Blog May 22, 2014

Here I am at the “almost” close of my 4^th week of Pre-service training (PST).  I wanted to say that Wednesday, 5/21/14 was the best day so far, and I have no idea why. I was so annoyed with all the rain, that I didn’t do homework and went to bed really early the night before. I thought I would be up later in the evening, but I slept straight through. I felt so good that when I got up at 5am, I went to take a shower; however, there was no hot water. I didn’t know that until I was underway, so that was an awakening I didn’t expect, but when you take showers twice a week any water is good water. J

I’ve been told that PST is like “boot camp.” Ok, from what I’ve heard about “boot camp” maybe it is (in a way).  I am challenged on so many levels. We don’t do formal physical exercises, like run 10 miles like they do in the army; however, with all the walking and climbing stairs, we don’t need to go to a gym. The school that I teach in has three floors (no elevator) – HA.  It depends on what class I am teaching as to what floor I am on. It is not just the walking, but the carrying of our book bags. The Georgian text book has 396 pages. Believe me, it’s a large and HEAVY book. The book is entitled “Book 1” so heaven only knows how many more books will follow. In addition to the text book, we have our notebooks and the texts that are needed to lesson plan for the classes. I need to carry business casual shoes, as the sneakers I wear (because of the road conditions) cannot be worn in the classroom.  Of course, we finish off the bag with our toilet paper, wet wipes, maybe a snack of bread or apple and of course our water bottle. Whew…it is heavy; however, since I finally figured out how to use my book bag, it is manageable.  There is just so much to manage, as I need to have everything I need for the entire day, as it is too far to walk back home if I forgot something. And, there is not really any place to buy anything that I forgot. No going to CVS or the sidewalk vendor.

We received our water filters unit this week also. It’s a thing that looks like a 20-cup coffee maker. It is very cool device, and we don’t have to buy water any more. We can use the tap water from the house and let the unit filter our water overnight.  My room is on the 2^nd floor of the house, so I need to fill empty bottles and bring the tap water up to my room. The stairs to the second floor are on the outside of the house, so rain or shine, I carry my water up the steps to my water filter. “Chop wood and carry water” I’m told are the staples of life. Ah, I miss my sink.  We also received the First Alert smoke and CO detector and also a mosquito net. I don’t know how I am going to use it (the net), of even if I will need it here in Osiauri as the ceilings in my bedroom are at least 15’ high and I don’t know what I would attach it to.  Depending on where I am assigned as a permanent site I may need it; but, in any case it is here for me. (I hope my friends don’t make any “get the net” jokes.

In Georgian “Dedi” means “mom” and “Mama” means “dad”.   Also “grandchild” is two words and it means “kid of kid”. (just thought I’d mention that) so you can feel my pain about the language. J   At my house here in Osiauri (and possibly every other house in the village) the doors and windows are not locked. Even the gate is not locked. It reminds me some of growing up in South Philadelphia (many decades ago). The doors and windows were not locked. Even cars in my old neighbor were not locked. I remember some times when my father would come out to go to work in the morning and find someone sleeping in the car. He would just wake him up and the man would go on his way. It was a different time. When I am home, on my day off, I can hear what is going on in every other household (within ear shot). People talking, kids fighting, adults fighting, babies crying…again, I am reminded of my childhood as it was the same way. With all the doors and windows open (no air conditioning), well not much was missed in the neighborhood. A familiar food that my “Babo” made was the Polish tradition of “pig in a blanket.”  There is another name for it but I cannot spell it. Its meat (ground meat and rice) wrapped in cabbage and cooked in a tomato sauce. What a treat. Also, she made rice pudding…have not had that in many years.

I attended my first SUPRA last week that was in honor of “Day of the Village.”  If you don’t know what a SUPRA is, please goggle it.  Many preparations are made; such as, cleaning the house, the car the yard and of course the people. Food is also prepared days ahead of time. The table is set so festive. The good table cloths come out and many dishes and pitchers that are not used in daily life. Of course, we eat, eat, eat. My host father returned with about seven men who were relatives, friends or neighbors (could not distinguish who was who). They were drinking (lots of wine), eating and singing. I have no idea what they were saying. I could pick a word up here and there, but no clue. Also, the toasting is very frequently made. Each toast requires that your full glass of wine is consumed. They toast parents, victory, the village and so on. I found out that if you are “elder” people young must clink your glass toward the bottom of the your glass to show respect. Women are not supposed to drink, or not drink much. I don’t care for wine, so it was not an issue. One of the men asked me if I was “Mrs.” When I explained I was single, the room went silent. They then asked me how old I was. I was going to lie, but I told the truth. They all looked at me. I have no idea what they were thinking. But, I heard that they said “I was a good woman” and I was told that is a very high compliment.  I enjoyed myself and also (as I was warned by the PC) to have an exit strategy, as all the drinking sometimes the men get a little carried away. I made sure that I positioned myself so I can quietly exit while toasting was being done (as the evening went on). 

All the schools are closed both today and tomorrow (22^nd & 23^rd)  for Grades 1 thru 6^th. The reason being is that there have been (147) confirmed cases of Viral Meningitis in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi. The Ministry of Education closed all the schools throughout the country for the grades that I listed, as those are the students that are sick. I asked my culture coach why they waited so long to sound the alarm, as that is a big number of children being sicken with such a serious disease. She said that lots of Georgians don’t use doctors. They just use home remedies, so they were probably thinking the children had colds or such; however, when they had to take the children to the doctor or hospital that is when things began to be pieced together. The Ministry of Education is going to distribute prophylaxis to the students before they open the school. As a result, teaching was cancelled today. Flexibility in scheduling is a requirement in the Peace Corps. We ended up going to Khashuri for meetings and good news was that I was able to get bananas. Osiauri does not carry any fruit. We don’t know what will happen next week, but I am sure we will find out at some point.

It finally stopped raining. The mud was just awful walking to school this morning. More like trying to walk thru rivers.  I must just accept the mud as it is now going to be a part of my life. The more I fight it and make the mud and rain wrong (because it inconveniences me), well the harder it will be. I must develop a relationship with mud. Of course, my LL Bean mud shoes are fabulous. All is well my faithful readers. Best to all, Catherine, G14