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 6th
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 6th
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 6th
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.
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