Blog, September 8^th, 2014

Hello, My Faithful Readers:

I've added a couple of pictures near the end of the blog. The first is me, of course, with the children during a writing exercise during summer camp. The second is me  again, of course, in the English Cabinet room that is under construction. This will be the room that the children will come to for English Class. It is the first time the school has had a dedicated English Room, aka Cabinet. It was a storage room and now, because Peace Corps has arrived, the school allocated funds so that the room will be a permanent fixture in the school. I will be the first to use it!

All Education Volunteers (that means me) need to plan and implement a summer camp for the students. The camp is usually done for ten days; however, because of the excessive heat here in Sagarejo the camp was held for five days (September 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 2014). The volunteer (me) is the primary on this activity; however, a Georgian teacher(s) are assigned to help translate and keep order!

The camps runs for two hours every day; however, the students begin arriving thirty minutes before the start of the camp and the activities never really finish on time…so, you can say the camp is about three hours for each day. One of the challenges is that students are invited to come from the 3^rd grade to the 9^th grade (some second graders also show up). That is a wide age range to try and accommodate everyone in one room.  Also, students and, Georgian’s in general, never arrive on time. Twenty minutes after the start of the camp more students are walking in. Of course, then we need more chairs and Peace Corps required that each student sign in with their name, age and the grade they are in. That activity in and of itself is disruptive; but overall there is very little discipline in the Georgian Classrooms. I found this to be true also in Osiauri. I love the teaching; however, trying to get students to listen and follow directions is like getting cats to walk in a parade.

The first day we had 25 students. By the 3^rd day we had 45 students. Word gets out that the kids are having fun so more kids come.  The number stayed around 40 for Thursday and Friday.

This was the first week that I had to walk down and up the mountain for five days in a row because of the camp. It is an exercise program for sure; however, it is still so hot here (not as bad as the week before but still hot) which makes it more difficult to walk back up the mountain in the early afternoon. I must say also that the walking the mountain is nothing compared to the energy I extend in the classroom asking for the student’s attention and to stop talking and rough housing. The Georgian teacher is really great; however, she is often called away by phone (Georgian teachers are on the phone a lot), so I am alone in the room with 40 children (ages 7 to 13) trying to maintain order and/or teach in a classroom in which the students maybe understand every other word.  It is exhausting.

The first hour is spent in the classroom doing a variety of activities; for example, vocabulary; writing stories; playing hangman, etc., etc. The second hour is spent outside on the basketball court. I must say that even though it is a little cooler than it was last week it is still terribly hot on that basketball court. We did some water game; but water is at a premium so it is hard to come by. There are just so many students and they are just all over the place. Trying to organize a game is bedlam. Summer camp is a very unique activity here in Georgia. Basically, the Peace Corps is the first group that organized camps for the kids. The schools don’t do it as they don’t have the manpower or resources. There is no budget allotted for anything; so we must make do with what we have.

I am so thankful that the camp was only for five days. I am glad the kids had a good time and I am very happy that it is behind me now. I’ve been anxious about this camp wondering how I was going to cope with so many students and such different age levels. The initial plan I developed had to be re-done a number of times as what I proposed was just not going to work given the age span of the kids. However, I don’t think the kids knew of the changes. I think they were just happy to have organized and fun activities for a little while during their summer.

There were many great moments. For example, I had the student form teams and gave them a prompt to write a story. I asked for three sentences. Some teams gave me more and some less; but, all the teams came up with a story. I also encouraged them to go home and write a story and bring it to camp. About five students did just that. It was wonderful to see and they actually wanted to read their story to the class. I brought stickers and had them place a sticker on their work. They were very happy and I was also J.

As a reward after completing camp, I treated myself to a haircut. I think I found a hair stylist in Sagarejo, so I went back to the woman who cut my hair about two months ago. There are no appointments. You just wait until everyone before you is taken care of. As I was sitting and waiting my turn I realized that the stylist cuts the hair with the same brushes and combs (as well as scissors, etc) without using any kind of sterilizing liquid. As I watch her go from head to head and use the same combs and brush, I was praying that nothing was going to be transferred from head to head (if you know what I mean). There is no sink in the shop. She just uses a spray bottle to wet the head a little while she cuts. She uses thinning sheers a lot and most of the people getting hair cuts have really thick hair. There is a large sponge that is used to whisk the hairs from your face and neck. This sponge has been in use for some time now as it is stained with (I’m not sure) and has the remnants of hair from previous customers. I cannot believe the amount of hair that ends up on the floor when she finished a haircut. I am happy that my hair is now shorter; although, I did like my haircut from two months ago better. Someone else gave me the name of a “fella” who cuts hair here in Sagarejo. I think I may try him next time. I also noticed that I am going gray. It is actually kinda nice as it looks almost like salt and pepper now. I used to pay a lot of money to have my hair look frosted like that, so having my hair “frost” itself is a really money saving venture.

I will now talk about the sensitive topic of toilets and bathrooms. Here in Georgia if you need to “use the facilities” so to speak (go to the toilet), don’t make the mistake and ask for directions to the bathroom. I’ve made that mistake a number of times and I ended up in a room with a shower and a sink. In Georgia if you need to use the toilet you must say “toilet.” It has taken some time for me to get used to that. I still want to say “I need to use the bathroom.” That won’t get the job done here in Georgia” J.  To continue on, in the house that I live in with my host family they have indoor facilities and they also have an outhouse.  It is good to have two toilets in a house of six people (and of course all the guests that we have on and off); however, there is only one roll of toilet paper that is shared between the two toilets. Every time I bring another roll down it seems to end up in the outhouse; which would not be a problem if one would realize there was no paper prior to using the facilities in the house.  Ah, life here is not dull when a lot of the time we are on a search for toilet paper.

 

There is an outdoor water source here in Sagarejo that many people use to get their water. It is located almost ¾ of the way down the mountain.  I am thinking that there are many houses that don’t have water; as so often I see the line that forms at the water source. People standing and waiting their turn to fill up bottles, and buckets and anything else that they bring. The water continually runs. There is no off switch. I’ve written in previous blogs about a couple of older women who come to my host family house to fill up their water containers.  I know if would be a hardship for these women to have to go down to the water source. I have so taken for granted having water available whenever it is wanted or needed. When they turn the water off in my building back in the states, the building notifies everyone days in advance. This usually happens (in the states) because something needs to be done with the water system (pipes) and not because no water is available. Having no water here in Sagarejo seems to be happening more frequently.  When I think about washing clothes or taking a shower I don’t wait. When there is water, you just take advantage of it.

I have been very impressed with the design of some of the buildings here in Georgia. Although there are construction standards, I’m told that there are no regulations or standards as to the design of the buildings. Many buildings are so modern and remind me of architects who are trying to make statements with their buildings. There are buildings shaped like cubes and many other different shapes. There is one building, the Public Service Building (PSB) that has LARGE white concrete mushrooms shapes on top and on the sides of the building. It is very cool. There is a walkway that spans the street, or really a highway in the middle of the city, so people can get to the PSB from the other side of the street. The building is so modern. It is air conditioned and bright and organized. It is open air so that you can see all the floors above you when you are on the entrance floor. All kinds of stuff, like marriage licenses, residence cards, passports, etc. happen in this building. I was in the building to apply for my residence card. The service was fast and efficient and the space was organized so that people were not on top of one another. Directions were very clear as to where to go within the building.  I was very impressed all around. There is also a wonderful café that you can sit outside and watch the Mtkvari river that runs through Tbilisi. They have these fabulous white sofas outside on the deck that you could just sit there for hours and drink “American” coffee. Although it was a really hot day, since we were near the river it was really very pleasant.

Tbilisi Mtkvari River - Mtkvari is a river in the Caucasus Mountains. Starting in north-eastern Turkey, it flows through Turkey to Georgia, then to Azerbaijan, where it receives the Aras River as a right tributary, and enters the Caspian Sea. The total length of the river is 1,515 kilometers.

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/15/tbilisi-public-service-hall-by-massimiliano-and-doriana-fuksas/

Link for pictures of the “mushroom” building.

We lost water again this past week. It is very strange not to have water and this time I was washing clothes in the washer when the water stopped. We waited for hours for the water to come back on and all the time my clothes were in the washer waiting. I so wanted to get the clothes hung up as we have had a lot of rain and with the rain brought cooler temperatures. I wanted to clothes to have as much air time as possible so they would be somewhat dry when I brought them back into my room. In my room it was 76Degrees and it was chilly. It made me think what it is going to feel like when its maybe 46degrees or 36 degrees. And with that said, how are my clothes going to dry. I take solace in the fact that my host family has lived here for many winters (and they have survived J) so I imagine they have solved all of these questions. The adventure continues!

I had my first carrot in four months. I’ve been seeing carrots in the bazaar; but I didn’t want to buy them as I thought my family grew them in the garden. I’m still not sure as I think the neighbors brought over the carrots. The carrots were prepared with tomatoes and red peppers. They were diced so small that at first I didn’t know if it was a carrot or not. My family does grow potatoes. I bet we have 50 pounds, maybe more, of potatoes in the shed. No wonder we have potatoes at almost every meal J

I realized something recently and that is there is very little, if any snacking, done here at my home (maybe all of Georgia!). Unlike the area that I used to live in (US), there are not many stores close by to where I live here in Sagarejo. You have to go down the mountain to get to a store and I am very careful as to what I buy because I have to carry it back up the mountain. We have “coke” maybe once a week and that is one bottle that is shared by six people (so you don’t get much).  At home in the states I can go out at just about any time and buy something to eat.  I do have some snacks here in my room that some really good friends have sent “via care packages” but I am usually so tired when I finally get to my room I don’t think about eating it all the time. This is a very different way of living for me.

Maybe I spoke of this in another blog; however, I must repeat it. I don’t know if I will ever get used to eating so late. Dinner is often as late as 9:30pm. It is not so much a problem when the food choice(s) is light; but, when it is a heavy meal (like BBQ pork); well my stomach does not take lightly with going to bed on a full stomach. Bread, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, BBQ and all different kinds of sauces (that are homemade) line the table. Of course there is piva (beer), cha-cha, water and different kinds of juice. Sometimes we sit at the table for more than an hour and you will make people very unhappy if you don’t have plate(s) of food. So, now it is 10:30pm and it is way past my bed time. Anyway, I just don’t like eating that late; but, one thing is certain you don’t have time for snacking when dinner is so late. Another thing for certain is that I am just going to have to get used to it as it is not going to change.

The trees are turning colors here in Sagarejo. I cannot believe at times that I am here living in Georgia and that I’ve been here four months. At times I feel like I’ve lived here all my life. Sometimes being here feels so foreign and unfamiliar and at other times I feel at home. It is very mixed. However, there is one feeling that is not mixed and that is I am definitely “out of my comfort zone” – and that is a good thing!

One final note, I now have a FACEBOOK account. I have been resisting being on FACEBOOK. I have a lot of opinions about it; but, who cares what they are J. In any event, the entire Peace Corps contingent communicates and shares information, pictures, etc., on the site so I will miss out on LOTS of good stuff if I do not participate. Brave New World!

Catherine Lawrence, G14 – 9/8/14

U S Peace Corps Volunteer/Georgia

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