Cheers to April

 Another great pic Randi took of me. One day she will publish an album- Logan with pretty Georgian scnenery

April has finally arrived and for me that marks the beginning of Spring, I couldn't be more excited. Also April is bringing with it a lot of great things: 1st- I'm off to Kazakhstan in a week; 2nd- The new volunteers are coming, which leads to; 3rd- My one year mark in Georgia (21st). Time is flying.

Dry Bridge Market in Tbilisi, a flea market for soviet goods

Last weekend I took another week into Tbilisi- thus breaking my pledge not to go back until April. However, it was all worth it. While on the train I was finishing some work when I found out that my grant proposal for my school was accepted. This was a huge pain to work on back in February but now that my proposal was accepted I am hoping that it will be a source for some great opportunities.

From the concert the other night, you can see us center right 

My plan is to update our computer room by adding a  printer, 5 new laptops, and updating various connections and adapters for the existing computers. Along with the technology update I am going to start planning a computer training for the students and teachers. The goal is to start incorporating the use of technology into the classroom by encouraging students to use computers for research and typing and for teachers to bring in more interesting resources. We currently have 10 computers in our lab, but an average class has between 25-30 students. That means there is 1 computer per 3 students, with the new computers we'll change that to be 1 computer per pair of students which will make teaching lessons a lot more manageable. For the time being we just have to wait, the funds won't arrive until May but there will be a lot to do once they come.

Designated carver of the 22lb ham- that's a whole lotta pig!

The train into Tbilisi takes about 5 hours so I didn't arrive until 10:30 and it took another 30 minutes to reach the hostel. There were many events going on that weekend, so I wasn't surprised to be greeted by a hostel full of PCVs. Since I hadn't been in Tbilisi for about a month I hadn't seen many of them for quite some time. After settling in I joined a few volunteers who were sitting out front. They were already having a conversation about politics and slowly the topic switched to religion. What made it interesting was that we were collectively a Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, and Jew. We each had different views and experiences with religion but still had a great conversation. This is something I didn't expect coming into the Peace Corps, but has become one of my favorite things. The diversity and mutual respect among volunteers creates a wonderful space for the sharing of ideas and experiences which creates a lot more understanding and respect.

The whole spread, enough for a us plus all of the missionaries

I needed to come into Tbilisi to help out with a volunteerism fair that was taking place on Saturday. It was being put on by a local NGO and turned out to be a great success. I was able to meet a lot of volunteer minded Georgians and local organizations and we also started to advertise this year's BUILD camp (our boys leadership camp). We have big plans this year to expand the camp to support more campers for a longer period of time. We've applied for funding which would cover the costs for 2 one week camps with about 30 campers at each. It will be some time until we find out if our funding request has been approved, but we are moving forward with planning anyway since there is so much that needs to be done (please remember this post come June if I am panicking about camp because our funding request has been denied- knock on wood).

Me looking real cool. Randi captured this gem when I crashed her photography class Friday

An added bonus of heading into Tbilisi last weekend was that I was actually able to celebrate Easter. According to the Orthodox calendar Easter isn't until May 1st. That meant that no one in Georgia was really celebrating on Sunday. I went to church with Melody and then the embassy families invited us over to celebrate Easter with them. Spending time in an actual home is always a nice break from Georgian life, and this was no exception. We prepared all the Easter standards, and the kids even hunted for eggs. I was floored to see funeral potatoes and did my best to eat as much as I could. We ate all the same foods that I knew I'd be eating were I at home with my family so it made the holiday all the better. I even got my own Easter miracle and was able to take a car back to Poti rather than the typical death trap on wheels also known as a marshutka.

The Petra fortress I've been waiting to visit

This week at school was a tough one for me. I've been working with my students for over 6 months and now we are at the point where I feel like they should be showing some improvement but rather they seem to be worse off and it is so frustrating. On Tuesday two of my classes had tests and neither one did very well, I also had to spend the entire period patrolling for and getting mad at students for cheating, it was SO frustrating. They aren't even discreet about cheating- UGH

The view from the top with the remains of two churches

Luckily for me I was able to spend two days with my program manager Ia visiting schools which had applied to host one of the incoming volunteers. We visited schools in Poti and some smaller mountain towns. It was interesting to see so many different Georgian schools. It is crazy how the quality of the schools (physically speaking) can vary so much. Some schools were huge and had lots of resources where others were old buildings falling apart and lacking modern teaching resources. However, everywhere we went there were people who were really excited about the possibility of hosting a volunteer and to some degree had caught the vision of what the Peace Corps work is here in Georgia.

A stairway leading to the top of the fortress- photo cred Randi

After two days away from school I was a lot more relaxed and ready to see my students on Friday. It was also April Fools day so I planned a simple trick for each class. First, in the 9th grade we had the school's vice principal come in during the lesson to tell the students that because they had been poorly behaved all school year they were going to have to attend an extra month of school- to say they freaked out would be an understatement. They were giving presentations that day so we let them think it was real until the end of the class period. When we finally to them it wasn't true several rushed up to hug us- hilarious. Next, in the 7th grade we told the students that since they hadn't done well on their test they were going to have to keep taking English lessons 3x a week in the summer and if they didn't attend they would have to repeat the 7th grade. They took the news just as poorly as the 9th graders. We almost forgot to tell them the truth at the end of the day which would've been hilarious since they were so convinced. Finally, the last prank was on my 5th grade class where I conducted everything as normal except I didn't say anything to them. I would mouth woods but not actually say them. They were so confused and after quite awhile they really wanted to figure out what was wrong with me. When I finally started to speak again they were so happy they actually cheered. It was awesome!

The old truck and the sea

I was so happy when Saturday finally came, it was an exhausting week! The weather was so nice that I didn't want to be stuck inside all day. Instead Randi and I took a trip down south towards Batumi and explored an old 6th Century fortress and some of the surrounding areas. It was a beautiful area with sweeping views of the sea and near by towns. While I don't always understand the history of all of the places I end up visiting, I can at least appreciate the fact that it is all so old and that these places have seen a lot in their day. A time machine could really come in handy here.

The final stop on our Saturday excursion. (We got escorted off of the hotel property, but I vow to return)