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

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.

Aug. 14 - Can't take me anywhere

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.