First Week Living in Georgia!

Hey all! I finally made it to my new host family! It’s been a big change from the past week though. I got placed in my new cluster group in the village of Osiauri. There are five volunteers in Osiauri including me. We are quickly adjusting to the village life.

Team Osiauri!

The first day for instance, I learned about the ins and outs of squat toilets (extra or old paper is commonly used as toilet paper) and bucket baths.  Adjusting to the new lifestyle and learning a new language is pretty intense but I’m thankful that we are always busy with something. We (the volunteers) usually have our Georgian language class from 9am-1pm and then lunch at one of our houses from 1-2:30. After lunch we usually take an 8 min marshutka (bus) ride to the town Kashuri where we have our Peace Corps Service Training (PST) from 3 to 6.  Our very busy schedule had us so convinced that we had been in the country for two weeks that it wasn't until we were looking at our calendars that we realized we had only been here for 8 days. Life in Knoxville seems like a lifetime ago.

My bedroom

Side yard with toilet and chicken cope

 I have two new brothers, Achiko who is 14 and Giorgi who is 7.  Both boys were pretty shy at first but I think they are coming around. My new mama, and no I don’t me mom I mean father, is Gabro  (I think the Georgians switched mama just to have a laugh though it is confusing sometimes…imagine coming up to a grown man and calling him mama and meaning it).  Gabro is an actor and actually was the star of a big theater production in Kashuri.  My deda (mother) Neli, works as a credit checker at bank in Kashuri. And then there is my bebia (grandmother) Nino. She is very sweet and always calling me a kargi gogo or “good girl”. Believe me you want to be considered kargi gogo here. She always says “tchama, tchama”...”Eat, eat” at the table.  So far the whole host family experience has been awkwardly good. My little brothers know a little bit of English and my host parents know some too but it’s more like a word here and a word there.  With their little bit of English and my nonexistent Georgian, we play a lot of charades, mainly me pointing words in the dictionary, and at various objects around the house.

My host family and I minus my grandmother Nino. From left to right: Me, my brother Achiko, my mom Neli, my other brother Giorgi and my dad Gabro.