Oct. 8 - a day like any other

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.