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.
No comments:
Post a Comment