I've been having a rough few days. I guess I've just been feeling really irritated for no apparent reason. I guess maybe it's because we just hit the two month mark of being here... many of us in my same TLG group have been feeling this way as well.
Earlier in the week I agreed to go to my 7th grade student, Nazi's house. She is the same girl who started texting me and giving me letters a few weeks ago. I was pretty nervous about this because her English isn't the best, but I figured it would be fine and I ended up having a really good time. She lives with her mother and her brother who must be in 2nd or 3rd grade. Her father lives in Russia where he works. This is a common situation here. Many of my students have one or more parent living in another country because it is very difficult for them to find jobs in Georgia. Nazi's family was really welcoming and fun and I had a great time. They took me to two nearby monasteries that I hadn't seen before, and also to a park in Telavi that I didn't even realize existed. They didn't really know much English, but I had my phrasebook and that helped us a ton.
After we went out, we went back to their house and ate and drank beer. I think Nazi had a bit too much to drink and she was a bit clumsy and hilarious. They put on music like Ke$ha and Britney Spears and Eminem and were trying to get me to dance, but I really didn't have enough to drink to feel up to dancing in the living room with two of my students. It's so funny, because in the US this would not be acceptable. Not only because these kids are so young they couldn't be drinking anyway, but also because I'm their teacher and that would be inappropriate.
After dancing for a while, the neighbors invited us over. I already knew them because they are friends with my host family and god parents of Tiko. So we went over there and I showed them pictures on my facebook (they don't have FB) and we ate ice cream. Also, I thought for some stupid reason I knew how to play dominoes so I agreed to play with the neighbor man, Gia. But as it turns out I really had no idea how to play except for the part where you have to put down a domino with the same number of dots on it. So everyone had to help me because I was like an idiot, but I ended up totally winning.
After this we went back to the house and I watched part of a really strange movie (i just googled and it is called Twin Sitters http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122768 ) dubbed over in Georgian. Then we went to sleep.
This morning they really didn't want me to leave. This seems to be a recurring problem here. When I go somewhere people don't want me to leave and try to convince me to stay longer. I guess I didn't really have a good reason for wanting to leave, like I'm not busy until almost 2pm today, but I really wanted to go home and get ready and change my clothes before my classes. They seemed pretty disappointed and I felt a little bad, but I did tell them I wanted to leave this morning around 11.
Nazi gave me a gift for Love Day, which was a little bunny stuffed animal and a card she made. She's such a sweet girl. Also, yesterday her and her friends gave me another card they had made me. And she gave me like three pairs of earrings for no apparent reason. I guess they were from her mother as well. I felt so weird about taking them, but they insisted. I just feel so bad taking gifts because I know most people don't have a lot of money and I really don't NEED more earrings. It's very sweet though. I love the people in Georgia so much for the most part. They will do just about anything for you and to show you that they care about you. I guess in general they just seem so generous; it's unbelievable.
So Love Day is off to a good start. Soon I will go to my lesson. We will see how it goes because it's pretty hit or miss sometimes. But then it's the weekend! And I was invited to a birthday party tomorrow night (the man I was playing dominoes with), and on Sunday morning TLG is taking a bunch of us to Gori to see the Stalin Museum and then go to a cave city or something..... and then, Wednesday night we go to Tbilisi and Thursday morning we go to ARMENIA!!! YAYY!
Earlier in the week I agreed to go to my 7th grade student, Nazi's house. She is the same girl who started texting me and giving me letters a few weeks ago. I was pretty nervous about this because her English isn't the best, but I figured it would be fine and I ended up having a really good time. She lives with her mother and her brother who must be in 2nd or 3rd grade. Her father lives in Russia where he works. This is a common situation here. Many of my students have one or more parent living in another country because it is very difficult for them to find jobs in Georgia. Nazi's family was really welcoming and fun and I had a great time. They took me to two nearby monasteries that I hadn't seen before, and also to a park in Telavi that I didn't even realize existed. They didn't really know much English, but I had my phrasebook and that helped us a ton.
After we went out, we went back to their house and ate and drank beer. I think Nazi had a bit too much to drink and she was a bit clumsy and hilarious. They put on music like Ke$ha and Britney Spears and Eminem and were trying to get me to dance, but I really didn't have enough to drink to feel up to dancing in the living room with two of my students. It's so funny, because in the US this would not be acceptable. Not only because these kids are so young they couldn't be drinking anyway, but also because I'm their teacher and that would be inappropriate.
After dancing for a while, the neighbors invited us over. I already knew them because they are friends with my host family and god parents of Tiko. So we went over there and I showed them pictures on my facebook (they don't have FB) and we ate ice cream. Also, I thought for some stupid reason I knew how to play dominoes so I agreed to play with the neighbor man, Gia. But as it turns out I really had no idea how to play except for the part where you have to put down a domino with the same number of dots on it. So everyone had to help me because I was like an idiot, but I ended up totally winning.
After this we went back to the house and I watched part of a really strange movie (i just googled and it is called Twin Sitters http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122768 ) dubbed over in Georgian. Then we went to sleep.
This morning they really didn't want me to leave. This seems to be a recurring problem here. When I go somewhere people don't want me to leave and try to convince me to stay longer. I guess I didn't really have a good reason for wanting to leave, like I'm not busy until almost 2pm today, but I really wanted to go home and get ready and change my clothes before my classes. They seemed pretty disappointed and I felt a little bad, but I did tell them I wanted to leave this morning around 11.
Nazi gave me a gift for Love Day, which was a little bunny stuffed animal and a card she made. She's such a sweet girl. Also, yesterday her and her friends gave me another card they had made me. And she gave me like three pairs of earrings for no apparent reason. I guess they were from her mother as well. I felt so weird about taking them, but they insisted. I just feel so bad taking gifts because I know most people don't have a lot of money and I really don't NEED more earrings. It's very sweet though. I love the people in Georgia so much for the most part. They will do just about anything for you and to show you that they care about you. I guess in general they just seem so generous; it's unbelievable.
So Love Day is off to a good start. Soon I will go to my lesson. We will see how it goes because it's pretty hit or miss sometimes. But then it's the weekend! And I was invited to a birthday party tomorrow night (the man I was playing dominoes with), and on Sunday morning TLG is taking a bunch of us to Gori to see the Stalin Museum and then go to a cave city or something..... and then, Wednesday night we go to Tbilisi and Thursday morning we go to ARMENIA!!! YAYY!
No comments:
Post a Comment