Continuation of the Culture Shock Cycle

I’m going to take a break from my weekly recounting of my adventures for this post, since I don’t feel like at this point discussing the misadventures of camping and I think I’ll talk about the trials of teaching enough here so no need to discuss in detail how I’m a horrible teacher.  Instead, I’m going to talk about what I’m thankful for.  I realize that I’m a month early for Thanksgiving.  I also think this might be a result of turning a corner in the culture shock cycle; Georgia is starting to lose its ‘everything is wonderful’ sheen.  It might also have something to do with the fact that the sunny weather is gone, leaving cold, wet, dreary weather in its place, with only the hope of more cold and snow in my future.  Or the fact that it’s been 3 days since I’ve showered, and there’s no hot water, or even lukewarm water.  So that’s number 1.

Things I’m thankful for, either because I’ve learned to appreciate how great they are because I don’t have them in Georgia, or because I do, and I love it

1. Hot showers whenever I want – I am pretty lucky in that we have a hot water heater and I can take regular showers.  However, I can’t take them quite as often as I’d like because some days the hot water indicator has a sad story to tell me, or because the idea of going outside in the cold to go downstairs to shower in the cold just doesn’t appeal.  Also, overhead shower heads like we all have in America are wonderful.  The nice, hot water isn’t so nice when you have to set the handle down to shampoo your hair.  So for those of you with the luxury of hot, comfortable showers, enjoy one for me next time you take one.  Enjoy that luxury.  I’ve learned to live without it, even thought the other day, “I really wish I didn’t have to shower…it’s so much work”, but I will enjoy it once I go home for Christmas.
2. Unlimited high-speed internet-Okay, in truth, I am incredibly grateful for my little USB modem that gives me internet in the middle of a Georgian village.  That in itself is a feat of technology.  Still, I only get 5 GB a month of high-speed internet.  We’re not talking lightning speed here, we’re talking that more than one page can load at once and Google mail functions fully in standard mode.  So, I’ve basically outlawed Youtube for myself and family.  I think about every download I make.  Partly this is neurosis on my part because of my fear of SLOW internet, but it’s also a reality of living with limited resources.  I can’t wait to go home and catch up on old TV shows that I can’t stream here, or actually feel guilt-free when I click on friends’ Youtube links or upload pictures to Facebook.
3. Food I eat in America- This is huge.  I spend way too much time thinking about food here (big shock for all of you, I’m sure).  Granted, in my life in America, I think a lot about food, but now I think about food I can’t have.  Like salsa…and guacamole…and salads…and food with real nutritional value…and whole-wheat bread…and chocolate-chip cookies…and greenish bananas…and pumpkin-flavored fall goodies…Chick-Fil-A nuggets and waffle fries…Chava’s burritos, queso dip, cheddar cheese, hummus, fresh veggies from the Soulard market, tomato soup on a dreary day, Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, Illinois sweet corn (the corn here makes me cringe), okay, I’ll stop torturing myself.  And Georgian food is good, but that’s the signature dishes.  On an everyday basis, the food is much less exotic (and nutritious)…way too much bread (thank God I love it or I’d go crazy, as I eat it at every meal, literally).
4. The fresh food I get in Georgia-while I eat a lot of empty carbs, I also get treated to fresh pomegranates (being one of my favorite foods, this makes me incredibly happy), persimmons, figs, apples, grapes, nuts, etc.  I also appreciate eating food from my host fam helped make, like fresh milk, homemade cheese, honey, homemade jam etc.  It is nice not to eat processed foods all the time.
5. Driving laws-They exist here in Georgia, but not like in the US.  The line dividing lanes (and usually directions of traffic) is treated as a suggestion at best and totally ignored at worst.  Seat belts are now mandatory only in the front seat and wearing them in the backseat is a major insult to your driver (they are still only sometimes worn in the front seat).  Speed limits seem to be more determined by the quality and curvature of the road than by the posted speed limits.  Driving drunk is rampant, despite being illegal.  Driving underage or without a license seems to be fairly common.  Unfortunately, so are accidents.  In short, I wouldn’t last 5 minutes if I tried to drive here.
6. Heat-The wood-burning stove has come out at last so the kitchen is now toasty.  It’s also easier to make tea when the teapot sits on top of the stove all day.  Also, you can bake things.  However, my room is still cold.  The school won’t get heat until November 15^th, and I am not sure how much heat that will be.  The stories I hear aren’t promising.  Yes, we worried about high gas bills back home, and my apartment on Oakland was cold and terrible about keeping heat in.  Still, warm houses are a luxury we don’t appreciate enough in the Western world. 
7. American schools-I never fully appreciated parts of my education, like schools providing books.  Some kids don’t have books here.  As the books are incredibly interactive, this causes problems.  Some kids want to resell their books/workbooks, so they won’t write or color in them, which also deters their learning.  How do you expect kids to do pages out of their workbooks for class when several don’t have them or won’t write in them?  I never thought this would happen in America.  I also never questioned the availability of a CD player to play audio.  Or heat in the schools. 
8. Discipline- While my classes are usually pretty good, other volunteers have horror stories about the lack of discipline.  Throwing kids out of the classroom is not always allowed here.  There aren’t classroom structures like class rules and consequences for not following them/behavior charts/incentives to be good.  Respect seems like a foreign concept with the way these kids can act in class, although I know it isn’t absent from Georgian culture.  Teachers seem to yell or pull on kids’ hair, neither of which seem overly effective.  Kids frequently hit each other and are generally far more violent than any school I went to would ever allow.  The kids also run wild in the halls. I like watching kids enjoying their childhood until I am afraid they’re going to run smack into me.  Obviously, the government wants us to help change these behaviors, but it is a very slow process.
9. Academic integrity-Teachers tend to teach to the best kids and call the rest stupid or bad or just ignore them.  With teaching little kids, it seems heartbreaking to dismiss kids at this age.  If kids aren’t made to learn these fundamentals, they will be lost forever in English.  Instead of asking teachers to slow down or go over things again, kids just copy off each other to pretend like they understand, that is, if they haven’t resigned themselves to being stupid or lazy.  I actually had a kid today tell me he couldn’t write out “one, two, three, four, five”.  Granted, he’s way behind the others, knows Russian more than Georgian, and sits at the back, so he’s easily dismissed, but he did write out the words when I went through it with him letter by letter.  Perhaps just causing fewer kids to be marginalized in the classroom is enough of a goal for me here.  Trying to reform grade inflation and cheating is a much bigger battle someone else will hopefully one day conquer.
10. The ability to walk-Obvious, I know.  I can walk here in Georgia, and do a lot.  On Sunday, that was called into question after pushing my body too hard while hiking.  I also had a pretty sweet limp since I strained a muscle or something when I fell trying to go downhill.  I felt about eighty and walked as slow.  On Monday, I was incredibly sore, and every move hurt.  Today I can walk like normal, which is so nice.  Be kind to your legs and appreciate them-they’re amazing!
11. Old friends and family-I’m trying to be better about communicating, and I’m doing a better job than I normally would do because I crave updates on your lives/contact since I miss you all.  I also appreciate whenever you talk about enjoying the blog or the pictures I do post to Facebook.  It’s nice to have a good support system and people who miss you despite the fact that I routinely leave you for places you can barely find on a map.
12. Expat friends here-I’m not sure what I would do without them.  While I love talking with friends and family from back home, there are some things that you all will never fully appreciate, but my expat friends here do.  While we come from different countries and different stages and walks of life, being native English speakers and foreigners here is an extremely strong bond.  Between being able to share our experiences and speak normal English with each other, these people help me keep my sanity.  They also make great travel buddies, which I will surely miss once my weekends are not almost entirely devoted to traveling.
13. My host family-I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  They’re great.  Even though now I will make my own tea/get myself some food in the rare event I’m hungry, my host family still serves me food and takes such good care of me.  They also look at all my travel pictures with much more interest than I ever would.
14. Park rangers and workers at Borjomi-Kharangauli National Park-Let’s just say that without them, my friends and I would have spent a very miserable night off the map somewhere in this massive Georgian forest.  Instead, we had a great night instead of a roaring fire inside a park ranger’s station and got a free guided tour back down the mountain.

Okay, so I think this is probably way too long for most of you to read in its entirety, so I’ll sign off now.

The Trials of Teaching, as well as more Travel

No presidents this week, alas, life is hard.  I did get my ticket home, so I will be back in the States 2 months from Saturday (December 22^nd)!  I’ll be home for 2 weeks, most of which will be spent on the couch catching up on USA network shows as my face recovers from getting my wisdom teeth pulled (don’t I know how to plan a great vacation?)  I’m looking forward to seeing my friends and family.  Assuming the travel agency does change my ticket, I will also get a free trip (or extended layover) in Poland.  I’m looking forward to it.  But that’s next year, so back to Georgia.

Last week my classes continued as normal.  My 6^th graders are now split up for good, so I simply face the challenge of planning lessons out of a book not suited for these kids.  I don’t want to veer too far off from the curriculum because that will only harm them in the future, not to mention I have no idea how to write curriculum for 6^th grade beginner English students.  I probably could, but I don’t want to.  More and more, I like some of my students and have fun with them, but I realize how much my heart is not in teaching.  It’s in talking with the people around me, traveling, and knowing more about the world around me.  That’s encouraging as I spend too many hours working on grad school applications.

Last week I also got my first private student in a very Georgian manner.  A fellow teacher asks me if I want a private student who comes to her for private geography lessons.  He’s in 12^th grade, and I thought he was from a nearby village of Toneti.  My teacher asks me to think about it, and if I could have lessons at my house.  I tell her I have to ask my host mom.  Although my host mom is incredibly chill, I still procrastinated until right before I headed off to school the next day to ask her.  She said she would ask my host dad and that afternoon tells me he said it would be better to have the lessons at school.  Having no problem with that, I took advantage of one of the last sunny and relatively warm days and go walking, stopping at another teacher’s house.  After a while, my host mom calls me and tells me to come home.  A million problems run through my head (she’s never done this before) and I hurry home.  Of course, she asks if I ran home since I made it so fast (Georgian girls go very slow, and you all know how fast I walk).  There is no problem; she’s simply sitting and drinking coffee with another policeman’s wife.  She then tells me that I can have lessons at home because the kid turned out to be a relative.  So very Georgian.  He then comes over and we try to discuss a schedule and price.  Thinking he’s from a village and not wanting to gouge him, I quote him a cheap price on lessons.  He says he’ll think about if he wants 1 or 2 lessons a week and the schedule and he’ll let me know.  On Monday, my host sister walks into my room and tells me he wants a lesson.  My host family asks if I can lower my price (which is already about ½ the price of lessons in Tbilisi), but I say “no”.  He must have given in, because he then comes over, laden with books of practice tests.  I found out he's actually from Tbilisi, so I'm not sure why he comes here for tutoring.  We go through some of them, and I found I had survived my first tutoring session.  Of course, he hasn’t told me when he wants the 2^nd lesson this week, but I’m hoping he doesn’t just show up.  If he does, I’m going to make him agree to a schedule.  In general, I’m just going to see how this works out.  Since I am in Georgia, trying to pin down anything seems difficult.

That was probably the most exciting part of my week, aside from learning how to play some new card games from my host family.  I like spending time with them and am more and more, which is making grad school applications even harder to work on.  This has been on my mind a lot since my first application is due on Monday.  Oh joy!  I’ll be so happy when they are all done.  Next semester I can use that time for more serious Georgian and Russian study.

This week has been considerably more interesting at school, namely because I’ve been on my own.  My main co-teacher has been absent for the first three days this week, and I don’t know when she’ll be back.  I’m really hoping she’s back tomorrow, because otherwise tomorrow will be a nightmare.  One of her husband’s relatives died in a car crash over the weekend, so I don’t begrudge her being gone at all.  I’m just not sure how I’ll survive in a class with 1^st graders who only (sort of) know A, B, C, and D.  So far I’ve had an interesting time trying to instill discipline.  Georgian discipline involves yelling at kids and pulling on their ear/hair, both of which I’m not a fan of.  I have mostly tried to keep the classes busy, but they’re so noisy, so I’ve said ‘Be quiet’ about a million times.  They didn’t really know what it meant at first, but they do now.  Several kids tried to tell me the Georgian, but I am taking this week as a chance to give them an almost entirely English only classroom.  It only kind of works.  I’m also trying to teach the children to be quiet and raise their hands if they want me to call on them.  The traditional Georgian way of getting called on is to hop out of your seat, wave your hand around, and yell “mas, mas” repeatedly.  (Mas is short for ‘mastsavlebeli’, which means ‘teacher’).  They are slowly learning.  When they do, I will feel quite triumphant and have a modicum of peace in my class.  The great thing is about half the class always wants me to call on them to speak/go to the board.  The problem is, only half of those kids actually know the answer.  It was strange the first few times a kid was dying to be called on when he or she did not know the answer.  That would not happen in an American classroom, for sure.  I suppose the humiliation factor isn’t there.  I have succeeded a bit in maybe a small bit of humiliation as I collected copious notes, a cell phone, and a few pens.  It’s hard to decide what to do when kids use their pens for spit wads. If you take the pens away, then they can’t write.  If you let them keep them, they blow spit wads at each other.  I also threw one kid out of my worst class when I could think of nothing else to do with him.  You’re not supposed to do that (this lack of real consequences is a major problem here), but no one commented on it, and it made that class a bit more bearable.

I’ll stop complaining about my kids for now.  I’m sure once my co-teacher returns, life will go back to normal.  One of the nice things is that I feel more like a real part of my school now.  One of my fellow teachers even commented to me that they all just think of me as another teacher now, part of them.  That felt good. 

Now onto my weekend adventure in Mtskheta and Tbilisi.  We did not have school last Friday because it was Svetitskhovloba, which you can read about here.  Basically it is Mtskheta’s big holiday, celebrating one of the most important churches in Georgia, Svetiskhoveli.

I went to Mtskheta on Friday for this because I figured I should see as much of Georgian life as possible, and also another TLGer had come to Tbilisi/Mtskheta (Mtskheta is 30 minutes from Tbilisi, so basically a suburb) for his birthday.  The streets were filled with a lot of the same festivities as Tbilisoba (the festival in Tbilisi the weekend before), except there was less meat and the church had roses and flowers around a lot of the icons and was all lit up.  I met up with my TLG friend and a few of his Georgian friends, who proceeded to feed me snacks before treating us to lunch.  I think I've mentioned how incredibly hospitable Georgians are, and here was another example.  After lunch, the Georgians left, and I went with the other TLGer to the archeological museum.  It had some crazy old shards of pottery and other archeological finds, but my mind did not really feel like appreciating things from millennia ago so I breezed through the museum.  A lady there told us about an archeological site so we went there.  I think she said that with our tickets we got in free to the archeological site, but the guy who should have collected our money was passed out, so it didn't matter.  The site was not that impressive.  Let's just say that in America, if we had ruins that old, we would have made a huge deal out of it, but maybe that's because Georgians have centuries of history and a lot less money to throw into tourist attractions.  Actually, the place had signs in English, so it wasn't that bad.   

Another friend then met us and we wandered around the festival and spent some time in front of a stage that I hope was meant for children.  There were lots of adults dressed in costumes (fox, clown, chicken, etc) dancing to really awful music.  Random pyrotechnics and confetti accompanied this display.  It was weird but people seemed entertained.  We walked a bit farther and there was a stage of kids performing who were significantly better than the adults in costume.  Go figure.  We walked around and found a guy with a few boxes of bottles of homemade wine.  Assuming it would be good, one of my friends bought a bottle.  It was the worst wine I've had in Georgia by far, probably halfway to being vinegar, which was such a disappointment.  We went into the church, which was way more impressive than when I had gone before because it was lit up, smelled like beeswax candles, was filled with faithful parishioners, and had flowers around the icons/graves, etc. 

Pretty soon we headed back to Tbilisi.  Two friends and I were going to another TLGer’s apartment so we decided we should bring some wine.  Having grown averse to bottled wine, as it is too expensive for our tastes, we went looking for some cheap jug/homemade wine. I asked a saleswoman in a grocery store if she knew of anywhere nearby where we could get some homemade wine, hoping for better luck than earlier that day.  The woman said there was nowhere nearby.  In America (well, in America this situation would never happen for several reasons), that would be the end of that.  But I’m in Georgia, so she asks the next customer if he knew.  He told me he knew of a place about 800 meters away, and he could take us in his car.  Again, in America, I would never, ever agree to this. But, we conferred, and we decided this was worth pursuing.  So we followed him to his car, where his wife was (sigh of relief there).  We drove for a bit until he stopped, locked his wife in the car, and took us into an open door with "Chateau Telavi" on it. Of course, the guy working there was a relative of our driver, so our driver dropped us off, and, lo and behold, we were in a winery.  The man explained that he had just been cleaning up, but he let us sample the 3 kinds of wine they had in vats there.  The white was good, and the reds were OK.  Of course, the white ended up being 20.50 GEL a liter and the reds 3 and 4 GEL.  We went with the 3 GEL red and got a 3 liter container.  The guy asked me how many of us there would be.  I said we would have friends, probably about 4.  He assured us that 3 liters would not be enough, but was mollified when I told him that the others would also be drinking beer.  The old man was actually incredibly nice and even kissed our hands goodbye after sending us in the right direction.  As I was the one speaking with him (in Russian, of course), I asked for directions and successfully navigated us back to where we needed to be.  This is a huge feat, which many of you will appreciate.

The next day I headed to the train station to go to the market there.  I had explored it some before but found a whole new world full of anything you could possibly want to buy.  It reminded me of markets in Russia and made me quite happy as I whiled away a few hours there.  I found some cheap second hand scarves and tried to find a cheap hat but couldn't.  Some old woman selling socks said she had hats at home so if I came back on Sunday, she would have one.  It also felt weird looking for cold weather items on a warm, sunny day in Tbilisi, but in Manglisi it is much colder.  Sadly, when I went back the next day, this woman was nowhere to be found, but I did manage to find a nice hat that was in my price range.  I also completed the entire transaction without relying on my Russian, so that was pretty exciting. 

I then wandered around Old Town Tbilisi until I stumbled upon the greatest find of the weekend, a tea festival!   

Intrigued and incredibly pleased, I ventured inside and got to taste some honey, tea, and cheese.  I then started walking back to my hostel and met another TLGer, who was on her way to meet other TLGers, because Georgia is a very small world.  I showed them the Caucasus Tea Festival, and since it was less crowded, we got more samples of cheese, tea, and honey.  We also got wine, jam, and an explanation of what the festival was about.  The Caucasus Business and Development Network put it on as part of their ongoing efforts to show that despite political conflicts, businesses can work together and need to work together.  So, the tea, wine, cheese, etc. comes from various parts of the South Caucasus-Armenia, Azerbaijan, the region they fight over (which has delicious honey), Turkey, Georgia, South Ossetia, and Abkahazia and is all called Caucasus tea, Caucasus cheese, etc.  A pretty cool idea, plus I got lots of free samples of several of my favorite foods.  After that, I met another TLGer to investigate ‘dry bridge’.  It is just a bridge, but people gather there to sell all sorts of things, including antiques, Soviet memorabilia, jewelry, and random electronics.  It did not have a ton of souvenirs, but still happily reminded me of Moscow’s Izmailovo, where you can find any souvenir your heart desires.  Most sellers spoke Russian, even to each other, so my friend greatly appreciated my language skills.  It is weird hearing Russian and just simply understanding.  It doesn't register as Russian as much as I just get what they people are saying.  In real conversations, this doesn't always happen and I frequently have no idea what people are saying, but it's cool to eavesdrop and just understand.  I’m finally feeling like I really am comfortable with Russian.

On that note, I’ll sign off.  Soon I’ll have stories to tell of camping in Borjomi (yes, I’m going camping, and in October).  If I survive the cold and bears, I’m going to Armenia at the beginning of November.  In general, life is very good here.

M is for Misha, S is for Sarkozy

I’m going to try to divide this post into two parts: teaching/village life and trips.

First, teaching is going pretty well.  I have 16 hours of teaching a week, since that includes all 1-6 grades.  After hearing horror stories about how bad the older grades in Georgia are (not all our bad, but years of lack of discipline don’t always have positive outcomes), I think I will refrain from asking to help with the older classes directly.  Instead, I’m hoping to have an after-school club, but I haven’t really worked on that too much.  This week I did manage to break up my 6^th grade class into 2 groups. I was able to review with the group who speaks Russian and already has a year of English under their belts while my co-teacher reviewed the alphabet with the other.  It got a bit noisy, but overall, I think it was a success.  It was the first time I felt like I had really contributed something to teaching here.  The rest of my classes are still on the alphabet, so we’re slowly progressing.  Some of the kids pick it up right away, while a few are struggling.  I sometimes try to help those kids.  I don’t know if some of them just don’t know Georgian that well (I’ve discovered I can speak Russian to some of them) or are special needs.  Georgians fully integrate (i.e. don’t do anything with) special needs kids in their classrooms.  I think they then generally get ignored by a teacher who has 20 other students who are capable of learning whatever lesson there is.  Regardless, the divide between kids who get it and those who don’t is starting to become apparent.  Of course, the kids who can’t manage to bring a notebook and pen, let alone a book, to class aren’t helping themselves.  I would say less than 50% of my students bring everything they need to class, many because they don’t have the books (which we work around easily enough), but also because they don’t have a notebook for my class (which they should, since they are very cheap) or have forgotten to bring a pen. It gets a little frustrating, but I also appreciate that in the US, the schools supply books, and my family always enjoyed buying me new school supplies every year.  That never seemed like a major household expense, but if you have multiple kids with multiple textbooks and notebooks and pens to buy, that could take a decent chunk of money away from a Georgian family.

3 of the 5 days, I have a break in between classes, so now we have a “buffet”, a room where there are snacks and tea and coffee for sale.  My fellow teachers treated me each time this week to tea and snacks.  I enjoyed it, but someday I will have to find a way to repay them.  It is nice to have more time to talk with my fellow co-teachers and learn a little about them/life in Manglisi.

I really feel like I am starting to integrate into life here.  While it had gotten very cold (probably 40s, but with no heat yet), it finally warmed up a bit this week. I took advantage of the rare sunny days and went on walks around the village/the hills outside of it.  Both times, I was treated on my way back.  The first time, on my way home, I ran into a fellow teacher, who, of course, invited me in.  She fed me tea and potatoes and whatever else she could convince me to eat.  We chatted for a while, I met her four cute kids, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  If I had not already been gone for a long time, I would have stayed longer, but now that I know where she lives, I will return. She studied Russian at school, even though she is a history teacher now, so she speaks very good Russian.  She also clarified that the Russian school in Manglisi had only been closed last year, hence the fact that my 6^th graders are split between Russian and Georgian speakers. I have a feeling my other grades are as well, but the difference is only stark with the 6^th graders, as half have already started learning English.  This is also why I think some of the “slow” kids may just not understand Georgian.  Apparently there were formerly plenty of Russian speakers (mostly Russians, but also other groups) in Manglisi but there are far fewer now.  I also have heard rumors of a decent Greek minority here (and by decent, we’re talking village standards, so still a small number of people).

On my second walk, I was talking on the phone to another TLGer when I walked past a small store.  Three men were outside eating and drinking.  They asked me a few questions in Russian (as a foreigner, they automatically think I know Russian, which works out well for me but not for other TLGers).  I ended my phone call and started talking to them.  They invited me sit down, gave me chocolate, and then water and cookies.  They proceeded to also offer me a bag of hazelnuts, tea, more cookies, and offered me more food.  They also toasted to me and America several times.  They were either drunk or well on their way to being there, but I was not worried, because this is just another display of Georgian hospitality.  Had I been a male, they would have forced me to drink vodka with them, but as a girl, they accepted my refusal and gave me tea.  By gave me tea, they had one of the guy’s wives make it for me.  Her presence was also reassuring, and she was also incredibly nice.  I eventually thought I should go, since again I had been gone for a while.  Of course, they made me take the bottle of water, bag of hazelnuts (which were delicious), and bag of cookies with me.  Did I mention Georgian hospitality is awesome?  Once I realized this to a few friends, I found out that I had discovered the birzha, an essential part of Georgian villages, where there is a constant flux of men sitting and eating/drinking.

My breakfast (and often my dinner) consists of tea, bread, butter, and jam/honey, with cheese usually an option as well. I like this just fine, although I wish the bread was not all white bread.  We get different kinds, but almost all are white, and by now I have a mental hierarchy of which is best.  On rare occasions we get something that looks like wheat bread.  Since we have cows, we also get fresh (ok, from the night before) milk, which is delicious (especially with a few spoonfuls of sugar in it).  This past Friday, I had the winning breakfast combination of wheat bread, hot milk, and honey.  I was very happy.  I was also intrigued, as an older man I did not know was sitting across from me.  He was eating pasta and drinking vodka.  No one offered an explanation to me. I’m sure he’s a neighbor or relative I simply have not met yet, but the experience seemed so very Georgian, adding to the greatness of my breakfast.

The old man was the only one eating breakfast with me on Friday because we did not have school on Friday.  Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, came to speak in Tbilisi on Friday.  As he brokered peace between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Georgians really like him.  Thus, the teachers at my school decided to go to the speech.  As soon as I heard about this, I asked to go along.  Several, but not all of the teachers went, and the whole school day was canceled.  We left around 12pm but frequently stopped for food so did not get into Tbilisi until after 3.  The place was already very crowded.  The security was fairly strict (no bags, make-up, pens, cameras, water), so one of my teachers stayed back and held my bag and my fellow teachers’ stuff while the rest of us endured the crowds to go to see Sarkozy.  There were a series of security checkpoints, around which the crowds surged, but once I actually made it onto Freedom Square, I had plenty of room.  We arrived onto Freedom Square right before Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, started speaking.  He spoke in both French and Georgian, since he can speak many languages very well and frequently shows off that ability.  I could not see him speaking, but there were several large screens that projected the image.  Sarkozy spoke soon after, actually starting at 5:30, which was on time, which never happens in Georgia.  Freedom Square was also decked out for the occasion, and people were carrying Georgian, French, and EU flags, so it was a pretty awesome experience.  One of my friends was late enough that he was able to sneak his bag and a camera in, so eventually I should have some pics of the event to show you all.  The event, despite my inability to understand more than a few words of either speech, was very cool.

That night kicked off Tbilisoba, which is a holiday dating back to 1979.  Basically it gives Tbilisi a chance to celebrate itself and the harvest.  There was a free outdoor concert that night, which some friends and I went to in true Georgian style, i.e. late.  We missed most of it but what we saw was a lot of fun.  It was also cool to see the scores of people hanging out in the background making kebabs and other Georgian food.

The next day the celebrations started at 12pm.  Most of Old Town Tbilisi was blocked off for the event, and there were several stages of music, lots of food, and other festivities.  There was a room-sized grape-stomping area (but alas, no free samples), Georgian pop, traditional Georgian music, a car show, arts and crafts, and a display of Georgian martial arts (that was the translation, but it was really just fighting).  The Georgian martial arts performance was pretty cool.  The guys were dressed up in traditional outfits and had a variety of weapons, including an axe, whips, and a spear.  There were also live musicians to accompany the display, although while the guys were warming up/practicing, Western pp music blared through the speakers, which seemed such a strange combination.  After watching that, we kept going through Old Town to see what else we could discover.  Eventually we came across the food, where we got to sample lots of cheese (I don’t think any of us have ever been so happy to taste mozzarella, since there is only one kind of cheese any of us really get here in Georgia).  There were then lots of places selling kebabs and other Georgian food, so we sat down with some Georgian wine and let our feet rest.  Of course, since it is Georgian wine, I bought an obviously reused plastic bottle of dark wine, which would seem wrong anywhere else.  While we were sitting down,  also got to see an old guy fill up the smaller bottles from a giant drum of wine, which entertained me greatly.  There were more Tbilisoba festivities, but after finding the end of Tbilisoba was kiddie rides (at least a few I think were at the Manglisi vrosha this summer), we headed home.

I did not stay in Tbilisi last night because last weekend I spent both Friday and Saturday night in Tbilisi so I would be in Tbilisi early enough to catch a bus to Kakheti.  TLG had organized a trip to Kachreti, a village in Kakheti, a region of Georgia famous for its wine.  They had organized a similar trip the weekend before, but I had gone to Kazbegi instead.  I had heard lots of good stories from the trip, so was highly anticipating the trip.  Then came the news that Misha would be there.  Misha is short for Mikheil and the name by which everyone talks about the president.  Due to his attendance, we had some security at the place we ended up at, which was some kind of tourism college.  While we were picking grapes off the vine (and eating plenty of them in the process), two helicopters flew down, one of which carried Misha.  We aren’t sure if the other one was a decoy or just security, but either way it was cool.  Someone gave a speech while the TLGers were told to keep picking grapes.  Another girl and I went to empty our basket and watched a bit of the speech, at which point Misha looked over and said “gamarjobat”, which is “hello” in Georgian.  He later took pics with a bunch of people, but I was satisfied that he had said “hello” to me.  After taking pictures, he flew off again.  The TLGers were herded into a small building to witness traditional grape stomping.  I even got to try it, and it was fun, although not as easy as it looks.  I also got to try some of the fresh-pressed grape juice, which was delicious.  Afterward, we were taken to another part of the college grounds where we had a supra, a Georgian feast.  We also learned how to make churchxela, which the Georgians like to call Georgian snickers.  They make some caramel-like mixture from grapes and dip strings of nuts into it.  It’s pretty good.  Other people also got to try making kiln bread, but somehow I totally missed that part of the adventure. It was probably because I was starving after making the churchxela and went for the food.  The weekend before, people had raved about all the food and drink they had had, but we ran out of food and wine fairly early on, which should be impossible in Georgia.  Since the group before us had had a bit too much fun, we think it might have been intentional.  Still, it was a pretty good day.  After all, it’s not everyday that the president, and the reason you have a job, says “hello” to you.

On a slightly unrelated note, I’m just going to apologize in advance to my friends and family back home.  While not all parts of living in a village in a developing country are fun, there are some definite perks.  Fresh milk is amazing.  I love walking down the street and picking fruit/nuts off trees if I want.  My host family makes their own cheese, and my host dad keeps bees so we can have honey.  So, I have a feeling that I am going to scoff at grocery store grapes and talk about how much better they are fresh off the vine, disdain pasteurized milk, and wax on about how glorious fresh, local food is.  I’ll probably do this as I stuff my face with processed American food and eat out of season fruits and veggies that are on the grocery store shelves because they were grown thousands of miles away.  You’ve been warned.