Teresa, the Big Scaredy Cat

So, two night ago it was raining cats and dogs. I mean it was pouring! (The next day, I learned it was actually hailing). And we have a metal roof so you can imagine how loud it was. It was around 11:30 p.m. when the family decided to go bed and that's when the rain started and the power went out. No big concern there since it was time for bed anyway. I lay in bed for a good twenty minutes or so thinking to myself "Geez, this is some serious rain!" All the while, great bolts of lightning were illuminating my room and thunder could be heard in the distance. All of a sudden, I hear my bedroom door creak open and the light of a cell phone is peering at me from the doorway. It's my 14 year old host sister Keti. She says, "Tereza, don't be afraid. There is very big noisy weather outside."  To this I reply. "OK, thank you." And then she is gone.

I lay back down and smile to myself. Awww. She was concerned about me. Well, with just cause too as I have cowered into her room in the middle of the night on more than one occasion. All because of the strange noises of country life. I remember one night in particular I was deathly afraid after hearing some loud noises in the attic. I seriously thought someone was up there! As I ran out to the living room, certain that everyone else heard the noises too, I was greeted with snoring from every direction! Everyone was knocked out cold! I just couldn't go back to sleep after this. Especially, when my room has access to the attic. No way, Jose! Well, let's just say this was a scaredy cat moment and I ended up in my host sister's room. The next day, my host parents said it was a mouse. I guess because the walls are a little thin and I had abruptly awaken from a deep sleep it had sounded like something 10 times the size of a mouse. Anyway, as you can see, my host sister had ample right to be concerned about me....The Big Scaredy Cat!

A Quick Tip

A quick tip that I've been meaning to mention on my blog is that you can click on the photos to enlarge them. So, if you didn't know that, you should go back and click on some of the older posts with pictures of the gorgeous scenery and views in Georgia!

Always on the look out for Non-Georgian food

Well, after posting that last blog, I wanted to do a follow-up post on the non-Georgian food that Yadira and I are often on the prowl for. Don't get me wrong, we do like Georgian food, but lately we've had a hankering for other kinds of food.

That particular weekend went something like this:

Friday night- fried chicken at Texas Chicken

Saturday for lunch- Azteca Mexican Restaurant

A chicken quesadilla for me

And taquitos de tinga for Yadira

Extremely happy campers after a little Mexican food

Saturday for dinner- Ronny's Pizza. This place is owned by Americans, so no mayonnaise or any other Georgian toppings here!

Pepperoni and mushroom heaven

Followed by a photo shoot which was inspired by Natia the manager at Ronny's. She was a ball of fun and insisted that Yadira and I take some "fun and crazy" pictures at the pizzeria. So we did.

Things started off innocently enough

Then we tried to capture the art of "fish lips" with Natia leading the way

Then we hopped up on the bench to do who knows what

Uncle Sam wants YOU!

And one last photo with the staff

This was the best time I've ever had at any pizzeria. Take that Sal's!

Excursion Photos

These are the photos I promised to post of the excursion I went on last week with my 7th graders. We went to see a 3rd or 4th Century (one of the things that was lost in translation) castle. We took a bus part of the way and then we hiked for the rest of the journey. After we saw the castle, which actually is only rubble now, we had a picnic in an open field. One of the teachers and a few of the boys started a little fire to cook some meat and we also had pizza (Georgian style), salami, chicken, khachapuri (cheese bread), fruit, cake, cookies and a few other dishes I don't know the names of. All I know is we ate tons! On the way home from the trip, we stopped at an old soccer field and played a little "football." I really had a great time and I hope you enjoy the pics!

What's in a Name...

I went on an excursion with my 7th graders a couple of days ago. I promise to post pics of that soon but I wanted to mention that in this one class we have a Giorgi, two Lucas, a Nino, two Maris, and a Tamuna. So, there you know almost half of their names!

Giorgi, Dato, Irakli, Giga, and Luca seem to be quite popular among boys names here while Nino, Mari, Tamuna, Salome and Natia seem to be popular among the girls. I have taken a real liking to a few of these names so don’t be surprised if they come up again in the distant future as a possible name for one of my offspring. Mind you we’re talking “way distant future” here. Interesting though to note that calling someone “girl” or “boy” here may be just as common as calling someone by their given name. A brief lesson in Georgian:
-girl    - gogo
-boy    - bit’chi ( beet chi)- Use when you are talking about a boy
-boy    -bit' cho- Use when you are speaking directly to the boy
-come  - modi  (mow dee)
-good   - kargi  (you need to roll your “r”)

You’d be surprised how often you hear these four little words throughout the day. Things like “modi bit’cho” or “kargi gogo.” And speaking of kargi gogo, I think that is my actual name here. It doesn’t take much to provoke these words from a Georgian’s lips. When I first arrived at school I would say “Dila msvidobisa"  (Good morning) and I’d get showered with “Kargi gogo!” Now, on my travels throughout Georgia when I run into people who try to ask me questions and I have no inkling of what they are speaking about, which happens quite frequently as you can imagine, I simply say “Ar vitsi qartuli” (I don’t know Georgian) and this still seems to bring forth those golden words “Kargi gogo.” Followed up by a quick “Itsit Rusuli?” (Do you know Russian?) To this I reply “Ara, vitsi Inglisuri.” (No, I know English).  And that is the end of that conversation. We part ways smiling and nodding, which happens to mean the same thing in every language.

At the moment, I have been reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Yes, I did also go and see it in theaters (I know this is a fact you were just dying to know). And getting a little off the topic here but yes the movie, in my opinion, is just as good as the book (another fact you were just itching to know). Anyway, in the book, during her stay in Bali she says that the majority of people there give their children one of these names: Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut. These names mean first, second, third and fourth. So, they name their child, whether girl or boy, one of these names according to the order of birth. And if they should have a fifth child, then they'd just start the cycle over again. I found that to be quite interesting. However, you can be certain that my future offspring will not have any of these names.

Cave of Wonders

Me and my adorable host cousins

Today, my host family took me to see a cave in a nearby city. My host aunt, uncle, cousins and grandparents came as well. It was really nice to spend some quality time with them. The tour guide seemed happy to see a foreigner in the mix. He smiled and asked my host family a few questions about me, his eyes never leaving me. (I am still trying to get used to the fact that many Georgians have never seen a foreigner). Once satisfied with having his questions answered, he proceeded to explain the historical facts about the cave. My two host sisters, Keti and Nino, took turns translating for me. It was a bit awkward, albeit awfully sweet, that the tour guide would frequently stop and give them ample amount of time to translate. He wanted to make certain that I was equally informed. One interesting fact I learned was that it takes 1,000 years for a stalactite  (the scary looking formations that grow from the ceiling) to grow 1 cm. Now, whether or not that's a true statement or whether something got lost in translation is beyond me! Either way, it was interesting to hear.

My host sisters- Keti and Nino

As I walked through the cave, stopping frequently to curiously gaze about and every once in a while to snap a photo, I smiled to myself thinking "Wow, I am so happy right now." It wasn't that the cave had enlightened me in any way. In fact, I'm quite certain that it didn't have much to do with the cave period. It was more the overall experience of being so far away from home yet being surrounded by people who truly seem to care about me and my well-being. I've actually had that feeling come over me quite a few times since my arrival. It always comes at such unexpected moments, and it's those moments that make me most grateful to be here experiencing Georgia and the Georgian way of life.

Stalactites

Fun Fact- Krubera Cave, the world's deepest cave, is actually located in Georgia! It became the deepest known cave in 2001 when explorers reached a depth of 7,185 feet. Perhaps, I will get to visit it during my time here. 

TBILISI

Last weekend, some friends and I went to Tbilisi (the capital) to watch a soccer game. It was Georgia vs. Malta. I was told by several people (Georgians) that the Georgian soccer team isn't very good and that they never win. Once we arrived at the stadium, we were pleasantly surprised to see how packed it was. We were even more shocked when they won! The crowd went CRAZY!!! They started burning little pieces of paper throughout the stadium. It was a little frightening at first but the fires were maintained. So that was good.

The next day we did some sightseeing in "Old Tbilisi."Take a look at some of the pics below.

THE OUTHOUSE AND OTHER SHOCKING DISCOVERIES

Well, as some of you may know, I am in the Republic of Georgia for a few months participating in an English teaching program. I have been here about a month now and wanted to write about my adventures and discoveries so far. I'll start with my host family which consists of a deida (mom), a mama (dad - go figure!), 2 da's (sisters) and 1 dzma (brother). They've really treated me like part of the family since my arrival. The house is comfortable and a good size, consisting of four bedrooms. I have my own room with a full size bed, dresser, desk and small closet.

As much as I have enjoyed my time here and anticipate to continually do so, I wouldn't have lived up to this article's headline if I didn't include my shocking discoveries while living here.

Shocker #1 The Outhouse. I just used it a couple of hours ago and even though I have been using it for the past 3 weeks, I still catch myself thinking, "I can't believe I am seriously using an outhouse!!"  I'll leave the gory details of my experience inside the outhouse for those with strong stomachs. Now to be fair, not everyone here uses an outhouse, but in my social circle this seems to be the case more often than not. 

Shocker #2 Underage Drinking. What the h#*@!! Did my twelve year old host brother just down a couple of glasses of wine??? And I've heard of some as young as five years old throwing 'em back!! You've gotta be kidding me! 

Shocker#3 Driving in Georgia is detrimental to your health. I have never seen such crazy driving in my life! All of this weaving in and out of traffic on a two lane road, and trying to pass two semi's while traffic is clearly coming towards you from the other direction which sometimes cuts so close that the on-coming vehicle begins to honk and flash his brights....whew, I don't have asthma but I think I've had a couple of wheezing attacks while traveling on these roads. Which brings us to ...

Shocker #4 Wearing a seat belt offends the driver (particularly passengers that sit in the front seat). Oh no he didn't! He can be offended all he wants, I don't plan on flying through any windshields any time soon. 

Shocker #5 Animals run things around here! There are so many cows on the streets. I just don't understand it. They're not in enclosed fences, they're strolling the streets.  Sometimes in herds with someone guiding them and sometimes alone.  I see so many chickens, pigs and dogs everywhere....homeless dogs mostly. Oh, and don't get me started on the flies and bugs. These flies don't back down without a fight. When I first arrived, I noticed that there were a lot of flies around the food and no one seemed to be concerned! They just let the flies land on any and everything. The flies could come and go...snack on this and nibble on that. When I finally decided to begin shoo-ing them, they kept coming back with a vengeance, they wouldn't go down without a fight. Like I said, animals run this!

Now, I'd like to summarize in saying that I know life in Georgia sounds quite scary and probably quite awful after reading this, but I am truly enjoying my time here. Georgian people are very giving and hospitable. I really feel like part of the family here. I am greeted with Colgate smiles every morning and evening. I am constantly being reminded just how kind and giving the Georgian people are....from receiving free taxi and marshut'ka rides, to getting showered with hugs, kisses and smiles. I'm sure to have more shocking and perhaps disturbing discoveries while here but I am quite certain that they will be equally matched with moments of kindness and love.