This past week flew by because I was pretty busy the entire time. I had a couple regular days of school which went well. Things are quickly wrapping up and you can tell that students can sense the coming freedom of summer vacation. I'm not sure how teachers get anything done in the month of May.
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| Another picture of Old Town, the sight never gets old |
On Tuesday after school one of my PCV friends, Daniel, took a trip down to Poti from his mountain village and we made sure to celebrate with lots of pizza. The next day we traveled to Zugdidi to meet with all of the school from the Samergrelo region who are hoping to host a volunteer starting this summer. These visits are a routine part of the annual Peace Corps procedures but last year I was busy with my pre-service training and now I am the one who gets to meet all these people and help get schools ready for a future volunteer. After our meeting I took advantage of the fact that my program manager would be heading back to Tbilisi and hitched a ride with her to Melody's house where I spent the night and we watched the newest James Bond movie and ate ice cream with Oreos- adulting at it's finest.
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| Everyone trying to get a view of the celebrations in the square |
The next day, May 26th, was Georgian independence day and I was excited to see how it was celebrated in the city. We rode into town early and started to explore the festivities. The main street was shut down all day and was full of various stalls, games, and pop-up cafes. In the main square there was a large military gathering with tanks and other equipment. They had a large stage with Georgian dancers and the Prime Minister addressed the crowd of onlookers. After some wandering Alex and I stopped at a cafe near the Opera house where we enjoyed actual pulled pork sandwiches and homemade lemonade (two very non-Georgian foods) and also found some other American expats to chat with while we ate.
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| Some parade dancers |
After our meal we made our way to Old Town and then to the Tbilisi botanical gardens. The gardens are hidden in a small valley among the hills which surround the city and were spectacular. We wandered all throughout the grounds until we reached the end which happened to share spare with the massive home of Georgian billionaire Ivanishvili. It looks like some sort of evil layer and is rumored to have it's own pool with sharks as well as other pet wild animals. True to form I tried to play ignorant and sneak near/onto the property and was caught by his private security and made to leave the area. The rest of the day was spent relaxing with other volunteers, eating, and enjoying some fireworks that evening.
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| Alex in her natural habitat |
Friday was a busy day full of meetings. We had a long meeting to plan out this summers's BUILD camp and discuss our future plans. We are still waiting to hear back about being funded through a grant from the local embassy, but everything else is shaping up quite nicely. If all goes according to plan we will double the number of camps and nearly triple the number of participants while also extending the length and scope of the camp. After our BUILD meeting I was quickly on my way so I could arrive at my next meeting with FLEX on time. Time is passing quickly and we only have 1 month left before we are going to be expected to teach all of the training sessions for the pre-departure orientation.
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| Lifestyles of the rich and the famous billionaires... |
Next, on Saturday I found myself at the parliamentary library meet with my director and 9th grade students to help them with a presentation about the importance of American and Georgian friendship. The students all prepared various artistic depictions of this theme and presented them bit by bit. After the end of the presentation we toured the national art museum, opera house, and other famous sights. It was another great field trip (Georgians called them excursions) and a great opportunity to better get to know my students.
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| The hidden side of Tbilisi |
Finally, on Sunday I took the morning train back to Poti so that I could meet some G16s in Gori and bring them back with me. This was their job shadowing opportunity and I was the lucky one to have three assigned to me. Last year I was sent to shadow a volunteer in Batumi and it was probably one of my favorite experiences during PST. I hoped to help the volunteers staying with me have a great time as well. The train ride was long as always (even longer for them since it was their first one) but we made up for it when they arrived by having a great feast on the classic pirate ship restaurant. If anyone is coming to visit I will make sure we get to experience the deliciousness that is the Old Ship restaurant.
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| A waterfall in the city |
The rest of the day was spent touring Poti, visiting the lighthouse, spending sometime by the sea, and of course meeting my host family. My host mother has yet to not like a PCV and these trainees were no exception. The guys who stayed with us were all giants but she loved having new people around. On Monday they followed me to school and got to experience what it is like to teach in a Georgian school. There was nothing exciting and my kids weren't especially well behaved so they probably got a pretty good taste for what an average day at school is like. The best part of the day however was later that afternoon when they got to meet my English club students.
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| Climbing the lighthouse |
This English club is made up of some of the best students I have worked with in Poti. My counterpart and I decided last week to do a lesson on teenage life in Georgia and America and it went well. To make things even better we also decided to make them speak only English for the entire day- they hated it, but they all did so well! It is hard to learn a foreign language when you aren't immersed in it but these students have all done a great job so far. I really hope to be able to help connect them to some great opportunities which will expand their vision for future possibilities.
Tuesday the shadowing finally ended but before we sent them packing Randi and I brought them down to the national park for a quick kayaking trip which was rather uneventful, minus the private security guard that chased us in a row boat (he didn't stand a chance). Afterwards we visited our favorite shwarma stand and then I helped them catch their first long distance marshutka back to Gori and their training sites.
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| My host mom and her დიდი ბიჭები guests |
The rest of the day was supposed to be uneventful because I was exhausted and just wanted to rest. However as soon as I got home I found out that one of the PCVs from my group was resigning from peace corps. Luckily he is planning on staying in Georgia to work for another year, but it was shocking news nevertheless. After that Randi and I had our last English club of the school year (crazy to think we have been running the club for that long). We celebrated by playing some games with Bananagrams and then I taught them how to play MASH and we talked about their future lives, a hilarious ending to the year. At least when I leave Georgia I can rest easy knowing that I accomplished something great; I taught a bunch of teenagers how to tell the future and entertain themselves for hours.
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