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!