24 July, 2009
Paraskevi
So, yesterday I met with Joe Biden. Yep. It was pretty sweet.
I got up at 5 AM, got ready with Lauren (who borrowed my host sister's
hair straightener), caught the marshutka, drove to two other villages
to get those trainees (except one who overslept due to supra-ing too
hard last night), then after going through security we waited at the
Mariott in Tbilisi a couple hours and munched on some DOUGHNUTS while
we overheard conversations and had a larger vocabulary than the small
children because everyone spoke ENGLISH.
So, there we were, crammed in this swanky, air-conditioned ballroom at
the Mariott in Tbilisi (which, I heard, costs up to 500 Lari a night!
Yikes!). It was mostly American Embassy workers/families, I believe.
Joe Biden gave a speech basically consoling the Georgians that were
there about last August, then gave a small pep talk to the
international Americans, saying this is the time to work
internationally because they have the power to change policies. He
also cracked a few jokes about his age and kissed a few children.
When it was my turn to go up and shake his hand, he asked my name and
where I was from. “Iowa, eh? What city?”
“Clinton.”
“Oh, I know Clinton well. You don't believe me? (to the skeptical
look on my face) Well, I've been to all 99 counties in Iowa.”
Yay, Iowa Caucuses! I had one of the longest conversations with the
man. And a PC staff worker got a picture of me with Joe; I look like
I'm laughing my head off or doing the Tango. It's weird.
Just another day in paradise; this is reality in Georgia.
OH! My clustermates and I are totally gonna write a book together
called “The World is My Turkish Toilet.”
Some of our common phrases are:
This is reality in Georgia.
It's usual in Georgia.
UKATSRAVAD!!!
CHAME!!
Dzagles!
Everything's coming up churchelas/dzagles/turkish
Turkish coffee leads to turkish toilets (the latter of which is
considerably more unpleasant than the former)
Hopefully later today I
can score some time to write about this past week and the time in
Sighnaghi. It was AWESOME!!!
25 July 2009
shabati
Well, we have shabat-skola again today. Blegh. But I figured I'd
write a little more down so that you all know what I've been up to, so
I don't forget, and as a little bit of therapy. Yesterday was rather
stressful.
I want to get that out of my system first. Yesterday should have been
awesome because it was the last day of practicum. However, not only
did we not plan what we were going to do other than “games,” my
partner for two classes felt sick yesterday (he thinks it may have
been the McDonald's...) so he stayed at home. Not only that, but I
also had to teach the beginners. All by myself.
So the first fifteen minutes was dedicated to me running back and
forth to the teacher's lounge trying to scrounge up some paper and
pens for the number of students who did not have one or the other or
either and mysteriously seemed to multiply in number. Then I tried to
do a word scramble which failed miserably. Most students just copied
the words like “umntau” “okrp” and “aintr” in their notebooks and had
no idea what the heck to do even though I tried to model it with
“onsw” to “snow.” So then I dropped that activity and went to
pictionary, but I didn't have any words prepped so I decided to just
say words and have whichever team who wrote the word on the board
first get a point. But that wasn't enough for some of the boys, who
were throwing and had been throwing paper balls throughout the whole
class. So I told them to either play the game or leave. And then
everyone left. wtf. Well, it was only 5 minutes early, I needed prep
time for the next class, and the little kids all want to high five me.
But I was mean and didn't high five them yesterday because I felt
punchy.
So the next session was okay. I taught the intermeds with the
counterpart. The word scramble went over well there. I don't know if
they understood my modeling or just waited for Nona to translate the
directions to them. At this point, I don't really care. The scramble
took a long time. Katelyn had given me papers with words on it to
make sentences out of. I thought they were just scrambled, but I
guess there were just random words on there that you had to make
sentences out of. I naturally hadn't really looked at them before
class, so my directions for that were wrong. But then Nona explained
to them what to do and they wrote sentences and then class was over.
Then for the advanced class I had done no prep work whatsoever. So I
told them to write a letter to an international penpal and ask them
five questions about themselves or their country. I walked around
and corrected a few mistakes in their writing. A couple people wrote
an Internet dialongue. Most people just wrote the five questions.
Whatever. Then I told them that I was their penpal and that they
should ask me questions. We got into a little discussion about
universities in America, of which I actually know little because I
only visited a few private schools in Iowa before making my decision
on where to go. And I've only visited Iowa State, St. Cloud State,
and Naropa for non-Iowa/non-private schools. Whatever. I think they
still liked me. I was able to keep my punchiness more under control
with them, too.
Afterward, it was like I was on the red carpet at the opening night
for my book sales. All these kids accosted me and the other
volunteers for signatures, our parents' names, our favorite animals,
our phone numbers, etc etc. This continued for like 10-15 minutes at
least. It was a little overwhelming. But today some of the girls
want to give us a dance concert at 5 pm. So that should be awesome.
The only other time I've seen live Georgian folk dance was at the 4th
of July picnic, and I was focusing on it in a
trying-to-learn-it-instantaneously kind of way.
Now, I should really get to my homework that I didn't feel like
finishing yesterday because I had more important things to do after
school yesterday like not lesson plan, read Walden Two, crack out the
flute (the neighbors apparently think it's cool), make coffee, try to
talk about Russian and drinking problems/job problems (and try to
explain Lauren's ideas about ecotourism to her with my limited
Georgian vocabulary). But I really think we're talking now. And I
can understand some of what she's saying, too. I really like her and
wish I had more time to spend here... last night she asked if I would
exercise this morning, and I said if I wasn't feeling lazy. Then she
either said A) I have gained weight, B) I haven't gained weight yet,
or C) I should gain weight yet so it's okay if I don't exercise.
27 July
orshabati
So yes. Today was hub day in Sagarejo. I could have posted
things/e-mailed things today, but I would have rather talked with the
other mokhalisebi, which I did. You know why? Because today we got
our site placements! Win!!!!
I will be in Akhalsopeli, pretty close to Kvareli, which is pretty
close to Russia, and probably the farthest site from Tbilisi except
Lagodeki. I'm very scared and very excited.
1) It's a pretty small village, and sorta far away, so I hope I don't
get village fever and/or go crazy from lack of American contact. But
Katelyn will be in Kvareli, which is pretty darn close. There might
even be some stores there, so we can go buy some flip flops and body
wash there. (We tried to buy those two things the other day here in
Patara Chailuri and in Kakabeti, the neighboring village which is
slightly bigger. No such luck.)
2) Like I said, it's a couple hours from Tbilisi. Mleh. Not as
though I'd probably get to go that often, but still.
3) Today's sessions at hub were pretty depressing. Corruption, AIDS,
legal system (focusing on rape cases/the rape case they had last year
which the volunteer lost against the Georgian man). Also workplace
atmosphere. After all these sessions, I've pretty much concluded that
as a woman who has zero years teaching experience, I feel incredibly
vulnerable, but I really don't want to spend my two years getting
coffee for teachers at their meetings. I think I won't have to,
though. My site was a G6 site. The mokhalise there before me did a
“windows for warmth” project in her school (school #2 in the village),
so there's new windows. And the clubs and/or projects that they
do/that have been done there include an art show, something like a 4H
club (that currently has a bee project.... [does that mean there's
plenty of tapli? I LOVE tapli!!]), and a computer lab with 20
computers.
So I guess that last #3 of why I'm scared is also #1 of why I'm
excited. I've also been thinking about secondary projects I could do.
I would really like to do something with gender empowerment here.
It's just something I feel like I need to do. But... it's weird,
because I'm not really good at many “opposite gender” things that I
could do to show girls, “Hey! You can do this, too!” For example
(magari tad), I am awful at sports/ball games/etc. I could do a yoga
thing maybe. But I'm not necessarily that good at it myself—could I
really teach a class on it? I may try to at the summer camp we have
to do here in a few weeks.
But I can change a tire all by myself. I discovered that superpower
this year. And I can... carry chairs? Yesterday my host sister told
me that the chairs were heavy and that I shouldn't have to carry them
down the stairs from the balcony to the table down by the garden.
But... I did it anyway. Twice. They really weren't that heavy
Seriously.
But the only other “male” talent I have is culturally unacceptable
here. Luckily I haven't had too many problems with it, be it the diet
or whatnot. Yesterday I enjoyed enacting my hobby loudly for all to
hear, because we went on a hike by the river and there were no
Georgians within earshot. Belching is liberating! I swear!!
And drinking like a man is not acceptable here. But that's okay,
because I'm not that big on drinking anyway. We Patara mokhalisebi
and stumarebi (guests) had a mini supra the other night, but that's
the most drinking I've done since I've gotten here. Yesterday my host
uncle was visiting, so at dinner he offered me beer. Even though I'm
of German and Czech stock, I really don't care for beer. I know, I'm
a freak of nature! By all standards, I should suck that stuff up as
if it were the last available nourishment on Earth. But I guess I've
always been a little odd. : )
But, yeah, the rest of my talents? Sewing, singing, dancing (kinda),
playing the flute. Playing nurse. Building fires. I like clothes
and shoes and reading. And I actually enjoy cooking and cleaning.
Funny, even though I'm all for women's lib, I could probably make a
pretty good housewife. Except for the whole raising children part.
And the whole long-term lack of feeling intellectually useful to other
people.
But you don't want to hear about this! I should tell you more about Georgia.
My school also said that that they would like a volunteer to be able
to enrich their English library, train interested adults, contribute
to agro projects, PDM skills, and IT training.
English library expansion? Perhaps we can write letters in class
asking for book donations from you, my peeps in the states. I bet a
few churches and/or schools would get in on it, no?
Teaching adults? PERFECT for me. Except for my age. I tutored
Spanish to adults in the US, and I loved it and them, but I hope I
would gain enough respect here. Not that I'm really a hardass or
anything, so I have a bit of reservations about that, but I'll figure
it out.
Agro projects... I love plants and am very interested in learning
about them. I really wish I'd done the Master Gardener training now.
I wonder if there's a mail-order class for it?
PDM = project design and management. The PC project manager said that
I'd be able to attend training on that in the spring. So that's good.
IT training? I'm okay with computers. My skills are probably enough
to help the villagers out, as I don't think they need programming or
anything. But if so, I'd be willing to take a few lessons from one or
two of the guys or girls here if they've got sk1llz.
So I think I'll be pretty good for my community. I hope.
At the mokhalise mini-supra we had this weekend, I received some good
advice that I may or may not have heard before. Basically, balls to
the wall. It's Peace Corps. And today, one of the older BSE
volunteers who's a repeat repeat PCV and has been friggin' everywhere
again reassured me to not be so nervous. He's a seriously cool guy.
Tomorrow he's gonna help me find my way around the big, bad Tbilisi.
I will hopefully post this in the expat bar with good wi-fi? Maybe?
This week is a nice break from the norm of waking up, exercise
(maybe), breakfast, language class, cluster lunch, teaching, lesson
planning, going home and doing homework and some combination of
reading, washing clothes, bathing, eating, watching Spanish soap
operas or the news, and collapsing into my bed to do it all again the
next day.
Friday was the last day of teaching, so that was different. But I
already discussed how that went.
Saturday was shabatskola. Which is always a bad idea. But while we
were at cluster lunch, we had an Emergency Action Plan drill in which
we had to go to Sagarejo to make sure we could all consolidate in case
of an emergency. It took a long time, especially since we had to walk
to our houses from Katelyn's house, which is in the far back of the
village. When we finally got to Sagarejo by marshutka, we were hot
and sweaty and we had to hike up a hill with our emergency go bags.
To sit at a meeting for about forty five minutes and then go back to
our villages. AND the kids at our school were going to put on a
concert at 5. But we didn't get back until 6.
The concert was adorable, though. There was some traditional Georgian
dance and some singing and some Georgian jokes.
Kid 1: “Vano hit me!”
Kid 2: “Did you do anything?”
Kid 3: “I fell down!”
Volunteers: “hahaha?” *slow on the uptake for clapping*
Some things just don't translate. There's another joke, I don't
remember if I've mentioned it or not. Our LCF, Ana, told it to us at
cluster lunch one day.
“There was a man who went into the internet, but he forgot his
slippers outside.”
We really love that one. Seriously. The first time she said it, we
just stared, expecting more. But no. That's it. And now it's just
one of those things that makes us laugh. So even if its original
funny is lost to us, it's funny all the same.
I can't think of anything else to say right now. I'm extremely tired.
I think I'll throw these journal entries and my photos on a flash
drive to prep for tomorrow, then maybe go read out aivanze (on the
balcony). Woot!
06 August, 2009
khutshabati
I haven't posted in a long time, nor have I written in quite some
time. There's been a lot going on here, and I apologize for not being
good about recording things. But hopefully once “real life” starts
here, I'll be able to update more regularly. I don't think I have
internet at my permanent site (except by the phone company magtifix,
which is slower than a qu [turtle]). But there's an Internet cafe in
Kvareli, which is not too far by marshutka; it only costs 1.5 lari.
So my permanent site will be Akhalsopeli. Which I believe translates
to something like “new village.” (akhali = new, sopeli = village.)
It's a pretty sweet setup, in the beautiful caucasus mountains between
two small rivers. Oh, and, unlike someone who claims to be able to
see Russia from her backyard, I actually CAN see Russia from my
backyard. So eat it. And my new host dad is a border guard. I didn't
meet him yet, because he works for 20 days and then is home for 10,
but the rest of the family is awesome, so I'm excited to meet him when
I go back.
The school director is an awesome guy, too. He has three daughters
about my age and said I'm his meotkhe (fourth). I was a little
nervous at the supervisor's conference in Sighnaghi last Wednesday,
where all the volunteers met the school directors/NGO people they will
be working with at their permanent sites. My school director knows
family words in English, and that's probably about it. And he does
not enunciate or slow down his speech at all, so I have my work cut
out for me in learning Georgian so that I can understand him. I met
one of my counterpart English teachers, Magda, and her English is
pretty good for being the third or fourth language she knows; she's
better at German, and she knows Russian. Her husband, Zura, and she
have a five year old Giorgi (who is a little troublemaker. My host
mom and I went over to her house one night, and little Gio was running
around with the flyswatter and started hitting his mom and saying
“didi buzi! didi buzi!” (didi = big, buzi = fly). Sooo yeah. He
also cut some weird part of a picture out of a magazine and gave it to
me as a satchukari (present). How sweet! xD
Back to the fam, though. Grandparents: Baduri and Eteri, parents:
Gogita and Shorena (low 30's), kids: Baduri (13?) and Eto (12?). My
host mom, Shorena, is pretty much the coolest. She's a geography
teacher at school, and she reminds me a LOT of Jen Stiefel. She's
chill and has a lot of plants and can cook very well. She's friends
with like everyone in the village, because there are a lot of teachers
that live nearby, and she grew up in the village, too. She let me
borrow her flipflops to check out their garden (because all I had
there were dress shoes and my slippers. Actually, that's all I have,
so I need to check out a bazari when I go back because I looked at the
maghazias with the daughter Eter and didn't find a whole lot). And I
was hanging out with the visiting aunt (everyone in the village,
family, teacher, friend, visits and hangs out) and we were talking
when the visiting aunt asked if I was going to get married in Georgia.
Shorena yelled from the kitchen “I'm the mom, and I say no!! (or
something to that effect.)”
But yeah. The family is incredibly kind and conscientious. The first
day I was there, when we were eating (which, by the way, we do a lot
of... I'll rant later), Little Badur, though mostly silent, told his mom I
needed a new plate when she was up, whatever I needed (or really
didn't need, but it was provided anyway).
The family also has bees. So we have honey with like every meal. It
is sweet. Literally. The school also has bees, and I got to go to
the honey harvesting on Friday. The director cut off the closed
honeycomb from the beehouse shelves with a big knife, then they were
put into this vat with a spinny hand crank thing to fling the honey
out, and then you open the spigot at the bottom of the vat and pour
the honey into a barrel. I got to do the spinny thing once! And I
got to taste FRESH fresh fresh honeycomb (pichi tapli). My
Akhalsopeli family also gave me a jar of honey to bring back to
Chailuri. Awesome!!
And they were all very sad when I left. Shorena called the marshutka
for me (which, btws, was an interesting ride, but I'm running out of
time to write, so it'll have to be saved for another time or perhaps a
book). Everyone waved goodbye at the gate and I was shoofted off to
Chailuri two hours later.
Last night Lauren and Katelyn and I watched a Good Will Hunting,
because I've been feeling punchy and needed some human English hangout
time. And I've never seen that movie, but I really liked it a lot.
What really matters in life? Hmmm...
Afterwards, Katelyn went home and Lauren and I also cooked a meal at
my place; most of my family is gone on vacation to Bautumi, except for
the aunt and grandma and cousins, so mealtimes are kinda like a
Shakira song now. We had some much needed debriefing time, and I'm
extremely thankful for her and that we're both in Patara. Last night
we made fries (from scratch), tomato/pepper/parsley salad, and
overmedium eggs. Tonight I want to cook at her place... we'll see
what we can scrounge up that's American-ish. It'll be cool.
Okay, classtime now. Gotta jet.
Before I go, I would like to profusely apologize to Clare for not
talking to her while I was at the conference. There was a lot of
stuff going on, but I still would have liked to talk for longer. I
REALLY want to talk to you again!
mikvarhar,
Paula
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