GYLT Month: Get Your Life Together Month

Ok, ok I know it's been a while since I've posted (at least that's what my mom pointed out when I skyped with her this week). That's why I'm calling this post GYLT Month: -conveniently pronounced guilt - Get Your Life Together Month. March went by so fast to be honest with you. I've been in Tbilisi every weekend this past month for trainings and meetings...mainly in preparation for the NESC competition this past weekend.

Things I've completed this past month:

1) Wrote and submitted my first Small Projects Assistance (SPA) grant proposal....all 20 pages of it...Crossing my fingers in hopes of it getting funded. I'm hoping to get funding to create a Language and Cultural Studies Cabinet in our school where we can use new technology and visual aids to aid in learning about foreign cultures and their languages.

2) Finished an online course in Epidemiology due to interests in going into social work and public health for grad school after PC. Not sure at this point whether I want to pursue a graduate degree in Social work or a degree for international studies. That being said I just started a new online course called International Human Rights Law: Prospects and Challenges.

3) I read  The Lonesome Traveler, Anna Karenina, Three Cups of Tea, and The Giver. Trying to read more if I can help it. My next planned book is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant followed  then  Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

4) Eleven months of service (March 23rd made it 11 months in country)

5) Finished up the Write On Competition  at my school. I had about 14 students at my school participate. I was very impressed with their creative answers to the questions given. Questions like "If you could invent a type of candy bar what flavor would it be and why?" or "If trees could think what would they think about?" All of this mind you in English, my students' second language...like I said I was very impressed by their writings.

6) Worked at the National English Spelling Competition  this past week. I basically helped out with last minute items for the participants, worked on their certificates and helped my fellow PCV Rachel with her role. On Tuesday we the G13 NESC Committee members were nominated for specific committee roles for next year since we will be facilitating all of this next year. My new title is Administrative Coordinator and I'll be in charge of keeping up with the spelling lists, creating transcriptions, translations (in Azeri, Armenian, Georgian, Russian and English) and coordinating all of this with the Project Coordinators for both the East and West regions of Georgia. Maybe this is a blessing in in disguise seeing as I'm not a great speller at all (might have had to look up disguise just to type this) so bring on the spelling words

7) Started running again the first time today. I didn't run all through summer, fall, and winter because of rabid dog obstacles, oogling  men, and cold weather. However, I've decided to use the town's local football stadium in the mornings since it's starting to get warmer. The stadium keeps the dogs at bay and it's kind of hidden..or so I thought. I still had an audience of 9 today, five men and four boys watching me run...guess I'll just have to get up earlier to avoid it.

8) Started my school's English Club back up. So far we have talked about Women's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and April Fools celebrations. We have also done fun activities related to adjectives, and readings in class as well. I think I might do an English Slang lesson this month.

9) Attended the Georgia vs. Romania qualifier for the Ruby World Cup 2015. It was really fun and actually was the first sporting event I've attended here that had the energy and fan base that I usually feel at a UT football game.


Things I'm planning on doing this month:

1) Work out more
2) Study Georgian more (I've kind of let my language skills go to the way side after learning enough to get by  on a daily basis)
3) Going out west to visit the town of Chiatura. I want to see the Katskhi Pillar and Stalin's Rope Railway
4) Celebrate Easter (the biggest holiday in Georgia) with my family
5) Attend my host sister's and host brother's dance recital at the end of April
6) Take more pictures of my town and of the Kakheti region
7) Meet the new volunteers, the G14s, at the airport in the wee hours and welcome them to Georgia.

March Madness!

Well I think I have survived winter here.  The days are getting a little bit warmer and the chances of having our water frozen again look pretty slim.  January and February have been the hardest months of service so far because of the cold weather. PCVs here often call February “Depression Month” because it is the coldest month and many of us are bound by necessity to stay in the petchi room (often there only being one in the house) with the rest of your host family 24/7.  I myself had to abandon my bedroom upstairs and sleep in the living room in order to stay warm at night. Being in a room with all of your host family members every day for 12 hours straight with nowhere to escape can get to a person. However like I said, I believe the worst of winter has passed. I had distractions like the Olympics, the events in Ukraine, phone conversations with friends and school to keep me going.

View of Tbilisi's main church

I spent most of January and February getting back into school mode. It’s been hard to do so because the start of school has been hindered by two long weeks of training by Peace Corps. One training was for reporting purposes and the other training (which ended this weekend) was focused on how to write grant proposals and project proposals for our communities.  So far since school has started I have managed to start our English club back up and get a set of donated books delivered to the school.  After this training though I’ll be working on trying to get a project proposal written in order to get funding for a new language cabinet at my school.  Other tasks on my ever growing list are: working on the applications for GLOW NGO, revising and editing our TEFL Education activities book, and working on logistics for NESC’s (National English Spelling Competition) final competition coming up this spring.  

My third grade and their new books!

This month is looking pretty crazy already with all the things that need to get done. Some exciting news is that we, that is the G13 group of volunteers, have received our megobari (friend) information about the new volunteers that will be arriving in April. Basically we serve as pre departure pen pals to the new kids, mainly giving them advice about what to pack, what the culture is like and what to expect before arriving.  I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since I’ve been here. I remember receiving an email from my megobari, Kristen, and me promptly writing back to her worried questions about last min packing advice and what the gender role expectations were for women in Georgia.

Me and my new birthday hat!

Among all of these trainings and projects, I managed to turn another year older and finally hit 25. My 25^th birthday was pretty tame since we were at a training conference but my friends managed to make my day memorable. Ten of us were crowded in a hotel room playing card games and toasted to my birthday with champagne at 12am. The next day we all had project training and grant writing but I still managed to receive a birthday call from my parents in Tennessee, numerous “Happy Birthday” text messages, Facebook shout outs, a birthday card signed by my friends, gifts, and lots of singing. 

Istanbul: My colorful, patterned paradise of a city

“Go to Galata Bridge,” the only instructions I had from my friend about where to find him in Istanbul. Fresh off the plane from Brussels I made my way to the line of taxis out in front of the airport in Istanbul. With this one line of instruction I feebly attempted to talk to my taxi driver…hoping that he might know Georgian or English…unfortunately he didn't but we did manage to communicate where I wanted to go after I had shown him this cryptic message. We took off into the darkness where I hoped Galata Bridge, where ever it was in Istanbul, laid. After 30 mins in the taxi and a 110.00 lira fare (all my Turkish money that I had pulled out at the time…roughly 50 USD) we made it to Galata Bridge.

Cold, confused, tired from a day’s worth of travel and weighed down with my luggage, I wandered along the water front looking for my friends. I was confronted by restaurant hosts who were offering me promises of authentic Turkish food and even an offer to be my friend for the night since my friends were nowhere to be found. I finally stumbled on a restaurant that allowed me to use their Wi-Fi so I could send out a Facebook message from my kindle…an SOS addressed to the other members of my travel group asking where they were and that I was lost and without any money. Hoping that they would magically decide to be online and check their Facebook account, I sat at the restaurant and awaited a response. About 40 mins later my friend Anthony replied asking where I was and then stating that he and my other friend Aaron were on their way to retrieve me.

My flight had been delayed and I had no way to let the other members of my party know that I would arrive late. During my delayed departure the rest of the group had manage to find each other, locate and check into our apartment that we had rented for the week, have a great Turkish dinner, and were currently watching the Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations episode of Istanbul’s cuisine when I was turning down friendly offers along the waterfront. About an hour and a half later after I had first heard back from Anthony, I decided to try and find them in one of the restaurants on the opposite side of the river. They were doing what I was doing and ducking into restaurants in order to use their Wi-Fi to contact me. By luck I passed them and Aaron’s big arm wave gestured me into the restaurant. We quickly had a beer to celebrate the reunion and headed to the apartment where the rest of our party awaited.

The next day I awoke to the call to prayer at 6am. The mesmerizing prayer echoed from the mosque and through our suburb of Fatih. We made breakfast and then we took off to explore the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia. I quickly found out that Istanbul is my spirit city with its beautiful use of colored tiles, Ottoman Empire architecture, spiced foods and friendly people. We hit the touristy sights hard that day knowing that New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day would be a bit slower. We returned to the apartment excitedly chatting about our favorite place we had seen that day.

The Grand Bazaar 

More of the Grand Bazaar 

Outside of the Blue Mosque

Inside the Blue Mosque...it was so pretty!

The ceiling above me in the previous picture

The Hagia Sophia

Window in the Hagia Sophia

Inside the Hagia Sophia

The next day, New Year’s Eve, we went out to wander aimlessly around the city with no agenda at all. I had so much street food that day: stomach sandwiches, lahmacun, doners, shawarma, spiced lamb, mussels with dirty rice and so much more.

We had a celebratory dinner and then made our way back to the apartment to get ready for the night’s festivities. Our kiwi friend Steve who we had previously met in Georgia before he had moved to Istanbul to become a full time teacher, drank so wine with use before escorting us to Taksim Square for the New Year’s Eve fireworks. We huddled together as a group staying warm and waited for the countdown to begin…though none of us knew Turkish numbers so we just waited until the crowd exploded with cheers. As soon as the countdown was over our group left the square as quickly as we could since there was rumored to be a political protest that night that if occurred would be accompanied by water cannons and tear gas. The fact that we saw a group of 20+ people wearing V for Vendetta masks and chanting didn't help the situation either. We made it back to the apartment safe and sound and played a few card games before going to bed .

Our third day there, New Year’s Day, was a recovery for most of us. We had been up pretty late the night before and had worn ourselves out pretty early in the week. We hung around the apartment for most of the day and went out for dinner at a nearby café.

Basilica Cistern 

New Year's Eve in Taksim Square

Our last remaining days we toured the Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar again, and Beyoglu, the hipster side of town where our friend Steve lived. On our last night we went to a bar and toasted to our good fortune and to our amazing trip together. The next morning we got up early, did one last clean up around the apartment and then boarded the mega bus that would be our home for the next 24 hours as we traveled across Turkey and back into Georgia. Istanbul was amazing and I've already got plans to visit it again in my lifetime. Happy 2014!

The whole group in Taksim Square for the New Year's Celebrations 

Bustling Brussels

December 23rd I embarked on my first journey abroad since arriving in Georgia this past April. It was exciting to leave Georgia behind and explore some of the world’s most exotic and historic cities.  My trip began in the early hour of 3am. My friend Kayla and I left our Tbilisi hostel and began our 30 min taxi ride to the airport. Both of us were nervous/excited about our trips. For me, it would be the first time that I would be back in a country where my blond headedness and my identity as “the American” would not apply. I would go back to a land of food, music, and culture that more resembled America.  For Kayla (an older volunteer who came to Georgia in April 2012), this would be her first time going back to America in 20 months. Like I said we were nervous.  Struggling to stay awake we checked into our respected airline kiosks and waited to board our planes. At 5:30 I boarded the plane that would take me to Istanbul’s airport where a 3 hour layover was waiting for me before boarding the plane to Brussels.  By the time I’d arrived in Brussels, I had been up for 2 days and 3 hours.

 Despite my slightly haggard appearance my cousin and her family claimed me at the Brussels’s airport exit. My cousin Natalie, my second cousin on my mother’s side whom I've only met maybe 3 times in my life…the last of which being 13 years ago at her wedding, was gracious enough to invite me to spend the Christmas holidays with her family and to show me around Brussels and the towns around it.  The first night Nat took me to go see the Christmas marketplace in downtown Brussels before we headed home to her very cute and very picturesque European farmhouse.

 Her two kids Allen (five) and Annabel (five months) were the cutest things ever and didn't waste any time in making me a member of their family.  Gino, Natalie’s husband and a policeman at the airport, arrived back from work later that night. The next day was a day of rest and preparation for the family’s big Christmas Eve dinner with Gino’s side of the family.  There were 17 of us that sat down to dinner that night.  In the house there was cacophony of languages ranging from French, Dutch, English and the occasional word in Georgian when I was asked to speak a few words of it.  The night was full of great food, Allen’s magic tricks and party favors.  Christmas morning around 6am, I found my name being called by Allen downstairs telling me to come quickly because Santa had come.  I came downstairs to find that Santa had also left me a little stocking full of American goodies such as peanut butter, syrup, Starbursts, long johns and woolen socks. We spent the rest of the day watching movies, taking naps and eating the leftovers from the night before.

The Girl who Squats

The Boy Who Pees

The next few days Natalie took me around Brussels and showed me some of local atmosphere as well. We saw two castles, Brussels’s main square the Grand Place, the boy who pees statue, the girl who squats statue, the military museum, the Leffe brewery museum in Dinant, the Caracole brewery, Waterloo, and even a small German town across the border called Monschau.  I found out local secrets such as where to get the best Belgium waffle (Brico apparently…a home improvement store that resembled Home Depot….Nat swears by their waffles) and some lesser known bars such as the Old Oak, an old Irish Pub that is popular with both the locals and the expats. Allen, Annabel and Natalie were great sports about seeing these touristy places for the umpteenth time and I very much appreciated their enthusiasm.

Me in the Grand Place at night

More of the Grand Place

Beautiful Cathedral in Dinant

The second to last night I was there two American soldiers that knew Natalie through  a friend of hers took me out one night to experience the Brussels’s bar scene.  That was a fun night to let loose a bit and meet people my age both country nationals and expats who lived in Brussels. I even made it to Delirium Café, a bar known for its long beer list, standing at 2,004 different brands and for being in The Guinness Book of Records for having the longest beer menu. The next day, my last day in Belgium, Natalie took me across the boarder to Germany where we spent the afternoon in a cute German town called Monschau. It was a perfect way to end my Western European adventure and to finally say that I've been to Germany.  Later that night I did laundry (my clothes were really confused, it was the first time in 8 months that they had seen a dryer) and packed up my backpack for my departure the next morning to my new destination….Istanbul baby!

Allen and I in Monschau

And the story continues...

End of School Semester

Well it’s been about a month and a half since I last wrote on here so I guess I’ll fill you in on the end of school, Christmas, New year’s, my trip to Belgium, Germany, and Turkey and the beginning of 2014. I warn you that this will probably be a three part post…bear with me.

First thing’s first, I survived my first semester of teaching. A huge milestone for those that know me…I’m not as apt to teaching as my sister Olivia is but I managed to do alright my first real go at it. My program manager came to my school to observe my counterpart Nino and I conduct a lesson for my 10^th graders. It was a little nerve racking at first but all went well for the most part. Both my counterparts and my school’s supervisor gave me glowing reviews and expressed to my program manager how grateful they are to have me.  I’m glad they feel that way; I’m never too sure what they think of me at times. Normally I can pick up on social cues and expressions but those are mostly lost in translation here.  We all have big plans for the coming semester such as have a technology training class for all the teachers at school, starting the dormant English club back up, and participating in more national projects.

The end of school came soon after my observation. The school lost power a few times and we even had to shorten our classes to 35 mins in order to keep the kids from freezing in the classroom. It’s harder than it looks to try and write with chalk while wearing gloves. The petchi (wood stove) in our classroom helps a little bit but just enough so you can’t see your breath in the room.  My favorite part of the last few days of school however (as childish as it may sound) was teaching my 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades all the lyrics to Jingle Bells and then having them sing it for their end of semester performances.  They in turn taught me the Georgian version of Jingle Bells which is more like a happy chant.

My best friend, her name is Blaze and she keeps me warm when I'm in the living room

A bebia (a grandmother) making her way down the cold snowy moutain

My family was really sweet and decorated their house early so it could feel like Christmas for me. My family usually doesn't decorate the house or put up a tree until the 25^th of December because Georgians don’t actually celebrate Christmas until January 7^th. So it was a real treat that they wanted to start their Christmas traditions early for me since I would be gone on my trip to Brussels and Istanbul.  My family and I decorated the tree and sang both Georgian and English Christmas songs as we decorated the house. My mom sent Christmas cookie cutters in a care package so I taught my family how to make Christmas cookies. They were a big hit, so big in fact that the neighbors were asking for the sugar cookie recipe that I had used.  I’m glad that I could share a bit of my traditions with theirs during the holidays.  It was a great way to spend some quality time with the family before embarking on my first trip of my service…Which leads me to my next post….

The Christmas tree my mother sent us

Giving Thanks: A Not So Short Sappy Thank You Note

It's officially that time of year in America where we all gather together to share a meal together and reflect on the things that we are thankful for. This might get a little sappy so I'm giving you a heads up now. It was this time last year that I opened my email to find an invitation to come and serve in the Peace Corps for two years in Georgia. I was excited, shocked that it was actually happening, and kind of bewildered at the same time because I didn't know that much about this country. After going through numerous interviews, medical shots, paper work, tearful goodbyes, awkward hellos and language ups and downs, I've realized how much I have to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for the families that have taken me, a stranger who constantly butchers their language and probably causes more cultural faux pas than one can count, into their homes and their families during my service. I thank them for putting up with me at times, for being supportive of the ever busy life of a PCV, and having more patience than Gandhi, the Buddha and Mother Teresa put together as I try to understand the language and culture here. We volunteers sometime joke here at Peace Corps Georgia that it should be called Posh Corps Georgia because we are shown so much kindness, warmth, hospitality, patience, food and wine during our service. Definitely nothing compared to what any of us were expecting when we signed our PC applications so long ago stating that we would serve anywhere under any conditions. That's not to say that there aren't any hardships here, there definitely are, just ask my parents about how many times I've complained how cold it is in my room (currently 42 F by the way) or how many times that I've told them that I miss the luxury of taking a hot shower.

As hard as it can be sometimes, the comforts and what you gain here far out weigh those moments. Students greeting you with hugs after a week long absence from school, your host brother thrilled with himself that he just learned to carve his first jack-o-lantern, or the moment when one of your worst students actually learns  how to use go in the past tense. It's moments like these and many others that make up for your string of bad/uncomfortable/frustrating experiences that one often has in life. No one ever said Peace Corps was easy, but it's the experiences and the relationships that you form with others that make it worth it.

I am also thankful for my family back home and friends both old and new. To my family back home: I miss you tons, more than you will ever know. Your fb messages, skype dates and care packages have helped me get through some of the more discouraging moments of my service. I'm grateful for the times I get to talk to you and even more thankful that you continue to listen to me even when it sometimes seems that all I do is complain about the latest thing that happened to me at school. Your support during these past few months and your curiosity about life here in Georgia always keeps me looking forward. I'm going to miss you all this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

To my PCV friends: I don't have to say much to you because I know that you all feel the same way about me as I feel about you. You all are my rock. We have grown together through this journey so far. Facing strange cultural practices, backwardness of village life, going through the agonizing learning process of trying to pronounce the two different "k" and "t" sounds correctly and then being able to differentiate between the two of them, and leaving our family and friends behind for a world unknown to us. Your support and the fact that you won't judge me but fully know where I'm coming from when I say that a good poop status update text from your friend means it's going to be a good day, means the world to me.

To my friends back home: Quit posting pictures of really good looking food and ballin parties! That's so cruel! But for real, thank you for always having my back even if it is a million miles away. I love that I can skype with you weeks or even months at a time a part and we still pick back up as if I still lived down the street in the hood of Knoxville. You are an amazing group of friends whose late night skype dates and crazy town gossip help me when I get slightly homesick. I know that I've missed some of the bigger moments in your all's lives these past few months: weddings, new jobs, engagements, new relationships, babies...yada yada but I want you know that I've trolled that facebook a time or two to keep up with all of it. I'm there in spirit and in laughter.

So i guess what I'm saying in this long sappy post is that I'm thankful for all the support and happiness that you all bring me. My life is very full, very vibrant, and very rewarding because of it.

Halloween in Sakartvelo!

So I don't know about you but I'm a huge fan of Halloween. Each year I try to decorate my apartment, create the perfect Halloween costume, watch all the scary movies I can, carve pumpkins, and of course pig out on candy. I decided that though this year will definitely be different, that I would try to bring Halloween to Sakartvelo (What Georgians call Georgia). Georgians, like most of the world don't celebrate Halloween, so finding Halloween themed stuff was difficult. I was fortunate enough however to receive some Halloween decorations in a care package that my aunt had sent me.  My brother, my sister and I hung orange and black streamers around our living room.  Finding pumpkins in my town was also a challenge because the pumpkin season doesn't start until around Christmas time and even then, the pumpkins that are available are usually more green than orange and are often cantaloupe sized. (This proved to be a problem when we tried to use the pumpkin carving kit that my mom sent because all the pumpkins were way to small for the designs). Despite this, we were able to create some very cute jack-o-lanterns. My family and I had the most pimped out house in all of Georgia.

Persimmon/rouge apple jack-o-lanterns

My family's pumpkins 

Seeing as I'm a teacher to 100+ kids, I decided to do a fall festival in the school gym after school on Halloween. To prepare for this I asked each grade to draw and label pictures of bats, monsters, ghosts, spiders, skeletons, or pumpkins. (These pictures served as decorations in the gym during the party). I also asked if students could either donate or bring their own pumpkins/persimmons from home since the bazaar in my town was not selling pumpkins yet. (Most of these kids have a pumpkin or two growing in their backyard. The persimmons were for backup if they could not locate a pumpkin). On Halloween afternoon after classes, my students dressed up in their costumes and attended the fall festival. We had a game of duck duck goose, bobbing for apples, apples on a string, pumpkin carving contest, costume contest and a make your own scary popcorn hand station (those of you from east TN know what I'm talking about).

My sister, my brother (part cat, part superman, part TN volunteer) and me as a cat

Apple bobbing

My counterpart Zaira and I 

The party was successful but in a chaotic way. It was just me, my two counterparts and a few leader girls that were trying to keep the 80+ kids out of pandemonium. I had kids swarming everywhere demanding plastic spider rings and candy....a little less organized than I had planned.

After all of this planning and facilitating, I decided to attend PC volunteer party in the city of Kutaisi planned by my friends Ann and Lady. About 20 something volunteers from all over Georgia got together this past weekend to play a city wide assassin's game. We were handed a map of Kutaisi with all of the mission spots labeled on it, as well as the name of the person in our group we were trying to "kill" and how to "kill" them. For my target, I had to somehow get a hold of my friend's phone without them knowing that that was my mission. When a new group of friends approached us in the city, we would all become suspicious and paranoid of them until we learned who was "dead" and therefore not playing and who was still alive and hunting. It was definitely a good way to see the sites of Kutaisi while still having some kind of involvement with the rest of the larger group.

Some of us at lunch (first time I've had Chinese food in Georgia!!!)

Assassin Mugshot ("Arrested for kidnapping a wine truck")