Learning about Grieving and Sitting

Hello from the other side... I keep trying to write this post, but Adele's new song is just too distracting. I might be halfway across the world but thanks to technology I am still pretty plugged in to what is going on, thank you globalization and mass telecommunication!

I don't like olives so it's been awhile since I could do this with food. 

I was walking to school the other day when I was finally able to put my finger on the feeling that I get so frequently. Do you remember the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird? Scout is starting school and has a new teacher from a different town. Miss Caroline Fisher is new to town so she doesn't know about the Cunninghams, and she doesn't understand the town. I'm a 21st century version of this same idea. I'm the foreign teacher in a foreign town trying to work with kids I just don't understand. (If you don't remember To Kill a Mockingbird then just think of any old timey movie with a similar plot.) People stare at me a lot. Many people ignore me and others try to baby me. Either way I am the outsider, the newbie, the foreigner, the one that isn't Georgian. It get's tiring, but I understand why a little better, I'm just not from around here.

This package ran the gauntlet and took 3 months to get to me! Luckily I've found other methods to get packages.

On Sunday I was informed that one of my neighbors had passed away, I had never met him but it was good to know so that I could be aware and behave appropriately. I still don't fully understand all of the traditions and beliefs surrounding death here in Georgia (and it differs from region to region), but I will try to explain what I know.

The only fall colors I have in my life are the persimmons

Upon news of the death the wife, mother, or some significant female relative will begin to mourn through wailing. I'm not exactly sure what they say but they mourn vocally at a loud volume that can often be heard from several houses away.  Family members immediately being to wear black and the wife or mother will generally wear all black for the 40 days following the death, some indefinitely. Hence, a lot of older women in Georgia only wear black clothing. When you see a women dressed in black you can assume that either a child or her husband has passed away.

Waste waterslide

One of the major differences in the culture surrounding death is the public nature of it. Here the whole neighborhood will come to pay their respects. So many that they body is generally kept on display in a refrigerated coffin for about 6 days in the family's home. After the viewing time is complete, it is then time for the funeral.

My recent Georgian DIY project, the plaster came off with the tape when I tried to adjust it...

Everyone meets at the home of the deceased and a few words are spoken. Next they load the body into a car or cart and usually the procession will then set off through the streets to the cemetery. To also be  noted is the funeral anniversary procession. A year later on the anniversary of the burial or death another procession is held. Once again they move from home to cemetery. This time upon arriving at the cemetery they begin to have a supra in honor of the deceased. It is a pretty normal event until they begin to pour wine on to the the tomb, this is done in their honor and is often a way of acting as if they were still present. Overall it's a very ritualistic process but also contains a lot of heart and emotion.

My bed, refer to last week's description

On a lighter note, I have started 2 more weekly projects. The first is an English club at my school. This past week we talked about the future and celebrated Back to the Future day. The second "project" is me visiting the orphanage once a week to watch The Flash with the kids. The older boys love it and I have found a place to download copies of the episodes in Georgian. We all gather around my laptop and watch it together (I can't understand a word of the translation because the man doing the dubbbing is unable to speak at a normal pace, and due to the fact that Georgian words are a lot more longer, he has a lot more to say).

Scenes from one of my "sitting" trips

One last aside, from my home here in Poti. Sitting is a popular pastime in Georgia. Coming from a western country where we prize being busy it is hard to adjust to the idea of doing nothing, in training they called it an art. This past week I got to experience a lot of it with  my new host brother and his friend Carlo. They invited me to go out with them several times and each time involved some sort of food and sitting by the sea. We would talk for a bit, but we would also just sit. It's nice if you can clear your head and just relax (not easy). Sitting is something I learned how to do before I was 1; however, now it is something I am working to perfect at the age of 27.

Perfecting the art of sitting, by the sea

6 months bite the dust

The Alaverdi monastery complex

The thing with moving into a new house is that there are no instructions. The adjustment process is all about trial and error and there are new discoveries to be made everyday. My second day here I noticed what our bathroom plumbing looked like and had a good laugh. The toilet is on the second floor of the house and is an actual toilet. However indoor plumbing isn't much of a thing. Instead there is a massive pipe that shoots out from behind the toilet, it heads outside for a few feet and then drops at a 45 degree angle until it hits where the old outhouse used to be. Basically it's a waste water slide... I'll have to send a picture sometime.

Mskheta's church, old as dirt- but we look fresh!

In addition to the water slide, there is also the matter of heating the water to take a shower with. I went 2 years with cold showers in Brazil, but when it's cold outside you'd have to be crazy to take a cold shower as well. I'm still not sure how it all works, but I know that it takes an hour to heat up. If I don't plan ahead then there is no morning shower for me. (I might have missed a few days this week.)

Other fun discoveries of the week all take place in my room. First my ceiling is made out of wallpaper. I am not totally sure how it works but it's not attached to anything, it just sort of sags but when you push on it there is some give. Either way it looks real nice. Next my bed. To the naked eye it looks quite normal. When you climb in you might notice a difference, and if you roll around on it you will spot the problem real soon. There is no mattress. My bed it made out of a hodgepodge collection of cushions and pads.  For the most part it feels ok, I like a firm bed anyway. However, the bottom corner of the bed is made out cylindrical cushions which don't fit in quite as well. I was quite surprised when I peels back the layers to see what I was really sleeping on. No complaints though, I sleep like a baby every night.

The City of Love (aka a free Georgian marketing scheme)

As for my week, things were really easy. Wednesday was a holiday and Friday I had to go to Tbilisi so I only had 3 days of teaching. On Thursday I caught the marshutka to Tbilisi where I met up with Melody and we prepared for our weekend together. I met her at a semi formal gala at the Marriott in Tbilisi (not your stereotypical Peace Corps environment by any means) where we got to meet several people involved in international development and have delicious food- despite how great it is, it is easy to get tired of Georgian meals.

Megan's first khinkali experience in Georgia

Friday we set out together to meet my friend Megan at the airport. She was flying in on her way to Turkey and we were going to spend the weekend together. I wasn't originally going to be able to meet her at the airport, so my presence was going to be a surprise. 6 months in and I was getting my first visitor, not even an hour long bus ride could spoil my excitement.

How do you eat a pomegranate anyways?

When we got to the airport Melody found her first and when I came walking towards her she just looked at me, and in her own words thought "that guy looks a lot like Logan." Once it clicked that I was there to pick her up too she was just as excited as me. From the airport we headed back to the city and then caught a marsh to Mskheta, the old capital of Georgia. There we feasted on khinkali (Georgian dumplings) per Megan's request, and then we visited the old church in the center. Next we fulfilled Megan's childhood dream and picked some pomegranates from tree on the side of the road.

Jamming to some One Direction with the youths

Later Melody's counterpart picked us up and took us out to a small village where the Embassy's book mobile was stationed for the day. There we spoke with some students and played some childhood games like duck duck goose. We also helped them practice their English and listened to some 1D, (teenage girls are the same all over the world).

The crew for the afternoon

That evening we made the trip into Skra and spent the evening with my old host family. The already love Melody (my host dad said she was the best girl in all of Georgia) and they accepted Megan with open arms. She got the full village experience and was forced to eat more food than she probably ever expected. Everything was delicious per usual, and of course it was also all from their own farm. We has a chicken from the yard, blackberry sauce, candied pears, apricot jam, fresh cheese, khatchapuri, salads, and more. My host dad kept the wine flowing (as Georgians always do) and made the required toast for the meal. (Toasts to God, family, country, etc.) It was a beautiful evening.

My village brothers Nika (left) and Vano (right)

The next morning we woke up early and headed into Tbilisi to start our next adventure. We found ourselves a taxi, who turned out to be impressed that we foreigners could speak and would bother to try and learn Georgian. He was easy to talk to and offered to be our private taxi for the entire day.

Fall in Georgia and it makes me feel at home

Our trip took us throughout most of the Kakheti region of Georgia. We visited the Ujarma fortress, Shuamta monastary, Alaverdi monestary, Gremi fortress, Nekresi monastery, Sighnaghi, and Bode covenant.  All in all it was a lot of time spent in the car and visiting old sites which I know nothing about. I can appreciate something that is old even if I don't know it's history. I am impressed that some things could actually survive that long. Some structures were over 1000 years old! I dare you to find something man made that is over 1000 years old.

Friends who travel together stay together

Finally our last day was spent in Tbilisi checking out the Tbilisi "fair" and wandering throughout the city. Overall the weekend was an astounding success. I got to see some fall colors, I got to see a dear friend, and I got to eat copious amount of sugar and still feign some ignorance about it's side effects. Georgia is a magical place, although that magic might rub off sometimes, experiencing it all again through another person was a good reminder of how great it can be.

6 months behind me and many more ahead

Home Sweet (3rd) Home

Every week the question is, what am I going to write about this time- sometimes there is nothing to write about other times (like this week) there is too much. Now without further ado I present my memoirs of the week…

My thoughts whenever I'm asked this question..

School. I had the thought this week as I was teaching my 12th grade class, ten years ago when I was a senior in high school I am sure someone asked us to try and imagine where we would be in ten years. I don’t think I pictured myself teaching high school, I guarantee you that I didn’t see myself teaching high school in a foreign country. Ten years ago I was behind the desk and now I’m in front of the blackboard.

I got invited (read suckered into) attending some presentation at school, no idea what was going on

This week I had my first experience with solo teaching. (I am partnered with several teachers so that I’m not only teaching English to the students, but also working with the teachers to improve their teaching skills, and to have a native speaker in the classroom.) One of my counterparts had to stay home with a sick child and I found myself covering for her in two different classes- 6th and 11th. In the 6th grade the students don’t know enough English and I don’t know enough Georgian that things were pretty interesting. At one point I made a student stand with his nose in the corner because he wouldn’t stop talking, I’m pretty sure he had no idea what was going on. In the 11th grade there were enough kids who understood English that I was able to conduct a lesson. However that lesson included sending a student to the director’s office and me taking kids chairs away when they weren’t paying attention. The boys didn’t take my threat seriously and were begging for chairs by the end (they only had to stand for 15-20 min). I am pretty sure that if I could experience either of those classes from the perspective of a student I would die laughing and probably think the American teacher was literally insane. Maybe I am.

There are some strange houses in town

Now for the highlight of my week, my new brothers. If you’ve been reading then you probably remember that this week I was set to move to my new host family’s house (I did), but that’s not what I am referring too. This week my friend took me to a local orphanage to meet the children there who all happen to attend my school. When we knocked at the door one of the boys popped over to answer and when he say me he started to shout, “Logan is here! Logan is here!” I have never seen someone so excited to see me. I melted.

There are 6 boys and 3 girls in this orphanage, ages 7-16. Orphanage is not the perfect word for it either. Most of them have some sort of family- mom, dad, or grandparents; in Poti still. However, they are unable to take care of them and thus they are in the orphanage but occasionally they get to go to their homes on the weekends. They are adorable, and some of them are in classes. My new house is only a couple of blocks away which is perfect. I had always hopped for younger host siblings but haven’t gotten any, until now.

Meet Giorgi, Giorgi, and Giorgi... yep all three of my new friends have the same name.

Today I spent over 3 hours hanging out with them and getting grilled about America, my family, and any other questions they could think of. They taught me to play Georgian checkers, lotto, and even attempted a backgammon lesson (I still don’t get it). We also facetimed with my family back in America. They loved it all. Secretly, I loved it even more. 

How do I have so much stuff!?

Finally, as I mentioned, this week was moving week. The actual act of moving was relatively painless. It was a reminder how much junk I have though. To think I brought that all to Georgia in two checked bags… Anyways, Friday I packed up my belongings and my new host brother Giga and his friend Carlos (not his actual name) came to pick me up and take me to my new place. 

New room aka the Ice Box

Overall I am really happy with the change. I am closer to my school, and the family is great. My room is larger but more “rustic”. I have an actual toilet, but the shower isn’t that great. My family is VERY attentive, I’ll probably get fat and can kiss my privacy good bye. There are pros and cons with everything. This is my 3rd time adjusting to a new host family. Each time has been very different. This new family is very welcoming and reminds me of my village family. My host siblings are quite close in age to me- 24 and 28. I now have a bebia (grandmother) as well, the number of kisses I have gotten from here in just two days is unreal. You’d think that I as a newborn baby with all the attention I’m getting. 

My veranda, yes I will be calling it a veranda.

The weather has finally taken a turn and is getting cooler. It rained a lot this week which lead to some really chilly nights. I think I now have 4 blankets on my bed and I sleep in sweats. I am worried to see what the actual winter months bring. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I lived up in the mountains. It’s not that it is even that cold, 50s or 60s probably. The problem is that there is no heat inside. Some places are colder inside than out due to lack of insulation and amount other things. Give it another month and I’ll probably be looking for ways to make human hibernation a real thing.

Well I’ll leave it at that. Things are going well. Plenty of projects in the pipeline. Plenty of changes.

Learnin Those Kidz Real Gud

I finally have internet again! I didn't realize how much more difficult things would be if I didn't have internet at home. For the past two weeks I found myself mooching wifi all over town so I could respond to emails and do other tasks. It's nice to finally be able to do this from the comfort of my own home once again.

Me and my fellow English teachers, minus one. 

This past week was my first full week working as a teacher in the school. It was exhausting. I teach 18 classes a week and then I have 6 class periods of planning. Unfortunately every class is different so I'm unable to reuse lessons plans, it's a lot of planning. I can now commiserate with any teacher who has to plan so many lessons a week.

By far the biggest challenge I am going to face as a teacher is getting the students' behavior under control so there can be some sort of learning environment in the classroom. I've got plans for the younger grades; however, I'm at a loss with 11th and 12th. There really are no consequences for poor behavior so it is impossible to convince them to behave, do homework, and even attend class. There are days when there are 15 people absent in the 12th grade, that's more than 50% of the class! I can't complain too much though because when they are gone the class is a lot more manageable and better behaved. If anyone is a class room management wizard feel free to send me some ideas!

A semi peaceful moment in my 12th grade class

For the most part the week was rather chill. Peace Corps sent a staff member out on Wednesday and they inspected my new house. Everything passed and now I will be moving in on Friday. It will be big change, but I think it is for the best. I will be nice to live a lot closer to the school. Most days I leave the house before nine and don't return until after nine, being close to school means I will be able to stop by after my lessons before I have to head to the next thing. (Note, I should create #CityProblems because if I were in the village these would really matter)

My low point of the week came on Thursday night when I was walking home after going on a walk with Randi. We had just parted ways when it started to rain. I waited a min to see if it would be a brief one but it quickly picked up and I had no option but to walk home. 30 minutes walking in a downpour. Not a soul insight to help me. I was soaked by the time I got home. Which was annoying since I was leaving for Tbilisi the next day and my shoes were also soaked through.

Saturday night fun in Tbilisi

Finally the weekend came and I got to take a trip back to Skra with the rest of my former clustermates. We came back to see the grape harvest and it was great. The smell of ripe grapes was strong in many parts of town, and the streets were covered in vines and bunches of grapes. I visited with my family, but I also visited the families of the other volunteers. It's weird to think that I have almost been out of the village longer than I was ever in it, it was such a formidable time in my adjustment to Peace Corps life in Georgia, and it will alway have a soft spot in my heart.

Saturday was spent relaxing in Tbilisi with other volunteers to celebrate a couple of birthdays. That meant that I was up really late on Saturday, which worked out to be in my favor in terms of watching General Conference. At midnight on Saturday I was outside of a bar, under a tree, huddled over my phone to protect it from the rain. On the screen I was watching the Saturday afternoon session of conference. Although the setting was less than ideal it was nice to feel connected to so many people who I knew were also watching the conference live around the world.

Poti's abandoned university from the Soviet era

Finally, Sunday came and it was time to head home. Our trip included a brief stop in Khashuri where we were able to visit with Naili our LCF from training, and then it was onward back to Poti. However, this time we caught the marshutka enroute which meant we were in the back and that I had zero room for the next 4 hours. I'm not exaggerating at all. My legs were too large and I had to contort my body just to fit. Some days it is easy to forget that I am in the Peace Corps, then I hop inside a marshutka and I quickly remember where I am and why.

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.