Things I’ve come to know and hate/love sheerly due to their consistency and persistence. I live in a mixed emotional state here if that wasn’t obvious already:
- Givi’s petitions every single morning when he gets up to leave for school. He wants to walk, meet up with his friends and get to school early. Followed by Iza yelling at him to come inside the house and sit down. Givi whines, says he just wants to walk, but no such luck. Each time he goes to leave the house more yelling ensues, on both sides, with Iza being the final victor, leaving Givi to wait for his ride.
- My two classes I teach each week with grade 6 could be described as an uncomfortable self esteem booster. I hear the words ‘you are very beautiful’ or just ‘very beautiful’ by the girls in that class at least 5 times every single class (and no I’m not exaggerating). I’ve reluctantly come to accept this as kind words for me to just appreciate since let’s face it, I along with most people don’t hear those words told to them on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. I don’t really expect to be hearing that when I go home, my ‘foreign look’ here isn’t so foreign there.
- I’ve concluded grade 5 must be an extra hormonally charged year for boys. One of my students is downright inappropriate, something I’ve considered acting on, then decided against it. I’m still not sure if I’ll take any kind of action before the year ends. However, the other boys in the class, while difficult to deal with at times, also make me smile. Omari in particular has taken to telling me ‘I love you, Zauri’ or ‘I love you, Akaki’ meaning Zauri loves me apparently as well as Akaki. The more animated boys will dance around me as I walk to class, will kneel next to my desk as I work and say things I don’t understand, and even on occasional sing a couple notes.
- My grandmother is still convinced I don’t eat nearly enough food, asking herself or anyone who will listen in a melancholy tone, ‘why doesn’t she eat more, she only ate this and this...’
- Emotions run high in this household when the school day is over. I hate to say it, but I’ve come to that point where I simply can’t be in that room with them all after lunch is eaten and the kids sit down to start their homework. Arguments always follow, with someone crying or else taking on that high pitched whining tone. Perhaps I’ve become so accustomed now to quiet living that I’m extra sensitive to noise, or maybe it’s just because here in Georgia your everyday noises, they’re all amplified. With the exception of time at school there’s not a lot of noise around me on a daily basis. I hear our pig, the baby goat, songbirds and our rooster about as often I do people.
- And on a sidenote, I used to be convinced early on (my high school friends can attest to this) that I would end up living on a horse ranch. Despite only having about 3 experiences riding a horse in my lifetime that’s what I used to say. Sadly, I don’t think I was right in my prediction, unless the horse ranch also happens to be a stone’s throw away from the ocean, then I’ll make an exception, but that’s besides the point. Being here, especially spending time on our back porch alone, looking out at the green hillsides, tiny specks of houses here and there, and listening to our animals, watching them graze around the yard, enjoying the peace and quiet -- I definitely see the appeal of farm/ranch life.
In other news, this past week at school was the best I’ve had yet. Sadly, this was solely due to the absence of one of my co-teachers. She was in Tbilisi all week so I got to either teach our usual classes alone or with my other co-teacher Marina, who is much easier to work with and I have a better relationship with. I spent that time playing all the games I’ve wanted to introduce to those kids and thus far have been unable to, it was fantastic!
Robert and I visited Borjomi and the Vardzia Cave Towns a couple weekends ago. Borjomi reminded me a lot of a mountain town in Colorado, same kind of vibe. Sadly I was sick the whole weekend with a bad cold and also a fever, but only for one night thankfully. We spent our time visiting the Rabat Fortress in Alkhaltsikhe, hiking around and through parts of the cave town, and wandering the streets of Borjomi. We also spent one afternoon hiking in a national park near Borjomi, which was good, sort of. A combination of sickness along with limited cardio activity for the past 9 months made the hike really difficult for me given the steep inclines at times (brief flashbacks to my Tough Mudder race). It did feel great however to actually get in a workout at all. Something I've come to definitely appreciate here is that the great thing about all these ancient sites in Georgia is they’re for the most part fully accessible to the public. Similar sites in the US I feel are more often than not full of required paths to follow and areas entirely blocked off from exploration. Here takes on a more lackadaisical approach of 'explore what you want...but at your own risk.'
Just last weekend I spent my time in Batumi, which is always a great place to be in my opinion. Seeing that big body of water (Black Sea) is just the greatest thing. Unfortunately the weather was cold and on and off rainy, but I still got to eat good food and spend time with other TLGers. Of course as I was leaving to go back to my village, in somewhat of a hurry because if I miss my last marshutka to my village I have to take a taxi which is more expensive, I was approached by a Georgian man. These Georgians and their persistence, I tell you what...this guy was friendly enough, a little too friendly and right off the bat he insisted I go for coffee and cake with him which I then explained I couldn’t because I had to get back to my village. But he really wanted to show me around Batumi, so he took on a new tactic and asked when I’d be back again for him to show me around. Long story short, I could not get this guy to just walk away without giving him something so I hate to say it but...I gave him a number, not my phone number but a number, along with an email address, not my email address, but an email address. Finally, after probably 10 minutes I was able to board my marshutka and he went merrily on his way.
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| Rabat Fortress |
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| Vardzia Cave Town |
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| In Borjomi |
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| Flowers are in full bloom at my house |
