Sunday, September 30, 2007

A new pool near us in the park. We call it "The Annex".
Well, we have just finished our second week of school and it has been a very interesting experience. On our first day, the children arrived dressed in their Sunday best. The little girls had bows in their hair and many of the first grade boys were wearing suits. The local bishop came to bless the school and pray for a good year. Gill’s school had a cheerleader performance and one of the senior boys sang a folk song in a strong tenor voice. One of the older girls was dressed in the Georgian national costume. She represented Mother Georgia. Many of the pupils gave their teachers bunches of flowers. Even Gill received bunches of flowers. We both made short speeches in Georgian. However, we doubt anyone heard our many mistakes, because there was such a din. In the afternoon Gill’s school had a teachers’ supra and in the evening Bob’s school had one.

The supra is a big party where the tamada (host) makes lots of toasts. Our tamadas were the school directors, ably assisted by their Georgian literature teachers who recited long poems. Every time you toast you are expected to drain your glass. However, the rules are not so strict at female supras. The dance teacher at Bob’s school entertained everyone with Georgian national dances. There were some Israeli tourists in the same restaurant. They must have been a little overwhelmed at the sight of 40 teachers (all but one female) dancing and singing. Bob's school director made a toast to the tourist. We then danced the hava nagela (spelling) with them and eventually arranged a link between Bob’s school and one is Israel. I think the Israelis had a very good time. They did not realize that we were not Georgian. They thought we just spoke English very well!

Gill seems to have her time table straight now and she will be teaching 18 classes along with the Georgian teachers. One of them speaks excellent English – very English English and rather upper crust. The other two speak fairly well and one of them is also a Georgian teacher and so she will be Gill’s tutor. They certainly teach English English in these schools. We suppose it is because they want to join the European Union. We have had to remember our English spelling and punctuation. We try to explain that it is OK to use either form of English, but better to be consistent in whatever you choose. Actually, in many instances American English is easier and makes more sense – especially the spelling. However, British English is still the flavour of the month here.

We are posting this rather short entry because we have not written anything for a while. More soon!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Our "Welcome to Borjomi" cake

Hotel in Tbilisi
Tbilisi's new church

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Icon in church

Bob's "official" certificate
The Kareli and Gori teams.
We had our swearing in ceremony on August 24. We had to leave our training sites at 5:00 in the morning. I was sick on the bus, which was a good start to the day!!! However, the ceremony went very well. Bob sang the Georgian and American national anthems along with 9 other volunteers and two volunteers gave speeches in both English and Georgian – quite impressive after 9 week of language classes. We stayed in Tbilisi with our training host family’s daughter, Nino, and her husband for the night as Gill still felt sick. The next day they gave us a tour of Tbilisi. We have included pictures of the hotel built into the cliff over the Mtkvari River and the new cathedral which was built in the classic Georgian style during the Shevardnadze period. There is also an icon from the church in which Nino will have her wedding service. We expect to go to the wedding next Sunday and it sounds as if it will be a big affair.

Gill was voted in as a member of the volunteer advisory committee, which means she will be travelling to Tbilisi once a month or so to attend meetings. This should be interesting.

We are now at our permanent site, Borjomi, which is a spa town in the mountains. The surrounding countryside is very beautiful and we are quite near Bakuriani, which is a ski area. Gill has now met the three English teachers at her school. They are all very friendly, as are all the teachers. Lots of gifts of fruit. The main English teacher speaks very good English with a strong British accent. Gill noticed that the children did not know what an apartment was, but when she said “flat” everyone understood. Bob will be having a meeting with the teachers at his school next Monday.

We have started our summer camp which has a design theme. The first day we designed pasta necklaces and paper airplanes. The second day we designed tourist maps for Borjomi. The tourist center has run out of maps. The maps – some accurate, some less so – are now on display in the tourist center. Next week we are doing masks, word games, and any design of buildings that the students would like to see in their town. Otherwise we have been setting up our room, buying extension cords, more hangers, etc.

It looks as if email in the house will be very, very slow, but there are a number of internet cafes nearby and we can use the internet at the tourist center until it closes.

Yesterday we had two Peace Corps volunteers from another town visit us and we took the narrow gauge train to Bakuriani. About ten minutes out the second carriage derailed and we all had to move to the front carriage – see picture. We rattled on eventually. The scenery was spectacular. The journey there took 3 hours and it took us 30 minutes to get back by marshutka!

Jura asked about the food here. Obviously, meat is pretty expensive and the diet tends to be heavy on carbs, fruits, cheese, beans, and cereals. The national dish is khatchapuri, which is a kind of cheese bread. It has different incarnations in different parts of Georgia. Some people put an egg inside and some people make it with flaky pastry – this is Gill’s favorite. Other national dishes include lobiani, which is a kind of bean bread. It can also be made of potatoes. The Georgians make a very good vegetable stew with potatoes, eggplant and tomato sauce. The grilled eggplant with walnut sauce is also very good. Fruits are seasonal and can be very good indeed. They also make a lot of natural fruits juices as well as wine. These tend to be a little sweet. Georgians love sweet foods and adore salty foods. They also love mayonnaise. The local beer is quite good – like lager. Coca Cola is all over the place.

Our new host mother is a great baker. She makes napoleons to sell in the local shops. She also makes the flaky kind of khatchapuri. By the way, khatcho means cottage cheese in Georgian. We have included a picture of our welcome cake.

We have been taking a bit of a rest here as we were so exhausted after our training. Gill did well in her test and Bob did so-so and will be tested again in 3 months. We both will get Georgian tutors here. At the moment we are having lessons with our host sister who is studying English at Tbilisi University. She keeps on telling us off for not doing our homework.

Congratulations to Chelsea, Sam, and Oscar on the new addition to the family. We look forward to meeting Mac. Please post pictures. Would love to hear from everyone.