kargi gogo

Yesterday I was invited to "the wood" (I don't know if this is British English or what; I would say "the woods," not wood. But they always just say wood) with my 9th graders because apparently lessons were canceled (no one thought to tell me, ugh). So the 9th grade class was going to the woods nearby to have a picnic. They convinced me to go and were SO excited. There was a lot of shrieking when I finally accepted the invitation. they had a mound of groceries ready to go. Most of the class was walking, but I wanted to change my shoes (I was wearing some flimsy flats), so one 9th grader and I walked to my house where I changed and then a man in a car with 3 of the 9th grade boys and all the food pulled up and picked us up. It was strange being sandwiched in the backseat between a bunch of 9th graders.
At the picnic there was sausage, chicken, soda, beer, bread, cookies, tomatoes, cucumbers... all sorts of things and it was all very delicious. They made quite a fuss about making sure I had a bit of everything and kept putting more and more on my dish and filling my beer cup quite often. It was strange drinking with a bunch of students, but no one drank too much.
After we ate the girls convinced me to go into the forest with them and they all picked me flowers until I had quite a bouquet. Then we ran in the field and I rode one of the boys' bikes that was much to big for me. It was a really nice time and I had a lot of fun. I think they were all very happy I came. They kept asking to take pictures with me and were holding my hands and telling me they love me.
One thing I did notice about this event, however, was how separated the boys and girls were. At the table all of the girls sat at one end and all the boys on the other. They didn't really even talk much. And after we ate all the girls and I went out to the field while the boys loitered around the fire they had built. It was really strange by American standards. Because 14/15 year olds in the US are always flirting and joking around with each other.
Also, a bit away from us was a group of three people also picnicking. It was one female and two males. My student, Mari, who was sitting next to to me kept exclaiming and pointing at them and saying "bad girl! two boys! one girl! bad girl!!" and she thought it was incredibly hilarious. Also, at one point one of the boys and the girl, who I could tell were a couple, kissed and this was CRAZY to them. Mari- "Kiss! On lip! Bad girl!" and then we all looked over and everyone started giggling and remarking about the bad girl.
I was told that things would be different here in that regard, but it was really strange anyway. Especially because I've always been the type of girl who hangs out with a lot of boys. It made me wonder if they would really tell me I was a good girl all the time if they knew how I usually am at home. Because a lot of times I'll just be hanging out with just guys, and it's not at all weird. Also, when I have a boyfriend there is definitely a bit of PDA. Not even a lot (at least not a lot by American standards), but I have been known to get a kiss here and there from a boyfriend while in a public place...
I guess it's things like that that make you really realize you are in a distant place..... that and how much the young people drink.

Morning of Love Day

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!

On Thursday after class, (well, we actually left class early) I went to my co-teacher's house which is in a village about 15 minutes away. It was her daughter's 8th birthday as well as some church holiday where everyone eats fish. At her house we ate a massive "snack" and drank a couple of glasses of wine. Then we all, (Darejani, her husband, her daughter, her niece and her husband's friend) hopped into her husband's friend's mini van and he drove us to Gremi, which is a big old church. We climbed up in the church on some very dangerous narrow stairs. It was a very beautiful place and the view from the top of the church was great. Then we went to some monastery that I don't remember the name of. It was very cool and up really high on a hill so the view from there was REALLY cool. After this we went back to her house and ate more food and cake. Also, news got out that my brother's bday was on Friday so we had to drink numerous toasts to my mother and brother and may they have long lives. And when we have a toast, we have to down the whole glass of wine apparently. I drank quite a lot of wine and so did everyone else (not the kids) and it was a good time and there were only a few awkward questions like "will you get married here if you meet the right boy?" followed by "i have a nephew who is your age you should meet" and so on.  The next day I was supposed to come back to Vardi for my "club," but Darejani really wanted me to stay another night and called the school and canceled my club for me so I stayed another night. I ate SO much food while at her house I thought I might explode.
I was supposed to go to Sighnaghi on Friday to visit Shay with Cort, but the only marshutka was leaving Telavi at around 3 and I couldn't get there in time (because I was supposed to have my club). So last minute I called up Lydia and instead decided that we should go to Tbilisi on Saturday because we really didn't want to have another uneventful village weekend. On Saturday morning I wasn't even sure I was going to make it to Tbilisi because I had a stomach bug that made me feel really nauseous. But I decided that I would fight through it and go anyway.
Lydia and I didn't do a whole lot in Tbilisi, just ran some errands and I bought a couple of books at the bookstore there that sells books in English. I finally put more money on my cell phone--I've been at like 3lari for over a week and I thougth Cort was going to kill me because I hadn't been able to text him all day every day like we normally do. Lydia and I also got some noodles and made pasta at the hostel. Then we drank really cheap vodka that the workers at the hostel kept telling us was so bad and not to drink it. It didn't taste all that bad in my expert opinion. But they were right; it's a terrible hangover.
We went to a couple of bars with the guys from the hostel. We already knew them because I stayed at the same hostel, Boombully, last time we were in Tbilisi. I guess nothing especially memorable happened, except next to Bude Bar there was a dirt pile that Lydia and I found to be extra exciting for some reason and we have a lot of ridiculous pictures of us standing on the dirt pile. After this we went to a club to dance and then we went back to the hostel. At the hostel they asked if we wanted to go to a party so we said OK but the party ended up being us sitting around the living room of a thirty-something year old woman's house while they spoke a lot of Georgian and drank vodka. Then the woman's 15 year old daughter came out of her bedroom and starting drinking with them. During this time, I was mostly sitting there and giggling at the ridiculousness of one of the guys we we were hanging out with. He was an enthusiastic insurance salesman who "could sell insurance products all day every day and all night every night" and was very angry when he found out that Lydia was not Jewish (no idea why he even assumed she was). At one point he was trying to slap me with a piece of ham. I was laughing so much I ended up laying down and falling asleep. I woke up confused when Lydia was telling me that the cab was there to take us back to the hostel. Insurance salesman wanted to come back to the hostel with us but Lydia said no and then he told Lydia she was "black listed" and looked out the window and wouldn't talk to her anymore.
I ended up only getting about 3 hours of sleep, which seems to be what always happens when I go to Tbilisi. I felt terribly sick and had a raging headache this morning thanks to the crap vodka. We took a weird shared taxi cab back to Telavi. There was a kid who was probably 18 sitting next to me trying to converse with me in English but it was kind of awkward. I think he was just nervous about speaking in English and had a bit of a crush on me. Shortly before his stop, he invited me. And yeah, that's what he said. "I want to invite you" (this is a common phenomenon I've experienced here with people who aren't fluent in English. They will "invite me" and not say where they are inviting me). So I asked him where and he said "where you like" which could mean anything. Either way, he asked for my phone number and I gave it to him, which may not have been smart but I thought he seemed nice! Then he told me I had beautiful eyes and got out at his stop. After this, Lydia and Mary (another TLG girl who lives in Telavi) were saying they thought he seemed weird and sketchy, but I really didn't think he did. I guess the saying this made me feel weird about the whole thing even though I thought it was all perfectly fine.
So, if I start getting crazy phone calls I guess I will know I made a mistake.
And now I have another week of school. But in 10 days I will be going to Armenia! I am very excited.

Weird moods

I've had a headache for three days.
This morning one of our 4th graders brought me a bouquet of honeysuckle and daffodils.
Today in the staff room there was some meeting which turned into a lot of yelling in Georgian. My co-teacher was also angry and raising her voice. She told me that the director was saying they are not allowed to punish their students and that the teachers have no rights. I asked what she meant by punish and if yelling at the students counted. She said she didn't know. My other co-teacher didn't seem angry; she laughed at how crazy everyone was. Then she told me that the teachers can't cry at the children and hit them. I think cry means yell? Not hitting children is fine with me.
This event made my head hurt worse.
Everyone seemed kind of weird today. I was basically lost in my own world for the entire day.
My 11th graders were especially strange. They seemed like they were all in a bad mood and bickering with one another. One of them who is usually very attentive did absolutely nothing. They were really grumpy until my co-teacher told them I was going to Armenia for Easter. This got them talking. Talkin' a lot of shit! Apparently they don't like Armenians. They told me they hope I don't like them either. Then they went on to describe their appearance as having big noses, eyebrows and they are "black" which to them means dark, not African. They also said that they don't like them because they do not have a sea, which the Georgians do. So during summer tons of Armenians come to the Black Sea and sing their Armenian songs and cook their Armenian food. I didn't think this sounded so bad........ But then one of the students said that if the Armenian has money, the Georgians will like them, and he laughed. So at least he seemed to realize how ridiculous it all was. Even if he feels the same way. Then they tried to teach me a couple Armenian words like "beautiful girl" or "beautiful boy" which I was really unsure why I would need to know. I asked them, and they said "if you know an Armenian word they will think you are Armenian and be nice to you!" and I was thinking "umm they will NOT think I'm Armenian...." not to mention, they were just talking about how Armenians are ugly! Then they tried to teach me how to say "I love you" which I'm quite positive I won't be needing to know. Especially if they are as ugly as my students claim they are.
Anyway, this post is starting to seem kind of anti-Armenian and also mean. I don't have any idea if all Georgians feel this way about Armenia of it is just my three grumpy 17 year old students. Either way, I'm totally excited to go to Armenia! You can't listen to opinions like these. If I listened to what my friend in Russia said about Georgians, I wouldn't have ever ended up in Georgia!