Blog, September 23, 2014

Hello, My Faithful Readers:  

I have included a couple of photographs at the end of the blog. The 1^st is of my host father and his nephew placing the grapes in the machine (with the crank handle) to make wine. The second is of my host mother in the school cafeteria that she runs! (text included in the blog describing both events). Hope you enjoy!

It has been an interesting week as school started on 9/15/14; however, before I go into those happenings I wanted to follow up (for a moment) on the grapes that we picked from the vineyard. I knew that they made wine from the grapes, but I really had no idea how they did it. That is, until recently. There is this machine with a hand crank that turns the wheel. They take the grapes and put everything into a funnel type opening. The machine is placed on a 55-gallon drum. The wheel is cranked and the grapes are smashed and then go into a 55-gallon drum. They don’t take the grapes off the stems (I think that is what they are called). In addition, there were many vineyard leaves that were also thrown in. The grapes are not washed before all this happens. It was a process that involved five people. It consisted of two people doing the cranking and three people taking the grapes from the plastic bags and placing them in the funnel type opening. It was a very lively process as everybody seemed to be moving without bumping into each other. I don’t know how long the grapes sit in the drum before they turn into wine. I do know that when I’ve had the wine I have also gotten a piece of wood (or such) but the wood (or whatever) was thrown in was ground into very fine pieces, so you would not break a tooth on it J

There is a lot of wine and I believe that it lasts the family an entire year. It is not sweet, very tart but it seems that everyone here in Georgia (or at least my host family) seems to love it.

I bring you more news on the electricity and water situation here in Sagarejo. It seems that September, October and parts of November bring LOTS of rain. My host father must know the drill because he brought home many, many six packs of bottled water. (I am sure they have been through this before). We had a storm recently that dumped so much rain that the mountain dirt drained into the water system sources and we had (actually still have) mud water. The water, when it runs out of the spigot, is brown. It is brown everywhere, toilet, sink, kitchen….yuck (that is when we have water)! In addition to no water, we lose electricity a lot. One morning there was no water and no electricity. That was a lot of fun trying to get dressed and brush your teeth by flashlight.

On another topic, while driving with my host family we witnessed a truck hit two young men on a small motorcycle. The kids went flying and neither had a helmet on. Of course we stopped and so did everyone else. I could not believe that every single car that was driving by stopped to lend assistance. The road was just filled with people and cars trying to help the victims of the crash.  I was a little shocked to see everyone trying to move the victim who was on the ground. The poor guy was moaning and bleeding.  I kept thinking that they should not move him; but, it was too late. Everyone was on their phones calling for help and eventually the ambulance arrived. Now, this ambulance was a 1960’s style van that had seen better days. It had an old fashion stretcher that was brought out and the young man was picked up by at least 10 people and moved onto the stretch. I never saw what happened to the other person on the motorcycle. I am not sure but I think he got himself up and into the ambulance. The ambulance personnel didn’t do any preliminary work on the victim, that just swooped him up and away they went. There were no medical supplies inside the van (I looked). It was a bare bones operation. Almost cartoon like in how they (2 people in the back of the ambulance) jumped out with the stretcher, picked him up and then into the ambulance. It took maybe 15 seconds. The only thing that was missing was the siren. The police arrived and everyone was trying to give him a report (all at the same time). The officer then roped off the area with the yellow tape and at that point we (my host family) decided to leave. My host family was very upset about what they witnessed. Many people were crying.

Last week saw the beginning of the academic year here in Georgia. September 15^th was the first day and I officially became a teacher here in Georgia. The first day is very easy as there are no classes. What happens is that children and LOTS of parents arrive at school. Everyone comes into the school so it is very crowded. There are no lines in the schoolyard of children waiting to come in. Here in Georgia when you arrive at the school you just go into the common area adjacent to the front door or into the classroom.  After about an hour, everyone went out into the schoolyard and there was an opening ceremony to start the school year. It began with the national anthem being played and the flag being raised. The School Director made opening remarks and I was introduced as the Peace Corps Volunteer who will be working in the school for the next two years. I was asked to say a couple of words and I actually was able to say two sentences in Georgian. If I did it wrong, everyone was very polite and didn’t make fun of me J.  The Director then gave out certificates of merit for students who had excellence records last year.

In keeping with Georgia tradition the festivities continued with one of the students playing Georgia music on his instrument (not sure what it is called) and a group of young students provided us with some traditional dance. It was clear that these students train with a dance teacher as it was very professionally done. It was just great. It all took about an hour and then everyone left the school. Some of the teachers stayed to distribute books to classroom; but, mostly everyone was gone.

The remainder of the week for me was trying to find out the schedule of the English Teachers that I will be working with. There are (7) periods each lasting (45) minutes. The students are given (5) minutes to change classes and in-between 3^rd and 4^th period the students are given (10) minutes so they can go to the lunch room and buy some lunch (if they want).  There is no place really for the students to sit down and eat, so they either eat while they are walking or take the food to class. They do have a bell which announces the end and beginning of classes; however, at least 5-8minutes is lost each period because no one really moves to the classroom until well after the bell has rung to start the class. This includes both students and teachers. If a class starts, say at 9:50am, nothing really happens in the classroom until 9:57 or 9:58. I was clocking the time as if the class is scheduled for (45) minutes, then really the class is only (37 or so) minutes. In addition, many, many students are late – some as late as (20) minutes; however, no one seems to raise an eye to this. No roll call is taken and there is no homeroom in the school. I’ve only really been involved with the upper grades at this point, and they don’t stay in the same room. They change rooms every period. I think maybe the younger students stay in the same room, but I should know more next week.

The rooms on the first floor are in good condition. In fact the entire first floor (rooms and hallways) have been redone with new windows, floors and paint. However, the second floor (the building is only two floors) needs a lot of work. The second floor has the old desks and chair. I cannot imagine how old this furniture is. There are heating units throughout the school; however, I was told by the teachers that they don’t provide much heat. During the winter everyone wears their winter coats throughout the day teaching.

Lighting and light fixtures seem to be a challenge here in the school and throughout various buildings I’ve seen here in Georgia. For example, in one of the classrooms there are two lights. Not the fluorescent tube overhead lighting that I’ve seen in US schools; however, but light fixtures that would be more suited to a bathroom or a hallway. If not for the natural light coming in from the window I don’t know how the children (especially children who are away from the window) can see. In some rooms, even though there are two light fixtures, only one of the lights is working.  One day last week there was no electricity at all in the entire building, so no lights at all and no bell to mark the change of classes.  The teacher took a metal cup and was banging it on the staircase so that teachers and students would know that it was time to change class period.

The teachers here have been very nice to me. Of course, we only can say a few words to each other, but there is lots of smiling. The teachers have a room (sort of a safe haven) where they can go in-between classes. There are lots of placed to sit and even comfortable chairs. The teachers sit in groups and talk throughout the day. It is never quiet in the room. The children are not allowed in the room, but at times they do poke their heads in.

There is a regulation in Georgia that the capacity for students in a class is (36). However, if there are (35) then no change is made. Once the magic number of (36) is reached then they split the class. As a result, my school has (2) 10^th grade classes and (2) 12^th grade classes. I’m still not sure how many students are supposed to be in the other grades. It varies and I’m told many students don’t come to school for the first week (sounds like college).

Peace Corps requires that for the first two weeks I just observe.  Last week I sat in on (13) classes and would have sat in on (2) more; however, they were optional and as a result the entire class didn’t show up. Of course, these are all English Classes. The classes ranged from the 4^th grade to the 12^th grade. The younger grades don’t start English for a little while (not sure what that means time wise). I am required to co-teach 18 hours per week, so during this observation period I am working to set my schedule for the term. I am hoping to possibly work it so that I teach four days a week; but, we shall see.

The Georgian government has instituted a policy where all 1^st grade students receive a laptop computer (and so do their tutors). Here in Georgia most students have a tutor outside of their regular school classroom work. Now, this is my opinion; but, I don’t think that is wise to give 1^st graders computers. In theory it sounds good; but, I just don’t they are responsible enough to handle it.  I wonder if the school or the government will provide statistics as to how to measure computer knowledge and also how many get broken or lost.

Also, the schools uses text books that support British English. One teacher was talking to the student about the word “fed up.” She said that the British textbook said it meant “bored.” I tried to tell her that if students/teachers went to America and said “fed up” it would not be a good thing.  The teacher just kept repeating that the text book defined it as “bored.”  A little frustrating; however, the little I’ve seen so far shows me that teachers follow the book “verbatim” and very little outside (teacher) input is given. I don’t know how I am going to handle all this as I am not thrilled with the textbooks (for a variety of reasons). This will be an on-going conversation.

My host mother runs the school cafeteria. Now, they call it a cafeteria however it is more like a room (on the lower level) that has (1) overhead light bulb and a couple of tables and chairs. Mostly the teachers come and sit in the room and have tea or coffee. Also available are snacks that the children can purchase and then they take the items with them back to their classrooms. Some examples would be pretzels, cakes, candy, juice and water. In addition, my host mother gets up at the crack of dawn and makes Georgian bread and cheese, potato bread and sometimes homemade cake. She also has some Georgian pastry (not sure who delivered that) that if you fell into a pool of water with the pastry you would sink.  She has a sink with water and a mini stove top to boil water for tea/coffee. She has REAL cups and plates for the adults. She has been running the cafeteria for 3 years, so this year is the start of her 4^th year. I don’t know how she does it, as when she comes home she needs to make lunch and dinner for us. I know she is tired as she walks the same mountain we do only instead of carrying books she is carrying food.  I asked her if she would ever consider selling fruit along with all the candy and cake and she made this funny face and said (in Georgian) no way! J The nutritional value of all the sugar and carbs being sold is nil. No wonder the children, at the change of classes, running around like a house on fire. I almost got knocked down a couple of time because the children don’t look where they are going. I am very careful not to stand anywhere near the stairways during the class change.   Food for family members, and that means me, is free. I would really like to pay for what I take but they won’t hear of it.

One final point about school, but I warn you, this will be a big conversation in this blog as much of my time will be spent in school. The toilet situation in the school provides outhouses for the children. They are located outside of the school. There is one outhouse for the boys and one for the girls. There is (inside) a toilet for the teachers. It consists of three squat toilets that are separated by a wall for each toilet. There are no doors, so forget about privacy. Most of the time the toilets do flush, but when water is not available for flushing you need to take a bucket of water from the barrel and pour it into the toilet to flush. I must always bring wet wipes and toilet paper and often there is no water to wash your hands and sometimes the toilet paper disappears. It is a challenge; however, the staff does keep it very clean.  They are always mopping because with the water being transferred from the barrel to the toilet lots of water ends up on the floor. It is very tricky walking at times with the floor being so wet. One of the big concerns is that the students often open the door and look in. Since there are no doors to provide privacy, the open door to the main school corridor presents problems.

Ah, life is not boring J. One final, final point is good news. I was finally able to get on a scale and it told me that since I arrived in Georgia at the end of April, I have lost (44) pounds. I was shocked. I knew I lost weight but had no idea as to the amount. I feel terrific and my clothes are so big. I knew that the all the walking and climbing would impact me. The weight loss has allowed me to walk the mountain quicker. I can know climb back home is about 40 minutes and most times I don’t have to sit down and rest. That is a far cry from when I first got here. I was clocking way over an hour climb time with at least a couple of sit downs.  Not lugging (44) pounds around feel terrific.

Alright, that is it for now. Thank you for taking the time to share in my adventures.

All the best, Catherine Lawrence, G14

Peace Corps Volunteer/Georgia – 9/23/14

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