Roller Coaster of the Caucasus.

The Hygeine Poster Contest Award Ceremony is taking longer to accomplish than I thought it would.  Reasons?

1) Everyone at school has gone through their cycle of being sick for a week or so.  Including both my counterparts and the teacher I was doing the contest with, so last week was especially fun.  Cough.
2) It's Georgia.

So, I'll give you a draft I found lurking in my backlog (because much of it is still relevant/the same old), and prep another blog post later this week about what's been going on.

First order of business:  Giving Thanks.

I gave thanks multiple times this year.

• Once, I guess, at the All Vol conference in a huuuumongo group.  That was more of a period of not sleeping and drinking too much (every night.. not used to this) and talking about ridiculous things and philosophy and whatever else is a topic of great importance at 2 in the morning.

• Second Thanksgiving: I baked two pumpkin pies in the pechi this year.  One I shared with the 8th graders after they wrote an e-mail to my World Wise Schools correspondent about how they celebrate Christmas and New Year and Giorgoba.  The other I sent to the teachers lounge for them to enjoy while I sped off to Thanksgiving number three...

• in Tbilisi.  Good conversation, good people, good mood, good food.  Not all my axloblebi, but a couple good friends (one who's a good cook) and a good group of people and a 13 kilo turkey, not to mention an awesome girl who shares an odd kinship with me.

• Last Thanksgiving this year: in Telavi.  I still didn't get to help make pies, but Jeff and Tina helped me make PEANUT BUTTER (!!!!) and I helped Barb make pumpkin bread with a little of the leftover pumpkin.  The peanut butter is delicious, albeit a little... dry.  But it's chunky and au naturale, baby!  And not bad with apples from the backyard. (as long as I cut out the bad parts.  The apples are au naturale, too.)  But, anyways, it goes without saying that the people who were in Telavi are awesome people and a good time was had, despite faking sick on the marsh there so I didn't make people mad for having to pee, and my typical moody self flaring up, and not being able to shower. ("It takes a lot of money to heat the gas.  If you can be quick, go ahead.  But everyone will want to shower.  I'm sure you understand.")

 Things that annoy me:

Working seemingly all the time but never really having anything to show for it.  It's not like I have THAT MANY hours at school or a million (really, any) afterschool clubs (I guess the computer training counts) or other projects or keep in touch with friends back home or other volunteers.  Where does my time go?

Advice from "experts":

•  "You run on the stadium, right?  You should breathe only through your mouth when you run.  I'm a sportsman.  Just so you know."
• "Your hands, they're so dry!  You should use special lotion.  It's in drugstores.  It's got glycerin in it.  Then wear gloves all the time."
• "You should stay here for the rest of your life.  Don't you like Georgia?  She doesn't want to stay.  That means she doesn't like Georgia.  If she did, she would stay.

/end backlog

I think I will start a blog logging only the 3 things I'm thankful for each day.  That way, when my notebook runs out (both the paper one and the one I'm typing on, I guess) it'll exist somewhere.  Kinda like myself.

Now, back to work!  I asked my director for the off--and the initial reason, being a guest trainer elsewhere, has been (surprise!) postponed.  I'm still taking the personal day to get some work done, because heaven knows I need it!

Let's start the day in the best of ways... this year edition.

In celebration of my director's birthday and my coworker planting blackberries on farmville, I'll give you 5 examples of wonderful ways to start your day.  One of these was today.

ნაყინი (nakini) nightmares.

The deputy director, a sweet woman, told me I might want to pull my skirt up (fixed with a pin because lack of dryer stretched it out), and that my underwear's showing.  I was wearing one of the Christmas presents from my parents, stuffed in the toe of my boots when they sent them over.  They were bright pink.

warm weather's revenge

The very first time it's warm enough to eat in the kitchen and not in the living/petchi room, I arrived late to school because the clock in the kitchen is 5 minutes slow.  My 12th graders were loitering outside, so I apologized and asked if they were coming to class.  Later I realized I had them 3rd period and not 1st.  I should have been apologizing to the 3rd graders.  Whatev.

just another day in Georgia

I arrived late to school and had forgotten my phone and meds.  I searched for my counterpart, but she arrived later than I because she had a cold and low blood pressure and looked like she was about to collapse.  She'd tried to call me twice.  That same day, I had one student in 12th grade.  I made him listen to "A Whole New World" and write in the pronouns.

have to wear gloves next time I weed...

One fine morning I woke up.  I was very grateful that I woke up.  The night before my pinky was red and swollen and my wrist hurt.  I was so afraid I wouldn't wake up that I wrote the medical duty phone number on a scrap of paper, labeled it in Georgian, and left it next to my bed.  I looked at my arm and saw a red line running from my pinky, twisting down my arm to my elbow.  Hooray!

should've left the bag in the magic cupboard
One winter morning, I wanted museli.  I also wanted to keep the bag fresh.  I ran up to my room quickly to fetch some tape, and I slipped on the freshly-mopped landing and cracked my head open on the stairs.  When the ambulance driver came, he did paperwork over tea and honey while my head was leaking blood all over the pillow.

danit etxoba...

So, it's been a while again. (That seems to be my catch phrase here.  Maybe I've found myself a new subtitle.)

I don't know if I've been busy or lazy to update.  (Sub-subtitle?)

Either way, it's been coupled with a general feeling of listlessness and worthlessness and worrying.  (Again, nothing new under the sun.)

So what has been new?  Last week was Easter.  I was invited to go to Batumi with some of the other guys, but I stayed home because it was the host sister/niece's b-day and Easter.  Cool stuff: watched paska being baked.  Paska's like 8 times the work of babovka to yield an inferior product; dry and without scrumptious poppyseed filling.  Also, Eteri (mom/grandma) took off everything but innermost shirt, so host mom/sister glanced at my camera and said: "Make sure to get a picture of her chest and tell everyone it's traditional; you HAVE to prepare paska with cleavage."  I'll post pics later. ; D

All Sunday I helped prep food for Supras 1 and 2 last week Monday and Tuesday.  List: fried meat roll things, boiled meat in cabbage leaves, and 3 types of mayonaissey salads.

Supra #1 was kind of a failure because we prepared for like 25 guests and got maybe 10, an hour after the proposed starting time.  Maybe it's because everyone decided that day they were going to have guests.  Because it was the day after Easter.  Just maybe.  I ducked out early and talked with some awesome peeps on Skype.  You know who you are.  Holla at ya.

Supra #2 was a bit of a shit show.  Like I said before, 13-year-old's b-day.  Parents and I ate downstairs and left the kids upstairs in the supra room to their own devices.  There's no drinking age here.  We were chomming down and having a good time when one of my fourth graders burst in, hoists her wineglass, yells "TO THIS FAMILY!!!!", downs the glass, and runs out again to wreak some mystery mischief.

Other highlights of the night include being told I'm awesome by tipsy family members, passably reciprocating (some of the "you're awesome" was "you stylishly handled that chacha when we had the Chiakokonoba outside-night-picnic"), eating decent coffee-flavored torti, and getting a little too excited about talking to people online.  You also know who you are.  Holla at ya.

Also, Part of the Fam Test 1:
You're casually drying your stack of silverware with your dishtowel, glance at a knife, and ask, "This isn't ours, is it?"  When the answer is a laugh and an "ara!", you know you're in.