The Cold

It's that cold time of year. Although we have not been graced with snow in the town of Samtredia, Tbilisi and other parts of Georgia have. It's cold too. It's been staying above freezing, but there is this huge thing called lack of heating that presents a problem. The kitchen area is the warmest in my host family's home, they don't have a heater but they do have a stove. When people are home, the four burners are going even with nothing on the stove. It ends up feeling chilly still, but if you go upstairs and then come back down...oh the warmth.It makes me glad that I am not staying past December, into the coldest part of winter. The school isn't much better...most of the classrooms don't have any source of heat. The younger kids have wood stoves that help keep the room warm. It sometimes feels like I'm revisting history. But I'm not. I've managed to get away without wearing a coat in the classroom, but sooner or later I will cave and then...I will hit my maximum warmth. It won't be warm enough. :(

I realized after I went home last Friday that I completely forgot to mention Tuesday afternoon. (I blame it on Thursday being more recent.) One of the teachers had a death in the family. After school, almost all of the teachers climbed into a Marshut'ka and off we went, to Vasli. (Or something similar) I didn't have my camera but it was very pretty, a nice, rocky and bumpy ride into the hills. (Never I will never drive on those types of roads myself) Once we got out far enough it was all gravel and dirt and I was sure we would get stuck a couple of  times, but we didn't. It's just very disconcerting. We went to the house of the relative, where his coffin sat in the room, everyone walked around, and then we sat, just being comforting I guess. Reflecting, paying our respects. It was another experience, just a bit more somber than others.

Unfortunately, I have nothing fun to report about last weekend. The weather kept me holed up in the house...raining and cold? No thanks on the adventuring front. I can be that adventurous once in awhile but that once in awhile is not now. Although I did get a call from another English teacher and we exchanged numbers. We were going to meet up, but that got cancelled due to her having pneumonia. :(

Other than that it's been another quiet week. I'll make this one short since the last was so long. No promises about this weekend. (I feel so boring.) I have something in mind that I want to do but I don't want to say I will and then feel guilty if I end up not doing it. ...like wanting to get out of bed earlier but ditching that for the warm staying in bed option. You know what I mean. Have a great weekend!