It's a snail!

Yes, it's a snail. My life at the moment that is. School is still going really slowly...mostly due to the fact that this week was test week. This week most of the classes I would have been co-teaching had tests, so I didn't really have anything to do. Again. I got to sit at the computer a couple of days, both of which the internet gave out on me for a period of time before I finished everything I needed to do...just a little complaint. It's better than nothing though!

The weekend was another slow one...I just went into Samtredia, the city I'm in, and looked around and  went to the bazaar. Traveling is going to take a lot of confidence from me. Mostly because the easiest way to travel is by Marshut'ka, mini-bus, and it is not conventional. It doesn't have certain stops, you tell it when to stop, and it involves reading Georgian QUICKLY and knowing what part of the city it's going to. I'm still very slow at reading the Georgian script. I can do it but it takes me five times as long as the normal person. It certainly helps me understand what my English students are going through when they stare at English words and try to read them. At least their words look exactly like they sound.

Bazaars are fun, I wish there were bazaars in America. I only bought a little over a kilo of apples for 1 lari 50 tetri, but it was still fun to look and see all the vendors. Stalls full of shoes and slippers, hair clips and earrings, a few bottles of nail polish. Even some clothing vendors. It's more fun than just walking into a store. At least I think so. The apples I bought were, by the way, delicious. Soft and sweet and yum.

I'm counting on next week being more exciting, I have shared my ideas with my co-teacher, and hopefully I will get a chance to use them and teach some about Halloween. I want to design jack-o-lanterns, but I haven't figured out how I'm going to do that yet. I would like to color them, but not all the students have their own coloring utensils (some have colored pencils and some have oil pastels) and I don't have any to at least make them orange first. I also had a wake up call trying to tell my co-teacher about ghosts and zombies. Not two average words, but try defining them...ugh. My picture of a ghost certainly didn't do the trick, and I've found pictures to be very helpful when you're trying to convey meaning.

I have no real plans for the weekend again. I'm hoping to either just pluck up my courage and go to Batumi or try to follow the directions this other person from the program posted on facebook to go hiking. Or just wimp out and take day trips. I'm trying really hard to be one of those people that just goes with it. So far I've gotten as far as Samtredia and making that decision. We'll see how it goes. Send lots of courage my way, I need it!

By the way, if you ever visit Georgia, don't drive. It's crazy. Insane. Unsafe for Americans who actually follow the rules of the road. Just saying. Much love to you all!

The Blues

I think this blog post has had about three or four different beginnings...in my mind. I didn't prepare any of it like I did last time, and unlike the first two blogs, this one is being written on my school's computer and on its internet. (Cross your fingers that it will last until I finish writing this...)

I'm in the homesick period of my stay here, and I miss my home, my cats, my family, and someone who can actually speak my language a lot. Don't worry though! Everyone here is great and sweet and I really feel cared for, even if most of them can barely formulate their thoughts coherently in English, if at all. Have I mentioned that the English teacher I'm working with, she communicates with me usually half in English and half in German. It's rather amusing that my German would come in handy here, a place where for most people, Russian is the second language.

This past week has not been easy. It started off with a cold...just a sniffle and a runny nose, and then by the end of the week last week I had Traveler's Diarrhea. Haha, TMI (too much info), right? Don't worry, it's not going further than that. Let's just say the weekend was pretty miserable with my appetite dwindling, and lots of "tchame! tchame!" (Eat! Eat!)

Sunday was probably the worst and the weirdest...I woke up with a sore neck that lasted all day, plus a headache, and my stomach which was just upset in general. It was also the day that I sat in the car for about 4 or 5 hours. We (the family and I) drove up past Zugdidi to get Lela's mother and grandmother for a Supra (Georgian party) in Ozurgeti. They lived way out in the country, on a cobblestone road. It was some beautiful country though, near the hills, and there was a stream nearby that was just gorgeous. I also got some good mountain shots...from the window of the truck. The father (Temuri) was nice enough to slow down so I could take pictures at opportune moments. On our way between cities we went past the Black Sea...it made me want to go so badly. Some weekend!

While the drive was gorgeous, the Supra was not quite as fun. If I had been better.... It was a huge family gathering in celebration of...someone's birthday, but there were easily 50 people there. (I think). The main attraction was the meal, with the men downing toasts at the table next to mine, which held mostly the women and a scattering of men. I was the most devastated that I couldn't finish the piece of cake that Lela, my host mother, made. It was absolutely delicious and I wanted to eat it so bad, but I just couldn't. That was the real tragedy of the day.

So much to tell you all, and I haven't even gotten to this week yet! I'm finally in the classroom, although I haven't done any teaching yet. Mostly just getting used to the schedule, and figuring out how my co-teacher, Nino, teaches. I have Mondays off, which will be a blessing when I'm traveling. More time by the black sea? Yes, please! Tuesday I teach 9-1, Wednesdays, 9-11, and the same thing on Thursdays. I'm pretty sure anyways...my sense of time IS screwed, and I have been keeping notes in a notebook that I don't have with me right now. The classes are pretty small, I think the biggest is probably about 10 students, and they're all ranging from about 1st grade to 6th grade. I already have ideas to make the class fun! (They don't do any games at the moment...you need games!)

Anyways, that's about where I am right now. I guess I should stop before your eyeballs fall out. I miss everyone a lot, and hope to hear from you!

Chugging Along

Let's just say that teaching in Georgia is not for the faint of heart...or at least not for those who can't survive without a strict schedule. I pretty much have no idea what's going on in my life right now...I'm not teaching just yet, there's still some training to be done. Co-teaching teacher training I guess. Internet is hard to come by...my host family didn't have any, and now they have some but wireless just isn't very good internet. It can be frustrating but it's nice to have. That basically means that pictures, although I have some, will have to wait to be uploaded. It would take about 2 hours at this rate...trust me.

I wrote a little on my computer the first night, which was very overwhelming. So this sort part is sort of October 7thiss:

All I feel like doing right now is sleeping, but here I am, writing a blog I can’t post anyways. It’s been a long day but I wanted to capture some of my thoughts and feelings from today before they fade away under tomorrow’s impressions.

Today started out with a stroll along the river in Tbilisi. It was a pretty walk, and it would be much easier for me to simply upload pictures if I get the chance. Afterwards it was time to pack up and meet the host family and get started on that long drive to our new homes.

The drive was quite pretty. I can’t really tell you how long it was because I never looked at the time, and my sense of days and time is very off. I have no clue what time it is back home in the central time zone, but I don’t really have a feel for time here. I blame losing a day and being stuck inside morning to night. There were lots of little shacks on the side of the road selling fruit or bread on the drive, which reminded me of China, and one of our bus rides that took us through apple growing land, where there was an apple stand every few feet on the side of the road.

It makes me think that the more we travel, and the more we see of the world, the more we see the similarities and differences between places. Some aspect of a region or country will remind you of some other aspect.

I hope the color helps you follow the jump in time. And we're back to now. The weather has been beautiful so far, and I love the fact that there are mountains in the distance in two directions. It's hard to explain...sort of like North-South is flat and then if you look East you see snow capped mountains in the distance and if you look West you see them there too. I don't know if those directions are accurate or not...I've never been good at them.

My host family is wonderful, despite the very glaring language barrier. But we manage. The funniest part, especially for those of you who know me, is making decisions. Indecision, such as "I don't know", "It doesn't matter" or "whatever" don't translate well at all. I tried. So it's just easier for me to make a decision than not. Hilarious, right?

My host family consists of a host father, mother, and two sisters, although one is married and lives in Tbilisi. The father's birthday was on...Friday, so they were all in town for the weekend. In addition to that, there is also a host grandmother, and great-great-aunt I believe. It was trying to get great-great-aunt from father's father's sister that was the confusing part. They have a house, and plenty of grape vines and a pear tree and another kind of fruit that I'd never seen before. It's good, it's round and yellow-orange and grows on a tree. It reminds me of a tomato at first glance but it's not one at all.

For being in a town, the school I will be teaching in looks pretty small from the outside. I won't be teaching until the end of the week...co-teacher training being necessary before I start. I think that's mostly the essentials that I wanted to share at this moment...I always know it's time to stop writing a blog when I just start zoning out! Until next time! I hear my school has internet, maybe it will be better than here and I can upload pictures too...here's hoping!

A long week

A certain amount of frustration led me to finally posting on my blog. It started with a 7 hour wait in the airport of Istanbul, led to a spark at 5am, which became a dead battery that lasted 4 or 5 days until I finally was able to get a new charger/cord thing. And it ended with right before now, in my attempt to recover the blog I hadn't logged into for two years. Apparently it was being upgraded to google, and apparently, my name I had used to create the blog no longer existed. It's been a long trip to get to this point.

As with many other large changes in my life, they like to creep up and slap me in the face, while I'm busy looking the other way. A lot of the anticipation is lost this way, but it certainly doesn't lessen the experience.

My first impression of Tbilisi was of lights. The bus that took the group of us from the airport to the hotel went through at 4am, when the world was dark. And it wasn't just lights, it was the location of the lights, lights that rose up into the large hills above me. Living in the midwest for so long, I'd almost forgot what true hills are like.

That is still my strongest impression and memories, of Tbilisi at night. The day time has been limited to all day lessons. Four hours of Georgian a day, four hours of intercultural training a day, including about an hour of orientation, so by the time I'm done in the evening it's about 7:30 in the evening and it's already dark out.

I've only seen it a couple of times during the day, and it has been quite beautiful. The hotel is situated right along the river and there are so many old buildings mixed in with the new and fascinating crumbling buildings that are only their basic structures. It is really quite nice...hopefully I will have the chance to visit again during my time in Georgia...and actually see something.

Tomorrow I meet my host family and leave for my teaching job in the town of Samtredia in the region Imereti. I'm a mixture of nervous and excited. I am sure it will be a great experience, even though I am a little sad to be leaving everyone I have met here so far. If we're in luck, the next time I post will be much sooner than this!