Blog, May 25^th, 2014

Hello! It is Sunday here is Osiauri and it is raining (again!).  It has rained a LOT since I arrive here. I must ask someone if this is usual or not. I love the rain because as most of my friends know “I think sunny days are WAY over-rated” but here in the village rain means MUD (and MUD and I have not come to terms yet).  Hopefully, the rain will dry up before I have to walk to school tomorrow. (Exciting stuff, Huh?

I found out what my Babo does when she comes back and forth with the big pots. She milks the cows and takes the milk into the kitchen. I was excited about this, I just go down to Klein’s (the store in my building) to buy milk and Babo goes to the barn for milk from the source. My host family just looks at me, as they just take this activity as normal fare. (I must get into the cow house) - HA. Even though the family has an automatic washer, my Babo washes clothes by hand in a tub. She sits on a little footstool and washes by hand.  There is no dryer, really didn’t expect one. All the clothes are hung out to dry on the 2^nd floor. One of the volunteers made a mistake and went to wash her hands in the kitchen sink. That is a no-no here. No washing of hands or brushing of teeth allowed in the kitchen. I wonder why that is?  Also, hangers are in short supply. My host family gave me (2) hangers when I arrived and I brought a couple with me also. I am told that is a big purchase item when we move into our permanent sites. At the moment, clothes are folded and placed on shelves.

All the windows in the house have curtains; however, they are very sheer. You can see right thru them. Even in the school the windows are covered with curtains but they are also so sheer. They (the curtains) do dress up the window, but I am sure they would not provide any draft protection or to keep the sun out. 

Another interesting thing is that people begin to eat when they sit down at the table for meals. No one waits, everyone just digs is. This is so different than in the United States. Usually, (in the US) it is not polite to begin eating until everyone is served. It is uncomfortable for me, and the other volunteers, to start eating before everyone is seated. I am getting used to it, and so are the others, but when in Georgia does as the Georgian’s do. 

I went to church this morning with my host sister. The church is a fairly new building and it is very beautiful. I asked what time church begins and end and my host sister said it begins at 9am and finishes at 12noon. Yipes, and there are no seat (really to speak of). You stand the entire time. Of course, everyone operates on Georgian time so we didn’t arrive until around 9:15am and lots of people came in after us. Even the priest (I think he is called that) didn’t come into the space where we were until around 9:30am. Women must wear skirts or dresses and also something on the head is required. If you don’t have either, in the back of the church is an assortment of head coverings and large scarfs to wrap around so that it appears that you have a skirt on. The majority of the people were women. I only counted two men and they came in with their mothers (I would assume). I asked “where were all the men” and was told that they were working. Well, maybe in past years that may have been so, but lots of men are at the Birzha.  I didn’t stay for the entire service as I was going to meet up with my language coach for some private instruction. The women blessed themselves from “right to left” instead of the “left to right” that I am used to in the catholic tradition. They blessed themselves countless numbers of times. There were women in the loft or balcony chanting or singing. I could distinguish some words but not many. People were lighting candles and giving coins for a book (I think they may have paid to use them). The priest has a full, long beard. He came out and walked around the congregation with burning incense.  The women turned me around so that my back was to the priest and then when his back was to us we were allowed to turn around. The altar was behind closed doors in the middle of a dividing wall in front of us.  The doors were opened briefly so that we could see the candles burning and the altar, but then closed after a few minutes. The church is so small, I bet maybe you could fit 50 people (if that). There was a little edge around the walls that people could sit on, but not comfortably as it was a very short ledge (and close to the floor). Many of the older women took turns sitting down. I think people go in and out during the three hour service, so possibly I will go again to see what happens as the services continues for the full three hours.

I’ve been teaching for the past week with a Georgian teacher and/or fellow volunteers. We don’t have much time to prepare and we do take guidance from the Georgian Teacher, as she can advise what aspect of the curriculum to focus on.  I found it interesting that grades have very little to do with advancement.  There is a lot of pressure placed on the teachers about grading. Parents have a lot of clout or impact on the grade that their child receives.  Grades are not a motivator. I had one teacher say that many, many years after the fact a parent still won’t talk to her because of a grade that she gave her child.  Giving the student recognition, by way of stickers, or certificates or public recognition is the best motivator. Also, physical touch is also accepted in the Georgian Schools. This is unheard of in the US; however, in Georgia teachers pat children on the head or on the back; hug and kiss them or just generally all around be affectionate with them. I was observing this and thinking how different this is.

Also, not in all cases or classrooms, but it seems that the children who get the most attention or help are the students who are doing the best. In our short time in the school we have (the volunteers) been trying to involve the students who would rather just sit back; however, it always seems that the best and brightest students are the ones chosen to participate in some way in the classroom. We wondered about that and one though (and who knows if this is accurate) but not every child goes to the University from the village. Some children need to stay behind to continue living and working in the village; so, the students who have the best shot at attaining University status are the students that are given the most opportunity in class. Again, who knows if this is accurate, but since we all (my cluster of 6 volunteers) all noticed the divide on who gets the attention we thought maybe this was one possible explanation. One final thought, but I am sure I will speak of this again, is the attendance policy. The fact is, there is no attendance policy. Some teachers take role and others do not. Children come to class or not and there is no finding out why. It is all very casual.

Ok, my faithful readers. All is well. I had a shower yesterday and that is a good thing (smiles). Also a banana and also an orange! Yipee (Ah, it does not take much to keep us happy).

Best, Catherine, G14

Note:  The contents of this blog are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.