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.
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