Hello, My Faithful Readers
October 14th, 2015
I have been a little “down” and as a result I have
been watching television. Yes, http://imovies.ge
is a great resource for television series and movies of all types. Of course I
have to use my internet stick so my monthly minutes don’t last as long when I
am watching movies/TV; however, for the moment I just need to curl up and be
brain dead watching mindless Television. Of course, since it has turned cold
and there is very little or no heat as yet, curling up under the covers is
another way to keep warm watching television.
I am still on a rollercoaster here in Georgia. I
think maybe with winter approaching and school starting I am a little down. I
am sure it will turn around, it always does, but it the mean time I use
whatever I can to keep my spirits up.
So, back to television - In addition to my favorite
television: NCIS, The Good Wife and The Mentalist (among others) I found the
Sopranos at part of this web site. I just love watching the work done on this
program; however, I realized that as much as I like it I cannot watch because
they eat REAL food. My mouth is just hanging open watching them eat Baked Ziti
and especially the episodes when Carmella and Tony go to the Sushi restaurant.
It is just too painful for me to watch all this good food being eaten. Even
writing this my mouth is watering thinking about how much food is available
watching the program.
Ok, enough said about food…As part of the
mid-service milestone here in the Peace Corp; all volunteers have a physical
and dental examination (compliments of the US Government). I recently had my
appointments and ALL went very well. I have not lost any more weight; however,
I am holding my own (72 pounds to date). I was lucky that the flu vaccine
arrived a day or so before my visit so I was able to get my rabies shot and flu
shot at the same time. This saved me a trip back to Tbilisi.
I was a little apprehensive meeting with the
dentist. My dentist back in the States is the ONLY person I’ve seen in many
decades; so, having someone new to deal with dental matters was a bit
disconcerting. Anyway, I had nothing to fear. The dentist and technicians all
spoke English and made me feel very comfortable. Their equipment was
state-of-the-art and there were no dental problems to deal with.
The grape harvest is once again upon us. The entire
family, or most of us, set out recently on a Sunday morning to harvest the
grapes in the family vineyard. We piled into a couple of cars and away we went
with buckets, scissors, water and lots of food to eat after the grape picking
was done. It took many hours to gather all the grapes (which will be used to
make wine). It was a beautiful day; sunshine and mild temperatures. Being
outdoors with blue sky above and dry earth below made me appreciate nature in
ways that I have not prior to coming here to Georgia.
ON OCTOBER 14 GEORGIA CELEBRATES
THE GREAT FEAST OF SVETITSKHOVLOBA
Yipee, a day off from School! I am still trying to understand these types
of holidays; but I continue to learn. The link above will provide more
information if you would like to know more about this holiday.
After all the grapes were gathered we, or the men
folk, started the fire so that the meat could be roasted. On the menu was pork
cut in chunks and places on open flames. In addition, of course many, many
loaves of bread arrived at the picnic as well as an abundance of wine that was
still available from last year’s harvest. We all sat around on a plastic
blanket and ate until just about every drop of food was gone. There didn’t seem
to be any rush to leaving the vineyard. We were really lucky as the next day it
rained all day so our picnic would have been ruined. This will be my last
harvest as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I will miss this tradition. It is one of
the moments that I will treasure from my experience here in Sagarejo.
The exchange rate here in Georgia is not doing very
well. Recently the GEL exchange rate for the USD:
USD
– Bought at 2.37 GEL
USD – Sold at 2.54 GEL
Of course, these amounts go up and down; but, when I
arrived here in Georgia back in April 2014 it was 1.74 GEL for each USD.
I
read an article recently that talked about the top eight products that Georgia
exports. I was a little surprised at the list and therefore wanted to share the
information here in my blog. I have no idea what some of the items listed
consist of so I need to do additional research.
Ores
and Copper concentrates, Ferroalloys, Cars, Pharmaceuticals, Hazelnuts and
other nuts, Mineral fertilizer, Mineral water and Natural grape wines.
Did
you know, Dear Reader that Peanut Butter can be bought in powdered form?
I
have not tried it yet, but will in the near future and I will report in.
I
am going to write an article about my experience; but, in the meantime I want
to tell you of yet another adventure here in Georgia. I fell up, or rather,
tripped, up the steps going up to the 2nd floor to my bedroom. This
is not the first time it has happened; however, this time was more serious. The
steps here in Georgia are not proportioned the same for each step; so, on each
step I need to increase or decrease my stride in order to get up or down the
steps. I am aware of this and I am very focused on what I am doing; however, I
must have felt confident or was not thinking and “bang” down I went. In a
nutshell, I fell and hit my lip on the concrete steps. Wow, did that smart. I
was very lucky, very lucky (I will say it again) as I didn’t break anything and
didn’t damage my teeth; so, the black and blue will heal in a week or so. All is well and a fuller accounting, if you
should so desire to read it, will be published with my next article. Just
another day in the life J
My
host family once again made the Georgian dessert treat called “Churchkhela.”
This is a family affair undertaking. First, you string walnuts and then dip
them in a mixture of flour, wine and sugar. It is cooked over an open flame
(usually outside) and then hung on long sticks that are supported by chairs.
This is so the mixture will dry on the walnuts. The family eats the mixture
straight out of the pot; however, it is just too sweet for me. I have posted
some pictures of the event so you can see the final product. This is primarily a
grandmother directed event; but, everyone is involved. If not in the cooking,
than in the eating J
I
have found Sudoku, seriously. I have never played or closer to the truth is
that I have never taken the time to figure how to play. I am really enjoying
playing and in addition to paper copies I can also play on the internet. I
started out with a time of 26 minutes per game and now I am down to 12 minutes
per game (the computer times the game). I think I am going to be really good at
this as I like the process of elimination.
I’ve
opened a conversation with the teachers about why the students are arranged in
the classroom so far away from the blackboard. The chairs butt up against the
back wall of the room; so, that leave a tremendous amount of room in the front
of the room. No one seems to know why the room is arranged that way; so, I’ve
started talking about moving the chairs up closer to the blackboard which would
then leave most of the back of the room empty. I have successfully accomplished
this in one of the classrooms and it seems to be OK. Everyone looked a little
confused at first as it was different than what they were used to; but, to my
surprise no one moved the chairs back to their original configuration. We shall
see as the school year progresses how this goes.
BIG
NEWS – I got my hair cut. Yes, this is BIG NEWS as I finally found a
hairdresser who does a fairly good job of cutting my hair short. I feel so much better now with short hair. I
have posted a picture of the front of the hair salon.
AND,
I’ve also posted a picture of one of the “Marsh’s” that I take to Tbilisi. I
could never really do justice to the “marsh” hub here in Sagarejo; but, you can
get a sense of the marsh. I will at some point take a picture of me in the “Marsh”
– but, that is down-the-road.
I’ve
also given the teachers some pictures, from the internet, of various and
different ways to configure classroom. One example was having the teacher’s
desk not in the front of the classroom; but, placing the teacher’s desk on the
side of the room. Another was to remove the teacher’s desk all-together. I did
get some “looks” of confusion about this; but, let us see how the school year
progresses.
The
piano is a staple here in Sagarejo. I have found pianos in so many of the homes
that I’ve been to and there is also a piano here in the home that I live in. A
piano is also part of the school that I teach in. I can hear someone playing it
when I come into school in the mornings (and sometimes throughout the day). The piano was such a staple of my life growing
up in South Philadelphia. My grandmother bought me a piano and I took lessons
from the time I was seven until I left high school. I am told that many of the
children here in Sagarejo take piano lessons. Some children take lessons to
strengthen their hands and others to have a cultural experience and learn an
instrument (as well as be introduced to classical music).
I
will be part of the Second Annual Volunteer Conference which will be held at
the National Parliament Library of Georgia. This won’t happen until this
weekend, so I will write about the experience in my next blog. The above link
will give some background on the building that the conference will be held in.
My
counter-part teachers and I have been shopping for the various items that were approved
in the grant for the English Cabinet. It is has been lots of fun spending
money, especially when it is not your money (smiles). We have bought a printer,
projector, CD player, DVD player, speakers and lots of other items. We have a
couple of items left to buy; that is, digital camera, books, CD’s and DVD’s and
maps. When I put a call out to a Tbilisi list serve that I am on; I received an
email back from an American living in Georgia who offered to donate some books,
etc if I would come and pick them up. I was thrilled about this as not only can
we use the supplies; but, I am always happy to make a new friend in the city.
Of course, I will post pictures when all is complete in the English Cabinet. It
has been a long and time consuming process but I am glad that I will be leaving
my school with some tangible aspects of my experience here in Peace Corps
Georgia.
I
will close for now and write to you at the end of the month. Still dealing with many of the same
challenges; but, that is to be expected. Overall, I am having a good time and
thank you for riding this wild rollercoaster with me! J
Best,
Catherine Lawrence, G14
Peace
Corps Volunteer/Georgia – 10/14/15
The
contents of this blog are mine personally and do not reflect any position of
the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.
No comments:
Post a Comment