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!