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.