class. I found my Kobo, right on my desk where I left it. All my classes went well and the woman who told my coffee cup fortune said that I am going to have a niece and a nephew. I told mom and she was amused.

It was sunny and beautiful all day, right up until my last class. My teaching was interrupted by thunder near enough to shake the building. Also at this time, one of the teachers was celebrating a new grandchild, so there was a teachers’ party in the cafeteria. During the lesson, Co-teach and I were summoned no less than 5 times to come to this party. One time, the director sent a child up to tell us that because of the rain, we were to let the students leave early.

Granted it was a really heavy, unexpected rain, but it was also one of the few days that we’ve been able to keep the gr. 12s working and interested in the lesson. No way was I stopping them while they were engaged. Since we didn’t get to the party soon enough, Co-teach got 2 calls on her cell phone (which was on during the lesson) both to tell us to come.

We did go down, once class was over and were presented with papa (water and flour boiled into a paste, served with a well of butter in the middle and sprinkled with sugar) and a million cakes. I don’t like papa (had it on my birthday), so I told Co-teach and she didn’t have any either. So the two of us had cake and grape juice (that was trying to be wine, but not quite making it). The napoleani cake is layers of pastry and a creamy frosting. It is like a Passion Flaky on steroids and I love it.

Even though I was full on cakes, when I got home I was told that there was lobio (it means beans) for me in the kitchen. Thinking I needed something wholesome to take the edge off of my sugar intake, I had some. After changing, of course, since I was soaked from walking home in the rain.

The cleaning lady was also here doing the floors. I did my best to stay out of the way, so mostly I just checked my e-mail and read a little. When the boys got home, HB1 came up to get the internet, and HB3 followed him. He said hello to me (in Georgian) and when the cleaning lady came up the stair behind him, he told her that I was in my room (in Georgian). He was so excited to see me. So we went downstairs together, because upstairs is cold, and HD had a fire going in the tv room. I sat in there with my Kobo and watched the boys play.

I was expecting a call from Mom, since it's Thanksgiving at home, and I headed back upstairs around 6:30. She called and we had a good talk, which was nice, because the power had gone out. Again. Mom put Daddy on the phone and we also had a good talk, in spite of getting disconnected 3 times.

When we finally got off the phone for good, I watched some tv and went to bed.

Oct. 9 and 10 - Sleepover Party

2010-10-11T15:28:00.003+04:00

Yesterday, I was supposed to meet that Georgian English teacher to go to her school and visit her house. Around 7:30 Sailor sent me a text that she wasn’t coming, due to still being sick and it being a generally crappy day outside. I looked out my window to note that while it wasn’t exactly raining, it was so wet that if you weren’t under cover, you ended up soaked just from standing there.

I decided that without my backup (and just having gotten over being sick) I didn’t want to go anywhere. I texted the teacher and she said that that was fine, because she’d been sick too. We may try to do it again next week, if I’m not in Turkey with the teachers from my school. Next, I called Boston, because she was planning to come play at my house and we were supposed to meet in Kobuleti. She still wanted to come in, and it worked out better this way, because she could work on her own timeline.

She finally got here around 5. Came in and spent a bunch of time with the family. Had dinner and visited. A host aunt and cousin were here as well, so it was kind of a party. While we were visiting, I got a text from Joker. Turns out, COOLIO had a concert in Batumi last night and a bunch of them were going. A little jealous, but feeling pretty cozy, we retreated upstairs.

We watched some tv shows I’d never heard of (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Party Down), but quite enjoy and Mad Men, which Boston loves. She had to explain a lot about what was going on to me, but I think it’s one that I may watch from the beginning when I get home.
We went to bed at 11, since we were both tired. And this morning, I woke up around my regular time, but lay in bed until 8:30ish. Boston stayed in bed til 10, which was fine, because it gave me time to read the latest book I got from the library. It’s called Summerland and is about baseball and the end of the world (and using baseball as a means to NOT end the world). I love it.

Once Boston got up, we had breakfast, then came back upstairs and turned on the tv. None of my Turkish channels were showing English shows, so we watched MTV and Rebel TV for hours. Throughout our viewing time, we took turns getting dressed and brushing our teeth and stuff. Finally at about 2, we headed downstairs so that Boston could catch a bus back to Batumi.

Nato just had lunch ready, so we ate before she left. While we were eating a couple of neighbours came over to visit. Just before 2:30 we went outside to catch a bus. One happened to come right away and Boston got on it.

I’m trying to make an effort to socialize more with the family, so I stayed downstairs after Boston was gone. Mostly, the women talked around me while we all drank tea, and I watched a British reality show on tv. After an hour I felt that I had put in sufficient time and once again retreated to my room.

I watched some episodes of Leno and Cold Case and Dr. Who. But I’m nowhere near desprate enough to watch Ghost Whisperer. While that was on, I finished my book.

Oct. 8 - a day like any other

2010-10-10T15:41:00.003+04:00

Today was the first time I taught a class by myself. Co-teach’s cousin was having an operation, so she went to Batumi. We taught our first 2 classes together and then I covered gr 7 alone. It worked out well, though they didn’t quite understand the game I wanted to play, so I switched games and they got the second one much better.

After school, I came home for lunch. When I got home, I realized that I don’t know where my Kobo is. I figured I’d set it somewhere in the house, or that I’d left it at school. No biggy. But when I had lunch with HM and Bebia, I mentioned that I couldn’t find it, expecting an "I’ll keep an eye out for it." Nope. It was a big deal. We searched the house. When it wasn’t in the house, HM called a bunch of people to check the school, she even went so far as to send on of my host cousins back to school to look for it.

It hadn’t turned up by the time the bus came by and I left for Batumi. Over the last couple of weeks, I really haven’t had much chance to visit with Boston or Joker, so I went to Batumi to play. When I got into town, Joker was working out, but I met Boston at the pizza place and we both had spaghetti - with tomato sauce. It may not seem like a big deal, but here pasta is served plain... or with sugar. Actual sauce was a welcome change.

After food, we walked up the street and ran into Joker. We all stopped and chatted for a bit before Joker headed home and Boston and I hit the boulevard. We sat on the beach, watching the sun set, talking and taking pictures.

Before too long, I had to leave, so that I would be on time to catch my bus up the mountain. Unfortunately, when we got to the marshrutkas, there wasn’t one leaving right away, so I missed my bus anyway. The cab driver that knows me met me when I got off. I had to break a bill, so he drove me over to the little market, where I picked up a yogurt for tomorrow’s breakfast.

I got home with no further ado and spent the evening watching horrible tv. But it was in English, so I watched anyway.

A note on food: over the last few days, I’ve had the chance to try some really interesting things. Suprisingly, I enjoyed most of them. Turns out, roasted hazelnuts are delicious covered in honey. The hazelnuts are threaded onto a string and then dipped in some sort of concoction (they look like lumpy tapered candles when they’re finished). Bebia was threading the nuts here the other day, but she gave me a pile of broken nut bits in honey and I loved it.

There is also a fruit here that I’ve never tried before. It has a familiar, sort of citrusy taste. It’s small and the same colour of green as a lime. The inside is white, and when you suck out the juice and flesh, you’re left with a star shape. My phrasebook has the English name of this fruit being "peichoa" which I’ve never heard of. Whatever it’s called, I really like it.

I was actually offered grilled cheese for breakfast today as well. The family had out the George Forman-style grill. Of course, I declined. Since the only cheese in this country is what Sarah calls "foot cheese" (due to its smelling and tasting like feet) I opted not to have a sandwich made out of it first thing in the morning. Instead, I had 2 pieces of bread, one with honey and one with peach jam.

Oct. 7 - Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-10-10T15:33:00.002+04:00

Today was.... I don’t even know. My classes were pretty typical. The ones I expect to be good were and the ones I expect to drive me nuts did. The only thing of note in class was that I only had 10 kids in Gr. 8. But they were all good ones and as the last class of the day, it was a dream.

My afternoon was spent grading homework, reading a library book, and hanging out with Bebia. I had started laundry in the morning, so I hung it to dry, as well. Jamal and the kids got home around 5:30ish. The boys watched some of the neighbourhood kids play soccer, while I visited with two of the neighbours. One has been taking English lessons and asked me to check her homework, so I did.

HM came home and we all had tea, outside. It has gotten quite cool here. It’s not comfortable to be outside without long sleeves any more. But the warm tea made a nice contrast to the chill in the air. Just as we were finishing up, Neigbour Boy came over, also for English help. He is working on practice exams.

We were partway through the first question when the power went out. It’s getting dark early, so even being outside didn’t help. We finished that question by flashlight, but then HM needed the light to get the boys’ dinner ready. Neighbour went home, with a promise to come back when the power was back on.

Everyone else was in the kitchen, but I came upstairs to get my little LED flashlight. I decided to call Joker and make him entertain me, since we haven’t talked in a couple of days. Mid-convo, my flashlight batteries died and I was left in the dark. Luckily, the generator kicked in and we had power. For about 10 seconds, before it went out again. A few more flickers and the power came back on for good.

I decided to take advantage and watch some tv. No sooner had I turned the tv on, than HB1 appeared for help with his homework. His teacher had assigned 5 exercises today, that are due tomorrow. While we were on the second one, Neighbour came back, to finish his work.

So an hour and a half later, HB1 finally finishes and goes downstairs. I checked Neighbour’s work and we finished the last few tasks. I didn’t actually teach him, so much as tell him the answers, because I was too tired to put in more effort. Once we were done, I went down for a (late) dinner. HM and HB1 worked on his Georgian homework while I ate dinner.

After dinner, I checked my email and did some net surfing. Then I went to bed. All in all a productive and eventful day. Especially considering that I didn’t even leave the village.

Wed. Oct 6 - I love teaching but I hate kids

2010-10-07T22:07:00.001+04:00

My gr. 8s are a fantastic class. I wish I could start every day with them. Of course, when you start with your best class, there’s nowhere to go but down. My twelves were lazy. None of them did the homework and few of them did the in-class assignment. You’d think that the 8 kids who are showing up would be willing to do a little work.

Even still, that was better than my grade 9 class. They were all more than 10 mins late, because their homeroom teacher was meeting with some parents in their class room and they couldn’t get their books. Half of them hadn’t finished the homework and then when we were taking it up, they were arguing with me about the English. Like I don’t know the meanings of words in my native language. When it was finally time to work, no one would settle. Even my better behaved students weren’t on task. We got nothing accomplished and I was supremely frustrated.

The worst thing about my grade 9 class is that it is the only class I have Wed afternoon. If not for that one class, I would be done at 10:45. Since I had to go into Batumi today (returning an overdue library book) being done that early would’ve been nice. And since the only time it wasn’t raining today was during my 2 hour break between classes, I was not thrilled.

The trip into Batumi was uneventful. Bebia flagged down a car for me. I caught the big, yellow bus. It wasn’t full, so I got a seat near the front and the tunnel is open, so there was no detour. I picked up some essentials at Goodwill and made my way to the library to meet Sailor.

On my way to the library, I stopped to inquire about getting some photos printed (I want to frame some pictures of the boys and me to give to HM and HD as a thank you gift). Since I didn’t have the vocabulary to ask, they just printed my pics. They turned out really well and it was cheap. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry when I selected the photos, so two of them are not the ones I wanted. It’s ok, though, because now that I know how quick and easy it is, I’m no longer worried about getting it done in time.

I met Sailor in the library, returned my book and found two other books I wanted. She and I also discussed which Y.A. book would best suit one of her really advanced students, as far as content and English level. We finally found one, checked out our books and were on our way.

Poor Sailor is suffering from the same illness I had last week. Only she hasn’t rested and so it keeps getting worse and worse. Since she was so ill, we decided to head straight home. We caught a marshrutka and while we were waiting for it to leave, I showed her the texts that I had received from the Georgian English teacher that I met on my birthday.

*Sidebar: On the marshrutka going to Batumi for my birthday, I ended up sitting beside a local Georgian English teacher. She was very excited to talk to a native Eng speaker and invited me to her house and to the (private) school where she teaches. She was very persistant and in the week since my birthday I have received 6 phone calls and 3 (very long) text msgs. I arranged to meet her on Sat the 9th with Sailor in tow.*

We got to Sailor’s stop and she texted me when she got home. At my stop, the cab driver who knows me flagged me down (from inside his car because of the rain) and took me home. I had no sooner got home than Mom called and we had a lovely chat.

When I got off the phone with Mom, I went downstairs and was offered food. After I ate, I did a quick vocab lesson with HB1. I think my understood Georgian is increasing as much as his English with these lessons. I know my reading is getting better.

Now it is tv time. And Wed is Veronica Mars night. My plan is to watch Veronica and go to bed.

Tues. Oct, 5 - A blurb

2010-10-07T22:05:00.000+04:00

Yesterday I had a complete relapse of my cold, with the additional fun of running out of tissues. I was using anything I could find to blow my nose with, toilet paper, napkins, bed linens (just kidding on the last one, but it came pretty close). Today I’m feeling better, but still not great. The sniffles are fewer and my throat doesn’t hurt. I do have a bit of a headache, but I’m pretty sure that’s from some loud classes.
I got home from school just in time for "lunch" (which is served anywhere from 1:30-4pm). Nato’s sister-in-law was here with her monster child, but he wasn’t noisy today, just all over the place, so I could deal. Niko has started greeting me by name when he sees me now, and it’s really cute.

Oct. 3 - It's raining, it's pouring

2010-10-03T18:43:00.001+04:00

I am still sick. I was getting better, but being the genius that I am, decided to go into Batumi today. Little did I know, it was pouring rain. I got soaked, and even now that I’m home and dry, my sniffles have not yet retreated. I feel like crap.

Here’s the rundown for the last few days; Thurs I went to school then came home and napped for an hour before eating and reading, Fri I stayed home sick and spent the whole day in and around bed, Sat I did more of the lounging thing and spoke to the home team on the phone. And today I needed supplies and wanted to attend a friend’s birthday gathering, so into Batumi I wandered.

Bebia flagged down a car to take me down the mountain, which means that I didn’t have to wait for the bus. Turns out, it was one of my students and his dad. It was a little awkward, but he was really sweet, so it ended up ok. Thanks to work on the tunnel, my bus took a super-fun (note the sarcasm) detour through the mountains. The road was long and twisty and my bus-ride, which usually takes 25 minutes, took an hour.

By the time I got into town, it was pouring. I ran into Goodwill to pick up my necessities, as well as birthday chocolates for my friend. I left Goodwill for the café and got there just as the sky opened up. I hung out, reading and drinking tea, for a while until Hammer showed up and we chatted about school and stuff.

After Joker and Boston arrived, we were joined by the birthday girl and left for the pizza place. Again the food was pretty good and there were a bunch of people already there waiting for us. After pizza we went back to the café for cake. Then I headed home. No buses were around, so I took a cab (didn’t want to be in the rain any more than I had been).

After I put away my purchases, I was walking through the upstairs tv room and heard a cat meow. When I looked, the cat was curled up on the couch, but he meowed when he saw me, because he knows I will always pet him. So I curled up with the cat and we watched some tv.

About half an hour later when the adults came home, they saw the cat and host mom freaked.
I said that the cat was there when I came home and I didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to be there (though I had suspected). So the cat got shooed out onto the balcony and I went and washed my hands. I don’t know if it’s because he’s outside, but my allergies really kick up with that cat. (Who, by the way, is called cat, just like Cat in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and kinda looks like the Cat in the movie.)

Sept. 29 - Not sick yet

2010-09-29T19:32:00.002+04:00

I’m still exhausted. Stupid virus. In spite of feeling ridiculously tired, I dragged myself to school. This is mostly because I have no other symptoms of illness (except for a scratchy throat). Wed is not a bad day for me, class wise, and I knew that I could get through it. I would probably have been fine, except that on my break between classes, 2 teachers who started English lessons in Kobuleti last night, came in to ask me to help them with their English.

They both had very much energy and the Georgian attitude of "I’m here now. Anything else you were planning to do will have to wait." This isn’t restricted to interactions with foreigners, either, this is culturally pervasive. Planning to go shopping, well, someone stopped by to visit, so you’ll have to change your plans. I can’t get over it and it kinda drives me crazy.

Also this morning, I received a novel of a text message from the Georgian English teacher that I met on the marshrutka on Saturday. She wanted to know when I would be coming to see her school and visit her house. There was a lot of other things too, but most are irrelevant, though she did conclude with, "Everything will be ok. I promise." Which, of course, leads me to believe that I have reason to worry. I mean, if things are actually going to be ok, you don’t need to say so, right?

When I got home, I had a much needed nap. But even an hour of sleep is not very helpful when the dreams are so action-packed. When I woke up, I felt like I hadn’t slept at all. My body did feel more rested though, so I spent about 45 mins helping Achi with his English homework. It’s amazing what he can figure out when you give him enough time and don’t just yell the answers at him.

I’ve read a little and watched some Veronica Mars. With my throat feeling as raw as it is, I’ve tried to avoid talking, though people keep calling me. During one phone conversation I did decide that if I feel this bad tomorrow, I’m not going in to school.

Just checked my e-mail and had the cutest message from Mr.Blue Eyes. God I love that kid. Those few sentences just perked me right up. But at the same time, they made me a little homesick. Moreso than I already was, just from being not-quite-sick.

Sept. 28 - Catching Cold

2010-09-29T19:30:00.002+04:00

I woke up this morning still tired. I’m pretty sure I’m fighting a virus. Benadryl is no longer effective for my sniffles. One thing that happens when I’m feeling like this, is that I slow down a lot. I tried to do a quick blog update, and before I knew it, it was 8:25. I was still in my pj’s and hadn’t eaten breakfast.

I flew downstairs and found HM, Nanny and HB3 in the kitchen. I prepared my muesli and yogurt and sat down to eat. While I was eating, HM gave me a heart shaped jewelry box. She told me that it’s for my birthday. Inside was a really cute pair of earrings. They’re small silver hoops with a little silver ball attached. I really like them, so I took time to put them on before leaving for school.

At school, my first 2 classes whent really well, though the grade 6's were really energetic and wouldn’t settle. They keep wanting to do the punishments that I’ve decided on for when homework isn’t done. And when I kept them past the bell, they were like, "that’s ok, we want to stay." I’m glad that they like English so much, but it’s exhausting.

I told Co-teach that I’m not feeling well, so of course she told everyone. The cafeteria lady told me to drink tea with honey and lemon (this is the first Georgian health advice I’ve heard that makes sense). Co-teach just told me that I can’t get sick, because she doesn’t want to teach alone. And the school director said (in Georgian), "Oh my girl, she can’t be sick." This was after feeling my arm to see if it was cold (because if your body is cold, it means you have a cold) and touching my cheek (I assume she was checking for fever, but who knows).

My two afternoon classes went reasonably well. The ringleaders in 9 weren’t there, so that class was productive. And the grade 8's wouldn’t stop talking, but it’s because they were enthusiastic about the task. I still spoke sharply to them, though because being sick shortens my temper. Who knew?

Sept. 27 - So Weird

2010-09-29T19:22:00.002+04:00

Today was a very weird day. It started out normal, though I didn’t want to get out of bed. In spite of a full night’s sleep, I was exhausted. Anyway, I sucked it up and got to school. Luckily, Monday is the day when I don’t have my 2 worst classes, so things in class went smoothly. While my school day had gone smoothly, this was not the case for my friends. I received calls from Boston, Joker and Sailor about their crappy classes, and misbehaving students.

Just after first period, the director came in and handed me a bunch of roses (cut from a garden) and a box of chocolates, for my birthday. Also for my birthday, Co-teach and another teacher, Photo (because of her obsession with taking pictures), decided to take me into Batumi for dinner. It was a very sweet offer, so I agreed to go.

We left right after school and this is where things started going wrong. First, the other teachers had to sign up for an English class in Kobuleti. So Co-teach and I hung out at the marshrutka stop to wait for them. By the time they were done, only one other teacher was coming to Batumi. This didn’t deter us, though, so we caught a marshrutka and were on our way.

We went to Restaurant Sanapiro (that’s Georgian for beach) right on the coast. The view was lovely and the cameras were brought out. The girls love pictures. They wanted pictures of themselves and me and me with each of them and us in front of the water and in front of the scenery. They took more pictures than you’d believe.

Once the waiter came, the cameras were put away (for a while). I wanted pizza, so we ordered one without meat. I also wanted a ‘gliasse’ (which is the Georgian milkshake) but they didn’t have any. Just once, I’d like to go to a restaurant here where everything that’s on the menu is actually in the restaurant. But I’m not holding my breath. In addition to the pizza, the girls ordered an Adjaran Khajapuri (bread boat with egg and cheese) for each of us.

Of course, after the khajapuri, no one had room for pizza, though we all ate one slice. They were joking about asking to take it with us and I said that in Canada we do that. Apparently, doggy-bags are a no-no in Georgia. As we sat digesting, the waiter brought a beautiful fruit tray out to our table. One of Photo’s relatives works at the restaurant and sent it to us. We picked at the fruit for a while longer and then left.

From the restaurant, we had a lovely view of the port. The girls decided that they wanted a picture on the cruise ship that we could see. When we finished eating, they went to where the cruise ship was loading and using the "visiting foreigner" as an excuse, they tried to talk their way on. Of course the guards said no, because the ship was preparing to leave. So we wandered the dock, taking pictures in front of other boats and the water.

Co-teach and Photo each had an errand to run, so that’s where we headed when we were done with pictures. On the way, Co-teach called her cousin to get us a ride back to Kobuleti. He finished work at six and said he would pick us up, after. Co-teach’s errand was getting a teacher’s book to go with our grade 9 text. Every time she’s tried to buy it before, the store didn’t have it. They still didn’t have it.

Photo’s errand involved trying to return a cell phone that she was having problems with. I couldn’t understand most of what happened, but it took a really long time. I was exhausted and bored, so I called Joker while I waited. He was at the café and entertained me with stories about his day and comments from the others.

When Photo finished yelling at the phone guy (with no results that I could see) we went to check another store for Co-teach’s book. They didn’t have it either, but by this point it was 6:05 and I was hopeful of getting home soon. Silly me, not in Georgia.

We ended up walking back along the coast to "find a bench to sit on". When I asked Co-teach why, her response was, "who knows when he will come". There were no public benches, so we ended up back at the restaurant. Photo spoke to someone and told them that we didn’t want to order. That was fine and we sat down.

About half an hour later, the waitress brought out 3 bowls of ice cream and 3 turkish coffees. They asked if she had the wrong table, but it was for us. Photo’s relative had sent it out again, which was very sweet. While we sat in the restaurant, her husband called a bunch of times, wondering when we would leave. She blamed the delay on me, but was getting more aggravated with Co-teach every minute.

I was completely zoned out, but a noise made me perk my head up. Outside the restaurant a man rode past on a horse (it was more like a pony, but still). I wasn’t sure what I had seen (maybe I’d fallen asleep and was dreaming) but he came past again, the other way and I saw him again. At this point, Co-teach’s cousin finally called, so we were leaving the restaurant.

The pony was still outside. We approached the man and he was selling rides on it. We didn’t want a ride, but of course the girls wanted pictures. So I stood next to the pony while the girls took turns standing next to me.

Then we walked back to where we had to meet Co-teach’s cousin. He finally showed up at 7:37pm and we were on our way back to Kobuleti. He drove like a maniac. I’ve gotten pretty used to the Georgian driving, so unless it’s extreme, nothing phases me. I was terrified. And it wasn’t just the driving. It’s the fact that while the driver was passing a semi-truck with a car coming toward him, his sister (in the front passenger seat) was screaming at him in Georgian and smacking his arm (which was holding the steering wheel). If anyone had endagered us, it was her.

When we got back to Kobuleti, I went with Photo (so that she could prove to her husband that I really exist). They got me home safely, with no new terror. At home, I wanted nothing more than to collapse on my bed for the night, but it wasn’t to be.

I stopped in the kitchen to tell HM that I was home and she told me to sit down. I did and she pulled out HB1’s English book. So we had an English lesson. I hate working with him when she’s there. Every time he stumbles, or stops to think, she gives him the answer. But at the same time she’s pressuring him to get it perfect on the first go. I honestly believe he only made so many mistakes because she was pushing him.

When the lesson devolved into how to use the dictionary, I excused myself and went to bed. I was so tired that I didn’t even stay up for Veronica Mars.

Sept. 26 - Nursing the hangover

2010-09-28T16:53:00.000+04:00

Today started with a giant breakfast courtesy of the Sheraton. They had everything from scrambled eggs to smoked salmon, to a fruit buffet and a million pastries. Since pastry and bread are both very common foods here, I had pancakes with bananas and chocolate sauce. I also had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. I had NO bread and it was fantastic. (Never thought I’d write that, but whaddya know?)

After breaky we went back to the room and hung out until close to check out time. Since Sailor and I both needed to come back toward Kobuleti, we left together. We had an uneventful trip; Sailor made her stop and I got to Kobuleti. The timing was perfect, because there was a bus leaving just as I got there, so I didn’t even have to wait to get up the mountain.

No one was in the house when I got home, so I had a 20 minute nap in the unexpected quiet. Eventually, I woke up, but I was still really tired. I could hear many cousins running around and assumed the family was gathering. I spent the afternoon in my room, reading and expecting to be called any minute for the birthday suphra.

Around 6:30, one of the kids came up to get me for supper. But it was the same as any other Sunday dinner (for which I am grateful). Used to my small stomach, HM offered me cake first, so I had 2 pieces of cake before touching any actual dinner. I made conversation with HM’s sisters-in-law (one of whom had brought the box of assorted cakes) and watched the kids play. I also fed many mosquitoes, so when I finished eating, I retreated to my room (the only mosquito free one in the house).

Mom called and I was chatting with her and Daddy when one of the kids was sent to fetch me, again. I could hear a commotion from outside and assumed that the suphra-ness was beginning. I finished my conversation and headed downstairs.

When I got downstairs, everyone was loitering around out front, so I grabbed a seat and took it all in. My host-aunts were all bustling around and HM’s brother was sitting at the table with 3 other guys. Every once in a while, the men started singing traditional Georgian songs (in 3 part harmony). Within 5 minutes, the aunts had the kids loaded into the van and were saying goodbye, leaving me with Bebia, HM and the men.

They called me over to the table, so I joined them. Two of them spoke a little English and they were excited to get to practice. Once they started talking to me, HM and Bebia both went into the house to deal with my host brothers, leaving me alone with the men (a situation we were warned about during training). They offered me wine, and didn’t mind when I declined, and then sang Happy Birthday to me in 3 part harmony. They continued singing the traditional songs as well.

It was fine, though I feel that one guy was being put forward as a potential Georgian husband. The idea seems to be that I should marry a Georgian man and then stay here forever. I keep telling them that I promised my grandmother that I wouldn’t get married, but it doesn’t help. It’s not just me, either. All of the foreign girls here are being exposed to PGH and the boys are being offered prostitutes. Tell me, how is that fair?

It wasn’t too late when they left and I retreated back upstairs. I was exhausted, so I was in bed by 10:30.

Sept. 25 - The Birthday Extravaganza

2010-09-28T08:08:00.002+04:00

My birthday was spectacular. It started out a little shaky with breakfast, but things quickly picked up. HM made me an Adjaran traditional birthday breakfast of papa, which is flour and water, cooked into a paste, served with butter and sugar. It’s.... well, I ate some. Luckily, they are used to me only eating a small breakfast, so when HM mentioned that there was also cake, I stopped eating the papa "to save room". The cake was delicious. It had a nutty base, and a buttery, creamy topping.

Transportation was, for once, uneventful. I got down the mountain, half walking and half riding with the math teacher from my school. I tried to get the marshrutka to stop and pick up Sailor, but I missed her stop, so she just met me in Batumi.

Since we were so early, we decided just to go to the café and have a drink. I love banana juice. There were some other teachers there, and more showed up while we chatted. Since my birthday party was limited in number (due to the smallish size of the hotel room) most of the people at the café were not invited, so Sailor and I awkwardly excused ourselves to meet Joker (because he cracks me up) at Goodwill.

At Goodwill, we bought mix and we were going to buy snacks, but decided to check out some of the smaller mom and pop shops on our way to the hotel. Also, Joker found a little store near his house that sold alcohol much cheaper than Goodwill, so we headed there with him. Boston met us outside the shop.

Laden down with bags (overnight clothes, plus alcohol and mix) we made our way toward the palace of happiness and wonder that is the Sheraton Batumi. Making one more stop on the way for munchies, we arrived shortly after 3 to check in.

It was all we could do not to squeal with glee when the porter showed us to the room. Somehow we contained ourselves and didn’t start behaving like children until after he had shut the door on his way out. A flurry of picture taking followed and my memory card got full, just as the camera batteries were about to die. So I will be relying on other people's cameras for pics.

After sitting and chatting for a bit, we decided to break out the birthday champagne. We mixed it with peach, banana and pomegranate juices. It was delicious. And, because it was my birthday, Joker kept pouring me stronger drinks than I would usually have. An hour and 3 drinks later, I was feeling very happy. B.C. (she's also Canadian, folks) showed up and had a coulple of drinks while we waited for the others. Hammer (she's from Hamilton) and Pop showed around 6:30. By that point we had devoured the cookies we’d bought and were ready for real food.

Pop had to leave for his host brother’s birthday suphra, but he came with us to the restaurant, first. Just up the street from the Sheraton is a pizza place, with real pizza. They even have real cheese (in addition to Georgian cheese). The seven of us ordered and devoured 2 large and 1 small pizza. It was so good.

After pizza, Pop left, but the six remaining returned to the hotel. I was getting to the sleepy part of being drunk, so Joker and I went straight back to the hotel while everyone else stopped for more snacks and booze.

When the others got back, more drinks were poured and the tv was turned on for background noise. Sailor and Hammer had both brought their computers, so we muted the Russian music videos on tv and listened to a random mix of music, that we chose. Scarlet (as in O'Hara; she's from Atlanta dn it's the best I could do) and Defender (because he said he would fercefully defend any female that he knows) finally showed up around 9ish. About that time, the Turkish satellite channel started showing The Phantom Menace (dubbed, not subtitled), we we talked and drank and listened to music, keeping half an eye on the tv.

It had been a really long time since some of us had seen each other. Between that, the alcohol and the fact that there were 8 of us in one hotel room, things got a little noisy. Security came up and told us that another guest had complained about noise, so we tried to keep it down. About 15 minutes later, the people next to us banged on the wall to quiet us down. Boston and I decided that we needed to get everyone out of the room, so we decided to go to the club in the hotel.

We changed and the girls touched up makeup. As I was shutting the door behind us, security was coming down the hall to our room, but they veered off when they realized that we were leaving. When we got to the club, it was empty. There were literally 20 people in there, max (including us and the staff). The music wasn’t great, but I wanted to dance, so Hammer, Sailor and I hit the floor. We lasted about a song and a half before getting annoyed with the music and heading back to the table. Scarlet was still going strong, but I was done drinking. My tummy wasn’t feeling too hot.

After moving to a corner table with comfier chairs, We all got on the floor, dancing. It was pretty fun, in spite of the crappy music. 3 different times we tried to request something decent, but the dj was apparently a substitute and wouldn’t take requests. Finally, the lame music and being sleepy drove us to leave. We knew we couldn’t go back to the room, so we went to the comfy lobby to hang out for a bit longer. Scarlet and Defender were still ready to party, B.C. was kind of for it. Joker and Hammer were kind of quiet. Boston and I were both really tired and Sailor was also tired, but drunk enough to go out if we had told her to.

After much discussion, B.C. ended up going to the bar with Scarlet and Defender and the rest of us went up to the room to sleep. Boston, Sailor and I shared the bed and Joker and Hammer each slept on the floor. It was a great night.

Sept. 24 - TGIF

2010-09-25T07:32:00.003+04:00

School today was pretty much the same as every other day. Some kids were missing from grade 9, which made it a much more pleasant class to teach. It also turns out that threats of public humiliation are enough to get most 14 year olds to do their homework. Following through on said threats should be enough to get the others falling into line.

On break, Co-teach and I hung out in the cafeteria, as usual. I finally managed to prepare my own coffee cup for a fortune telling session. I didn’t actually want a reading, it was just practice, but Auntie (the cafeteria lady) told me that every time she does a reading for me, she’s going to tell me there is a boy. She’s hoping that eventually, I’ll believe her, marry a Georgian boy and stay here forever. I’m hoping that eventually, she‘ll believe me when I say that it ain’t gonna happen.

Also on break, Co-teach relayed a message to me from the director. Turns out there was another cultural event scheduled for the Kobuleti teachers. This one was in Sopheli Kobuleti (Kobuleti village). I declined, partly because I found out at 10 about an event at 3 and have no means of personal transportation. Sopheli Kobuleti is another mountain village, so I would have to get into Kobuleti proper and then take a cab, or marshrutka, up a different mountain road to the village. And I have to do this at my own expense. So I boycotted. Or, more acurately, I told Co-teach that I didn’t want to go, and she explained to the director in Georgian.

Since I didn’t go to the event, I was home when Neighbour Boy came over for help with his English homework (from private lessons). He was writing a practice version of the exam that they have to pass to get into university. The test was obviously not written by a native English speaker. Many of the questions don’t actually make sense, and one asked for information that wasn’t even in the test. What these kids need is not actually English instruction, but multiple choice test taking instruction.

While we were working on that, Neighbour Boy’s little brother, Monkey (so called because he climbs the fruit trees), brought me some persimmons. Turns out that they’re not bad once they’re actually ripe. I ate one while we worked and Monkey disappeared again. Just as we were finishing, he showed up with pears. They were for the family, but he made a point of giving one to me. I figure he’s trying to suck up, since he’s in my grade 9 class.

I ate dinner with HM and read in the living room while Bebia watched tv. After donating a pint of blood to the mosquitoes, I retreated upstairs. The rest of the evening was spent watching tv, playing on the internet and reading. All in all, a pleasant way to spend a Friday.

Sept. 23 - gossiping in georgian

2010-09-23T22:15:00.004+04:00

Nothing feels quite as good as reaching the satisfying conclusion of an entertaining and well-written novel/ series. At least for me. I just finished the third book in Maria Snyder’s "Glass" trilogy. The bad guys were defeated and the good guys got married and everything worked out alright in the end. Good thing, too, or I’d be really upset that I stayed up until 2am reading last night.

Thanks to my late night, school was...tiring. Today was a 4 class day and there was only one class in which more than half of the students had completed their homework. Since the beginning of lessons are often related to taking up the homework and ensuring understanding, this put a serious crimp in my plans.

By break time, I needed the caffeine jolt from a turkish coffee. After I finished my coffee, I practiced swirling it around, so that it coats the cup in the right way for fortune telling. I need practice, because every time I’ve had my fortune told, Co-teach has done it for me (though I always turn the cup myself, because that’s the critical part).

I didn’t actually want a reading, today, but one of the teachers was joking around and did one for me anyways. It didn’t bother her at all that she doesn’t actually know how to do it. Of course, she told me that I would marry a nice Georgian boy and stay here forever. I’m told this at least 3 times a week.

At least with Co-teach and this other teacher, I know that they are joking. Another woman came in and told me that she has a 29 year old son that I should marry. I don’t think she was joking. Next thing, a teacher came in and told both me and Co-teach that eating many peanuts will make young girls "want a man", so we should be careful. (Usually, we have peanuts with our coffee). But then, since the goal is to get me married, they decided that they would feed me peanuts all the time.

When I got home, I had lunch with HB1. I wasn’t very hungry (after all those peanuts) but I can never resist t’olma (stuffed peppers). I had one pepper and a piece of bread with fig jam. I was just washing up my dishes when Bebia drew my attention to apple sauce on the stove. I told her I would have some later, but she wouldn’t hear of it and gave me a bowl right then. It was delicious. The apples here may not be much for eating plain, but boiled in sauce with a Georgian amount of sugar, they are heavenly.

Pop was supposed to come play, today but the forces of Georgia conspired to keep him home. First, it’s been raining on and off all day. But he’s also not feeling well, so I told him to rest up for my birthday party on Saturday. I’m a little bummed that he didn’t come out, but at the same time, I had a chance to finish my book. And I’m not exactly feeling in top form, myself.

My allergies have come on like gangbusters in the last couple of weeks. I’ve been going through Benadryl like they’re candy. I figure it’s from living out in a village, in a house with an orchard in the backyard. Everywhere I look, there’s nature. And while I love the aesthetics of nature, my sinuses don’t appreciate the realities of nature.

I’ve been trying to be more social in the evenings, before the English tv comes on. So I was downstairs, reading my Stephen King book, when HB1 walked up to me and presented his notebook with a flourish. He was so proud of himself and when I looked, I saw that it was his English book from school. We sat together for about 15 minutes, with me trying to say the Georgian words (while he corrected my pronounciation) and him trying to say the English ones (while I corrected him). It was really cute.

The impromptu lesson ended when HM called me into the kitchen to have roasted chestnuts with her, Nanny (she literally is the nanny) and our neighbour Cute (she's adorable). They chatted and eventually, HM asked me about my birthday on Saturday. She doesn’t actually know the word birthday on its own, but only as part of "Happy birthday to you" the song. I was glad she brought it up, because it was the perfect opening to tell her about the party and that I’m staying in Batumi Saturday. Then she asked me if I’d be home on Sunday, which leads me to believe she’s planning something.

I took my leave of the ladies and had only been upstairs for a couple of minutes, when the two younger women came up to the other room for the internet. They’ve been on there a lot the last couple of weeks. I wonder what they’re doing, but I don’t have the Georgian to ask, and they don’t have the English to answer. I could probably figure out how to say it, but that would require a lot of effort, and I’m not that curious.

Sept. 22 - Hump Day, if only

2010-09-23T22:11:00.002+04:00

I was late going down to breakfast this morning (not that there seems to be any sort of routine), so by the time I got there, everyone was done but Bebia. When I had gotten my cereal and sat down she told me that HD was going away for 10 days. She told me where, but I didn’t understand, and I don’t know enough Georgian to ask her why. I assume it’s for business of some sort.

School was pretty good. Grade 12 had more kids than I’ve seen since last week, but I figure it’s because when I have that class on Monday and Friday, it’s the last class of the day. On Wed it’s period 2. They were really chatty, though, so I made one kid stand at the front, so he couldn’t talk to his neighbours and another kid walked out when I told him to stand at the front as well. I don’t much care. If he doesn’t want to learn, then I don’t want him in my class distracting the others. The grade 9 class was much better than normal, and it’s all because two of the boys were away. It changed the whole complexion of the class. I got my coffee grounds read again. It was pretty much the same stuff as last time.

After school, I had a snack. When I went through the living room, my host brothers were watching either Evil Dead or Evil Dead II. It was hilarious. Every time there was a kissing scene, HB1 changed the channel. He’d flip back and leave it, if the kissing was done, or change it again, if it wasn’t. It made me think of Princess Bride, when Fred Savage doesn’t want to here about the kissing parts. I eventually got fed up trying to hear the English through the Georgian dubbing, so I came upstairs and chatted with Boston and Sailor on the phone. I also watched tv.
Around 7ish I went downstairs to socialize and found the English-speaking neighbour and her sister visiting. So I played nice for a while and then got roped into an English lesson with HB1. While we were having the lesson, HB3 was walking through the room repeating his version of my name. It was really cute.

Sept. 21 - Another Concert

2010-09-22T21:22:00.003+04:00

School today was the same as any other day. The classes are getting better at listening and learning how I do things. Some fun Georgian things I noticed today, our photocopier often doesn’t work and when it does, there is no paper. I also got to sit in on a grade 12 gym class. It consisted of the kids sitting on one bench, chatting, while the teacher sat on another bench (across the volleyball and basketball courts) with me and Co-teach. The students don’t like to do gym, so they don’t. I feel that this is where the boys begin to develop their Georgian male potbellies.

During our break, the director came into the classroom on the phone. She said some things to Co-teach in Georgian and Co-teach looked at me. There was some back and forth between the phone, the director and Co-teach, but eventually, it was relayed to me that there was a concert in Kobuleti for the English teachers. I asked when and the (typically Georgian) answer was, "tonight".

Everything in this country happens "not yet" or "five minutes ago". I immediately texted the other teachers in the area to find out what was going on. None of us got any information, so we arranged to meet at the Resource Center and find out together what was going on.

I left at about 3 to go down the mountain, knowing that the concert was supposed to start at 5. I never know when the buses will come (because they don’t run on a schedule) so I always like to leave extra time. I had no sooner walked out the gate when our neighbour across the street called me (he literally shouted my name) and asked where I was going. When I told him, he said his dad would give me a ride. A couple of houses down we stopped to pick up three teachers from my school who were also going to the ERC, so it worked out really well.

I met the others at the ERC only to find out that we had to go to the marshrutka stand. Luckily it was close and we got there. When a few teachers didn’t show, we called them, only to find out that some of them hadn’t even been told, or had been told, but too late to arrange transport into Kobuleti. Once we had all gethered, we got on the marshrutka and were on our way. To what, we didn’t know, but whe were going.

The concert was not nearly as bad as the last one we went to. It was outside in a field full of trees, too evenly spaced to be natural, but big and old none-the-less. The event was also more like a pep-rally than a concert. The M.C. kept calling for audience participation. Then a female singer performed a couple of Georgian songs. She was followed by a male, who did "People are Strange" and a really old Nickleback song. Then they called us all up on stage and asked us to speak a couple words of Georgian. Those of us who could, said things like, "hello" and "Georgia is beautiful" and "we love Georgia", before scampering off stage. We waited back stage for a while and a male performer sang "Hey Jude" followed by a lot of Georgian songs, but he was really good, so we didn’t mind listening. We got called near the stage one more time to talk to a man who works, in some capacity in the Kobuleti education. He tried to speak a few sentences of English to us and then fell into Russian with Translator (because she can speak Russian with the Georgians).

Since Pop teaches in the north end of Kobuleti, which is where the concert was, a bunch of his students were there. They were right at the front of the stage, waving and shouting. It was really cute. A couple of Sailors’ students were there as well, but they were grade 12's, which meant they were too cool to speak to a teacher in public. While we were hanging out back stage, a bunch of boys from Pop’s school came over to talk to him, though they weren’t actually his students. When I went over to say ‘hey’ a couple of them recognized me and knew what village I live in. A couple of weeks ago, that may have freaked me out, but now I’m used to it.

When we were ready to go, we flagged down a marshrutka, because we couldn’t find the one that brought us out there. We caused it to make many stops on the way through Kobuleti and when most of us got out at the bus station, I think the driver was relieved. We’d been at the concert long enough that I missed the last bus up the mountain, so Sailor and I split a taxi partway. She walked the rest of the way, and I carried on to my house.

At home, I ate. Dinner was a really good eggplant stew-type thing and french fries. Then I came upstairs and turned on the TV while I read another Stephen King short story. I watched Leno and the making of Spartacus, but I had a doozy of a headache, so I was in bed by 10:30.

Sept. 20 - Monday, Monday

2010-09-22T21:21:00.000+04:00

My classes at school today were pretty much the same as any other day. But some things that happened between classes were very typically Georgian. First, during our break, we were sitting in the cafeteria. Three girls came in, while they were supposed to be in P.E. and bought candy, to consume during the remained of their class. Next, we wandered outside to get some fresh air, and happened through a different P.E. class. At first the children were just running all over the place and climbing the soccer nets/basketball hoop poles. Then the teacher lined them all up and brought out a basketball. I was expecting them to play basketball, but nope. The game of the day was dodgeball. It got even more interesting when the 12th grade class decided to play, too.

While this class was happening, the teacher who was supposed to be teaching it, chatted with me and Keti. She invite me to go to Batumi with them. I said sure and then she suggested a trip to Turkey some time. Since I’ve been wanting to go to Turkey, I was all for it, but I had to explain about a Visa. Keti didn’t quite get it, but I explained again, so they’ve decided that we can go in October after we all get paid.

After school, the neighbour across the street, who is one of my students, asked me to help him prepare for his private English lesson that evening. I said sure and he came over with his books. The very first question was an ‘arrange the words to make a sentence’ question and he was stumped. He showed me the word that had stumped him and I laughed. I couldn’t help it, because the word was Val. I explained that it was my name and then he laughed as hard as I did.

On T.V. tonight was Veronica Mars. I almost died of happiness, especially when they started at Season 1, episode 1. I read some more Stephen King and has bizzare dreams all night. I’ve decided no more Stephen King before bed.

Sept. 19 - The weekend

2010-09-19T22:47:00.003+04:00

Yesterday I spent the day in Kobuleti with The Sailor (because she used to work on boats). Before going into the city, though, I had an English lesson with HB1. When we were finished I left and started walking for the city. About halfway down the mountain, HM and HD passed me in the car. They stopped and picked me up and drove me in.

I had a while to kill, waiting for The Sailor, so I walked up the main street looking for a bakery where Kiwi (she's from New Zealand) and I had gotten really good cakes. I walked a long way up and was pretty sure I’d passed the café, but hadn’t seen it. So I turned around, just as The Sailor called me that she was in town.

We met up and then headed into the Kobuleti bizarre area. The Sailor was looking for school supplies and the hunt was on. We stopped in so many little market stalls and shops and none of them had what she was looking for. We did manage to find a 24 pack of Crayola crayons for about 80 cents, though.

After the school supply search fizzled out, we went back to the cake hunt. We finally found the bakery, but it was closed, I’m hoping that it was closed because it was Saturday and not because the tourist season ended. After stopping in at every open café, none of which had cake, we finally found the blessed bakery cooler in a little mini-mart, right by the bus station. The pieces of cake were huge and only cost about 80 cents. Way better than a café. The Sailor and I took our treats around the corner, where we sat on a stoop, in true Georgian style, to wait for Boston (it's where she's from) to arrive.

When Boston finally got there, she got some cake from a market and then we went to a café for a drink. She and I swapped pieces and both were delicious. We all decided to walk home, partly to save money and partly because Sarah wanted to take pictures of the countryside. We made it past The Sailor's turn-off, but then a bus full of teachers from my school went by and stopped to wait for us.

We took the ride back to my house. We had a bit of a snack and then came upstairs. We spent the evening watching English tv. Shows of note include "The Simpsons" and "How I Met Your Mother". At one point, Bebia and HB3 came in, so Boston played with him, while I translated conversation between her and Bebia. When the English tv started sucking, we put music videos on in the background and read our respective books. I got a book of Stephen King short stories out of the library on Friday and they are super messed up.

This morning we were lazy and slept in. Even once we got up, we had breakfast and then continued to lounge around in our pajamas for hours. Since Turk tv doesn’t show English shows during the day, we read our books and put on music videos. I read some of the Stephen King book, but had to switch to something less bizzare. We also discussed the tres exclusive guest list for my birthday party next week. Finally, around 1 we decided to head into Kobuleti to hang with Pop (called because of his habit of randomly singing pop songs mid-convo) . Since there were no buses in sight, we decided to walk down, giving Boston the chance to take more pictures. When we got a little way down, a car saw us and stopped to give us a ride. It was someone from the village, whom I didn’t know, but they greeted me by name, so we crammed into the back seat and made it safely into town.

After a stop for cake, we headed to the beach boulevard to meet Pop. We met up and chatted on the walk back to Pop’s house. His host family served us a ton of food for lunch and then we were all sleepy. We started to walk back toward the bus station, so that Boston could get back to Batumi and I could go home, but we flagged down a marshrutka. It happened to be the same green one that I took on Friday, with the detour and the drunk guy, though today there was neither of those things. Turns out, Pop knows the driver. I got them to stop at the station and took a taxi home, because I’m too impatient to wait for the bus.

At home, I read and napped a little and was then called downstairs. I got there in time to eat some roasted chestnuts with HM and Bebia. The chestnuts are cool, because they grow inside these spiky green balls, which get left all over the roadsides under the chestnut trees. I helped HB1 through his English homework and now I’m hanging out upstairs watching Cold Case, Big Bang Theory and Doctor Who.

P.S. We also finally figured out that the herb that they put in everything is coriander. Turns out I don’t like coriander. At all. I can’t wait to eat food without dill or coriander.

Note on Names

2010-09-19T22:47:00.000+04:00

When I started writing the Georgian section of this blog, I called people by their first initials, to preserve privacy. Unfortunately, many names start with the same letters, causing some confusion. From here on, I'll be calling my friends by fictional names, thus avaiding the confusion of initials.

Sept. 17 - TGIF

2010-09-17T21:59:00.000+04:00

Finally, Friday. Lessons today went well. K and I are working well. Our school has no computer paper, because the store was closed when they tried to buy it. It’s a little frustrating, because we can’t get enough copies of things for our whole class. But the kids are settling in and since the village is so small, everyone now knows that I am very strict.

On our break today, K and I went to the cafeteria, which is the size of a classroom with a cooler, a hot plate and 3 little tables. The cafeteria ladies are K’s aunt and cousin. A big social thing here is the drinking of Turkish coffe. It’s really strong and served in tiny little cups. Because of the way it is made, each cup ends up with grounds in it. You can read the grounds that are left in your cup, as a means of fortune telling. K’s aunt is one of the people who can do this and she offered to read mine. I find it really funny, but I’m still not going to tell anyone what she said, because then it might not come true.

Our last class of the day was grade 12. Since it was a beautiful day and no one takes attendance, we only had six of our 17 year olds in class. Of course, I live on the main street from the school, so all the students walk around me on my way to and from work.

I decided to go to Batumi when I finished, so after a quick change of clothes, I went out to wait for the bus. One of the teachers told me not to wait where I was, so I walked down the street with her. Then waited for a bus near the stop. I got tired of waiting, so I flagged down a cab, When we got to the bus station, I tried to pay him, but he wouldn’t let me, cuz I think he wasn’t actually a cab. Then a bunch of my grade 12 students were hanging out there and watched me while I was trying to flag down a marshrutka.

One finally approached me to tell me that there was a marshrutka waiting at the corner, which I knew, but I don’t like those ones, because you have to wait a long time. But I got sick of being stared at by my students, so I went over. I arranged things with the driver and went to get in. But he wouldn’t let me get into the back with everyone else, he made me sit up front, which was fine. When we got underway, we didn’t head toward Batumi, but back into Kobuletti. We did a circuit of the main road and came back to stop in exactly the same spot we started from. At this point, I’ve been on the marshrutka for a half hour and gotten nowhere. We finally got going (in the right direction) and the drunk guy next to me started asking me questions in Georgian. When I couldn’t answer satisfactorily, he started talking across me to the driver. At one point I think he asked me to marry him, of course it was in Georgian, so he couldd’ve been proposing something else all together. He got off partway and the rest of the ride was fine.

I met Alexis at the library, and finally got my card. The selection isn’t great, but I found a book of Stephen King short stories that’ll probably be good. I just miss holding a real book. From there we moved on to the Lit café (surprise, surprise).

S joined us, followed by W and A (lives in Chakvi). We ordered pizza (made with Georgian cheese, but sans mayo) and cake. The guys and S were going to a movie at the film festival, but A and I didn’t stay because it was pretty late. We made it home with no random transportation mishaps, though I missed the last bus up the mountain and had to take a taxi.

I wanted to escape upstairs when I got home because there are about 6 screaming kids running around here. Just after I got settled, HM arrived home with two of her sisters-in-law. Food was produced and I went down to eat. Trying to watch Gossip Girl was a trial, due to the aforementioned screaming children and the fact that one decided to play the piano in the room next to mine without shutting the door.

However, the children are gone now and things are peaceful once more.

Sept. 16 - Trying to reclaim sanity

2010-09-17T08:32:00.001+04:00

The power was still out this morning when I woke up. I’m getting used to it, but it meant that I couldn’t go online to get help for my e-reader (thanks to the super short battery life of my laptop). I gave up on that for the time being and just got ready for school.

I was there before 9, but the students weren’t, so school actually started at 9:10. Today we had the three classes that we didn’t see yesterday and the Grade 9 class for the second time. They are my least favourite class. There are 21 students (the largest class I have) and half of them are boys who don’t want to be there. The biggest problem is that they talk all the time and I can’t hear the person I’m trying to listen to. I’ve decided to bring in my book of nursery rhymes and fairy tales and making them read in front of the class every time they interrupt a lesson.

After school, I went over the wall. I could not stay in the village for another afternoon. So I waited half an hour for the bus and went into Batumi. I was supposed to meet W at the café, but he decided to go to Turkey with S and K. Everything worked out, cuz I met C (Vancouver) and F (South Africa) there instead and then F showed me the library.

My bus ride home was an adventure. First, we went the opposite way when we left the station. Then we drove through this random, back-alley market in Kobuleti, where we stopped so that a woman and her market stand could get on. While we were stopped another woman got off, so we waited for her. Under way again, we only made it a couple blocks more when we stopped again to let a cop get on (I would’ve stopped for the cop, too). Finally, using random side roads, we made it back to the main street and started up the mountain, but all of the extra stops and detours took 20 minutes. Normally, it takes 5 to go from the station to my house.

Since A (NYC) often gets into random situations on public transit, I texted her each time something bizzare happened. She called me just as I got home and we chatted for an hour. But now I have to go get something to eat, so I don’t miss my nightly instalment of Gossip Girl.

XOXO

Sept. 15 - First day of school

2010-09-17T08:29:00.002+04:00

The last few days have been super lame. Yesterday it was pouring down rain and I went to school because K asked me to. I figured we’d be doing our last minute prep for classes starting Wed. But no. She wanted me to meet one of her students, which I did. However, the student was so nervous, that she didn’t even speak to me, except to say goodbye at the end. We literally did nothing else, so I left around 12. I made it home and read a book and talked on the phone all afternoon, because it literally rained all day.

Today was the first day kids were at school. There was an assembly in the morning where the director spoke and then some kids said some poems. Culturally, they show no respect to performers. Even when the director was speaking, everyone was talking to each other and pretty much ignoring her. This worked for me, because it meant that when she called me to the front to introduce me, no one was paying attention. But this trend carries over into classes and it’s really frustrating when all Georgian buildings have terrible accoustics. Wanna hear a whisper from 3 rooms away, you’re in the right place. Want to hear what the person in front of you just said, better luck next time.

Since the assembly ran for 45 minutes, the entire school day was pushed back by 45 mins. No shortening classes to fit a school day, here. They lengthen the school day, so students always have all of their classes. It’s super annoying when I’m supposed to be done by 1:45 and don’t get out until 2:30.

Also, because of the flexible nature of the school day, there’s no timetable. We have a schedule, but we don’t know what time 4th period starts. We have to listen for the bells. It’s a pain in the ass for the days we have double spare and I need to run home (not that that will be happening now, but I’d kinda hoped....)

Back at home I interneted and read some in the afternoon. I spent a lot of time on the phone with W, K (not my co-teacher) and S. We all rehashed our first days and the more I hear, the more I realize how lucky I am, in my school. My teacher is a good teacher who is open to my ideas and doesn’t just teach from the textbook.

But, they were all hanging out in the city, (W and S in Batumi and K in Kobuleti) while I’m stuck up on the mountain. I realized that I haven’t left the village since Borjomi on Sunday and that’s the reason that I’m going a little stir crazy. It doesn’t help that my e-reader was acting funky and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. The power went out at about 10:30, so I packed everything up and went to bed.

Sept. 13 - English TV.

2010-09-13T22:15:00.002+04:00

The most notable thing about today is that I discovered a European NBC channel that is showing English tv with sub-titles, not dubbed. And I think it's showing pretty current stuff. The ep of Gossip Girl that I watched seemed pretty new. Of course the Merlin mini-series is old and they were advertising Veronica Mars, but c'mon - Veronica Mars. I don't care if it's not new, I'm there. Especially since the entire commercial consisted of Veronica and Logan moments. It was the best thing I've seen in a month.

School was the same as every other day. K texted, so we didn't meet until 11. I went, I sat, I talked to K about some general lesson plans and we left by 12:30. I talked on the phone to some people, wrote a little, read a little. Had dinner around 8:45 and then found English tv. All in all, a super-fun, exciting day. And it looks to be repeated tomorrow.

Sept. 12, - Getting home

2010-09-13T08:40:00.002+04:00

This morning, I woke up at my regular time, but I was very cozy in my bed, so instead of getting up, I decided to read in bed. I heard W get up and take a cup of coffee to the balcony. We were taking it easy, since our marsrutka didn’t leave until 11:30. At about 8:15 there was a knock on the door. It was the receptionist to whom we’d spoken about the marshrutka. She told us that we needed to buy tickets from the station. So I thanked her and told S and W.

Since W was the closest to dressed, he went down to the desk for more info. The woman called him a cab and he went to buy our tickets. When he got to the station, the only marshrutka coming back to Batumi was leaving at 9am. So he called us and we took the phone down to the receptionist, who spoke to the driver. At this time it was 8:30.

So we were flying around, getting ready and packing as quickly as we could. At 8:50 we checked out and went outside to wait. At 9:05 the same receptionist told us to wait on the other side of the street. So we cross and at 9:10 some random guy comes to take us to the marshrutka stand. We get there and are told which seats we’re allowed to sit in. And, of course there aren’t 3 together. So S and I sat near the open window at the back (b/c she gets motion sick, too) and W sat up front.

At first we entertained ourselves with sending random TGS-related texts. After a while, S and I each took our motion sickness meds and retreated to mp3 player-land. There were many stops; some for peeing, some for puking (not us) and some to let people off. Even still, it was a faster trip than the one to Borjomi. This time, I got off when the marsrutka came through Kobuleti.

And now a game of "Fortunately, Unfortunately"

Fortunately, there was a bus to my village waiting, when I got to the station. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ready to go any time soon. Fortunately, I had my e-reader with me. Unfortunately, I finished my book before the bus left. Fortunately, the bus was ready to go soon after. Unfortunately, the bus turned down one of the roads that doesn’t lead to my house. Fortunately, I realized right away and didn’t have too long of a walk home.

I arrived at home just before HM cleared lunch, so I had something to eat and then went for a swim. Compared to Borjomi, it is tropical here. After my swim, I retreated to my room to write until dinner. The extended family is here (as they often are on Sundays) so we had bbq bird for dinner. And these birds were small. Apparently they’re the ones hunted in the area, but no one could tell me in English what they were. I took one to be polite (but didn’t eat it) and then filled up on bread and the veggie dish. The cat was very appreciative of my leftovers.

After dinner, I Skyped home for a bit, but my computer overheated mid-conversation (stupid dinosaur). Since I had to let it cool down, I went out to play Joker with the kids. Joker's ok, but it's a really long game. Played with children, it takes for-freaking-ever. The older kids weren't bad, but HB2 was not paying attention and driving me crazy. I have so much sympathy for Grandpa, now that I understand his frustration.

Sept. 11 - Spa Day!

2010-09-13T08:36:00.001+04:00

Upon our arrival, we received a "suggested schedule for the day" which basically listed meal times and suggested activities and treatments guests may try between meals. The schedule started at 8, with breakfast beginning at 9. Since W and I are both morning people, we were up and went down to the Medical center to see what we could get done. We couldn’t do anything before breakfast and none of the 8 different massages that were listed were available at all. Nothing started before 10. So we went back to the room and hung out on the balcony until we woke S for breakfast.

After breakfast we went back to the med center to see about getting pampered. I booked a mud bath and a "hydrotherapy pearl bath". S got the same and W got the mud bath and colon cleansing (it’s exactly what it sounds like).

My mud bath was interesting. There’s a tub and the technician turns the tap and watery mud fills the tub. Then you get naked and climb in (if you’re lucky, the tech leaves - sometimes, she doesn’t). I was in the tub for about 10 mins. when the tech comes in and does something and the mud starts to slosh. I thought at first that she’d pulled the plug, but the level stayed constant, it just moved in waves. After 10 mins of waves, she came back and pulled the plug, telling me in Georgian to wait there. She left again, neglecting to close the door behind her. Gradually, the mud drains and I am becoming more and more exposed. By the time the tech came back I was curled in a ball trying to preserve my modesty. She turned on the showerhead and stood beside the tub (where I’m still naked), waiting for the water to run warm. When it did, she gave it to me and left again. I rinsed, toweled and dressed faster than I ever have before.

Poor S was more exposed than I was. During her shower, a guest wandered in to check out the facilities, while she was standing in the tub, naked. But since this is Georgia and they have no sense of personal space, no one but S saw anything wrong with that. W had heard both mine and Sarah’s stories before going in for his mud bath, but apparently, Georgian women are only comfortable with female nudity. The technician filled the tub for him and left, only coming back to pull the plug. When she did pull the plug, she showed him the showerhead and ran out of the room, never to return.

My next procedure was the pearl bath. Essentially, this consisted of my lying (naked, again) in a tub, while the technician used a high pressure hose to give me a massage. It sounds weird, but it was kinda cool (once I got over the naked part). It really worked my muscles, but because there was no rubbing, my skin didn’t chafe and I wasn’t covered in sticky oil at the end. For this one, S’s experience was pretty much exactly the same as mine.

Since I was done first, I went back to the room to shower while the others finished. Then we hung out watching videos until lunch. After lunch, we asked at the desk about a marshrutka home on Sunday and we were told that it would come at 9am (before breakfast) so W and I walked to the little store for breakfast supplies, while S had a nap. When we got back we asked the receptionist about the marshrutka again and she told us that it would come pick us up at 11:30. We went back to the room, told Sarah the news, finished our TGS marathon, watched some more videos and a soccer game until dinner.

After dinner we went into the city to explore. We all took our cameras and got many pics of each other wandering the streets of Borjomi. Most of the stores were closed, but there is a big bridge that is lit up at night. We goofed around taking pics of each other with city statues and cool streetlights and stuff. It was kinda chilly, so we headed back to the hotel, where a bottle of champagne was chilling.

Back in our room, we all put on the complimentary hotel robes and slippers. We turned on the video channel, which happened to be having a sing-along hour to some great music. So we partied in our robes, drinking champagne and strawberry juice, alternating between music videos on the tv and other youtube videos.

Sept. 10 - Let the Weekend begin

2010-09-13T08:33:00.001+04:00

Today’s the day. Off to Borjomi for the weekend with S and W. We had agreed to get an early start, so I was out my door by 8:55. Good thing too, because W called as I was getting into Batumi to tell me that the only marshrutka leaving for Borjomi was going at 10. It was stressful, but we made it on time (because in Georgia ‘leaving at 10' means sometime around 10:15 if everyone’s here we might think about going).

The marshrutka itself was packed. The driver actually pulled out a little folding stool to put in the aisle and there still weren’t enough seats for everyone. I lucked out and got a window seat, with S beside me, but both she and W ended up with people falling asleep on them. S was actually beside the aisle, so the kids on the stool were using her as a backrest. Not the most fun way to travel, but we got there.

In Borjomi, we found our hotel "Borjomi Kheobi" with no trouble. We had a little difficulty figuring out which door to enter once we got there, but a nice gentleman led us to the reception desk. It’s a medical clinic/ health spa, as well, so you can enter both of those buildings from the outside. The hotel is built upwards, but the buildings are joined at the first or second floor. Our room was on the third floor and the restaurant is on the fourth. We had to go down to the second floor and across to a different building before going back up to the fourth floor to reach the restaurant. It definitely helped work up an appetite.

Before dinner, we went for a walk up the street, just to explore and stretch a bit. We found a little store with loads of food and candy and alcohol. We all bought snacks and drinks. Back at the hotel, S wanted a nap, so W and I went to the "pool". Before we could go in, we had to get our skin checked for communicable diseases at the medical centre. It’s a "medicinal" sulphur pool and is about 1' deep. There was a small section that was maybe 3' deep, but I didn’t go in that part, cuz it was quite cold. Borjomi is in the mountains, so the weather was much chillier than at the coast.

When we’d both had enough of the pool, we went and woke S for dinner. The restaurant was playing our soap, so S and I were happy. The food was quite good, as well. It was all very Georgian, but still tasty. And there was milk with the tea. I haven’t had tea with milk and sugar since coming to my host family! After dinner we went back to the room and just chilled for the rest of the evening. We found a Russian music video channel that was playing some pretty decent American music, so we watched that. We also made use of the wireless connection to watch some Teen Girl Squad, until my computer decided it was done working and I had to shut it down.

Photos!!

2010-09-11T13:22:00.002+04:00

I've finally had the chance to upload some photos onto facebook. Here's the link for those of you who don't have a facebook account.

Sept. 9

2010-09-09T19:07:00.002+04:00

Yesterday was a gross, rainy day. I trudged up the mountain to school, because we were supposed to go to school with the director, but after 2 hours of waiting, she told us that we weren’t going. So I trudged home in the rain and read a book.

Today, K and I managed to successfully complete the Batumi mission. Of course, being Georgia, it didn’t work out quite the way I’d expected. First, A happened to also be on her way to Batumi, so she met up with us before we got under way. Then, K wanted a haircut. I figured we’d do school stuff first and then other stuff. Nope. Haircut first, where the power went out while K was mid blow dry. It eventually came back and we made it to the school supplies store.

Surprise number two, the store actually had posters. There were a few good ones, but most were about bizzare, obscure grammatical points. And they didn’t have an alphabet. But partial success is better than no success. Since everything was being paid for by the school, we weren’t allowed to take it with us. The school has to pay first.

By the time we finished at the supply store, it was 2pm and we were hungry. W was already at the café with K (Mississippi), so we headed in that direction for lunch. I had a salad. Not a Georgian salad, but actual leafy greens. It was delicious. As was the black forest cake I had for dessert. While we ate, D (older lady) and A (Poland) were passing by and D told us about a store around the corner where she’d found Peanut Butter (those are intentional capitals). K and I decided to head back, while the others went on a peanut butter mission.

My whole point of coming home early was to break the news to HM about my weekend trip to Borjomi, but she wasn’t here. She and HD are with HB1 and Bebia in Batumi. I also needed to hang my laundry to dry, so that I have clean clothes to pack for the trip.

Sept. 7 - Playing hooky

2010-09-08T07:59:00.003+04:00

I wasn’t the only one who got to play hooky today. W got the day off and E (from NZ) decided that she wasn’t going in either. The more I hear, the more it seems that I’m the only one of us who has a co-teacher who’s willing to let me participate in the planning part of this program. Even if we don’t get as much done as I’d like, I know that I’m actually useful and not superfluous like many of my collegues.

So with the whole day stretching ahead of me, I was lazy in the morning. I checked my e-mail and updated the blog. While I was working Bebia came in my room to tell me that the family was going to Batumi. I thought she’d just meant for the day, but it’s 10pm and they’re still not back yet. Now, I figure that they’re staying with my HU. Sure is quiet, though.

Once I had myself up and moving, I headed into Kobuleti to meet E. I was hoping to take the bus down the mountain right to the resource centre (ERC), where we were meeting. However, as often happens in Georgia, plans changed. There was no bus in sight (in spite of me waiting over 40 minutes), so finally one of the neighbours came out and flagged down a passing car to take me to the bus station. It seems that this is an acceptable way to travel, here.

From the bus station it’s about a 20 minute walk to the ERC, but I met J (he runs marathons) on my way and he decided to join me and E on our adventures. First, we did some recon on the building with the "Cinema" sign on the outside. There is no other signage and all six doors that we tried were locked. So it looks like the cinema really is just for show. Then we met E and headed into Batumi. Sadly, both K and A declined our invitations to join the fun.

In Batumi we walked along the coast a way I’d never been before. There was a huge cruise ship in harbour and we toyed with the idea of just getting on and going where-ever it would take us, but the others were stopped by their lack of passports, and I didn’t want to go alone, so we kept walking. Gradually we meandered our way around to the Lit café, where we hung out eating cake until W joined us.

We all chatted for a while, before time began to press in. My goal for the day had been to get a haircut, so I left money for my bill and got ready to go. W also needed a haircut, so he came with me (to the salon beside the café). The woman who greeted us was really nice and through a combination of my Georgian and gestures, we came to an understanding. I got a shampoo, trim and blow dry for 10 Lari. (For those of you counting dollars, it’s a little more than $5) And I’m really happy with the results. W’s buzz cut looked good too.

When the hair was finished, I headed back to the coffee shop and our small group had expanded by three. In addition to J, E and W (whose hair was finished before mine) I found C (Utah), I (Phillipines) and D (older lady from U.S.). I squeezed in on the couch and we all had a good visit.
We split up when some people were making their ways home and I ended up by myself hunting for the electronics store, because I feel it may be time to replace lappy. They didn’t have what I wanted, so I made my way back to the marshrutka stand and then home. I did pay for a taxi to get back up the mountain today, because I didn’t want to wait for an hour to ride a bus that already had 4 or 5 small children on it.

Sept. 6 - Daily Life

2010-09-07T08:32:00.001+04:00

Georgian Maybe Time (GMT) is the bane of my existence. I got a text this morning, telling me that my co-teacher wouldn’t be at school until 11. That’s fine, I show up at 11 and she’s 10 minutes late (as usual). So we get into our classroom and the school director comes in, wanting to know when we are going to get the supplies we need from Batumi. They talk for a good 10 or 15 minutes and the director leaves. Then K sits down and says, "Ok, first a break and then we will get to work." But what was she taking a break from. We hadn’t done anything yet. So we finally get to lesson planning, which I manage to gear to 1 class at a time. We do 5 plans for the gr.6 class and K decides she’s tired and that we were done for the day. It was 12:45. We hadn’t even been working for 2 hours.

With the rest of my day free, I came home, read a book. Talked to some people. Went for a swim, but the water was chilly enough that I actually had to swim to keep warm, so I that didn’t last long. For dinner we had a chili-type dish and the worst peirogies I’ve ever had. Even though I don’t like chili at home, I loved it here, just because it was finally familiar flavors. The pierogies looked good, but they were filled with Georgian cheese, not cheddar and potatoes as I had hoped.
After dinner I tried to do the social thing with my family. I was doing really well too. The boys wanted to play Joker, so HD, HB1, HB2 and I played. The guy from across the street came over and was helping me, so I was actually winning. But then HM came out and took me visiting to a neighbour’s house in the middle of the game. I hate visiting. I don’t know these people, I don’t know the language and I end up sitting there, being told to eat, while everyone talks around me in Georgian. Good Times. Although, at this particular visit there was fruit juice (with real fruit in the glasses) and grape pudding, which wasn’t my favourite, but was still interesting.

Sept. 5 - It's the (not long) Weekend!

2010-09-06T08:14:00.003+04:00

Wasn’t really sure what would happen Friday at school, since our mission on Thursday was such a bust. It turned out alright, though. We actually started talking about lesson plans, and the format that Keti uses. We actually planned the first couple of classes for each grade. My only complaint is that Keti is a little disorganized and her thoughts are all over the place. One minute we were working on one grade and the next we were talking about lesson plans for 2 other grades. Add that to the communication barrier, and I was pretty confused.

After school, I spent the afternoon socializing with the family. I learned another new card game from Bebia. Of course, it took a while for me to understand how points were scored and I don’t know what it’s called, but I had fun anyway. I spent the evening on the phone with S and W, trying to plan a weekend excursion to Borjomi, a town famous for it’s mineral water. By the time we ironed out the details, it was too late to book anything, so we’re gonna put off the trip until next weekend.

I spent most of Saturday sitting in Literaturuli Cafe with W and S. I got into Batumi around 11, and W and I hung out in the café until S showed up around one. We stayed there for another couple of hours and then walked up to the boulevard by the sea. The waves were huge and no one was swimming but I couldn’t resist. They almost killed me trying to get out (not literally). At one point, the water was at my ankes when the waves were out and over my head as they came in. It was awesome.

Before we could leave the beach, I needed to dry off and rest for a bit. So we sat and chatted and threw rocks into the water. W threw one that bounced back and almost hit S in the face, but she dodged it and we didn’t stop throwing rocks. Eventually, we were bored, so we headed back to the café for cake.

S came back to Kvirike with me for a sleepover. We ate with the family and then watched crazy European music videos on rebel tv, before turning in to bed.

Today we went back to Batumi, but only after a breakfast of (broken) eggs over-easy. I love that my family will now let me cook. We lazed around here for a few hours, so it was late when we were finally under way. Luckily, when HM found out we were going, she went out to the road and flagged down a car to take us down the mountain, so we didn’t have to wait for the bus.

We met W and Si (our 3rd roommate in Kutaisi) in the city and headed to the café. There was already a huge group of English teachers gathered there. It was almost too much. It was really hard to carry on a conversation with everyone and the tables weren’t arranged well for smaller groups. A bunch of people left, leaving me, S, W, Si and K (the girl who speaks Russian).

With it being a Sunday, I didn’t know how late the buses would run back to Kvirike, so I left around 5. I got back around 5:30 and was recognized by the bank of taxi drivers at the station. As soon as I got off the marshrutka, they were all like, "Kvirike, kho?" (Kvirike, yes?). Then one took me over to the Kvirike bus, where I found out that it didn’t leave til 7. So I wandered around for a bit before deciding just to wait on the bus and study some Georgian. About 2 minutes in, my phone rang and it was Mom. We talked for a while and she put Daddy on and we talked until the bus was leaving.

I made it home in time to eat (and drink) with my HD. Everyone was very impressed because for the first time, I drank down to the bottom of my glass of wine. One of the things o the table was chicken stomachs. I had already taken one when my HM told me what they were and I didn’t want to put it back in the pot, so I cut it up and fed it piece by piece to the cat. I am definitely his favourite person.

A weird thing just happened. As I was typing this, Bebia came into my room (the door was open), sat on my bed, and looked at me. So I tried to explain what I’m doing, but my phrasebook doesn’t include the word diary or journal. I ended up saying that I write my day, but I think she got it. Then I told her that right now I write for me, but later it will go on the internet for my family to read. Then she wanted to know about my family and when we got through that, she stared at me again. I felt rude, but I went back to my writing, because I didn’t have anything else to say. Eventually, she said good night and left.

Sept. 3 - Batumi, not what I expected

2010-09-03T12:50:00.003+04:00

Yesterday was school supply shopping day. So at 10am I show up at the school to meet K, who finally shows up at 10:25. Then we go to meet a bus, which ends up being random guys driving into Kobuleti who have room for two more people in their car. Regardless, we get to the station safely and catch a marshrutka into Batumi.
We found the bookstore we were looking for. The door was open and people were inside, but they had just received an order and were not letting customers in. K talked to the proprietors and found out that they have everything we want, but we couldn't buy it then. We have to go back later.
Since business was finished by 11:30, we walked to a cafe where we had the Georgian equivalent of a milkshake. It was cold, frothy, milk (which may o r may not have had ice cream in it) and it was perfect for such a hot day. M (the girl from Toronto) and D (Portland) met us at the cafe. When K had to go to an appointment, I hung out with the girls.
We wandered for a while, until M had to go meet her host mom. D and I continued our wandering until K called me to meet again. We were just discussing where to meet when E (from San Fran) got out of a cab. I arranged to meet K and chatted with E for a bit. While we were talking, two other teachers were coming down the street. The four of them went into the cafe and I went to meet K.
Since K had no other plans, we went back to the cafe and I introduced her to all of the teachers. I had tea and she had Turkish coffee. We were still enjoying our drinks when 2 more teachers came in. They stopped by to say 'hi', but our table was full, so they went to sit by themselves.
I came home and gave HB1 an English lesson and then listened to the rain fall. I ended up reading by flashlight, because our power went out and the clouds made it dark earlier than usual.

Comments

2010-09-02T08:36:00.002+04:00

Hey guys. I wanted to thank you all for the lovely comments. Just a reminder, though, EVERYONE can view your comments, they are not sent to only me. Please keep this in mind when deciding what to write (for your own sakes as well as mine).

Sept 1 - First day

2010-09-02T08:34:00.002+04:00

For starters, yesterday I did nothing. I stayed at home, read some books and played on the internet. I managed to order some new online books, so my life is complete. The whole family went into Batumi for the afternoon, but I didn’t want to go, so I had hours of uninterrupted me time. It was fantastic.
The only thing of note was that after the family got home, it was dinner time. And when I went down, I got to cook my own eggs!!! Bebia was in the kitchen and she let me cook. It’s the first time since I got here that I’ve had an egg cooked over-easy. They only do them sunny side up. Bebia looked at me like I was crazy when I didn’t put the lid on, and then like I was really crazy when I flipped them over, but I don’t care. They were the best tasting eggs ever.
Today was the first day of school. For the teachers, not the kids. I guess at most schools they had meetings, but mine didn’t even have that. Everyone just kind of hung out, socializing (in Georgian, of course). I’d been at the school for over an hour before my co-teacher even showed up.
And an hour is plenty of time for a round of stare-at-the-foreigner. They also managed to laugh at everything I said in Georgian and find out my age, what I eat and my marital status. None of which was asked of me directly, but came from the assistant director who is my neighbour. It was really uncomfortable.
Finally, K (my co-teacher) arrived and we got to see our classroom. She also provided me with the textbooks that we’ll be using. I found out all sorts of good stuff about how many classes we’ll teach in a week (18) and what time school starts (9 or 9:30, it depends [on what, I don’t know]). Also, since we have no visual aids, or posters for our class, we are going school supply shopping in Batumi tomorrow. I’m very excited.
The worst thing about being at school is the heat. It’s 40 C here and we’re all dying. When I got home from school, I had lunch and watched the telanovela that I love. Around 3 I went out to the pool, where I spent a couple of hours. I’d jump in to cool off, swimm around a little and then lounge on a beach chair in the shade with my Kobo. When I got too warm I’d do it all over again.
Just when I was thinking about coming inside, the family was going to the sea. So I went too. It was super windy and the waves were awsome. I spent the whole time swimming against the current. I’d swim out pretty far and then let the waves bring me back in. I had to be careful, though, cuz current kept pushing me down the beach away from where the HF was.
Had some dinner when we got home. Bebia makes these stuffed peppers called t’olma. They are my favourite Georgian food. Even cold they’re ok. After washing my dishes, I gave HB1 (the oldest) an English lesson. It was a little annoying. HM wants him to learn this stuff, but if she was anywhere nearby when I asked a question, she answered it for him. And her English is better than HB1’s, but it’s not good enough for me to explain that the best way to help her kid learn is to back the hell off. From now on, lessons are going to be in the upstairs sitting room, where no one else goes.

Aug. 30 - The Mexican Adventure

2010-09-02T08:29:00.002+04:00

Today I woke up around 8:30. I was still really tired, but couldn’t get comfortable on my strip of bed, so I got up, leaving A and S asleep. I used the quiet time to check my e-mail and update facebook. I was in the process of updating the blog when A woke up. She joined me in the sitting room and read a book while I finished up with the computer. It was almost 10 when S dragged herself from bed.
Before heading down to breakfast, we chatted a bit. Eventually, we got tired of gossiping and decided to eat. The girls were enthralled with pb and honey on bread for breakfast. I like it too, but I would love a bowl of Mini Wheats. Since no one was around, we actually got to tidy up and do our own dishes, before coming back upstairs.
S and I decided that A needed to see rebel tv, so we hunkered down in our pj’s to watch. Today’s selection was even more odd than yesterdays. There was a gothic/ satanic 80's-style pop video by an artist called Goldfrapp and an interesting commentary on socialites (like Paris Hilton) by Amy MacDonald (I think). There was also the weird Polish clown video. Again. Once they started repeating videos, we decided to go to the pool.
At the pool, we swam a little, gossiped a little and got to talking about food that we miss from home. Since there is a Mexican restaurant in Batumi, we decided to go there. Mission accepted, we changed and got ready to go.
By the time we got to Kobuleti, A had decided to bail, but S and I were still going strong. On the marshrutka to Batumi, we texted everyone in the area to come, but W was the only taker. While we waited to meet him, we went into the Goodwill, where I bought peach tea and chocolate, strawberry Special K. I am very excited.
Once we had collected W, the three of us found a cab to go to the restaurant. Of course, the cabbie had no idea where it was, because he couldn’t read the English-written address in the guidebook. So before we could go he asked several of his friends if they knew the way. Finally I tried to pronounce the street name and they understood that, so we were underway.
Actually finding the restaurant was another adventure. None of the buildings were numbered, and we couldn’t see the restaurant name anywhere. The cabby randomly pulled over and stopped 3 different times to get out and ask at businesses if they knew where this restaurant was. Finally W remembered that our guidebook had a phone number for the place. So we called and had the cabby talk to the people. Luckily we were close enough that we could get out and walk. Turns out the Azteca is inside a hotel called Marina, which is the only name on the sign.
We should have taken how difficult it was to get there as a sign, but we didn’t. We’d come for Mexican food and by God we were going to get Mexican food. And we did. Kind of. What we got was Mexican food, Georgian-style.
First off, the menu was in Georgian and Russian. No English. Our waiter spoke barely more English than I speak Georgian (and I was the most fluent one there). Out of the entire 8 page menu, 1 page and 1 salad were "Mexican". The rest was Georgian. On the "Mexican" page there were no nachos, tacos, burritos, fajitas or quesadillas. We all ended up with dishes that may have been fajita filling (except for mine, which had the chicken still on the bone), but no shells. It was sauteed Georgian food, with more mushrooms and onions. The only thing even close to authentic was the margarita. It was tequila, lime and salt. I don’t think they had Triple Sec and it definitely wasn’t blended, but it was the closest thing there.
Stuffed from our fake Mexican dinner, we walked in the direction of the marshrutka/ bus stop. Since S was going home, we walked with her until our paths diverged and then W and I took a cab the rest of the way. We were waiting for a marshrutka when the bus to Kobuleti came, so we hopped on. When W got off in Chakvi he sent me a text to tell me that they’d charged him more than usual. Since I’d been expecting to pay 2 lari (GEL), I asked before I got off how much. I didn’t hear the driver and when he repeated himself about 5 different people all gave me different answers in English. When I was confused, the driver just waved me off the bus and wouldn’t let me pay anything.
The guy in front of me obviously thought that I needed help, because he asked me all the regular questions about where I was staying and who my family were. Then he personally walked me over to the bank of cabs and spoke to several drivers before finding one that he felt was suitable to take me home. He stuck with me ‘til I was in the car and then said good bye and left.
Finally at home, I talked to K in Mestia and texted with a few other people. Then J called from home and we swapped weekend stories. The call cut out and I don’t know if it was her phone or mine. Done on the phone I hung out for a bit in the TV room with the family, before retreating to my room for bed.

Aug. 29 - Best day ever?

2010-08-31T12:17:00.003+04:00

Declared the best day ever by both S and W. It started, for me, with a text from W at 9:30. I slept in because I was wiped out from the suphra. I’d invited him over a few times, because he has no running water and his family are Jehovah’s Witnesses, but every time he tried to come, something happened to interfere; torrential rain, no buses, crooked taxi drivers. So today, the sun was shining and W was coming over to enjoy the compound.
When he arrives, I introduce him to HM and Bebia. They ask all the regular questions, which I translate to W and help him answer in Georgian. One of the fist questions they ask is where is he living. Then he becomes known by his location, rather than his name. When I talk about my friends, the only one who gets a name is S, cuz she’s here often. While W is doing the visiting/ getting to know you thing, I get a text from S, asking if she can come over, because the power and water have been out at her place for days. I asked HM and she said yes, so S was on her way.
While we waited on S I gave W a tour of the compound, inside and out. He also feels that I live in the OC of Georgia. It’s funny, because he lives in a village called Sachino and Ryan on the OC came from Chino, so W thinks it’s a sign that he should move in here.
We went for a walk up to my school and decided to swim when we came back, cuz it was so hot outside. Being from Florida, W found the temperature of the pool very chilly, and he slowly entered down the ladder while I called him a baby and dove in. We had a lovely swim, until S texted that she was here.
S arrived just in time for lunch. I’ve never seen two people enjoy a meal more. HM and Bebia are fantastic cooks. I’m having issues because there’s not a lot of fiber here, but the food all tastes really good. My HD and his brother were just finishing up while we started, so he poured wine for us all. I did the toast-and-fake-sip trick that I learned from HM while S and W drank theirs down. When HD left, I poured my wine into their glasses and everyone was happy.
Stuffed and happy, we decided to watch some TV for a bit. So we ended up watching rebel tv which is a Polish music video station. They show the strangest videos. There’s a lot of political Eastern European bands mixed with stuff like Tom Petty and Ozzy Ozbourn and The Killers. It’s weird, but entertaining, even when we don’t know the songs.
By the time we went out to the pool, more people had arrived. A few cousins and some older people were all here. The old people stared at us while Bebia gave them the spiel. The kids were playing in the pool and we went down to join them. We were hanging out in and around the pool when W realized he should start making his way home before he got stranded. My HD wouldn’t let him leave and said that his brother would drive W home later.
About that time I got a text from A. She was visiting her host cousin in Kvirike and was coming by for a visit. She got there just as dinner was being served. So all the other people went down to eat by the pool, while the four of us foreigners hung out on the front porch catching up. We went down when most people had left the table (there were too many for one seating) and had a lovely dinner in the dark. If the lights are on, the bugs will come.
After dinner, we hit the TV room with the kids and visited for a bit. It was a weird vibe, though. It was almost like I am part of the family, but when there were four of us, they didn’t know what to make of it, so they mostly left us alone. Except for I who hung out with us instead of her much younger cousins. I also got the impression that HM wasn’t feeling very well, but nothing was said to me, and I didn’t know how to ask.
When everyone went home and W got his ride, HM said that S and A could stay. So we girls helped tidy the kitchen and retired to the upstairs living room. We recapped the day and took turns showering and eventually turned in. We all shared my bed, which is so big that even with 3 of us in it, we didn’t touch each other even once through the night. We stayed up super late discussing all sorts of things until we just couldn’t stay awake any longer.

Aug. 28 - Concert and Supra

2010-08-31T12:10:00.002+04:00

Had another really weird, long day. This morning, we had to be in Kobuleti at 11 to catch a marshrutka. Where were we going? Your guess is as good as mine. None of us had any information, other than it was a holiday called Mariam Noba. So 8 teachers pile into this marshrutka, with no official TLG representatives and get driven into a village up in the mountains somewhere.
We ended up at a huge building (with a stage set up out front), near a church and a school, but otherwise in the middle of nowhere. People kept talking to K, the only one of us who speaks Russian, but even she couldn’t figure out what the hell we were doing there.
The show started with some traditional Georgian singers and dancers, all dressed up in the traditional costumes. Then there were some speeches (all in Georgian) then more singing and dancing and talking. There were small children performing and older children speaking. And none of us could understand a word.
Of course, all of this is outside, and I’d forgotten my sunscreen. So E, A, W and I kept shuffling around, trying to stay in the shade, which was diminishing with each passing minute. We ended up huddled into a tiny speck of shade with about a million Georgian people.
Since K had been asked to give a short speech, as well, we were trying to pay attention, but it’s really hard when you can’t understand anything that’s being said. Eventually, A and I went in search of a bathroom. Wes tagged along for something to do. In broken Georgian we asked three different people where to go. We ended up at the church, and in the cemetery where we saw a priest do some ritual at a grave.
We finally found the "tualet’i" and almost died. It was a gross, smelly, hole in the ground. It wasn’t even nice enough to be considered a squat toilet. It was literally a hole in the ground. Luckily, I always carry tissues and I had my soap compact with me, so it wasn’t too gross, once we got out of the smell.
Sadly, our hunt for the toilet meant that we missed K’s speech. When we found her afterwards, we were all ready to leave. Our original marshrutka driver had left, so we found a different one headed to Kobuleti and arranged for him to take us back. Except for K, because her school director was there and took her home personally.
Back in town, we all decided that we needed to relax a bit, before going home, so we went to a café on the beach. Everyone order a drink and some people ordered food. We learned that what our phrase book called spinach is really mushrooms. I’m glad that I didn’t order it. The others said that they were really good.
I came home from there and withstood the inquisition. But it’s really hard to tell people what happened, when you have no idea and they speak another language. But I muddled through and then snuck upstairs for a nap. Thank God for the nap.
When I woke up, around 6:30, my family was preparing to go celebrate the baptism of one of HD’s friend’s kids. Apparently it’s really common to baptize your kids on holidays. So, I changed and we headed out to a restaurant in the park in Kobuleti.
On our arrival, introductions were made all around. I remembered no names, and everyone else played ‘lets stare at the foreigner’. It was super fun. The only Georgian I really recognize are the phrases that my HM uses when she’s telling other people about me. "She’s from Toronto. Is vegetarian, but eats chicken and fish. She’s 27, no husband. She’s an English
teacher.’ It’s the same things every time.
At about 7:15 (the event was supposed to start at 6pm) we were all ushered over to a u-shaped table. The men sat down one arm and the women sat down the other and the host was seated at the top (or bottom?) of the U. There is so much food at one of these celebrations, that I would like to list the dishes that I remember; whole grilled fish, fish soup, chicken salad, tomato and cucumber salad (it’s a staple here), bread, Georgian cheese, khajapuri (Georgian national dish of bread stuffed with cheese), cakes, garlic chicken and eggplant rolls. I’m sure there was more, but I can’t remember it all. The other thing in abundance at a supra is wine. White or red, it flows very freely.
One of the ladies decided that it was her job to keep everyone’s glass full. Whether or not they wanted it filled. Mine was topped up constantly, in spite of the fact that I was only taking minuscule sips. I’ve learned at my house that if my glass stays full, they eventually leave me alone. That did not work this time. It was only when I’d emptied my glass that she left me alone. Luckily I’d realized that before I was too far gone, but I did end up a little tipsy.
For entertainment, there was a dj and a group of singers. The guys sang Georgian music, which is polyphonic. This particular group had four, so they were like a barbershop quartet, Georgian-style. There was also a group of professional dancers. They performed bits and pieces of the traditional dances, but without costumes or props. The dj played music for the crowd to dance to as well, between sets. Since everyone has to learn traditional dance for at least 7 years in school, they all know the steps and I was so out of place. It got better for me later, when the dancing had degenerated to step-to-the-beat. The dj also played some western music. We heard MJ’s Billy Jean and Shakira’s Time for Africa (twice). There was also a weird remix of Wavin' Flag that I'd never heard before.
Other random things that happened. Because the restaurant is in the middle of Kobuleti park, which is full of rides and carnival-type booths, the kids were going crazy. Constantly back and forth from the park to their parents for money. It was both cute and annoying. Especially when several children came back with whistles, which they were permitted to blow at full volume, sometimes in time with the music, and sometimes not.
Also at the restaurant that night, was a famous Georgian actor. He stars in the sitcom that is the Georgian version of friends. HB2 got a picture taken with him. It was really cute, but then, so is HB2.

Quick update

2010-08-30T09:25:00.001+04:00

It's been a busy couple of days. I'll have some new posts as soon as possible. Hope you're all enjoying this last bit of summer.

Aug. 27 - housebound

2010-08-27T10:19:00.002+04:00

It is raining buckets today. The basketball court looks like the pool, there's so much water there. S keeps telling me that I'm going to need an umbrella and now I'm starting to believe her.
Yesterday, I also spent all day on the compound, but that was my own choice. Me and my computer were hanging out. In the evening the power went out, so I missed my Telanovella, but instead I played tennis with HM. We didn't keep score and neither of us are very good, but it was fun. Afterwards, I went for a swim in the pool.
For dinner I had cereal, with COLD milk!! It was so good. Of course, I had to wait until HM scraped the clotting cream (or whatever) off of the top, but eventually I got my milk. Then we hung out in the TV room and messed around with the new jukebox. It's rocking old-school Madonna. I like it.

Aug. 25 - Batumi and Kobuletti

2010-08-25T14:49:00.002+04:00

I didn't like hanging out with teenagers when I was one. I like it even less, now. My host cousins took me to hang out in 'The Park' with them on Monday night. It was me and 5 teenagers. Super-fun. They did take me on the giant ferris wheel, which was kinda fun. But it goes reeeeaaalllllly slowly, so as you get close to the top there's loads of time to think about just how high you are and picture all of the terrible things that could happen if the basket fell. After emerging unscathed from the deathtrap we went for a walk on the boulevard and then back to the apartment.
Yesterday we went to the museum for an exhibit by a Georgian painter. I didn't much like his work. It was really simplistic lines and dark colours. All of the living things had these creepy big, empty eyes. The one painting I liked was about a rustler stealing a horse, and I liked it because of how he painted the moon and clouds.
After the museum we met HM at a cafe. We dropped S at her place and the girls at their place, cuz I had to get my things and then headed back to Kvirike. I had a swim and some dinner and then we went visiting with the neighbours. The visit was fun, but was kind of annoyed, because I had to miss my favourite serial.
Random things I've learned.
1. The cows that migrate up and down the street have no distinguishing marks. They just know which home is theirs. If a cow tries to come into your yard, it's your cow.
2. There is no drinking age here. Kids drink whenever their parents say it's ok.
3. Many people are "fasting" right now. But this just means that they don't eat meat. Except fish apparently doesn't count as meat, because everyone's still eating it. When the fasting is over I'm sure I will be subjected to pressure to eat chicken and other meats again, but for now, I'm enjoying the break.
Today in Kobuletti, I finally got my Georgian bank card and I bought a new beach bag. It's pink and says "the Black Sea". I chacked out the Resource Centre, too. It's not quite what I expected, but it's busy and obviously well-used. I'll probably have more of an appreciation for it after Sept.1st when I know more about what I'm teaching.

International Financial fun

2010-08-23T17:09:00.002+04:00

I'm in Batumi overnight, staying with my HD's brother. We went shopping today and I found a shirt that I quite like. When I tried to put it on my MC, the card was declined. So the girl tried again - declined. I tried to use my debit, it was also declined. Given that I'm nowhere near my limit and my account has cash in it, I have no idea why they were rejected. I'm very frustrated.
So now I'm trying to work out the issue without making an incredibly expensive long distance call. On the plus side, if there is a problem with my card, maybe once I get it worked out I'll be able to buy things online again. A girl can hope.

Aug. 21 - same ol', same ol'

2010-08-22T09:22:00.002+04:00

Haven’t written in a while, cuz nothing really exciting has happened. I spent an entire day lounging around here, reading and swimming. Another day was spent on the beach in Batumi with S and we met up with C (from Vancouver) for lunch. The food at the restaurant wasn’t great and the "pizza with vegetables" consisted almost entirely of mushrooms, with a couple of tomatoes and peppers thrown in. Also, they didn’t have any of the desserts that were on the menu, so we ended up with "chocolate" which was just a chocolate bar broken up into pieces and served on a plate.
That night S came back here and we had BBQ fish for dinner. Entire fish, with heads and eyes and everything. It actually tasted ok once I got over the fact that my dinner was looking at me. I was so glad that S was here to share it.
Yesterday, S and I spent the whole afternoon lounging around the pool. She was roasting in the sun, while I tried to stick to the shade. Wes tried to come, but the cabby was sketchy, so he got out, and then the bus to Kobuletti never came by. He waited at the bus stop for 45 minutes before giving up and going home. S stayed over again and accompanied my family on another round of visits.
We made plans to meet up today in Batumi, but it rained and rained and then there were scattered showers, so everyone is just hunkering down in their respective residences. But we had to get S home, so HD drove us to Kobuletti, so that she could catch a Marshutka. When the one we wanted didn’t stop, he chased it down, in the car, and got it to pull over and pick her up. She just called me, back safely in Batumi.
Throughout the afternoon we had a few visitors. And, of course, when anyone came, there had to be food laid out. When the first visitor left (after watermelon and cakes) it was time for lunch, which I was expected to eat some of. Then another visitor stopped by and we had more fruit and a different cake. Luckily, HM didn't try to feed me dinner until 9pm. I couldn't have eaten anything sooner than that.

Aug. 17 - Hanging out

2010-08-18T13:33:00.002+04:00

After the late night last night, S and I decided to sleep in. HM popped in around 9 to see if S was riding back to Batumi with her. In sleepy, mangled Georgian, I somehow got across that she’d go back in the evening.
When we finally did get out of bed, the cows were migrating down the mountain. It’s old news for me, but S lives in the heart of the city, so she doesn’t usually get to see the cows migrate. Two young cows decided that they liked the road right in front of our house, so they hung out there while all the other cows went down the hill. S and I watched them for literally 45 minutes. They were real cute.
For breakfast we had peanut butter and honey on bread and tea with honey. For some reason, pb is very scarce here. Most supermarkets don’t carry it. But, yet again, I lucked out and my family has some. It made my life complete, knowing that I can have my regular breakfast (sans toast, but still).
We decided to spend the day in Kobuleti, shopping and meeting up with anyone else who happened to be there. Since HM was at work and HD was MIA, we decided to catch a bus into town. Well, about 3 houses up, one of the neighbours saw us and was like, "We’ll give you a ride, you’re not taking the bus." So we got a ride in.
My Georgian is progressing rapidly. And it’s not anything as easy as osmosis (though exposure is part of it). I spend hours each day studying, just so that I can make small talk with Grandma and the neighbours. I’m actually pretty proud of myself when I think that I’ve only been learning the language for 15 days.
Anyway, in Kobuleti, we spent the whole day walking. We walked up the town to get to the main strip where we did some shopping. (I may have purchased a new bathing suit and dress.) Then we met up with K. It had been my and S’s intention to go to the beach, but K was washing both of his swim suits, so we ended up not going. We did stop at this café and eat a fantastic "lunch" (at 4pm) of chicken kabobs and vegetable salad. Then S exchanged some money and we both put minutes on our phones, because text messaging saves sanity.
At the end of the day, I called home (as ordered) for a ride, but HD was sleeping, so I got to take a taxi home. S also took a taxi, because after waiting for 45 minutes for the bus, we decided that it probably wasn’t going to come. So we found S a cab to Batumi for about $12, while my 10 minute cab ride cost me $2.50. It was a bit of a rip-off, but I’m getting better at haggling.
At home, I went for a swim and had dinner with HM. After dinner, I came up to my room and set up my Skype. It is really cool. I’m a little sorry that I missed the boat on it for so long. I called Mom and Grandma T. And I got lucky, because T and L were at grandma’s, so I got to talk to them too. I love Skype.

Aug 16 - Freedom, partial freedom.

2010-08-18T13:29:00.002+04:00

I finally got to spend some time in Batumi. Since HM works there, Igot a ride into town with her. My plan was to meet up with S (and maybe some others) and go shopping and swimming in the Sea. HM’s plan was for me to get dropped off at her brother-in-law’s apartment, so that I could hang out and speak English with his 2 teen-aged daughters.
After a mid-morning snack (in the UK it would’ve been elevenses) we decided to go to the waterpark. It was me, I and K (HD’s neices) and N (a niece by a different sibling). Between my Georgian and I’s English, we arranged to pick up S on the way. So the 5 of us had only been at the park for about a half hour, when I (the one with the best English) decides to go home. Leaving S and me with the 13- and 10-year-olds.
There were some crazy waterslides at the park, including several where people went down on a mat, head first. There was even one that looked like a ski-jump that involved inner tubes. It was so terrifying to watch, there was no way my inner chicken would let me try it. So S and I decided to try the one that went around and around, rather than straight down. It was sketchy. The 12-year-old who was working there was more interested in texting than in doing his job. The second time I went down, the guy behind me actually crashed into me. And S almost hit the guy in front of her. That was also the last time we went down. We spent most of the time in the pool.
When we’d had enough of the water, we headed back to the apartment, where we met up with I, again. We went to the same café as HM and HD took me to when we were in Batumi last week. I ordered a piece of cake that was delicious. S was in heaven because she could get a cheesburger there. It was Georgian spiced meat and cheese, but she was still excited for something so close to home.
HM met us back at the apartment, and S came home with us. We spent an hour in the pool and then had a lovely dinner with HM, We hung out upstairs for a bit, and then joined HM and HD for a game of cards. They play a game called Joker and since neither S or I knew how to play, HM called over the guy from across the street to teach us (he speaks English pretty well). it turns out that the game ’s a little bit like "Oh Darn." But it was just different enough that none of my strategies worked. We had a great time playing, though and by the time we’d showered and got to bed, it was 2 am.

Video coverage of the prez

2010-08-17T21:09:00.002+04:00

This is the link for the press coverage of TLG meets the president:
http://www.facebook.com/l/e5d40XYoqdP0YbWWrq1kINtwiNA;www.adjaratv.ge/ge/index.php?page=shownews&id=28376
It's in Georgian, but check us out.

Aug. 15 - Holy Crap, The President!!!

2010-08-16T08:41:00.001+04:00

Considering that I’m not working and live in a village of 10 houses, my life here is really busy. Today I met the president. Of Georgia. He shook my hand and asked me where I’m from. There was a reception-type thingy in Batumi for the English teachers, including the new group who had just flown in the night before. Anyway, the president came in, shook a bunch of hands, made a little speech and then opened the floor for a Q & A before leaving. Of course there were media everywhere and we were all on TV, again. But only 3 people got intereviewed this time and I wasn’t one of them.
For most of the morning, I kinda hid up on my balcony with my Kobo and watched the construction workers out on the road in front of the house. I still haven’t figured out what they were doing, but they were there for hours. My host dad and brothers went out from time to time, but I think they were just visiting. Or maybe giving instructions. I’m really not sure.
Just before the trip to Batumi, the director from my school stopped by and took me over to see it. It is old. They’ve redone it recently, so it’s insulated now, but the rooms are small, and the hallways are big and echoey. It was really hard to make out any of the Georgian when I couldn’t identify single words. There’s no internet there, either, so I’m glad that my family has it. I also got to meet the English teacher there. Her English is pretty good, but the first thing she said to me was that she’d never spoken to a native English speaker before. She seems nice, and it looks like she knows her stuff, so it should be good.
Until yesterday, no one had any idea that this thing with the president was going to happen. And since I was stranded at A's house, I didn’t really get a chance to talk it over with my family beyond, "You go to Batumi, meet the president." Before I went to the school HM made sure to tell me to be home at 1 to eat, so that I could change and we could leave by 2. So, I’m ready to go at 2 and we get in the car. But the oldest son is in the car too, and she turned toward Kobuleti (which is the opposite direction to Batumi).
Then on the way to Kobuleti, we stopped to pick up HM’s sister. I was very confused, because I’d been told that we could only bring one person with us. It turns out that no one from our host families were allowed to come. So all of the teachers working in and around Kobuleti met in town to take a marshrut’ka (a mini-bus) to Kobuletti for the event. It was kinda fun. And it gave us a chance to share stories with the other teachers that we haven’t had a chance to see yet.
We took the same marshrut’ka home afterwards and from Kobuletti I called HM to come pick me up. We had a late dinner and watched the news coverage of the event. Then the Chris DeBurgh concert was on tv, but I didn’t watch that. Instead, I came up to my room to make plans to meet up with S (Boston) when I’m in Batumi tomorrow. I’m going to ride in with HM when she goes to work. Then we’re bringing S back with us, so she can hang out in the compound with me on Tues.

Aug. 14 - Can't take me anywhere

2010-08-16T08:30:00.003+04:00

What a crazy day. After the morning swim with the family, I got Host Mom to drop me off at the bus/train station in Kobuletti to meet up with E (she's from New Zealand). It was an effort in communication, but we finally figured it out, and I got the day to myself.
E and I met A (from New York) on our way to K's(Mississippi). A and I could not stop talking. It was the first time either of us had seen English-speaking people since arriving with our host families. E and K laughed at us, because they had seen each other and W (Florida) 2 days ago.
Once we had all gathered, the 4 of us stopped into a café for a drink (I had Fanta). It was really interesting to hear about everyone’s different living situation. K’s family runs a hostel in the touristy section of Kobuletti. So though his Host-dad doesn’t speak any English, there’s almost always someone there who does. E lives on a farm with a cow named Barbara and some chickens. They spend their time swimming in the nearby river. A’s host family lives up a mountain. The quickest way to walk there is on these little not-quite-paths, as I had a first hand chance to experience. And the climb is almost straight up.
Before we could go to the beach, A and I both needed to buy towels. Mine is blue with polka dots. We practiced our Georgian and A haggled, but she couldn’t get the price any lower. We found out that it was because all of the other vendors were selling their towels for 10 lari more than that woman was charging. So, towels in hand, we made our way to the beach. We hung out in the water and just chatted. It was fantastic not to have to struggle to communicate the most basic thought, or idea.
When we were done in the water, we stopped for drinks at the shoreline café. Again we chatted and I had a piece of the most delicious chocolate cake. Over the course of our chatting, A and I discovered that we lived near each other just off of the same mountain road. So when we left the beach and walked K home, we decided to catch the same bus back.
It turns out that the bus doesn’t stop where we thought it did. Also, that we don’t actually live that close to each other. So when the bus went past the stop, we got off at the next stop, without paying, cuz we couldn’t figure out how. At this point, I was farther away from home than I had been when we started. But we walked back to A's host family’s house, thinking that from there I could call a taxi.
No such luck. And her host sister called my Host Mom and said that I was going to stay the night. Normally that would’ve been fine, but we are meeting the President of Georgia tomorrow, and I wanted to get home to shower, and have fresh clothes to wear.
For a really long time, neither A nor I could figure out exactly what the plan was. So when her family told me I was staying to eat, I didn’t argue. While we were waiting for dinner, a bunch of her host-mom’s relatives showed up. It was funny, because all day she’d been telling us that she hadn’t had any visitors, her family hadn’t shown her off and no one had asked her personal questions about her marital status or religion. So when the extended family got there, she didn’t know what to do and I was like, "Welcome to my life. This happens every day, usually several times." But she couldn’t get over it.
In the shuffle and bustle of family and food, the specific details about my situation got lost. A’s host sister kept talking about going to get my clothes, but I couldn’t figure out why if someone was going to my house, I couldn’t just go with them and stay there. It was 10pm before someone finally told us that I was going home. Unfortunately, even after we figured out that I wasn’t staying the night, no one called HM to tell her, so they weren’t expecting me home. Luckily they were still awake, and let me in, but I felt SO bad, especially when I found a fan waiting for me in my room, complete with a remote.
I’ve definitely learned my lesson. If I’m ever allowed out of the house again, I’ll be taking a taxi directly to my door.

Aug. 13 - Culture Shock continues

2010-08-13T23:04:00.002+04:00

Black Sea again this morning. After a breakfast of cereal and milk. I know you're thinking "ah, just like home." But if you are, you'd be wrong. The cereal was Nesquick chocolate puffs and corn flakes. The milk was boiled on the stove with water and then poured (still hot) over the cereal. It actually tasted ok, but the texture was iffy. Luckily host-mom knows I like fruit and had watermelon handy.
I met the director of the school this afternoon. She was very nice, but didn't speak a word of English. Her French is very good, though mine is not. She brought me the English curriculum to go through, which was kind, even if it was written in Georgian. The Russian teacher picked her up, so I got to meet her, too. Again, no English. I'm a little worried about meeting the English teacher, but I think that's happening tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.
Host-Grandma is back from her vacation. She doesn't speak English, but seems to be very good at charades. We bonded this afternoon over Brazilian soap operas dubbed into Georgian. It was sweet.
It's the same soap that all of the English teachers have seen in the last few days. I talked to 3 of them this afternoon. We're all getting a little squirrelly, sequestered away with our host families. The pace of life is much slower here, and we're all bored out of our minds. It's not so bad for the city-folk, but out in the villages, there's nothing to do and the host-families seem reluctant to let us out by ourselves.
To keep me occupied this afternoon, Host-mom took me for a walk through the orchard. We sat at a picnic table and had some cold water direct from a mountain spring. It was lovely to spend some time outside, but in the shade. My sunscreen is working full blast. Even with all the time in the sun, I haven't burned (knock on wood). My HM thinks it funny that I'm so white. It is quite a frequent topic of conversation.
After a supper of macaroni and cheese, Host-Dad's twin brother came over with his wife and daughter. They were very interested in me, but didn't speak English, so our pigeon-english-georgian conversation was a trial. We worked through it, but trying to explain that I don't really have an ethnicity besides Canadian was difficult. Tonight was much more relaxed than any of the other times there were visitors. We hung out in the a.c. room and tried to chat. The daughter took English in school, so she was excited to practice.
HD's brother told me that it was ok to call home to Toronto from his cell phone. "No problem" he said, but I declined. Then he invited me to stay with their family in Batumi for 5 days. I tried to decline, but I don't know if I did. All I know is that I'm going to Batumi on Monday, but I don't know if I'm coming back. I'm not worried, though. I'll find out sooner or later.

Aug 12 - Can you say culture shock?

2010-08-13T22:49:00.002+04:00

Today we went to a different beach on the Black Sea. It was less crowded, but there was trash everywhere. One thing I noticed is that kids will be kids. Half a world away and kids are still collecting shells, sitting in the waves and throwing rocks at each other.
After the beach we took a family trip into Batumi. It was an experience. I like to call it an exercise in motion sickness. Again 7 of us in the car on twisty mountain roads and a 1 and a half lane highway, not to mention the tunnel and then the traffic in the city. Plus we stopped for lunch in a restaurant, just so I could try the Adjaran kajapuri (not that anyone listened when I tried to explain that I've already had it). I ordered a small, but it wasn't. Plus with all the egg and cheese (a soury, smoked, Georgian specialty cheese) it was a little much. Then we had to stop and run a bunch of errands, so I was not a happy camper.
Back at the homestead (a gravol and multiple near-death-experiences later) I came right upstairs to bed. It was about 5pm, but the temp was still in the 40s. The thunder rolled, but the promised rain never came. Mom called and we chatted for a bit, but my head was imploding, so I hung up and napped for a couple of hours. I went downstairs in time for supper of pizza (with cut up hot dogs on it). The rest of the evening was spent outside in the breeze peeling the outer coating from hazelnuts, which grow in my host family's orchard.
The orchard has mandarines as well as hazlenuts and it's at the back of the house. To one side of the house is the basketball court (with post holes for a tennis or volleyball net, too) and on the other is the swimming pool area. I jokingly call it "the compound", but it kinda is. Everything is surrounded by a privacy fence and you have to drive in through a gate.
The one thing that doesn't fit is the livestock. One neighbour raises cows and a little further down the mountain are goats. But the fields here don't have fences, so I frequently look out my window, to see a herd of cows migrating, either up or down the mountain. Although sometimes they're just hanging out in front of my house, standin' in the middle of the road. It makes the scary, scary driving that much more fun.

Aug. 11 - Movin' on up

2010-08-11T15:39:00.000+04:00

Yesterday was the big day. We said goodbye to the TLG staff and hello to our host families. After breakfast and check-out in Kutaisi, we drove down to Batumi where there was another ceremony. We ate Adjaran khajapuri for lunch, which is the regonal variation on Georgian cheese-bread.
The ceremony itself took place in a castle, which was really just the fortress walls surrounding a giant courtyard. It was really pretty, though. We entered down a tree-lined path, to traditional Georgian folksongs. They had some speeches from the Adjaran minister of education and some other people followed by traditional Georgian dancing. It was really cool. Then they served refreshments (which none of us had room for) and our host families found us. Even though most of us had met our families, they still read out the names, so we could meet in front of the media.
My family brought me back to their house. It’s in a little village about 10 minutes out of Kobuleti and it’s huge. There is plenty of room for Mom, Dad, Grandma, 3 kids and me. No one in the family speaks English, but there’s a neighbour who came by to translate. Then we all had family dinner and in broken Georgian I tried to explain that I was just full, because they kept wanting me to eat.
I unpacked after dinner. It was pretty easy to find room for all of my things. When I came downstairs, there were over 15 people here. My host mom introduced me to everyone, but I forgot all names within seconds. None of them spoke much English, either, so we muddled through with mangled English, Georgian and French (one of the women spoke a little). It was really overwhelming.
This morning we went swimming in the Black Sea. It wasn’t as salty as the ocean, but more than a lake. The beach was a rock beach, which meant that there wasn’t sand getting into everything, but it was hard on the feet. I slipped many times trying to get to the water. The coolest thing is that when the waves are going out, it sounds like a wind chyme, because of the rocks sliding over each other.
The scariest part about going to the beach was getting there. Apparently in Georgia, no one wears a seat belt and laws are not enforced. There were 7 people in the car on the way to the beach; Mom, Dad, me, 3 kids and the nanny (I think). We passed cows and goats and other cars. It was frightning, but we arrived there and back in one piece.

Aug. 6-8 - Training/ Summer Camp

2010-08-08T14:07:00.003+04:00

Georgian classes continue in the mornings. We're getting better. I can remember most of the grammar rules, but I need work on my vocab. It's coming along better than I'd expected, though, so I'm excited about getting to use it for real.
Thursday night, we went to see a cave. It was pretty cool, but the 40 minute bus ride up an unpaved, single lane mountain road was not. Especially when there were groups of Georgian soldiers trying to march down the same road and I already felt like crap. The best thing about the cave was the temperature. It was about 16 degrees in there. It's the first time in a week that I was comfortable outside my air conditioned room.
On our way back from the cave, we stopped in town. I hung out with my roommate, S, in the park, while most of the group went for a walk. My stomach was very unhappy with me, so I got to practice some Georgian while trying to find a public bathroom. I finally found one in the back room of this tiny shop. S practiced her Georgian while waiting for me.
S and I are lucky enough to be in all of the same classes and seminars. We have exactly the same attitude. When we're bored, we pass notes and do things like make a tally chart of the number of stupid questions people in our group ask (that was during Wed's cross cultural class), but when the teacher's paying attention, we fake interest very well.
Friday through today we have teaching methodology in the afternoon. I can see how it would be useful to someone who didn't just spend a year learning much better teqniques, but I am BORED OUT OF MY MIND. We also have a lot of people in our group who have their M.Ed. or like, 20 years classroom experience, so the attention level is not very high. It doesn't help that while teaching us about learning style and different classroom techniques, our teacher uses only 1 teaching method. She's quite sweet, obviously enthusiastic and fairly knowledgable, but did I mention that I am BORED OUT OF MY MIND?
S and I spend the whole class sitting with C (the class clown from Alabama). We pass notes, and don't really discuss what we're supposed to during discussion time, but when the teacher calls on us, we always have an answer. Usually a good one. We've also learned that if she doesn't understand our answer, she stops calling on us. (She's Georgian, so sometimes there's a language barrier.)
Friday and Saturday nights the TLG staff organised more field trips for us, but S and I decided not to go. The first night, I still felt poorly and didn't want to chance the bus ride. So I read a little and hung out with S watching some web videos and doing laundry. By yesterday I felt better, but last night we both just decided we need some alone time away from the group. So, she skyped her parents in the office while I was in the bedroom reading. Then we watched Pirates of the Carribean on her computer. Good times.
There is nothing planned tonight, so I will probably just do my Georgian homework and study some vocab before bed.