Weeks, Weekends, the Future

Time goes by so quickly it's unbelievable. The weeks feel like they are going by so slowly because in the mornings our apartment is cold and the bed is so warm; the schools heating leaves something to be desired (though it's a million times warmer than the village school was!); the children are screaming and not responding to discipline. But then suddenly, it's 3pm and you don't really know where the day went and all you can remember is how fucking adorable the 2nd graders were and how genius your 4th graders are and what little turds the 5th graders were being--but how creative their bullying each other is--seriously, one kid ground up a piece of chalk and folded it up in a piece of paper like a note and handed it to a girl, so when she opened it chalk dust got everywhere. So sad, but also... creative.
And then there are the weekends. Friday comes and goes in a wine/vodka/beer haze. Saturday morning is either slept away or sometimes you're so thirsty you wake up at 7am and can't sleep anymore, so you lay in bed and stare at the wall or at someone else or text your friends to ask what else happened after you went home. Normally, we get lunch around 12, for the past two weeks we've gone to Elvis, which is a restaurant (Elvis themed) with all different types of food: Thai, Italian, sushi, American, German, desserts. Then we wander slowly around the city some more stopping here and there for snacks or drinks or anything else we can think to do.
For the past few Sundays, I've been busy visiting with different Georgians. Four weeks ago, I went to the house of a little 12 year old girl named Natali, who is the niece of my former co-teacher (in Vardisubani) Nona. I had met her a couple months ago when in Kakheti visiting Nona, and she has been texting me every so often since, asking when I could see her. Nona and her husband came to Tbilisi (Natali lives here) and Natali's family had me over for dinner with them. Three weeks ago I went to Mtskheta, a nearby town, with my co-teacher Lali and her family. Mtskheta has some of the oldest and most famous churches in Georgian. It was a really beautiful place, and it was the first time I had gone, so it was nice that Lali could tell me the history of each place we went to. Afterwards, they took me to eat khinkali, naturally. Last Sunday I went to Vardisubani to visit my old host family. It was a nicer visit than I ever could have imagined. I had some problems living there last semester, but I couldn't justify being in the same country and not even going to see them-- especially Tiko, the little girl who loved me so much. They were all so happy to see me, and had cooked my favorite Georgian foods and bought cake. They gave me kisses, and the little boy was so much bigger (after only 4 months) I couldn't even believe it. I missed them a lot, despite any issues we had, sometimes people just aren't good to live with. And then yesterday, I met up with my co-teacher Nana and another English teacher at the school (who I don't go to classes with) named Manana. They took me to a restaurant so we could eat khinkali. They ordered me 10, which I told them I was incapable of eating (my normal amount is like 4), but... they kept pressuring me, and I found that it is in fact possible for me to eat 8 khinkalis without dropping dead. Even though afterwards I did want to drop dead.

Today I woke up and out of the window I could see the hill was covered in snow. And it was still snowing. All day. It's not really sticking during the day, but I'm still impressed. It's much nicer to have snow than to have rain, though it's freakin' cold. I'm wearing three pairs of socks and it still doesn't seem to cut it.

In unrelated news, I'm getting a little anxious trying to think of what the heck I should do when I get home. Part of me just doesn't want to think about it at all, and to just enjoy what's left of my time here without any pressure. But I really DO need to think about it. And as time progresses, I consider going to South Korea to teach even more. I have been on the fence about it for a while, but it's a good and reasonable option. I get nervous because it's a longer commitment and I really don't know if I'd like it there! But then again, I came to Georgia having no idea what to expect and it's been amazing.  I also feel like I should do things like this while I'm young and don't have an "real" responsibilities. The money is good. When I was at home for summer my step-dad was really encouraging about the option, saying he thinks I should do it, which helps, but also I don't know if I like the idea of being away from my family for a year, especially since my brother's baby is going to get so big in that amount of time. I don't know. Any advice is welcome!

I'm typing this post into a word document, while wearing gloves. I figured I should write something now while I have some free time and the last few days are still fresh in my mind, but I don't have internet on my laptop so I am saving it for later (hopefully tomorrow) when I do get wireless internet. The reason behind the glove wearing is probably obvious. It's freakin' freezing in my room. I'm adapting to the cold, and somehow I feel like I am less cold than everyone else on a daily basis. Either that or I just don't complain as much about it.
I arrived at my host family's house two days ago, on Monday at around 4pm after much nervousness and anticipation. My school's director and two people from my ERC (Educational Resource Center) picked us up at the hotel in Tbilisi and we took two cars to Telavi where the ERC is located. On the ride, I was in the backseat with Ryan and his giant suitcase between us because the trunk was full of my luggage. My school's director sat in front with the driver. She didn't speak any English and has a gold tooth. In the other car was an ERC person, Shannon and Andrea. Shannon, Ryan , Andrea and I are all in the same region of Telavi. After their host families picked them up, I got back into the car with my school director and she took me to my new home. As it turns out, my school's director is also my host mother's mother. My host mother (Georgian “deda”) is one of my co-teachers at school. Her name is Shorena and she is very nice and cheerful. She speaks some English, although not as much as you would expect from an English teacher. My host father's name is Zura and he doesn't talk much (by the way, the word for father in Georgian is “mama,” way to be confusing). I think we have just said “hello” a few times and smiled. My 10 year old host sister, Tiko, is adorable. She always tries to teach me words in Georgian and then I always forget them 30 seconds later. We walk to the school together in the morning. She is in the 5^th grade English class that her mother and I are co-teaching. I also have a 4 year old host brother named Tamuri. Today I think he decided that he liked me and spent a lot of time staring at me and then trying to say who knows what to me in Georgian.

My first day at the school yesterday was pretty overwhelming in a boring sort of way. I met a ton of people, most of which couldn't speak any English. I have three co-teachers including Shorena. The other two are Nona and Darejani. I followed Nona and Darejani around to their (our) classes and they introduced me to the students and then I sat on a chair for the rest of the time observing. Everything is so drastically different than the schools in America. My mind is seriously blown. I don't even think words can describe what it is like, because I heard a lot about the schools here before coming and though I understood, but I was wrong. I didn't understand until I walked in. And it's funny because everyone loves the school so much and are generally appreciative that they have it. They don't even complain, in fact, this morning when Tiko and I were walking, she looked at me and said “I love my school!” and had a huge smile. This being said, I suppose I should talk about the actual status of the school. There is no electricity. From what I have heard, the only rooms to have power are the staff room and the director's office. Everything else is just lit by the windows, and the rooms are so cold. There is a woodstove in each room. If you are near the stove you are fine, but on the other end of the room you will basically be an icicle by the time the lesson is over. The kids keep the fire going. Randomly a kid will just come up to the front of the room and put a new log in the stove. I like this because I don't really even know when it's time for a new log (obviously I've been sheltered from wood stove life, and snow life). The walls are old and scuffed up, but are decorated pretty nicely with paintings by the students, posters with Georgian writing (I don't know what it means), and pictures of Jesus. The chalkboards are a mess. There are classrooms where the chalkboards are literally warped and bent in weird ways from being so old and most likely getting cold and damp. The pieces of chalk are all like 1cm long.

So, the school is pretty run down. But everyone is very friendly and happy. The women all wear big fur coats and I wish I had one even though I'm morally opposed to fur. I would fit in better if I had a fur coat and a gold tooth. There are a lot of gold teeth in these parts. So far I would describe my experience as: snow, gold tooth, fur coat, cold, khachapuri

In other news: my host family seems to really enjoy Russian Farmville. I actually feel guilty when I am online too long on their computer because I know Tiko is wishing she was online catchin' up on her crops. I thought it was just her and Shorena who played, but then this evening I saw Zura on there tending to his digital donkey or something. This trip is making me really wish I had a kindle or something because my three books I brought are going to go by FAST. I'm already halfway done with one of them and I've been here for 2 days. I guess it was bound to happen with no internet and TV in another language. Oh yeah, and the power going off. The power was out all day today I think. It was out this morning when I woke up and still when I got home. It came back before it got dark though, but now it keeps flickering every now and then which makes me nervous.

Well, I suppose that is all I will write for now. There is so much going on but at the same time not really anything. I go to work and sit there, which hopefully I will start DOING something soon. But the way the teachers teach is straight from the books and not very exciting, I'd like to change it up but haven't had a chance to sit down with them yet so they keep doing what they are doing. I am scheduled to be in about 5 classes every day, except Friday when I have no classes but have to come in to do a “group” which I'm pretty sure they mean a club for students who want to learn English. I hope this is so because then I can do whatever I want. Anyway, I go to work and then come back and sit around. I sit around in the living room because I want to spend time with my host family, and also because that is where the woodstove is. I'm not sure if they LIKE me out there though since I suck at conversation. I think Tiko likes it though. She loves when she tells me a Georgian word and I try to say it myself and I'm sure I totally butcher it but she always giggles and says “good!” and seems very happy. Zura's mother, Tina, who lives downstairs also seems excited when I say a word and she likes to try to say English words too. She also likes to look over my shoulder as I check my Facebook. Today I had to show her and Tiko my mom, dad, and brother on Facebook. Tina told me I look like my mom. Big surprise.

Oh, and they always feed me. It's weird because I won't even have seen anyone else eating and they will bring me something and want me to eat it! Like I was at the computer earlier and Shorena brought me a plate and put it in front of me and said “meat pie, and coka cola, eat.” But no one else had anything to eat........ And then at supper, she made macaroni and eggs and it was very salty and then we had very salty cheese. It was like salt overload, but not bad. Shorena put ketchup on her macaroni. I did not. She told me “you are very small and I am very big” and then tried to hand me more food. I wonder if that is why I got a meat pie and no one else did.