Blog, Sunday August 17th, 2014
Hello My Faithful Readers:
Life is beginning to settle into a routine as I
approach the one month mark here in Sagarejo. Truth be told as much as I enjoy
the leisure, I am beginning to miss having something more substantial to do
(maybe J).
I know I am going to regret that statement once the summer camp starts and then
right after the camp the start of the fall school term. At times I feel guilt with so much free time
and then I give up that conversation and just try and enjoy what is around me. I’ve
noticed that REAL LIFE is around me as I think the host family and I am moving
past the “best” behavior and just living with each other (HA). My host family
is a treasure and yet there are challenges that arise as I make my way as a
guest here in this country.
August is a very slow month here in Georgia. Anyone
who can get away does. Here in Sagarejo at my host family house we have lots of
people staying here so to avoid as much of the summer heat as possible from
where ever it is that they live. It is kind-of-like a vacation time and the
house may be considered a vacation space (maybe, I don’t know). The house is
big; however, I am just not used to having so many people about. Back in the
States I live in a studio apartment, which is basically one big room and a
small dressing room and bathroom. People coming and staying overnight (or even
longer) is a way of life here in Georgia and nobody seems to have an issue with
the number of guests. I imagine the distances and how long and hard it is to
travel allow people, once they get someplace, they just don’t get up and leave
after a short visit. Also, there is no expectation of entertaining. People just do whatever it is they want to do and most of the time it is just sitting on the porch watch the garden grow.
There is not a lot of privacy with the number of people
here in the house. For example, I was on the phone and one of the cousins (I
think) just came up to me and started talking. I kept telling him “I’m on the
phone,” but it didn’t make a difference he just kept on talking to me. Another
point is that if you don’t answer they just talk louder; so I had no choice but
to end the phone conversation. Another example was during an English Lesson,
multiple people came into the room and turned on the television and raised the
volume on the computer. People just started talking to each other like nothing
else was happening. My host mother seems OK with all this; however, I finally
asked everyone to please give us some quiet so we could work. They looked at me
very strange; but, they did turn off the electronics and leave. Regardless of
what I am doing; if the neighbors want me to come over to their house I just
have to stop what I am doing and go.
There is no
set schedule or time for meals; however, whenever food is ready you just go to
the table. Once again, it does not matter what you are involved in, you just
have to stop and go. Even if you don’t want to eat; you just go. One cannot be rude and turn away food that has
been prepared and served. All of these
things are challenges for me as I have been living alone for a long time and I
am not used to this kind of activity. I am sure I will learn how to deal with
this having lots of people around.
I am always struck with the fact that no one waits
for people to sit at the table before they begin eating. I am so used to
waiting until everyone is seated before eating and this is a really sometimes
an uncomfortable change for me. I’ve spoken of the little plates that are used,
more like dessert plates; however, what I’ve also been noticing is that food is
placed on the table in small amounts in serving dishes. For example, there was
a pot of stuffed peppers (yummy, BTW) – maybe two dozen in the pot. Well, there
are ten of us at the table and six peppers were brought out. Once those peppers
are eaten, then additional peppers are brought to the table. I imagine that
this would stop people (ME) for reaching for seconds before everyone has had a
chance to have a first serving. The same procedure is done for just about
everything else, with the exception of bread. There is so much bread always
available. My host mother spends a lot
of the meal jumping up and down replenishing the food serving dishes.
The family has this dog that is a royal pain. I
don’t even think it has a name and please note that this dog does not even
belong to us! It belongs to one of the other neighbors but apparently the
owners don’t feed it so it ends up here. Nobody in my host family wants this
dog and yet my host family keeps feeding it. I ask “please don’t feed the dog
and it will go away.” However, they keep feeding it and complaining that they
want the dog to go away. It just goes around in circles. He barks and howls so much of the time,
sometimes for extended periods. I’ve
almost tripped on him on many occasions and many people have stepped on him as
he just does not move out of the way. This dog is another “land mine” for me,
as he just plops his butt anywhere that pleases him so I need to be cautious
even here in the garden area. The family closes the gates, but somehow he gets
back in. The dog is not allowed in the house, so that is a good thing. However,
I am thinking about what will happen in the winter? It is not a happy thought
for me.
There is also this cat and as much as I dislike the
dog, I dislike the cat more in a different way. The family feeds the cat under
the table during meals and then they holler at the cat to go away. For some
reason the cat ends up near my feet at dinner crying for food. I think the
animal senses people that don’t like them (me) and for some reason want to be
near that person (lucky me). Initially it scared the heck out of me as I had no
idea what was near my feet and legs. I know this may sound trivial; but I am
just not an animal person. At my home in
the states I don’t even have plants, let alone a pet. I realize that these animals are not going to
go away so I need to find a way to make peace with this. On the other hand, I
am just thrilled to sit and watch the chickens roam through the garden. Also,
there is a donkey someplace near our house and every now and then he does his “donkey
noises” and then stops. I was scared when I first heard those sounds but now I
am familiar with them and it is not a problem.
I work with my host mother just about every day on
her English. She is a very good student. She so wants to learn; but I find that
she (along with many other Georgians I have come in contact with) are so fast.
They just want to get the answer out regardless of whether it is correct or
not. I keep repeating that learning “is not a race – it is a process”; but, I
don’t think she fully understands what I am trying to get across. Georgians,
like the rest of the human race, wants to be acknowledged but for some reason I
think the degree that Georgians need acknowledgement is a little higher here
(just my opinion). The family helps me pronounce the Georgian words and it sure
does help.
Shoes are a challenge here in Georgia. Maybe I wrote
of this earlier in my blog, as the same situation was present in Osiauri as it
is here in Sagarejo. Just about everyone takes their shoes off as they enter
the house. Now that is a good thing, as they don’t want to track dirt into the
house; however, they leave their shoes right in front of the door. There are
countless numbers of shoes piled up at the door so you need to step over them
to get in. When it is dark it is hard to see just where the line of shoes ends
and often times I end up stepping on shoes or tripping on shoes. I’ve taken to moving the shoes off to the side
of the door; however, they usually end up back right in front of the door.
There are many land line phones and cell phones in
the house. How do I know that, well they each have a different ring tones. I’ll bet that if I counted them there will be
at least ten phones (maybe more). Each family member has at least one; my host father has
two, at least. The land line sings “Deck the Halls…la, la,la” and most times it
sings and sings this Christmas song as on many ocassions it is not answered
initially. Usually when the person calls back (they will call back), then it is answered. It is SO
LOUD, as the family needs to hear it if they are back in the garden or with the
pig; so, the Christmas music just goes on and on. Some phones use the bell tones,
others use Arabic music and many other types of music so everyone knows whose
phone is ringing. It is an orchestral event when multiple phones are ringing at
once. There are usually many guests here and their phones also add to the
concert. It seems that every outlet is taken up with phones charging.
Ah, life in Georgia!
It is wonderful J
As I am really settling in things, like I’ve noted
above, are more real than they have been or maybe I just didn’t notice stuff. I
think I have been in such a whirlwind of coping with so many new things that
the daily life stuff didn’t make any impact on me.
On another note, recently my host father and mother
took me with the car to the outdoor mall called LILO. Now, this is a mall like
I’ve never seen before. It is situated between where I live in Sagarejo and
Tbilisi. We have a marsh that will take us to the mall as it is on the road to
Tbilisi. The mall is basically an outdoor mall that is covered over with a
makeshift kind of roof. There are tunnels and tunnels and tunnels of shops or
kiosks. It is a maze of little kiosks that are situated right next to one
another and are on both sides of the aisle. I was getting whiplash trying to
take in what was being offered on both sides of the aisle. My neck hurt for the
back and forth motion J. I was only there for a couple of hours and
really only went down one or maybe two of the tunnels. The one tunnel I went
down, I’ll bet, had about 100 kiosks (maybe more, don’t have a clue). It seems
also that the tunnel never ends. It just kind-a circles around and continues.
The aisle that you walk down in the tunnel MAYBE has
room for one person and yet two or three people are always trying to squeeze
by. You must keep moving in the tunnels. People put their hands on your back so
that you don’t stop moving. If you want to look at something you need to find a
space near the kiosk that you are interested in and get out of the traffic lane.
All the while, you need to watch where you are walking as there are BIG holes
in the cement and there are grates that, I imagine, take care of any run off
rain water or whatever, in the tunnels. Some of the grates are securely covered and
some are only covered part of the way. (more land mines for me).
While all this is going on there are men who are
moving stock from one area to another within the mall. They do this with a
device that looks like a gurney that the hospitals use. The gurney is very narrow,
as I would think it could hold one really skinny person and it is very low to
the ground. It has three wheels, one in the front and two in the back. They
pack the stock items to be moved one box on top of another so at times the
boxes are so high you cannot see the person who is pushing the gurney. All you
know is that you better get out of the way as the driver continuously moves as
he cannot really see what is in front of him.
I have no idea how all this works, but it does. This
may sound crazy but I absolutely loved every minute of it. I didn’t want to
leave but I could see my host father was running out of patience. There are places within the mall that serve
food and drink and there is also music playing with a live band. Of course it was terribly HOT and there was no climate control (HA) or windows in the Kiosks. However, because you have to move fast in the tunnels it didn't feel that bad (and then again, I was not there long). I’m told that the mall has everything. I can’t say for sure as I only
saw a small portion of it; but there were kiosks for linens; dishes, household
items (of every type); fans, bicycles (all kinds); lawn chairs; containers of
every type; clothing, shoes, etc., etc. I was moving so fast through the tunnels
that I am sure there were many other different types of kiosks that I must have
just breezed by. I cannot wait to go back as it was so much fun. I have no idea how many people were there. I
did see that everyone who passed by me, heading back to their car or to the
marsh stop, had packages; so, business was booming. Also, there is a large
parking lot for people who come with their cars. I’ve listed some links that do
not provide a lot of information. I wish I knew how many acres it encompasses. They do charge, I think 2GEL to park your car.
I was also told that should not pay what is initially asked by the vendor; however, since my Georgian is not up to speed and I was so overwhelmed with all this I didn't take the advice. The next time I go I will try and negotiate the price (that will be a hoot)!
Below are a couple of links if you want to check
this place out further. The first link will give you an idea as to how BIG the LILO Mall is and the second link gives pictures. As I said, I only saw such a small
portion and some of the photographs shown are areas that I didn’t get to see.
It is an adventure!
Ok, I’ve written another book! Time to sign off and
thank you for taking the time to follow along with me during my adventures here
in Georgia!
My
Best to Everyone, Catherine Lawrence, G14 – 8/17/14
Peace Corps Volunteer, Republic of Georgia
The contents of this blog are mine personally and do
not reflect any position of the US Government or the Peace Corps.
No comments:
Post a Comment