I did a lot over the last two weeks, but I have come to realize that a lot of it would likely be uninteresting and similar to everything else I had been doing – so I will try to stick to the basics. I got my plane ticket which was set to send me home the 22nd, but that was inadequate because I wouldn’t be able to make family Christmas in Chicago. So, $115 later I changed it to come home a week earlier on the 15th. It’s kinda crazy because I went from being mentally prepared for 11 more days to having only 4. All things considered, however, I was excited about moving up the date.
For my last weekend I went to the my friend Jason’s village where we had suphra and spent the night. He has a really interesting situation because he has a serious thing for his host sister, like would consider spending the rest of his life in Georgia serious. She is really cool and I totally see why he digs her, it’s just crazy to think about meeting someone like this. It was an amazing way to spend my last weekend because I got to continue Georgian tradition with my 3 best friends here. It’s gonna be hard to leave everyone behind – I will likely never see many of them ever again. I guess true friendship finds a way, though, and I have faith in some sort of reunion.
I think the best way to sum up my experience is to explain my last day in Georgia because it really captured what this experience has been for me. Knowing it was going to be my last day it school, it wasn’t as hard to get out of bed as it usually is. Not to say I am depressed or anything, but my room is seriously really cold, and it is hard to muster up the strength to brave the nipple-hardening cold. I got dressed all spiffy-like, I figure you gotta go out looking good. There is one girl, Nino, who is pretty obsessed with me and was waiting at the entrance to the school property. She started tearing up immediately, and, though it was somewhat sad, it was a pretty hysterical tantrum – seriously, she’s obsessed. She asked me to give her my Mizzou beanie to remember me by, and I have no doubt she will wear it every day for the next couple years. I will put a picture of us up as soon as I can.
I only had 2 classes scheduled for the day, and I would like to say I usually work harder at school, but 2 hours of work has pretty much been the norm. As usual, I don’t think the students really got much out of the lesson. There are always a few students who really commit themselves and then there is everyone else… All of us teachers have had a tough time in the classroom, and I don’t think there is an easy solution to the problem as long as we are paired up with the Georgian co-teacher. Anyways, after my lessons my two favorite teachers gave me some gifts. Pretty much everything here is centered on wine, so they gave me these cool little goblet doodads and a fancy pitcher thing. It was really nice of them and I like to brag about it because a lot of the other Americans here have poor relations with their school and have no chance of getting such wondrous gifts. I definitely won the school lottery.
After some more tearful goodbyes, I quickly made my way home to drop off my gifts. I had to hurry because I was meeting my friends for Thai food which I was excited about. It is sad to say, but it was one of the best meals I have had in Georgia. For $7 each we got a ton of delicious, flavorful food, drinks and a sumptuous ice-cream dessert platter. Also, it was nice to sate my spicy food addiction because Georgian food simply doesn’t do the trick. I thought I was going to have to hurry and leave to go sign this super important form at the ministry of education. I need to sign something special to be officially affiliated with them so I can receive money when I recruit people to the program. And I wouldn’t be too worried about it, but it’s like thousands of dollars at stake, so I needed to get it done. Basically, the ministry totally dropped the ball and couldn’t get the form finished, so we are going to have to try and figure out some fax/email method of getting it done. It was absolutely fitting that my last day would include some screw up by the ministry, haha.
Since I didn’t have to go there anymore, I went with a couple friends to this park where they had a bunch of ping-pong tables. It was only 50cents for an hour, so I showed off my mad ping-pong skills, though Gilby and I ended up with 3-3, so we will have to have game 7 sometime later. One of the greatest things about this program has been having a hundred cool people to do something with all the time. Whether it’s getting different food, playing ping pong, going out or travelling to Armenia, there is always someone up for something – those of you that know me know how much I appreciate this.
I had to rush from ping-pong to say goodbye to James and Jason (2 of the best friends I mentioned earlier). I sat down for a quick 10-minute tea with and promised we would meet up at some point in life. I am gonna miss those guys. A bunch of people wanna backpack Europe over the summer, and, if I can throw some money together, I might make an attempt to do it. If anybody readings this wants to come, do it man!
I had to leave there early in order to get to suphra on time. Tornike, the 11th grade student that took me to the village and has hosted me for suphra twice previously, invited me over for my final Georgian meal. His buddies were all there too, and we suphrad as we always have before, but it is something that could never get old. They all told me how good of a guy I was and that they didn’t expect an American guy to be so cool, and I told them they are awesome and I could never forget them. Looking back now, it is almost unreal that the whole event happened. Georgia is awesome.
As much as I wanted to stay all night, I knew I should be getting back because it was my last night in the country and I should spend a little time with the family. They were all waiting for me, and it was nice that they had a little get together to send me off. They gave me a Georgian propaganda magazine with a small flag inside as a parting gift, and I am proud to say I can even read some of it! For my final meal, Levan threw some potatoes in the fire, let them burn and turn into coals. Then he served them to me… As gross as they appeared, it was somehow fitting that this was my last meal presented to me by my family. I ate my potato coals and considered what foods I would have first once I was back in the States. Another fitting family moment was that my host mom asked me to go buy butter from the local store because she was going to bed, haha. Ahh well, I love it!
The novelty of airports has pretty much worn off and I was a little pissed to find out that they wouldn’t let me bring all my luggage back without paying extra, even though I brought the same amount of stuff over on the same airlines. So I left all my shoes and a couple bottles of wine behind, but I didn’t get too worked up about it. I bared my 26 hours of travel fairly well and went through customs with a huge smile on my face. Everyone else seemed really grumpy, though, and I thought it was because they hate the travelling experience; however, I was made aware that I reeked like smoke and trash, so that may be it as well. I never realized how bad Georgia makes someone smell until I came back to a country that smelled nice. Every single thing I brought back smelled of Georgia, and I am pretty sure the entire Feist family judged me for the odor. But no matter how bad I smelled, at least I was back. I’m back….. I can’t believe it’s over. For better or worse…
I AM BACK!
p.s. I am gonna keep the blog going, but it won't all be about Georgia, though I am sure parallels will be made. So, if you wanna discontinue your following, I completely understand. But if you wanna know what I'm up to, stay tuned!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Armenia!
I was definitely really excited about Armenia, but my hopes turned into reality before we even entered the country. Eight hours on a van has never been more fun, although the Irishman and the Australian sheila would likely disagree. We drank homemade Araki , rotated as tamada and experienced friendship as Georgians have taught us to. We ended up singing “America the Beautiful” and other American songs while the two others in the back were shivering cold and mad at life – it’s good to be us. We had no plans for the next day so a few of us stayed up for a while once we got to the hostel and talked. We definitely started the weekend right.
On Friday, we toured around the city and took it easy because our big, day-long tour was going to be on Saturday. We went to a giant transcript museum which was only mediocre until this really nice woman came and explained the things we were looking at. Basically, there are only a couple things you need to know about Armenia: It is the oldest Christian country in the world; there was this badass dude named Mashtots (or mashed potatoes as we call him) in the 12th century that invented their alphabet and perhaps multiple others (including Georgian, although any good Georgian would dispute that); the country went through the whole soviet thing and got pushed around by them and the Ottomans; they are super proud of Mt. Ararat, but Turkey devastatingly muscled it away from them (which really sucks because you can see the mountain from like everywhere in Armenia); and, finally, there was the Armenian genocide in the 1910’s that killed over 1.5 million Armenians and forced many more to flee the country, hence the large Armenian population in The States. It was cool to look at books and bibles that dated back to the 4th century. I don’t know if a single thing there was younger than the US.
After the cool transcript museum we made our way to “The Cascades” which is a giant staircase that was built to commemorate 50 years of soviet rule. Well, they didn’t finish it for obvious reasons, but it is still a really cool hangout nevertheless. It was cool to sit and overlook a city I never thought I would visit and to see where Noah’s ark landed on top of that! Yerevan, the capital where we stayed, was really cool and clean. It had a distinct European feeling, but that ambience also came with an increased price tag for things. Nevertheless, we all loved the place although it doesn’t have quite the character of Tbilisi – people followed traffic laws, there wasn’t trash in the streets, the women dressed too fashionably and a ton of people spoke excellent English.
Saturday’s tour took us to 4 different holy places in the country including their version of the Vatican. The churches were all between 700-1600 years old, and I will never get over how old these places are. The views were beautiful, and it was very different from the Georgian countryside we had become so accustomed to. I gotta tell this one story about a church though because I think it is hilarious, so just skip to the next paragraph if you don’t care about old churches and folk tales. So this one king’s daughter fell in love with a lowly architect, right? And the young architect, whose nickname was Candles, asked the king for permission to marry his daughter, and the king had a brilliant way to deter him while saving his relationship with his daughter. The king told the architect to go create some building worthy of his daughter and the king would fund everything. The catch was that the architect must do everything himself. So, Candles began making this super awesome church way the hell out in the middle of nowhere. After 3 years the king came to check and see if the guy had wisened up and quit or if he was still building the structure to win his daughter. Candles was like 40 feet up on this sweet, innovative church and one of the guards climbed up and pushed him off and killed him! The king told his daughter that the guards had been so jealous of Candles’ skill that they killed him, and that is the story the Armenian’s tell about this holy place which later became a seminary as well. In my opinion, the king told his guards to go kill the guy if he still had the balls to try to win over his daughter, so they did. Then he could tell his daughter his guards were just assholes and then have them punished or something. Smart king, sad story. All the stories in Armenia are sad ones, no joke.
Saturday night, 5 of us went to a club and danced. It wasn’t anything fancy, but we had a blast and met some cool Armenian dudes that I coaxed into buying our drinks. We didn’t get to sleep til 4 which was a bad idea because we needed to wake up early if we wanted to make a couple more museums in the morning. The groggy morning was worth it, however, and some food quickly got me back on track. We took a walk and ended up visiting the single mosque in the country. Initially, they were not going to let us in, but Jason knows a fair amount of Arabic, so the dude let us look around inside. I guess it’s really unique because it is a Shiite mosque, although I wouldn’t know because it’s the first one I have ever seen. It was interesting to see the huge open space where all the people simultaneous prostrate themselves facing Mecca and pray. I know it is probably really hard to be a Muslim in Armenia, so props to them for having such a beautiful place to do in.
The final thing we did was go to the Genocide memorial which was really depressing actually. I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t even know about it in the first place, and even more sad to learn it hasn’t even been acknowledged as an actual event that really occurred ‘til recently (and the Turks still claim it never actually happened). Basically it was like the holocaust, but on a smaller scale. When Hitler’s advisors asked him if killing the Jews was a better idea than relocating them to Madagascar or somewhere Hitler said “Does anyone remember the Armenians?” and used the world’s ignorance to the genocide to justify his own. Anyways, it was humbling and terrifying, and I am so sorry for Armenia.
Sorry to end on a sad note, but my overall experience in Armenia was incredibly fun and enlightening. We spent way more money than we thought we would, but $150 to see another country and spend 3 days there isn’t too bad. I will just live a little on the cheaper side for my last 2 weeks in Georgia. This was kind of my last huge trip/plan, but I am guessing I will manage some more good times while I am still here. Many things are lacking in Georgia but fun times are more than abundant. More on those soon.
On Friday, we toured around the city and took it easy because our big, day-long tour was going to be on Saturday. We went to a giant transcript museum which was only mediocre until this really nice woman came and explained the things we were looking at. Basically, there are only a couple things you need to know about Armenia: It is the oldest Christian country in the world; there was this badass dude named Mashtots (or mashed potatoes as we call him) in the 12th century that invented their alphabet and perhaps multiple others (including Georgian, although any good Georgian would dispute that); the country went through the whole soviet thing and got pushed around by them and the Ottomans; they are super proud of Mt. Ararat, but Turkey devastatingly muscled it away from them (which really sucks because you can see the mountain from like everywhere in Armenia); and, finally, there was the Armenian genocide in the 1910’s that killed over 1.5 million Armenians and forced many more to flee the country, hence the large Armenian population in The States. It was cool to look at books and bibles that dated back to the 4th century. I don’t know if a single thing there was younger than the US.
After the cool transcript museum we made our way to “The Cascades” which is a giant staircase that was built to commemorate 50 years of soviet rule. Well, they didn’t finish it for obvious reasons, but it is still a really cool hangout nevertheless. It was cool to sit and overlook a city I never thought I would visit and to see where Noah’s ark landed on top of that! Yerevan, the capital where we stayed, was really cool and clean. It had a distinct European feeling, but that ambience also came with an increased price tag for things. Nevertheless, we all loved the place although it doesn’t have quite the character of Tbilisi – people followed traffic laws, there wasn’t trash in the streets, the women dressed too fashionably and a ton of people spoke excellent English.
Saturday’s tour took us to 4 different holy places in the country including their version of the Vatican. The churches were all between 700-1600 years old, and I will never get over how old these places are. The views were beautiful, and it was very different from the Georgian countryside we had become so accustomed to. I gotta tell this one story about a church though because I think it is hilarious, so just skip to the next paragraph if you don’t care about old churches and folk tales. So this one king’s daughter fell in love with a lowly architect, right? And the young architect, whose nickname was Candles, asked the king for permission to marry his daughter, and the king had a brilliant way to deter him while saving his relationship with his daughter. The king told the architect to go create some building worthy of his daughter and the king would fund everything. The catch was that the architect must do everything himself. So, Candles began making this super awesome church way the hell out in the middle of nowhere. After 3 years the king came to check and see if the guy had wisened up and quit or if he was still building the structure to win his daughter. Candles was like 40 feet up on this sweet, innovative church and one of the guards climbed up and pushed him off and killed him! The king told his daughter that the guards had been so jealous of Candles’ skill that they killed him, and that is the story the Armenian’s tell about this holy place which later became a seminary as well. In my opinion, the king told his guards to go kill the guy if he still had the balls to try to win over his daughter, so they did. Then he could tell his daughter his guards were just assholes and then have them punished or something. Smart king, sad story. All the stories in Armenia are sad ones, no joke.
Saturday night, 5 of us went to a club and danced. It wasn’t anything fancy, but we had a blast and met some cool Armenian dudes that I coaxed into buying our drinks. We didn’t get to sleep til 4 which was a bad idea because we needed to wake up early if we wanted to make a couple more museums in the morning. The groggy morning was worth it, however, and some food quickly got me back on track. We took a walk and ended up visiting the single mosque in the country. Initially, they were not going to let us in, but Jason knows a fair amount of Arabic, so the dude let us look around inside. I guess it’s really unique because it is a Shiite mosque, although I wouldn’t know because it’s the first one I have ever seen. It was interesting to see the huge open space where all the people simultaneous prostrate themselves facing Mecca and pray. I know it is probably really hard to be a Muslim in Armenia, so props to them for having such a beautiful place to do in.
The final thing we did was go to the Genocide memorial which was really depressing actually. I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t even know about it in the first place, and even more sad to learn it hasn’t even been acknowledged as an actual event that really occurred ‘til recently (and the Turks still claim it never actually happened). Basically it was like the holocaust, but on a smaller scale. When Hitler’s advisors asked him if killing the Jews was a better idea than relocating them to Madagascar or somewhere Hitler said “Does anyone remember the Armenians?” and used the world’s ignorance to the genocide to justify his own. Anyways, it was humbling and terrifying, and I am so sorry for Armenia.
Sorry to end on a sad note, but my overall experience in Armenia was incredibly fun and enlightening. We spent way more money than we thought we would, but $150 to see another country and spend 3 days there isn’t too bad. I will just live a little on the cheaper side for my last 2 weeks in Georgia. This was kind of my last huge trip/plan, but I am guessing I will manage some more good times while I am still here. Many things are lacking in Georgia but fun times are more than abundant. More on those soon.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Bad Things in Georgia
I feel like my time is slowly looming to an end here in Georgia, but I am happy to say that I am excited about coming home. A month into Georgia, there is no way I would have left willingly; however, I really feel that I have gotten almost as much as I can here, or, at least, everything I wanted. I am and have always been incredibly positive about Georgia, and my sentiments have not changed. I plan on returning here one day with friends to show them the power of Georgian passion. I would like to document, however, the things that really bug me, and I the reader should find them interesting as well.
First of all, laziness is rampant among Georgians. The men on my street play board games 10 hours a day, 7 days a week and it drives me crazy. Now, some of them are a tad bit older, so I can rationalize that, but a lot of the men are 20-40. In a country that is trying to become modern, to better itself, to present itself as a first world, so many of its people do absolutely nothing. To be honest, inherent laziness is something I abhor anywhere I am, hence my conservatism; however, it’s an epidemic here. It is funny to hear the older people talk about how good Stalin was, because he forced individuals to contribute and the country supposedly ran quite smoothly. Believe me, I am not a Stalin fan like most of the older people here, but it is interesting to hear that take on things for sure. As a leader, Saakashvili (their controversial president), has had the daunting task of inspiring and motivating a country for years now. Although many would swear he is failing (the opposition party here calls for his resignation weekly), the city is running a hell of a lot better than it was 10 years ago. It’s interesting to be in a country with thousands of years of history but is only 20-years-old. Good luck Georgia.
The second thing that bothers me is hygiene. I know that this is no new news to you experienced travelers, but, shit it’s just gross sometimes. I have a couple funny examples that will put things into perspective and serve as microcosms of the general hygienic theory here. First is my host dad who wore the exact same outfit for 11 days. I know he didn’t physically overexert himself playing backgammon all day, but after a week, I would think one would want a change for change’s sake alone. Second, my friend Lawrence’s host mother stole a pair of his socks and has had them on for over a week now. I don’t know how she thinks she can get away with this, because Lawrence, a gay Irishman, has…colourful socks to say the least. What are they thinking man?! My third and final example is the horror of marshutka travel (the vans). Those things always smell, and the best way I can explain it is to compare it to a Subway restaurant. You can smell that thing from blocks away, and if you go in there, you will go home smelling like Subway. The marshutka has the same permeating ability and it is distressing to go home smelling like the hairy hobo that sat next to me. As painful as these experiences can be, however, sometimes it is ridiculous you can’t help but laugh. The other day a dude stepped on to the marshutka and absolutely reeked of BO and what I think was car fluids. He sat behind me which made me tear up for multiple reasons… I was pissed. Right after he got on an obese, smelly Georgian man sat down next to me and let a huge fart go. He even leaned over, pointed it in my direction and then looked at me and showed off his missing teeth as he mischievously smiled. Right after this, a Georgian that looked exactly like Ben Stiller got on the marshutka! At this point I succumbed to the ridiculous situation and now treasure it as a hilarious Georgian memory. Things are what you make of them.
The third thing that bothers me is the education system. Discipline is really poor in the classrooms, teachers don’t come up with their own lesson plans and the parents at home don’t give a shit which makes it impossible to force anything upon them. Not to toot Stalin’s horn too much, but everyone I have talked to here loved the USSR educational system, and now Georgia has this generally lackluster approach… kinda sucks. I don’t have any idea how they should go forward with their system or improve it, but I know there are serious issues. I think a lot of the laziness common among the people starts in the schools, so something must be done – perhaps my presence here is an example of such a something. Something else that bugs me is that all the kids cheat on everything: homework, tests, papers, assignments, everything. The worst part (for me anyways… ) is that they suck at it. In the States people pride themselves on being great cheaters and innovators. Even their cheating is lazy! Ugh, good luck to Georgian education.
The fourth and final thing I would like to rant about is how women are treated. I am nowhere near a feminist, I think men and women are equal. Georgia violates women’s rights constantly, and, the worst part is, everyone knows it. I will give a couple examples of the unfair shit that happens to women and I will let you be the judge of such transgressions. First, men are not faithful to their wives, and this is not only expected, but laughed about. I have met multiple married men who have girlfriends and laugh about how nice it is. Prostitutes are also really common, and I must assume there are some nasty STDs everywhere in Georgia. Anyways, this bugs the hell out of me, and I feel so sorry for the Georgian wife. Another example is bride-napping… I can’t exactly remember if I ranted about this already, but I will do a quick summary anyways. Basically the dude stuffs the girl in his car against her will, takes her to his house, likely has his way with her and then she is socially obligated to marry him because she is no longer pure (though he has been having sex with prostitutes for years now). I know of multiple individuals who have suffered such a fate, and, in every single case, it has ended in divorce. It’s absolute bullshit, and I can’t figure it out. The social ignorance involved in every aspect of bride-napping is astounding, and many people lost all respect for Georgians when they heard about this (most Georgians will refute this, and I don’t mean to offend anyone. I am just calling it like I say it {and how every other volunteer here sees it}). Anyways, I feel bad for the women here. As Georgia becomes more modern I am hoping the gender roles do as well, but we’ll see. Good luck to Georgian women.
So, those are some basic complaints I have about Georgia. Honestly, a lot of the things I dislike here can be found in all countries, including America. I guess it is human nature to suck, or at least that is what we believe as Christians. I really, really want to bring people to this country eventually, but I suspect it will be very different in a couple years because the country is very dynamic. For better or worse, they are trying to be more like the US, and, regarding gender roles and education, I hope they achieve it. I hope that everyone understands how much I love this country and how much I have grown as a person because of it, so don't take my few complaints and blow them out of proportion. I still don’t know if I really agree with this program politically because they are spending so much money on us, but whatever. I have loved being here and I know I will enjoy my last three weeks here.
In other news, I had a good week at school, an interesting weekend and I am heading out to Armenia here in 2 hours. It should be a blast, and we are only gonna spend about $100 for the 3 days trip. I might get to go see Mt. Ararat which would be the first Biblical thing I have ever seen, or at least I think so. So, I am excited about that, and I will update everyone on how the trip went and post more pictures asap.
First of all, laziness is rampant among Georgians. The men on my street play board games 10 hours a day, 7 days a week and it drives me crazy. Now, some of them are a tad bit older, so I can rationalize that, but a lot of the men are 20-40. In a country that is trying to become modern, to better itself, to present itself as a first world, so many of its people do absolutely nothing. To be honest, inherent laziness is something I abhor anywhere I am, hence my conservatism; however, it’s an epidemic here. It is funny to hear the older people talk about how good Stalin was, because he forced individuals to contribute and the country supposedly ran quite smoothly. Believe me, I am not a Stalin fan like most of the older people here, but it is interesting to hear that take on things for sure. As a leader, Saakashvili (their controversial president), has had the daunting task of inspiring and motivating a country for years now. Although many would swear he is failing (the opposition party here calls for his resignation weekly), the city is running a hell of a lot better than it was 10 years ago. It’s interesting to be in a country with thousands of years of history but is only 20-years-old. Good luck Georgia.
The second thing that bothers me is hygiene. I know that this is no new news to you experienced travelers, but, shit it’s just gross sometimes. I have a couple funny examples that will put things into perspective and serve as microcosms of the general hygienic theory here. First is my host dad who wore the exact same outfit for 11 days. I know he didn’t physically overexert himself playing backgammon all day, but after a week, I would think one would want a change for change’s sake alone. Second, my friend Lawrence’s host mother stole a pair of his socks and has had them on for over a week now. I don’t know how she thinks she can get away with this, because Lawrence, a gay Irishman, has…colourful socks to say the least. What are they thinking man?! My third and final example is the horror of marshutka travel (the vans). Those things always smell, and the best way I can explain it is to compare it to a Subway restaurant. You can smell that thing from blocks away, and if you go in there, you will go home smelling like Subway. The marshutka has the same permeating ability and it is distressing to go home smelling like the hairy hobo that sat next to me. As painful as these experiences can be, however, sometimes it is ridiculous you can’t help but laugh. The other day a dude stepped on to the marshutka and absolutely reeked of BO and what I think was car fluids. He sat behind me which made me tear up for multiple reasons… I was pissed. Right after he got on an obese, smelly Georgian man sat down next to me and let a huge fart go. He even leaned over, pointed it in my direction and then looked at me and showed off his missing teeth as he mischievously smiled. Right after this, a Georgian that looked exactly like Ben Stiller got on the marshutka! At this point I succumbed to the ridiculous situation and now treasure it as a hilarious Georgian memory. Things are what you make of them.
The third thing that bothers me is the education system. Discipline is really poor in the classrooms, teachers don’t come up with their own lesson plans and the parents at home don’t give a shit which makes it impossible to force anything upon them. Not to toot Stalin’s horn too much, but everyone I have talked to here loved the USSR educational system, and now Georgia has this generally lackluster approach… kinda sucks. I don’t have any idea how they should go forward with their system or improve it, but I know there are serious issues. I think a lot of the laziness common among the people starts in the schools, so something must be done – perhaps my presence here is an example of such a something. Something else that bugs me is that all the kids cheat on everything: homework, tests, papers, assignments, everything. The worst part (for me anyways… ) is that they suck at it. In the States people pride themselves on being great cheaters and innovators. Even their cheating is lazy! Ugh, good luck to Georgian education.
The fourth and final thing I would like to rant about is how women are treated. I am nowhere near a feminist, I think men and women are equal. Georgia violates women’s rights constantly, and, the worst part is, everyone knows it. I will give a couple examples of the unfair shit that happens to women and I will let you be the judge of such transgressions. First, men are not faithful to their wives, and this is not only expected, but laughed about. I have met multiple married men who have girlfriends and laugh about how nice it is. Prostitutes are also really common, and I must assume there are some nasty STDs everywhere in Georgia. Anyways, this bugs the hell out of me, and I feel so sorry for the Georgian wife. Another example is bride-napping… I can’t exactly remember if I ranted about this already, but I will do a quick summary anyways. Basically the dude stuffs the girl in his car against her will, takes her to his house, likely has his way with her and then she is socially obligated to marry him because she is no longer pure (though he has been having sex with prostitutes for years now). I know of multiple individuals who have suffered such a fate, and, in every single case, it has ended in divorce. It’s absolute bullshit, and I can’t figure it out. The social ignorance involved in every aspect of bride-napping is astounding, and many people lost all respect for Georgians when they heard about this (most Georgians will refute this, and I don’t mean to offend anyone. I am just calling it like I say it {and how every other volunteer here sees it}). Anyways, I feel bad for the women here. As Georgia becomes more modern I am hoping the gender roles do as well, but we’ll see. Good luck to Georgian women.
So, those are some basic complaints I have about Georgia. Honestly, a lot of the things I dislike here can be found in all countries, including America. I guess it is human nature to suck, or at least that is what we believe as Christians. I really, really want to bring people to this country eventually, but I suspect it will be very different in a couple years because the country is very dynamic. For better or worse, they are trying to be more like the US, and, regarding gender roles and education, I hope they achieve it. I hope that everyone understands how much I love this country and how much I have grown as a person because of it, so don't take my few complaints and blow them out of proportion. I still don’t know if I really agree with this program politically because they are spending so much money on us, but whatever. I have loved being here and I know I will enjoy my last three weeks here.
In other news, I had a good week at school, an interesting weekend and I am heading out to Armenia here in 2 hours. It should be a blast, and we are only gonna spend about $100 for the 3 days trip. I might get to go see Mt. Ararat which would be the first Biblical thing I have ever seen, or at least I think so. So, I am excited about that, and I will update everyone on how the trip went and post more pictures asap.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Willage and Thanksgiving
Well, it was yet another week of hardly working at school, and I feel awful about it. I will have had 6 classes, totaling only 5 hours of work. As I always like to do, I can rationalize this somewhat by arguing that Tuesday was a national holiday, Giorgoba, and I was out of town Tuesday. Nevertheless, I still feel bad about it, and people back home have got to be wondering what I do with the rest of my time. Now, let me indulge your curiosity and tell you about one of my best weeks in Georgia.
For Giorgoba (St. George’s Day), I went with my student, Tornike, to the willage he is from. As expected, willages in Georgia are much different from our rural towns in The States. I am sure every reader would expect this to be the case, and so did I; but my comical expectations were more than satisfied after spending two days there. One of the first things we did was grab a rooster and take it to the church to be sacrificed. The tradition is to walk around the church with the rooster while praying (some people make one circle, some are there for hours), and afterwards there are two choices: you can sacrifice the rooster or you can let it go free. Since we were having suphra later that day, we chose the former option, and it was an experience that would make the average American cringe. The killer stands on the rooster’s legs, uses a small, sharp knife to saw off its head, breaks off the legs by hand and lets it bleed out. I had a picture of the experience, but I realized it was pretty distasteful, so, no worries, you won’t be surprised by such a picture in one of my albums. It was an experience to say the least.
After the sacrifices were made, we hung out at their willage home while suphra was being prepared. It was pretty cool to be preparing an animal that was alive just hours ago, although it’s a lot of work. My favorite food in Georgia is mtsvade which is basically pork kobobs with onions and delicious sauce, and the best I have had in Georgia was there in the willage. Tornike’s father had some of his high school friends come over and join us for suphra (they brought their roosters too), and I was somewhat of a willage celebrity. The food was great and the people were so much fun. They were very impressed and excited that I know Georgian, and I communicated quite well with the family throughout the trip. I got to try homemade wine, vodka and cha-cha which was pretty cool too, although I was super scared it would make me go blind or something do to improper brewing.
After suphra, I went to Tornike’s friend’s house where he showed me his guns and we talked about rock music – turns out rural Georgia and rural America have a lot in common. The biggest difference was the hole-in-the-ground outhouse which I do have a picture of, but it is slightly graphic (I am warning you because it will likely be posted on facebook). I am not sure how or if they shower, but at least that is something I didn’t have to worry about. One of the coolest parts of the willage adventure was getting to see their school and talk to the kids learning English. The classes were only 4-8 people big, and they had only been learning English for 2 years unlike the city kids. I can’t imagine how different it would be to be placed at a school like this, but I definitely don’t think it would be all bad. I think we would have stayed for longer, but I needed to get back because I had to tutor Dato, so we loaded up some homemade alcohol and returned to civilization.
Tutoring has been going really well, and it is nice to supplement my income a little bit too. I can see definite progress in his English, and, for better or worse, it is the most positive aspect of my teaching experience here in Georgia. I accidentally lost my US Bank card, so I have no access to my money back home, but it hasn’t turned out to be a big deal. Even though I have only gotten the one paycheck, I have managed just fine between that and tutoring money. It is nice to be a country where a full meal and drinks doesn’t exceed $4. I am excited about being able to take money home even though I will have travelled all over the country and Armenia on top of that.
As if I wasn’t a big deal here already, I made national news last night! One of my friends, Phillip, called me up and asked if I wanted to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday back home, so I jumped at the opportunity and brought some friends with me. It turns out that a news crew had been following him around all day to do a story about Thanksgiving. So, they caught us all at the dinner table feasting American style for a two-minute spot on primetime news. I want to briefly mention that this is extra funny because there is a lot of political strife surrounding our program, and propaganda, like this story, is really quite common – gotta love being a part of it.
Tornike wanted me to come with him to Kakheti, the wine-region of Georgia, for the weekend, but I kind of need a weekend with just American friends. It takes a lot out of me to constantly operate in Georgian, but it is also fun to recognize my progress with the language. I think my Georgian has surpassed my German, but it has a long ways to go to catch up to my Spanish. Anyways, I digress. The trip to Kakheti should be fun because the ministry is paying for all transportation, food and entertainment, so I’m excited. Also, apparently some American football teams are being put together to play some time, and I am really excited about that; however, I hope we don’t have to play with Georgians because, outside of soccer, they are awful at every sport I have seen. Hopefully the ministry doesn’t fall through on those plans… we’ll see I guess.
I have just over 3 weeks left which is pretty crazy. Other than our trip to Armenia, which is still on, I don’t really have anything else I want to accomplish. I love being here, but I won’t be upset about going home either. I really hope to do some more travelling soon, but it is hard to say what that might be right now. At least I have friends in Ireland, England, Australia and South Africa that would all put me up and show me around. Hopefully I will be able to take them up on those offers sooner rather than later.
*Georgians cant pronounce village correctly, in case you hadn't picked that up.
For Giorgoba (St. George’s Day), I went with my student, Tornike, to the willage he is from. As expected, willages in Georgia are much different from our rural towns in The States. I am sure every reader would expect this to be the case, and so did I; but my comical expectations were more than satisfied after spending two days there. One of the first things we did was grab a rooster and take it to the church to be sacrificed. The tradition is to walk around the church with the rooster while praying (some people make one circle, some are there for hours), and afterwards there are two choices: you can sacrifice the rooster or you can let it go free. Since we were having suphra later that day, we chose the former option, and it was an experience that would make the average American cringe. The killer stands on the rooster’s legs, uses a small, sharp knife to saw off its head, breaks off the legs by hand and lets it bleed out. I had a picture of the experience, but I realized it was pretty distasteful, so, no worries, you won’t be surprised by such a picture in one of my albums. It was an experience to say the least.
After the sacrifices were made, we hung out at their willage home while suphra was being prepared. It was pretty cool to be preparing an animal that was alive just hours ago, although it’s a lot of work. My favorite food in Georgia is mtsvade which is basically pork kobobs with onions and delicious sauce, and the best I have had in Georgia was there in the willage. Tornike’s father had some of his high school friends come over and join us for suphra (they brought their roosters too), and I was somewhat of a willage celebrity. The food was great and the people were so much fun. They were very impressed and excited that I know Georgian, and I communicated quite well with the family throughout the trip. I got to try homemade wine, vodka and cha-cha which was pretty cool too, although I was super scared it would make me go blind or something do to improper brewing.
After suphra, I went to Tornike’s friend’s house where he showed me his guns and we talked about rock music – turns out rural Georgia and rural America have a lot in common. The biggest difference was the hole-in-the-ground outhouse which I do have a picture of, but it is slightly graphic (I am warning you because it will likely be posted on facebook). I am not sure how or if they shower, but at least that is something I didn’t have to worry about. One of the coolest parts of the willage adventure was getting to see their school and talk to the kids learning English. The classes were only 4-8 people big, and they had only been learning English for 2 years unlike the city kids. I can’t imagine how different it would be to be placed at a school like this, but I definitely don’t think it would be all bad. I think we would have stayed for longer, but I needed to get back because I had to tutor Dato, so we loaded up some homemade alcohol and returned to civilization.
Tutoring has been going really well, and it is nice to supplement my income a little bit too. I can see definite progress in his English, and, for better or worse, it is the most positive aspect of my teaching experience here in Georgia. I accidentally lost my US Bank card, so I have no access to my money back home, but it hasn’t turned out to be a big deal. Even though I have only gotten the one paycheck, I have managed just fine between that and tutoring money. It is nice to be a country where a full meal and drinks doesn’t exceed $4. I am excited about being able to take money home even though I will have travelled all over the country and Armenia on top of that.
As if I wasn’t a big deal here already, I made national news last night! One of my friends, Phillip, called me up and asked if I wanted to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday back home, so I jumped at the opportunity and brought some friends with me. It turns out that a news crew had been following him around all day to do a story about Thanksgiving. So, they caught us all at the dinner table feasting American style for a two-minute spot on primetime news. I want to briefly mention that this is extra funny because there is a lot of political strife surrounding our program, and propaganda, like this story, is really quite common – gotta love being a part of it.
Tornike wanted me to come with him to Kakheti, the wine-region of Georgia, for the weekend, but I kind of need a weekend with just American friends. It takes a lot out of me to constantly operate in Georgian, but it is also fun to recognize my progress with the language. I think my Georgian has surpassed my German, but it has a long ways to go to catch up to my Spanish. Anyways, I digress. The trip to Kakheti should be fun because the ministry is paying for all transportation, food and entertainment, so I’m excited. Also, apparently some American football teams are being put together to play some time, and I am really excited about that; however, I hope we don’t have to play with Georgians because, outside of soccer, they are awful at every sport I have seen. Hopefully the ministry doesn’t fall through on those plans… we’ll see I guess.
I have just over 3 weeks left which is pretty crazy. Other than our trip to Armenia, which is still on, I don’t really have anything else I want to accomplish. I love being here, but I won’t be upset about going home either. I really hope to do some more travelling soon, but it is hard to say what that might be right now. At least I have friends in Ireland, England, Australia and South Africa that would all put me up and show me around. Hopefully I will be able to take them up on those offers sooner rather than later.
*Georgians cant pronounce village correctly, in case you hadn't picked that up.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Beautiful Churches, Mountains and Beards
Well working 8 hours in a week is even more luxurious than it sounds; however, boredom can definitely occur once you realize there are 160 other hours in your week. It was definitely the first week since I have been here that I have employed my “I will bring this in case I get bored” backups because I needed to. I watched the first season of lost, started reading the greatest literary work in Georgian history and actually took some pictures. I definitely feel blessed that I have not been really bored so far because I have heard horror stories of other teachers going crazy because they have nothing to do with their time. Being stationed in Tbilisi has been a blessing that I may never be able to fully appreciate.
The other huge advantage to being in Tbilisi is that I have loads of friends to spend time with. Twice during the week I met up with friends to grab coffee and talk. We Americans have certain hang out spots in Tbilisi as well, so it is always fun to meet up with some other teachers you didn’t expect to be there and catch up with them. Personally, I think we need to choose different locations, because Americans always seem to gravitate towards the expensive places that take advantage of their customers, but such is life. Regardless of my sentiments towards overpriced coffee, it is nice to have the option.
We are thinking about having a Thanksgiving party for ourselves because we are all sorely missing the holiday back home. We aren’t exactly sure how feasible it is to make all the seasonal foods, but I think we could throw together something pretty decent. I wish I was more of a real cook so I could actually manage something like this. I am hoping that we get something off the ground at least, because I could really go for some turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. Shouldn’t be too hard right?
Three of us decided to go to Gazbegi, a mountain town that is close to the Russian border, for the weekend. It was an easy 3-hour ride up there that reminded me of scary mountain driving in the Rockies. Georgia is really quite scenic, however, and I find myself more enthralled in the beauty than fearful of it. We also met some other Americans on the marshutka ride up there that were teaching in Turkey, so that was cool. It was a little disheartening to hear that they are making 3x what we are; however, we are getting a 1-month holiday with our plane tickets paid for. It all works out in the end I guess, but I could use some extra money about now.
The coolest part of Gazbegi is this monastery on a mountain with an even bigger mountain behind it. The trek initially seemed pretty intimidating, but Lawrence and I were able to manage the 4-mile hike in about an hour and a half. This is the second overly-remote monastery I have visited, and the Georgian dedication to such things is absolutely intriguing. I have no idea how much work it must have been to get all the materials up to the mountain and then build this thing, but they did it. And these monasteries aren’t just old and abandoned; they are still used each and every day. Priests live on site and conduct daily services, one of which we got to see! Also, I must note that these guys spend their spare time growing amazing beards. Truly, only these beards can rival the beauty of the Gazbegi scenery, and every man in existence should be jealous of such ability.
We stayed in a really cool hostel/house place that was only $8 a person. Although there wasn’t hot water, the host’s amiable nature made up for it. We got really good local food, but, as I have said many times before, it is the exact same food we get everywhere we go in Georgia: cheesy bread, meat on a stick, meat dumplings, regular bread and sauce (I do love the sauce, haha). This town is so small that it doesn’t have a bar, so we grabbed a couple drinks and hung out in our hostel. I served as our tamada (which translates as king of the feast… I have probably already mentioned that, but it’s awesome to hear repeatedly), and we had great night. I especially loved the parts where Lawrence, a gay Irish man, explained Irish slang and the things he missed most: shopping, dressing up to go out and talking to his girlfriends. Maybe you had to be there, but, if you try really hard, I think you can conjure up a funny scene similar to the real thing.
In other cool news, we are planning a trip to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. I don’t know about you, but I think this sounds pretty exciting. I am thinking about paying for Levan to come as well because he is half Armenian, and he has never been to the bordering country. It might not work out, but I offered up the prospect to him and he seemed pretty excited about it. It’s a little frustrating because I am already paying the family money and I take Levan out with me (I have spent like 50 Lari for him at restaurants and bars), but this might be the only time he gets to see Armenia! Anyways, we have two weeks before that trip, so we will see how that goes.
I will be home in less than a month, which I am really excited about. I love being here, but as I was explaining to Lawrence and James, I have a lot I care about at home. I am excited for the suphra I am going to have after Christmas some time, and it will be good to see my siblings and my girlfriend for the first time in 4 months. Travelling and such is good, but I think that real life is even better – though I know that the former improves your ability to appreciate the latter. I am excited to be home and share the more intimate details of my trip with everyone, and I hope all is well on your end. I will try to have another update soon and a bunch of pictures are about to go up on facebook should you be interested.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2144715&id=36107941&page=2
*That is the link to some of the pictures I have so far, hopefully there aren't too many problems getting it to work.
The other huge advantage to being in Tbilisi is that I have loads of friends to spend time with. Twice during the week I met up with friends to grab coffee and talk. We Americans have certain hang out spots in Tbilisi as well, so it is always fun to meet up with some other teachers you didn’t expect to be there and catch up with them. Personally, I think we need to choose different locations, because Americans always seem to gravitate towards the expensive places that take advantage of their customers, but such is life. Regardless of my sentiments towards overpriced coffee, it is nice to have the option.
We are thinking about having a Thanksgiving party for ourselves because we are all sorely missing the holiday back home. We aren’t exactly sure how feasible it is to make all the seasonal foods, but I think we could throw together something pretty decent. I wish I was more of a real cook so I could actually manage something like this. I am hoping that we get something off the ground at least, because I could really go for some turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. Shouldn’t be too hard right?
Three of us decided to go to Gazbegi, a mountain town that is close to the Russian border, for the weekend. It was an easy 3-hour ride up there that reminded me of scary mountain driving in the Rockies. Georgia is really quite scenic, however, and I find myself more enthralled in the beauty than fearful of it. We also met some other Americans on the marshutka ride up there that were teaching in Turkey, so that was cool. It was a little disheartening to hear that they are making 3x what we are; however, we are getting a 1-month holiday with our plane tickets paid for. It all works out in the end I guess, but I could use some extra money about now.
The coolest part of Gazbegi is this monastery on a mountain with an even bigger mountain behind it. The trek initially seemed pretty intimidating, but Lawrence and I were able to manage the 4-mile hike in about an hour and a half. This is the second overly-remote monastery I have visited, and the Georgian dedication to such things is absolutely intriguing. I have no idea how much work it must have been to get all the materials up to the mountain and then build this thing, but they did it. And these monasteries aren’t just old and abandoned; they are still used each and every day. Priests live on site and conduct daily services, one of which we got to see! Also, I must note that these guys spend their spare time growing amazing beards. Truly, only these beards can rival the beauty of the Gazbegi scenery, and every man in existence should be jealous of such ability.
We stayed in a really cool hostel/house place that was only $8 a person. Although there wasn’t hot water, the host’s amiable nature made up for it. We got really good local food, but, as I have said many times before, it is the exact same food we get everywhere we go in Georgia: cheesy bread, meat on a stick, meat dumplings, regular bread and sauce (I do love the sauce, haha). This town is so small that it doesn’t have a bar, so we grabbed a couple drinks and hung out in our hostel. I served as our tamada (which translates as king of the feast… I have probably already mentioned that, but it’s awesome to hear repeatedly), and we had great night. I especially loved the parts where Lawrence, a gay Irish man, explained Irish slang and the things he missed most: shopping, dressing up to go out and talking to his girlfriends. Maybe you had to be there, but, if you try really hard, I think you can conjure up a funny scene similar to the real thing.
In other cool news, we are planning a trip to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. I don’t know about you, but I think this sounds pretty exciting. I am thinking about paying for Levan to come as well because he is half Armenian, and he has never been to the bordering country. It might not work out, but I offered up the prospect to him and he seemed pretty excited about it. It’s a little frustrating because I am already paying the family money and I take Levan out with me (I have spent like 50 Lari for him at restaurants and bars), but this might be the only time he gets to see Armenia! Anyways, we have two weeks before that trip, so we will see how that goes.
I will be home in less than a month, which I am really excited about. I love being here, but as I was explaining to Lawrence and James, I have a lot I care about at home. I am excited for the suphra I am going to have after Christmas some time, and it will be good to see my siblings and my girlfriend for the first time in 4 months. Travelling and such is good, but I think that real life is even better – though I know that the former improves your ability to appreciate the latter. I am excited to be home and share the more intimate details of my trip with everyone, and I hope all is well on your end. I will try to have another update soon and a bunch of pictures are about to go up on facebook should you be interested.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2144715&id=36107941&page=2
*That is the link to some of the pictures I have so far, hopefully there aren't too many problems getting it to work.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
A Weekend in Batumi
Let me be the first one to tell you that Batumi, the beach region of Georgia, is awesome. It is a shame that it is November and cold because Batumi is designed as a sweet summer hang out location. There are tons of huge parks, large stretches of beach, dancing water fountains, fancy hotels and restaurants all in a pretty small town. My experience was made extra special because I went with one of my co-teachers and got the inside scoop. I made the right decision to go with native Georgians because it is always the non-touristy things that end up being the most interesting. This last weekend was no different, and I got to cross a couple must-do things off my list.
The coolest thing I got to do was attend a Georgian wedding reception. I feel partly guilty because the more I think about it, the more I want to be born, get married, have children and die in Georgian custom… The passion for life here is incredible, and I think that weddings are likely the best microcosm of that zest for life. A lot of the reception was pretty standard and comparable to an American one, but there were really cool differences as well. Also, I think I was a little spoiled because whoever’s family was throwing this reception had a TON of money because it was quite lavish.
One of the weird differences is that we sat down and started eating right away. The bride and groom had not yet arrived, and there we were chowing down on delicious food! I felt a little weird about this, but no one else seemed to mind very much, and I don’t need to be told twice to eat. Once the happy couple arrived, the crowd was introduced to the Tamada (the king of the suphra who is in charge of all the toasting). This guy did an insane amount of talking throughout the suphra, and, even though I thought I would love to be the tamada with all the attention, I didn’t envy his job because it is a ton of work. Also, he used an ornate horn to drink out of which I think is super cool – more on that horn later.
Round upon round of amazing food was delivered to the table. When we got there, there was absolutely no space for additional food, but this is not a problem in Georgia. After the 10 (yes, I counted) courses were brought, there were two levels of food on the table stacked on top of each other. We had everything from kabobs to stuffed mushrooms to venison to beef hearts to caviar. Everything was superb! We washed everything down with the traditional white wine, and that brings me to the funny part of the wedding.
The father of the bride was making rounds and someone at our table told him I was an American. He was absolutely ecstatic to discover that I was there, and so he did what any good host would do and brought me his giant drinking horn to toast with. So there I was in front of 300 people with a huge horn full of wine, and I then did what any good American would do and downed it in style, after paying my respects to the bride and groom, of course. The crowd went wild and I loved it, no surprise there. It was a really cool experience, and I think I want a drinking horn at my wedding.
The other really cool part of the wedding was the dancing. The wedding party (excluding the bride and groom) prepared a special dance to perform, and it was intense. Now that I think about it, it was mostly guys doing the dancing, funny considering it is the other way around at American weddings. The groom also had a special solo dance prepared which he performed after a special toast. Oh, and all the music was played by a live ensemble in the balcony, and a nationally famous men’s choir, Batumi, did the singing. High quality stuff for sure.
I couldn’t speak English all weekend, but my Georgian allowed me to understand what was going on and have a great time. It is cool to be functional in three different languages, and I hope to add more over time. The family I stayed with was really cool, and I didn’t pay a single tetri (cent) for anything all weekend. Even though I have to subsidize my family with money, I find that Georgian hospitality makes up for whatever small amount I am dishing out elsewhere.
As if my weekend wasn’t good enough, my teachers told me that I didn’t have to go to class on Tuesday because they wanted me to rest and recover. So, I had a five-day weekend, and after seeing my schedule today, I realized that I will be working a whopping 8 hours this week. Why am I here!? Well, I came to have a great time in another country, so.. great success! Haha
The coolest thing I got to do was attend a Georgian wedding reception. I feel partly guilty because the more I think about it, the more I want to be born, get married, have children and die in Georgian custom… The passion for life here is incredible, and I think that weddings are likely the best microcosm of that zest for life. A lot of the reception was pretty standard and comparable to an American one, but there were really cool differences as well. Also, I think I was a little spoiled because whoever’s family was throwing this reception had a TON of money because it was quite lavish.
One of the weird differences is that we sat down and started eating right away. The bride and groom had not yet arrived, and there we were chowing down on delicious food! I felt a little weird about this, but no one else seemed to mind very much, and I don’t need to be told twice to eat. Once the happy couple arrived, the crowd was introduced to the Tamada (the king of the suphra who is in charge of all the toasting). This guy did an insane amount of talking throughout the suphra, and, even though I thought I would love to be the tamada with all the attention, I didn’t envy his job because it is a ton of work. Also, he used an ornate horn to drink out of which I think is super cool – more on that horn later.
Round upon round of amazing food was delivered to the table. When we got there, there was absolutely no space for additional food, but this is not a problem in Georgia. After the 10 (yes, I counted) courses were brought, there were two levels of food on the table stacked on top of each other. We had everything from kabobs to stuffed mushrooms to venison to beef hearts to caviar. Everything was superb! We washed everything down with the traditional white wine, and that brings me to the funny part of the wedding.
The father of the bride was making rounds and someone at our table told him I was an American. He was absolutely ecstatic to discover that I was there, and so he did what any good host would do and brought me his giant drinking horn to toast with. So there I was in front of 300 people with a huge horn full of wine, and I then did what any good American would do and downed it in style, after paying my respects to the bride and groom, of course. The crowd went wild and I loved it, no surprise there. It was a really cool experience, and I think I want a drinking horn at my wedding.
The other really cool part of the wedding was the dancing. The wedding party (excluding the bride and groom) prepared a special dance to perform, and it was intense. Now that I think about it, it was mostly guys doing the dancing, funny considering it is the other way around at American weddings. The groom also had a special solo dance prepared which he performed after a special toast. Oh, and all the music was played by a live ensemble in the balcony, and a nationally famous men’s choir, Batumi, did the singing. High quality stuff for sure.
I couldn’t speak English all weekend, but my Georgian allowed me to understand what was going on and have a great time. It is cool to be functional in three different languages, and I hope to add more over time. The family I stayed with was really cool, and I didn’t pay a single tetri (cent) for anything all weekend. Even though I have to subsidize my family with money, I find that Georgian hospitality makes up for whatever small amount I am dishing out elsewhere.
As if my weekend wasn’t good enough, my teachers told me that I didn’t have to go to class on Tuesday because they wanted me to rest and recover. So, I had a five-day weekend, and after seeing my schedule today, I realized that I will be working a whopping 8 hours this week. Why am I here!? Well, I came to have a great time in another country, so.. great success! Haha
Friday, November 12, 2010
Suphra, Drunken Americans and Cool Things in Georgia
Alright, well I am sorry I havent posted in like a week, but there hasn't really been a good time for it. My weekend turned out to be just as good as I thought it would be, and I find it exciting that I am not burning out or getting tired of this place. But, there are negative things as well like not having electricity or water all week. It's amazing how much one relies on those things.
I had a ton of suphra over the weekend, and it was great to feel full. I think I am going to start cooking for myself at my house because I can't go on with this hunger! At least I have good friends and other families to dine with. My favorite meal was suphra with my student, Tornike. He is in the 11th grade and he is one cool dude. His family basically prepared a feast in my honor, and we toasted and ate all night. His parents were super cool, and I am actually planning on going back to his house tonight because it is his birthday today. So much good food! Last Saturday we went to David Gareji which is this really cool monastery that also has a bunch of meditation caves really close by. This place was beautiful, and it is easily one of the coolest things I have ever seen. So much work went into making these caves holy places, and it boggles my mind how many different dwellings there were. The scenery was also gorgeous, and I got to step foot into Azerbaijan (it's funny actually because the Azerbaijan side was way more beautiful than the Georgian side). We have some cool pictures, so I will have those available on facebook soon. Finally, on Sunday I went to my friend Jess' house and part of her family offered to adopt me so I didnt have to live with poor Armenians. As cool of an offer as it was, I really can't take them up on it because I love my school, and the commute would be well over an hour if I switched homes. It is tempting though because her family is super loaded, and I wouldn't have to worry about food anymore. Also, the people who offered to take me in are doctors, so that is cool as well. Anyways, it is a cool option, and if I come back in the Spring some time, then maybe I will be able to make something happen with that.
School went well this week, and I have a pretty funny story actually. So there is one young, attractive teacher at my school... She maintains the computer lab, so I dont know if that is really considered teaching, but I see her a lot because she turns on the computer/internet for me and stuff. Well these government inspection dudes came to the school to see that everything was in working order, and it is a pretty stressful time for everyone I guess. Well it just so happened that the internet was not working this day, and that did not bode well for Nino, the teacher. Our principal basically told the following: "You have one job to do, and it is barely a job. And the one day it actually matters, you can't do it." So, she was in tears, and she even got another lecture from the principal later in the day. The internet thing was totally not her fault, and I felt so bad for her. It sucks because I wanted to console her or something, but I can't speak Georgian well enough to manage that. So, naturally, I dug a hole. I decided it would be a good idea to buy her flowers, becuse, surely, flowers are a universal language. I even asked my co-teachers if this was kosher, and they said it was all a great idea. Well I go buy the flowers and go to the computer room to deliver them and everything falls apart. There is only one class a day in the computer room, and I just happened to pick this one class period to make a scene. So, in front of a class of 8th graders I awkward go up to Nino and give her these flowers. I then realize I don't know how to say "I'm sorry you had a bad day, and it isn't your fault." Actually, nothing is coming to my mind at all, so I just give her the flowers, say I'm sorry and walk away completely red-faced. God, it was embarassing, and I wish people could have seen it because it was so, so, so awkward. I asked one of the teachers to explain everything to her, and nothing ended up being awkward the rest of the week. Everything is ok in that regard, but I get embarassed even talking about the story.
I had to deal with a drunken, American asshole last night. This dude is a total tool, and all he wants to do is get wasted drunk and have sex with anything that walks. He skips school all the time, and I think he is hoping he gets kicked out of the program. We went to a bar last night and he was completely drunk and making remarks like "women are weak, that is why I fuck them." I was livid and about to kick his ass right there, I really was. I hate this dude, and all of the other teachers knew I was about to lose it. He ended up getting way too drunk, and he couldn't even walk. As much as I hate the dude, I was worried about him getting home safe, and I knew he would be a complete embarassment to America if people saw him stumbling the streets like this. I decided to take him home even though it was way out of the way for me. I don't know what gave me the moral fortitude, but I did it, and he got home safely. I know he wont even remember the night, but, in the end, I didn't do it for him anyways, so what do I care. It's nice to feel like a good person, though, and I would do it again. I also paid for my friend's birthday dinner last night too, so everyone shoud be proud of me!
I am planning on going to Batumi, the beach region this weekend with one of my teachers (not Nino, haha). They are paying for me too which is really cool. No one will speak English, so we will see how that goes; however, I have faith in my basic Georgian, so all should be well. I will let everyone know how that goes as soon as possible. Hopefully I will have internet when I get back that way I can do all the things I need to do like the blog and my fantasy football teams. This week is my half-way mark... I hope the second half is even better than the first.
I had a ton of suphra over the weekend, and it was great to feel full. I think I am going to start cooking for myself at my house because I can't go on with this hunger! At least I have good friends and other families to dine with. My favorite meal was suphra with my student, Tornike. He is in the 11th grade and he is one cool dude. His family basically prepared a feast in my honor, and we toasted and ate all night. His parents were super cool, and I am actually planning on going back to his house tonight because it is his birthday today. So much good food! Last Saturday we went to David Gareji which is this really cool monastery that also has a bunch of meditation caves really close by. This place was beautiful, and it is easily one of the coolest things I have ever seen. So much work went into making these caves holy places, and it boggles my mind how many different dwellings there were. The scenery was also gorgeous, and I got to step foot into Azerbaijan (it's funny actually because the Azerbaijan side was way more beautiful than the Georgian side). We have some cool pictures, so I will have those available on facebook soon. Finally, on Sunday I went to my friend Jess' house and part of her family offered to adopt me so I didnt have to live with poor Armenians. As cool of an offer as it was, I really can't take them up on it because I love my school, and the commute would be well over an hour if I switched homes. It is tempting though because her family is super loaded, and I wouldn't have to worry about food anymore. Also, the people who offered to take me in are doctors, so that is cool as well. Anyways, it is a cool option, and if I come back in the Spring some time, then maybe I will be able to make something happen with that.
School went well this week, and I have a pretty funny story actually. So there is one young, attractive teacher at my school... She maintains the computer lab, so I dont know if that is really considered teaching, but I see her a lot because she turns on the computer/internet for me and stuff. Well these government inspection dudes came to the school to see that everything was in working order, and it is a pretty stressful time for everyone I guess. Well it just so happened that the internet was not working this day, and that did not bode well for Nino, the teacher. Our principal basically told the following: "You have one job to do, and it is barely a job. And the one day it actually matters, you can't do it." So, she was in tears, and she even got another lecture from the principal later in the day. The internet thing was totally not her fault, and I felt so bad for her. It sucks because I wanted to console her or something, but I can't speak Georgian well enough to manage that. So, naturally, I dug a hole. I decided it would be a good idea to buy her flowers, becuse, surely, flowers are a universal language. I even asked my co-teachers if this was kosher, and they said it was all a great idea. Well I go buy the flowers and go to the computer room to deliver them and everything falls apart. There is only one class a day in the computer room, and I just happened to pick this one class period to make a scene. So, in front of a class of 8th graders I awkward go up to Nino and give her these flowers. I then realize I don't know how to say "I'm sorry you had a bad day, and it isn't your fault." Actually, nothing is coming to my mind at all, so I just give her the flowers, say I'm sorry and walk away completely red-faced. God, it was embarassing, and I wish people could have seen it because it was so, so, so awkward. I asked one of the teachers to explain everything to her, and nothing ended up being awkward the rest of the week. Everything is ok in that regard, but I get embarassed even talking about the story.
I had to deal with a drunken, American asshole last night. This dude is a total tool, and all he wants to do is get wasted drunk and have sex with anything that walks. He skips school all the time, and I think he is hoping he gets kicked out of the program. We went to a bar last night and he was completely drunk and making remarks like "women are weak, that is why I fuck them." I was livid and about to kick his ass right there, I really was. I hate this dude, and all of the other teachers knew I was about to lose it. He ended up getting way too drunk, and he couldn't even walk. As much as I hate the dude, I was worried about him getting home safe, and I knew he would be a complete embarassment to America if people saw him stumbling the streets like this. I decided to take him home even though it was way out of the way for me. I don't know what gave me the moral fortitude, but I did it, and he got home safely. I know he wont even remember the night, but, in the end, I didn't do it for him anyways, so what do I care. It's nice to feel like a good person, though, and I would do it again. I also paid for my friend's birthday dinner last night too, so everyone shoud be proud of me!
I am planning on going to Batumi, the beach region this weekend with one of my teachers (not Nino, haha). They are paying for me too which is really cool. No one will speak English, so we will see how that goes; however, I have faith in my basic Georgian, so all should be well. I will let everyone know how that goes as soon as possible. Hopefully I will have internet when I get back that way I can do all the things I need to do like the blog and my fantasy football teams. This week is my half-way mark... I hope the second half is even better than the first.
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