Curiouser & Curiouser: Oh, I could sit here all day...

I'm having a really hard time thinking about where to even begin in describing this past week and all that has happened. Going from a semi-decent hotel in Tbilisi surrounded by fellow English speakers to village life where the only English words I hear all day (with the exception being in class of course) are 'eat' and 'hello' for the most part has been...interesting to say the least. A lot has happened over the course of this week so I'll try and recap the key bits:
We were all handed off to our host families on Sunday afternoon and myself and another volunteer actually rode in the same van to our respective homes. I was greeted by my host mother (deda), Iza, and my host father (mama), Valeri. It was a 3 hour ride to my village of Tsitelkhevi in the Baghdati district of the Imereti region (you can google map it if you like). I learned the words 'ghurzeni' (grape) and 'vashli' (apple) along the way as we ate food gathered from roadside stands. There was also an amazing sweetened bread we bought as well although I can't remember the name of it. I was greeted at my new home by my sister (da) T'iko, brother (dzma) Givi, grandmother (bebia), cousin (bedzashvili) Lizi, aunt (mamida) Nino, and some neighbors as well. I was very excited to discover that a supra (feast) had been prepared for my arrival. Next time a supra occurs I'll be sure to document it with some pictures, I don't feel that simply describing it here would paint the most accurate picture. Needless to say, the food was great, communication was lacking making for a somewhat awkward evening, but thankfully the English-Georgian dictionary I had purchased became a lifesaver. I began trying to tell them things about myself as best I could with the few words I already knew along with words I found in the book and so by the end of dinner had the kids sitting close waiting to see what next word I'd attempt to say in my broken Georgian pronunciation. While difficult it's definitely not impossibly to tell people a lot about yourself using few key words. Unfortunately, I haven't yet taken pictures of my home and a lot of my family/neighbors here, but will do so before my next post or at least try to. I first wanted to acclimate myself to my new surroundings and new family before I began documenting every little bit of village life here. Some key things I feel needs mentioning now however are:
-There are cows everywhere, along with geese, chickens, and stray dogs. I'll see them wandering around the school grounds, along the side of the road, on the road, everywhere.
- I have a turkish toilet, that's right full on squat to a hole in the ground. I came across a regular toilet when I was attending an intro meeting in Bagdati and found myself thinking 'Oh, I could sit here all day', hence the title of my post. Oddly enough, after only one week I feel rather comfortable in that squat position.
- In my family, eating is an all day occasion. I have Ramen noodles for breakfast along with an extremely tasty instant coffee, lunch comes after school and T'iko essentially pulls out whatever cold dishes are leftover from the supra to eat while bebia peels apples and keeps insisting I eat more. Random hot and cold dishes appear throughout the afternoon as T'iko and I spend most of our time sitting on the porch at the table, me practicing my Georgian, and she practicing her English.
-Spanish soap operas are here and they are...your standard soap opera, dubbed in Georgian. There's terrible acting, ridiculous plot lines and yet somehow very entertaining and slightly addictive. From what I've gathered my host family follows them pretty regularly while attending to other household tasks during the hour it's on.
-Majority of family life that can't be communicated is a mystery to me. With a language barrier there's only so much data you can gather from observation so I'll include what info I've learned in my next post.
In terms of what my first few days in school have been like, here's some key mentionings:
-The break time between classes is chaos - running, screaming, all that fun stuff. I feel like a celebrity and am stared at constantly, which after awhile it gets really difficult to pretend to be oblivious to it, as well as the constant whispering to each other/staring by the high school aged boys in my classes.
-Just because you don't know the language doesn't mean you don't know exactly when everyone around you is talking about you
-School here (or at least all the classes I've seen) lacks all forms of creativity. For English class, some kids have the books, others I'm not sure about and both of my co-teachers just follow along with what's in the book. It appears to me that whatever requires the least outside thought or effort is what they go with. I've already had to create several different games on the spot to do with the children because either my teachers don't feel like teaching or I feel so bad for the kids monotonous routine I want to help add a little excitement.

Let me emphasize that despite what might sound like me complaining is actually just general observations I've made. I really do love it here a lot right now and am really excited about this year and all the crazy/fun/laughable/awkward stuff I'll be sure to encounter along the way. I think school is going to be a challenge, but in a good way. The students are crazy, but also adorable and fun. My family sometimes really misunderstands or flat out does not understand what I'm trying to get across to them, but I love spending time with them in the afternoons and evenings practicing Georgian/English, watching TV or of course eating together. I'm also looking forward to exploring more of Georgia with Jenna and other friends from the program. I'll do better in future posts to give you specifics on family life, school life, etc. but for now the idea of trying to condense that all into one post is just a little too overwhelming. I did introduce t'iko, givi, and lizi to photobooth though so I at least have a few pictures of them to share.