Teachers Gone (into the) Wild

Picture this: me in a marshutka traveling across the country with 20 middle-aged Georgian women. Actually don’t try too hard because here is the picture:

My home for the weekend

Now before I get to that story, I will give you a couple of brief updates. First, week two of school is done. My teacher schedule has been sealed. I am now teaching 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th English classes. They don’t meet every day so some I will be with three times a week others two and 1st and 9th only once. Needless to say that is a lot of different ages of students to try and plan lessons for. Also I am still trying to come up with ways to make the classrooms have less of a classroom/prison vibe, but decorating has never been my strong suite.

Raising the flag over the land!

Second update, housing. Things are looking good, though vastly different from where I was at last week. I found a few apartments in my price range and they were pretty scary. After an afternoon of apartment hunting a new option came about. Randi one of the other volunteers in Poti has a neighbor with a separate room built near the back of their house. It’s a separate living area but also well connected to the main living area. Basically they are willing to let me live there and take me in as a new host family. Their house is also just two streets from my school so that solves the distance problem. One of my favorite part of the new place is the porch area that is covered by grape vines, which is the most delicious awning I have ever seen. Peace Corps is sending someone out this week to inspect it and will hopefully give me the go ahead on moving. Stay tuned for updates on this next week. 

Our first stop

Now for the story of the week, my excursion with my fellow teachers. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it all started with a plate of cookies. Last Sunday night I was bored and decided to bake something. Given the limited ingredients on hand I went for a no bake cookie recipe that I found. They turned out well and I had plenty, so I decided to take the leftovers to school the next morning. Once I announced that I had made cookies the teachers were curious. One timidly tried one and announced that they were delicious, soon the entire plate was gone and teachers were showering me with- რა კარგი ბიჭი! (What a good boy, a common praise). Later that day my counterpart told me that they teachers wanted to invite me on their weekend excursion and I readily accepted the invite- I told myself that I should say yes to any reasonable invite I receive from a Georgian. 

New Georgian Cathedral near the Russian border 

Fast forward to 1am Saturday morning and I am now loading onto a marshutka with half of my school’s teachers. We attempted to sleep as we drove across the country but it was not an easy task. Around 6:30 we reached our first stop, an old monastery/castle situated high up overlooking a large lake- it was beautiful. Next we drove up in to the mountains and had a breakfast stop. The teachers unloaded from the marsh found some plastic tables out front of a little kiosk and quickly setup their meal. They had kettle boiling water on a tiny gas burner, cognac and fruit liqueur to add to their coffee, meat, cheese, bread, and sweets. It was a great roadside feast. 

My first view of the Gergeti Monastery with Mt Kazbeg in the background 

I haven’t been sad here in Georgia by any means, but it was while we were having this impromptu feast on the side of the road high in the mountains that I realized I was happier than I had been in a long time. Trying to find your place in a new foreign community isn’t an easy process, but I felt like they were welcoming me into their group. That high continued for the rest of the trip. It was great.

Our next stop ended up being a mile from the Russian border where the Orthodox Church is building a new cathedral. While this cathedral wasn’t all that special, its location was amazing. It was also interesting to tour through the cathedral with my teachers and watch many of them perform some of their religious rituals associated with visiting a cathedral. It was a different experience from the previous times I have visited Georgian cathedrals with other volunteers. 

The Caucus mountains make a lovely backdrop 

Next we made the trip down to Kazbegi (ყაზბეგი) and I was so excited I could barely sit still. I have seen pics and heard stories about this place and was so excited to finally go. The only problem was how I was going to make the trek up to the old monastery with my current travel companions. A few opted to take a taxi up the mountain, others decided to take the long dusty switchback road, and a few others decided to hike straight up with me. The trail was beautiful, fall as actually arrived in the mountains of Georgia. Back in Poti it feels like summer will never end. After many breaks we finally reached the summit and the views were amazing. Easily a must see place for anyone coming to visit. 

Picnic lunch with my fellow teachers

Later that afternoon after plenty of time resting we headed out for our next stop. On the way we stopped to ask some men for directions. Over the course of the conversation they convinced the ladies to abandon their plans to visit that city and instead come on a hike in the nearby area. Next thing I know one of the men is hopping into the marsh and guiding us to this new location. Soon after we were once again on a trail up a mountains. This time there were no options besides to walk. When we reached the ridge there were only 4 teachers left with me. It was easily the most treacherous hike I’ve been on in Georgia, but at the top we reached a small altar and fortress dedicated to St. George which has been build several hundred years prior.

The few brave teachers who stuck out the whole hike

The next morning we were up and loaded into the bus by 7:30. A short while later we were on a winding unpaved road headed deep into the mountains of Khevsureti. We ended up traveling for 5 hours on this road, up over mountains, down through deep valleys, past waterfalls, and herds of sheep. Finally we reached the town of Shatili and all my complaints disappeared. The place was magical. 

Lighting candles in the shrine to St. George

Abandoned in the 60s due to pressure from the Soviet regime, most of the city sits empty. A few families returned in the early 90s but have opted to build other homes nearby. Most of the original homes in the “fort” are empty and open for exploration. This city was built in a way that when under siege they could move around internally without being seen by the enemy. All the structures are interconnected. They kept livestock in the basements and even has a water take with enough water for the village for a week. I would love to step back in time and see how the people lived here over the years. 

Teachers in the wild, Khevsureti wilderness

Now it was time to begin the journey home, luckily the return trip didn’t take 5 hours and we made it back to civilization in 2. We then made a stop at the home/museum of a famous Georgian poet. I can’t tell you much about most famous Georgians but I recognize all of their names because every street in Georgia is named after a famous person or an important dates. This is how I am learning my history, through city street names. As you might guess, my knowledge is pretty limited, biographies aren’t included when a street is named. 

Khevsureti wilderness, ancient towers and modern sheep herds

Last but not least, we stopped for dinner at a mom and pop roadside (outdoor) restaurant. We feasted on khinkali (dumplings), khatchapuri (cheese bread), and mtsvadi (Georgian barbecue). The teachers once again insisted on paying for my mean, as they had also paid for my share of the marshutka rental. Georgian hospitality again on full display, as a new teacher I was a guest to them and thus deserving of all sorts of niceties that weren’t necessary. After a delicious dinner we loaded up again and made the (mostly non-stop) trip back to Poti, pulling in at 1am. The next morning half the staff looked completely wiped out, however the talk of the teachers’ room was all about the stories from the weekend. It was nice to be on the inside of the daily “gossip” for once.

The towers are built so people can move from home to home without being seen from the outside

The abandoned town of Shatili, AMAZING

Khinkali made and ready to boil

Cooking dinner at the "restaurant" 

Back to School

Well... I am back on the market, for housing that is. After several discussions with Peace Corps staff, we've decided that it would be better for me to live closer to the center of town so that I can be near my school and several of the projects that I will be working with. This will lead to A LOT of changes for me. The biggest being that I will be living on my own. My host family here has been very kind and welcoming, and their home is very comfortable. Who knows what kind of apartment I will find, and who knows what I will eat- kidding. That does bring up a good point though, I will have to start cooking for myself. Of course I know how to make food, but I don't know how to make many Georgian dishes, and cooking for one is always a chore. I don't think cooking lessons are available in Poti. This will be an adventure, who knew that my first time living by myself would be in the Peace Corps. I'm such an extroverted person that I've always preferred having roommates. I shouldn't get ahead of myself however, I still need to find a place- stay tuned!

Mom wasn't here, so I took my own back to school pic.

In other news, this week was the first week of school and the real beginning of my work as a teacher in Poti. Per usual, I am easing into things. This week and next are all about observing classes. I'm trying to decide which classes I want to teach and which teachers I will be working with. This is a little bit of a daunting task at my school because there are 34 separate sections of English being taught. The school is 1st-12th grade, most grades have 2-3 sections of English. That means that there are a lot of classes to observe and choose from. It has been a busy week!

The first day of school started off with a small ceremony in the schoolyard where the school director read out names of students who had received honors from their end of year testing results. Then a few notable students raised the Georgian flag in the schoolyard marking the beginning of the year. Finally, the new first graders were introduced and marched inside the school to meet their teacher (they were adorable).

Flag raising ceremony

Except for the 1st-3rd graders, who stay in the same classroom all day and generally have one teacher the whole time- except for subjects like English, all of the students move around from class to class throughout the day- like middle/high school in the US. The school days begins at 9 am and classes are 45min long, with a 5 min break in between. One of the biggest surprises (read challenges) is that there isn't a lunch break. Instead there is a 10 min break after the 3rd period when student have time to buy a snack and eat it or save it for the next break. This means that most days I am famished by the time school ends. Luckily even though there isn't a lunch break, there is a small room called the "bufeti" that sells some snacks, including the ubiquitous georgian cheese bread- khatchapuri (you can't escape that stuff). Most foods are basically all carbs, I would die for some fresh fruit or something. I might try and recommend that (or I could just go buy my own at the bazar...).

Snuck a pic in 4th grade, I'm sitting in the back corner. It's a tiny room. (Also all the decor is in German?)

The classrooms all vary quite a pit, I've scattered some pictures of them throughout this post. The best rooms are those for the 1st - 3rd grades. They are covered in decorations and examples of student work. Then there are the other rooms. A few are large and well lit, other are small and rather dark. The physical state of the rooms also vary, some are painted bright colors others a dull tan. As a whole the school is leaps and bounds above the school I was working in during my training so I have zero complaints, however, it stands in stark contrast to the schools in the US.

Can these third graders be any more adorable?

There are 5 rooms which are used mostly for English teaching and I would really like to find a way to spruce them up. Even a basic alphabet line would be an improvement. Two of the rooms are the tiniest things I have even seen, smaller than my bedroom yet meant for 14 students. Another is meant for 20+ but is only 8 feet wide. These both create many problems when you want to promote group work or a seating arrangement that isn't the traditional single file-rows of desks. I've already started brainstorming ways to make the most out of what we've got.

I'm brainstorming ways to make one of these.

 Like I said, overall the school is really great and I am excited to be here. There will be plenty of challenges, student behaviour stands out as one that might be the trickiest. There really isn't much leverage for teachers to try and use to encourage better behavior. Teachers really can't do much, and there is a history of lack of discipline that makes it difficult to really try and change anything now. The one thing working in my favor is that I am a male teachers, the only one in the school aside from the PE and computer teachers- who I have yet to figure out. I can have a pretty imposing presence and will probably have to use that in my favor to get some kids to really behave.

Another classroom, I swear it is only 8ft wide. 

I'm excited to see what this school year will bring. The first week of school is always exciting for teachers and students alike. We'll see how everyone is feeling in a month. There is plenty of work for me to do in the school, and that is still only half of the equation. Outside of school I'm continuing my work with the local youth city council and looking to partner with two local groups- one for disadvantaged students learning English (key to getting into college) and the other focused on civics education. Outside of Poti, I am also helping to organize a model UN competition with some other volunteers, working on curriculum development for our boys summer camp, and I was just selected to join to committee- Youth as Resources, focused on promoting volunteerism, healthy lifestyles, and civic engagement among youth in Georgia; and the Education Project Advisory Committee (PAC) which is focused on further developing the education project in Georgia, working to improve collaboration and efficiency in our work currently, and improving things for the future. Training and Summer are both officially over, things are really starting to shift into gear and I've got plenty of work to do.

Summer Camp and Summer Swarms

Tomorrow is my first day of school, it's been 4 years since my last first day. I am excited to really start working in the school, but I'm keeping my expectations low. I don't want to be an eager beaver and wear myself out too soon, I also don't want to shake things up too quickly. To soften the readjustment back to school, this week I helped run a summer camp focused on learning/practicing English. By no means was it a huge success, but it was a great introduction into working with the students at my school.

Each day I worked with a different teacher from the English department, together we attempted to teach the students some new English while also trying to balance out the boring and the fun- who know that Never Have I Ever could be turned into an educational game. You might remember my cluster hosting a summer camp back in June, it was rough and still turned out x100 better than expected. This time I was a lot more on my own, at one point I even had students shouting, "Hail Hitler." It took a minute to get the students to refocus their understand and agree not to shout that one anymore.

By working with each counterpart (my school's english teachers) I was also able to asses their English abilities and teaching styles. This will be important over the next few weeks because I will need to choose which three teachers I want to work with during the school year. Fortunately I don't think I can go wrong since they are all great people.

The real choice will be which classes I want to teach. PCVs working in education aren't given their own classes to teach, instead they team teach with their local counterparts. This helps to model different teaching techniques and also help the teacher to benefit from the presence of a native speaker in the classroom. In my school there are about 90 English classes taught a week. As a volunteer I need to choose at least 18 hours/classes to teach a week. Throughout the next couple of weeks I will attend and observe as many classes as possible in order to decide which ones I will choose. The debate comes down to quantity/quality of impact. Do I choose to spread myself out over many sections/grades and work with them maybe once a week, or do I choose 6-7 sections/grades and teach in all of their classes. We'll see if this week helps make that decision any easier.

Aside from my summer camp at school, this week didn't yield many other adventures. I did not have time for any karate lessons this week, but I did get taken to the local artisan school. The art school is for students to attend after school to be able to learn a trade/craft and start practicing the production of that skill. They had great clothing designs, paintings, weavings, wood carving, and ceramics. The only problem is the crumbling nature of their building. Now we are looking for a larger space where there will be more room for growth etc.

The best story/worst experience of the week comes from Thursday. In honor of the end of our first summer Randi and I decided to go for a swim, something of a weekly ritual for us. We took the marshutka to the end of the line and walked down to the large beach. It was later in the evening but there was still plenty of time before sundown. We set out our towels and headed straight for the water. After a while we watched the sun set and decided it was time to get out. Once we were back on the beach and beginning to towel off a swarm of mosquitoes descended upon us. It was AWFUL!

I wasn't in a state of mind that led to taking pics but this conveys the experience well I think.

We began to collect our things as quickly as possible in an attempt to leave the mosquitoes behind. They were coming at me so fast that I couldn't swat at them fast enough to avoid being eaten alive. After a short time my arms and legs began to collect the bodies of many smashed mosquitoes. We finally set off for the main road and I called a taxi to come pick us up, with the hopes of getting out of that area ASAP.

Unfortunately we were left waiting on the side of the road for 20 min. I was helpless and vulnerable. The only source of limited protection was my beach towel which I used to try and wrap my legs. After 10 min of this hellacious treatment, I was going mad. I can't imagine what the people passing by thought of the sight of me wildly swinging my arms, wrapping my legs in a towel, and the constant smacks to body. I don't think I have ever felt more frustrated or upset while in Georgia. Low blow mosquitoes, you should never attack a defenseless person.

When I finally made it home, I decided to briefly count the number of red bumps (bites) on my body. Without looking to hard I was able to quickly identify over 60 mosquito bites on me, from both my extremities as well as back. I don't think I have ever been that itchy nor that bite ridden in my entire life. Now I can only hope to make it through the week without scratching off more bites than is necessary for sanity's sake.

Peace Corp Volunteers in Kutaisi for the Race for the Cure event

One final note, this weekend was scheduled to be the Race for the Cure event in Kutaisi. A fellow volunteer was helping to put on the event and many of us volunteered to come and help out. Originally they were organizing a 5k run and 2k walk, however the plans were changed and the city was unable to assist in creating a race course. Our job as volunteers was then to move around the pack and encourage people to come learn about breast cancer as well as get free mammograms. even without the run the event was a great success, now the hope is that they will be able to pull off a 5k race next weekend in Tbilisi- so far all signs are a go.

Now I'm off to bed, with school starting bright and early that now also means that sleeping in is not an option and early to bed early to rise will quickly become my new motto. Have a great week everyone, and steer clear of those mosquitoes.

P.S. As I get more pictures I will add them to the post, all my summer camp pics are on my counterpart's camera.

Capitol Cities and Comrades

A Georgian student, American Peace Corps volunteer, and Colombian wandering street vendor get into a shared taxi together…. Sounds like a joke, but this was the beginning of the last 4.5 hours of my life as we drove from Tbilisi back to Poti. I opted to try my hand with a shared taxi (mini-van-esque) rather than the dreaded marshutka and my experience was 100x better. By the end I was still in a good mood rather than on the verge of strangling the first person to cross my path (seriously does anyone enjoy riding in a marshutka???).

 

I had my second karate lesson on Wednesday, here is our "dojo"

The Georgian student spoke pretty decent English, the Colombian spoke ok English as well as some Portuguese. Our conversations drifted in and out of four languages and it left my head spinning. It was quite the international experience. Each person wanted to learn how to say something in the others’ languages and we swapped some vocabulary and phrases. I couldn’t speak a complete sentence in Portuguese without dropping in some Georgian words as well. My comprehension remains keen but my communication is a mess. Regardless of all of the difficulties of separating each language from the others, there is something magical at the root of learning multiple languages. Your world expands and the potential for friendship and understanding across cultures expands, it is amazing. Now on to why I was sitting in a min-van taxi having conversation in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Georgian.

Wednesday night I was flossing my teeth when I noticed something hard in my mouth, upon inspection I realized it was a filling from my rear molar and that there was a large gap in its absence. The next day I spoke with the Peace Corps medical staff and they quickly set up an appointment for me at the dentist in Tbilisi. Just like that my weekend plans went from a 30km guys backpacking trip in Borjomi with some fellow PCVs to a solo trip to Tbilisi to visit the dentist- not an even swap by any means but I made the most of it.

Tbilisi from the fortress above old town

The week had been going quite well before the tooth incident. Teachers had returned to school on Tuesday the 1st so I had been meeting with the English teachers to begin planning our summer camp for next week. We also were given the school schedule for the semester and I was able to see what classes there would be for me to start teaching in, I am excited by all of my options!

Anyways I grabbed the Thursday evening train from Poti and headed on to Tbilisi, a 5 hour journey. About an hour into the trip I noticed some foreigners get on and one sat down next to me. Judging from the NYPD hat, basketball shorts, and t-shirt, I rightly assumed that he was an American. He was also the first American that I have seen/interacted with in Georgia outside of Tbilisi. We ended up chatting for most of the remaining 4 hours. We discussed Georgia a lot, its culture, food, people, and history. We also talked about life in the US, our experiences traveling abroad, and many other things. It’s been awhile since I have had such a great conversation with a stranger. 

Old town shop selling churchkela (the colorful dangling things)

 

It was dark when I reached the capitol so I decided to head straight to old town so I could get a bed in a hostel. I was famished from the journey and despite the late hour decided to indulge in some gelato and a shawarma, treats that can only be found in the city. The next day was mainly spent at the Peace Corps office and surrounding area. The visit to the dentist was quite uneventful. Georgia is one of the few Peace Corps countries where the PC allows for host country doctors to provide dental care because they meet the standard requirements. I do feel a little bad for the dentist because it took a lot of novocaine to numb my tooth and then I ended up dozing off a few times and had to be reminded to keep my mouth open. I had also decided to eat a Dunkin Donut (another Tbilisi treat) on my way to his office, hopefully the fruity smell made up for any donut remains in my teeth. 

Many Scots were in town for a soccer game, here are the Georgians and Scots playing together

After my dentist visit I met up with another volunteer who happened to be in town. We wandered around for a little bit and then went to visit the Tbilisi mall and famed Carrefour grocery story. I have a thing for grocery stores and this one is the Mecca of groceries in Georgia. (Carrefour is an international French chain that I first fell in love with in Brazil.) I wandered the aisle in awe of everything from Indian cooking spices to brown sugar, you never know what you will miss when abroad. I also did a little clothes shopping since I also found a Banana Republic (although given my current salary of $0, I couldn’t afford anything), I browsed and then went into the Georgian store to buy some pants at a much more reasonable price. The real highlight of the evening came later when we found a delicious hamburger joint that served me a delicious burger with guacamole, cheddar cheese, salsa, and spicy corn chips. I was in heaven, there were so many flavors in that meal that I hadn’t tasted in a very long time. 

The domes over the underground sulfur baths

On Saturday I had the choice to go home now that my teeth were ok, but I decided to stay in Tbilisi and do some sightseeing (in preparation for any future visitors I might have). I was up early as always and decided to get a jump on the day by wandering down to the sulfur bath district and do some cultural integrating. A short time later I found myself in an old soviet era locker room changing into my birthday suit and getting instructions from an older Georgian man on how to reap the health benefits of the bathhouse. First I showered off and then spent some time in the sauna. Once I was relaxed I took another quick shower and then hopped into the large communal tub full of hot sulfuric water, followed by an ice cold shower. The idea being that you continue to alternate between hot and cold environment which in turn open and close your pores, release toxins from the body, and help you to relax. Additionally since the water is coming from natural warm sulfur springs there are other supposed health benefits which I can’t quite remember- it just is. 

Bath #5 where I spent my time back in 1955 Soviet Georgia

Once I had completed the circuit of hot and cold, another old Georgian man directed me to lie down on a tiled slab/bed and he proceeded to rough and vigorously scrub of a layer of skin from my entire body. Next I was rinsed in warm water, then scrubbed again with a foamy soap of some sorts while he massaged out my muscles. Once he was finished with my I was smooth as a baby and feeling energized. I repeated the hot cold cycle one more time and then headed back to the locker room. There I was handed a sheet/towel and sat with the Georgians and made some conversation while I answered all of their questions for me, including if I wanted to marry some man’s daughter so I could become cousins with another man there. I declined, but overall I feel like the morning was a success. 

Bridge of Peace

Once I made it back to the hostel and got ready for the day I met up with Melody and we began our day as tourists. We took the cable cars up to the fortress on the hill, took a selfie with the Mother Georgia statue, explored a modern park, visited the Bridge of Peace, and meandered through more of the old town area. Next we trekked across the city in search of good Chinese food, which we found and devoured. Then we wandered through the Dry Bridge flea market for hours. It was full of vendors selling old soviet memorabilia along with other curiosities. The whole experience was mind blowing and made me feel like I was back in the USSR, it was easily my favorite part of the day. Following our soviet souvenir hunting experience we headed up to the Holy Trinity cathedral and toured through the building and grounds. It is a very impressive structure.

Soviet phone anyone?

After a brief rest in our hostel, mostly so we could enjoy some good ol’ AC, we wandered off to find dinner. It should be no surprise that we stopped in at the first Indian restaurant we saw, you can only eat so much Georgian food before you start to crave more variety (and protein). Lastly, we made the trek to the funicular station and rode that up to the top of the hill overlooking Tbilisi. From there we walked to the Giant Wheel (aka ferris wheel) and went for a loop- which was interrupted by people setting off some fun fireworks while we rode down- best view in the house. 

Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi

After the adventure of yesterday, today was rather tame. We rested most of the morning and then went to visit the local LDS (Mormon) ward (congregation). It was fun to see the members again after a short time. It was a great recharge spiritually which complemented my previous day’s physical recharge. We stayed for 2 hours and then had to sneak out to make it to the bus station in hope of finding a bus that wouldn’t get me home too late.

View of Tbilisi from the funicular hill

This week was a wonderful ending to a more carefree summer, and tomorrow I begin my gradual transition into the teaching world. I have 5, 3 hour days of English summer camp ahead of me. I am hoping that this one will be just as successful as the one we were able to implement in Skra back in the beginning of July. Once summer camp wraps up that will be the end of my summer to do list and school will start on the following Monday. Wish me luck!