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!