Oct. 15 - FML

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.