When the bell tolls...

Another week another blog. Sometimes time feels like it's flying by, and other times, like it's creeping by so slowly that it's painful. This week has certainly been unexpected, with a lot less internet time than I like. As in I've only been able to use it twice so far...once on Tuesday, and the next today, Friday. I'm getting used to it, but still, I like to keep in touch with the outside world a little.

Once again, I didn't manage to go anywhere last weekend. I didn't mind it so much though, because I had some nice bonding time with my host family. That's another thing that makes me less inclined to venture out on my own...I have a wonderful host family that I can spend time with instead of traipsing about by myself.

Anyways, Friday they finished installing a hot water thingy mabobber. Some sort of thing that can heat the water when you want it to...nothing like we have in America just a small little box thing. So of course I wanted to take a shower. Let's just say it didn't go as smoothly as they hoped. Maybe five minutes after I hopped in the hot water went cold...frigid cold. So out I hopped and into a towel, standing there, while my host sister tried to get the hot water to work again. They managed to get a bucket full of steaming hot water, and the water to work for another couple minutes...after waiting for probably ten minutes? Or maybe less. It feels like an awful long time when you start to be well chilled. Anyways the second time I just finished my shower by washing myself with the water from the bucket...steaming hot but not constant enough to help me warm up. Afterwards I was shivering like a leaf, and my host sister, Natia, noticed. She brought me a little glass of tea which was warm and wonderful. And then she insisted on blow drying my hair, which led to her straightening it. It was a good laugh, especially since, once she was done, Natia insisted on taking pictures...and her with a camera. It was like I had a freaking photoshoot. Absolutely hilarious. I even tried a couple of bad mirror pictures of us before I remembered that my camera had a timer on it...it was fun.

Saturday we had an English lesson. Which ended with Natia's concentration ending and me trying to explain why I couldn't come back to Georgia to teach. In addition to trying to explain why I don't have a boyfriend. Simplifying that, and then trying to say it in a way she'll understand? Yuck. "I haven't met the right guy yet." I changed guy to man but that didn't help much...it's a sentence that doesn't translate well at alll. The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, but it was nice.

I feel like all I have is disappointing news lately. For all my Halloween lesson ideas, I didn't actually get to implement any of them. Trying to plan lessons with my co-teacher is hard. She's nice, but as soon as class is over she's in a rush to catch the Marshut'ka home. I guess I just need to be firm about needing to talk. In one of the upper classes, the book she wants to use, only one of the students has. I don't know why, if they have it at home, or if they don't have them at all. The only thing I managed to get for the trouble I went through of asking was a blank look, and then my co-teacher was ready to leave. Either way that task is a huge one that I have looming over my head...talk to her about lessons for that class. It doesn't work trying to teach from that book at all...it's like teaching only two students in the class and the rest of them are just kind of out of luck. Learning doesn't work like that. Or at least it shouldn't.

On the positive side, Natia has reinforced for me how much of a useful tool songs can be for the langauge. Her sister and brother-in-law came to Samtredia this week and she got a new song off their phone. Unfortunately, it is a Selena Gomez Love Song I think it is. Not a song I care to have drilled into my head, but I ended up going over the entire song for her and writing down the lyrics. (See where the internet would come in handy?) But after that we had to go through and practice the words so that she could sing along to the entire song and not just the chorus. It's great for her to practice her pronunciation and listening, and it's something that she'll stick with because she loves the song. I just need to be more firm and aggressive.

Another positive thing, my co-teacher told me that she actually has the CD and DVD for the lower level kids, but no laptop and the school doesn't have anything remotely close to a portable CD player. So she was super excited for me to bring in my laptop so she could actually use the CD/DVD for class. It is helpful, but there's still not nearly enough of the students speaking.

Aaaand then we get to the title of this blog. So, I ended up not going to school yesterday if school was even in session. My host mother is a teacher at the same school so that made me feel not as bad. Yesterday morning the church in Samtredia which had been under construction was, I guess, blessed and reopened. It was a huge event. I went with my host mother and I'd say at least 3/4 of the town. The Patriarch came which made it a big deal, press and police swarming everywhere. But every time the bell tolled a crowd of people crossed themselves. Waiting for the Patriarch to arrive, the anticipation was palpable. Everyone was looking for him, necks craned. I didn't actually see him, between police and the crowd my view was always blocked. They had speakers so the people outside could hear the ceremony. At first the chanting was really cool to listen to but after a couple of hours I just got bored...and tired of standing. As soon as the Patriarch left there was a rush to get inside the church. I went with my family and let's just say I haven't been so badly sardin-ized since Taiwan. And this was still nothing compared to Taiwan. Still, it made me really want some personal space again. Like a nice big protective bubble. It was pretty cool though, to be a part of a big community event. Watching the news last night, Samtredia and its church were featured as a story!

I'm not gonna pretend that I have grand plans to go traipsing around this weekend. I just hope I can make a day trip to Qutaisi, the nearby city. I want to go to the bazaar and just explore. Maybe another day trip to Zugdidi...I'll have to ask if that's a day-trip sort of thing though. But next weekend! I want to head to Svaneti region before it gets too cold and then after that Batumi. I know I said I'd try and live without plans...but I'm way too addicted to plans to give them up now!

Catch ya on the back end of next week! Much love!