Blog: Thursday, August 21, 2014

Hello, My Faithful Readers:

A couple of photographs at the bottom. The first is the kiosk along the mountain road that I travel up and down. The woman pictured runs it. The kiosk is about 3/4 of the way up, so I get to chat with the girls at the kiosk when I need to catch my breath. The second is of ME in the new English Cabinet (that is what they call the English Classroom). From top to bottom, it is being re-done. :-). Hope to have it ready for the 1st day of school, 9/15/14.

Peace Corps Georgia recently notified PCV that CCHF (description below if you would like more information) was reported here in Georgia. Thank goodness I am in Kakheti region, so I’m not impacted (hopefully!).

This is to alert you that there have been 17 reported cases of  Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), mostly in Shida Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions. This mostly is a risk for animal herders, livestock workers, and healthcare workers through unprotected contact with infectious blood and body fluids. Individuals and international travelers with contact to livestock in endemic regions may also be exposed.

See more on the CDC web site: Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF))

I’ve been working with a tutor and it has been a terrific experience so far. In the PC the required level of language proficiency is “intermediate low” and I am currently at “novice mid.” Here is the progression of levels:

-Novice Low, Mid and High

-Intermediate Low, Mid and High

So, I need to go up two levels in order to make the mark. Of course, there are levels beyond Intermediate high, but I will be happy to attain the required level. The test is in November, so I have a few months to get my act together. If not, I will test again in February. The language learning sure takes up a lot of my time; but it can and will make such a difference having some facility around the language. The Peace Corps pays for my tutor; which is a GREAT benefit. I pay the tutor and then the PC reimburses me. This really shows me how much they value learning the language.

I’ve been working on learning the days of the week and have found it very interesting, and somewhat confusing, that in America the 1^st day of the week (on the calendar) is Sunday; however, here in Georgia the 1^st day of the week (on the calendar) is Monday.

Georgian days

orschabati (Monday) 
ßamschabati (Tuesday) 
otchschabati (Wednesday) 
chutschabati (Thursday) 
p’araßk’ewi (Friday) 
schabati (Saturday) 
k’wira (Sunday) 

Another interesting item is that “orschabati” which is Monday and the 1^st day of the week; however, the “ors” refers to the number “2” which is “Ori”. Just another thing to confuse me here in Georgia J

I have listed below links for my Graduation Swearing-In Ceremony that took place in Tbilisi on July 18^th, 2014. It is almost an hour long; however, if you want to cut to the chase, you can see the United States Georgian Ambassador swearing us in with the PC Oath at approximately 34 on the tape and you can see ME being called to stand for service and pinning at approximately 40 on the tape. Usually the Ambassador places the pin on the lapel of the volunteer; however, since there were so many of us, it was done to save time and we pinned ourselves. There is lots of other good stuff in the video if you have the time to view. BTW, I am seated on the RIGHT hand side of the stage in the 2^nd row.

Peace Corps Georgia G14 Swearing In Ceremony Part 1

Peace Corps Georgia G14 Swearing In Ceremony Part 2

Another great and interesting activity has been awarded to me. The NESC  (National English Spelling Competition) has given me the role of  Assistant Regional Coordinator (ARC) for the city of Tbilisi (Eastern Region). To the best of my understanding I will be working with other volunteers (The Regional Coordinator) and other NGO personnel to enrolled schools in Tbilisi to participate in the Spelling Competition. I think I will be conducting or helping to conduct information sessions to the school’s administrators and students so to drum up support and enrollment in the program.  I’ve listed some information below that will give more detailed information. We meet in Tbilisi to begin the 2014-2015 year on August 30^th.  This is going to be FUN J

The program is divided into Western and Eastern Georgia Program Coordinators for NESC (National English Spelling Competition). Our job is to register schools, organize ToTs (Trainings of Trainers) for local/regional competitions, selecting the words for the competitions and conducting the National Competition in Tbilisi. NESC was started in 2012 by a group of Peace Corps Volunteers and is now a big part of Peace Corps Georgia. The purpose of NESC is to motivate Georgian students in studying English words and demonstrate their knowledge publicly in a competitive environment. NESC has been officially an NGO in Georgia since 2013 and this year we have a new goal of expanding the competition to go international next year.  The competition is done in three levels: local, regional and national competitions. Last year’s NESC was a big success with 193 schools in eleven regions participating in the local competitions. This year our goal is to double the numbers of schools.

More company arrived here in Sagarejo. Some folks left and others have arrived; so, we still have a full house. For a day or so as people were coming and going it was so peaceful and I was really enjoying that. With the new visitors comes a wonderful boy who is 2-years old. He is so much fun to be around but he is also exhausting. I’ve forgotten how much energy it takes just to watch a 2-year old let alone be active with them. We read together and play games and for some reason he thinks my name is “hello.” We all didn’t pick up on that initially; but, he just throws a tantrum whenever I stop playing with him. He screams “hello, hello” and that means (I am told) that he wants me. I am told that in Georgia most adults don’t play with the children, so my playing with him is relatively new and I would think he is having fun. In addition, it has been excessively hot. Without a/c the temperature in my room goes between 88F to 91F (and that is with a fan going). I am going to have to think about what to do next August. Plan to go someplace cooler. J

One of the questions that I am asked routinely by Georgian people is what country do I like better – Georgia or America? Or, another way they put it…is America like Georgia? I know the Georgian people are very proud of their country and the way that they live. They always want to compare the two countries and think that Georgia (deep down) is better than America. I just say that the countries are different in some ways and the same in others. I have only been here for a very short time and don’t understand many things. I know people that have been here for years and still say they don’t understand. Maybe it is a cultural thing and you have to be born and raised here to understand. I don’t know; but, I so want to know more.

The families are all starting to prepare for winter. They are making jams, jelly and juice all from what look like plums (however, I don’t think it is a plum). In any event, the color is all plum like. They cook the plums in special buckets on the stove. The sugar that is added could give me diabetes just from looking at it. They let the plums steep in the sugar before they cook it. They all work for days and days of cooking and letting cool and then putting into jars of all types. They don’t even take the pits out before they cook it. I did taste some of the jelly and almost broke a tooth not realizing that the pits were part of the jelly. It was good, but so sweet. The juice is every sweeter (if that is possible). They also make ketchup from all the tomatoes. Again, special buckets are used to cook the tomatoes. It just takes so much time, hours and hours on the stove. I missed the part where they take the ketchup from the bucket and put it into glass jars. I didn’t get to taste it before they were sealed; however, I know I will get to taste it at some point.

The shelves in the storage room are just filled with all the jars of jelly, jam, juice and ketchup. There may be more stuff that I didn’t see yet; but, I will J. The family also dries fruit. Outside my window are tables filled with apples and figs and pears and heaven know what all else. They are all drying in the sun. There is no protective cover on the tables; the fruit it just out there to the elements. I am sure I will get a sampling of this in the future.

The Peace Corps has this saying that it listed in the handbook. I imagine they think that this statement may solve, or help to solve, some of the concerns or issues. The saying is: “Keep Calm and follow the Rules!”  I just think that is such a governmental statement. Here in the Peace Corps following the rules is NOT an option. If you don’t follow the rules (and there are many) you get sent home. Of course, some rules are more important than others; but, it is for our safety. One the problems with all this is that there are so many rules. I’m told that all of this does calm down a some point, so much is new but we do get to know eventually how to navigate through all  this.

The “Patrone” system (hope I spelled it correctly is very important here in Georgia. If a volunteer is placed with a family and then the volunteer decides to go and live on their own (after 3-months) it is a very bad thing for the family. It is inferred that something is wrong with the family, or the family did something so the volunteer would leave. The Peace Corps strongly encourages volunteers to stay with the host family for the entire tour and work out any issues that would arise. The reason being is that being with the family you have the full weight and stature of that family within the community attached to you. My host mother walks me around to different stores and introduces me to everyone she meets as we walk. This way people know who I am and where I belong. It is a safety feature, I am told.

People treat you different once they know who you are affiliated with. Not that they treat you bad before; however, once they know who you belong to (so to speak) they are more inclined to spend time with you and (my opinion) I think they are less afraid of who you are and what you want. It is very interesting. I’ve even been offered rides (up and down the mountain) by people who I now know. That is going to be a VERY good thing come winter and bad weather.

I was thinking of taking a side trip, at some point, to Baku, Azerbaijan. I wanted to have a sense of what I am missing as originally I was supposed to be assigned in Azerbaijan. However, I just found out that you need a visa to go into the country (forgot about that). Its costs $160+ dollars and you have a lot of red tape to go through in order to get the visa. Well, I will think about this as maybe the money could be better spent elsewhere.  Stay tuned J

I will close now, my Faithful Readers.

Best to everyone,

Catherine Lawrence, G14

Peace Corps Volunteer, Republic of Georgia 8/21/14

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