*it has continued to snow since my last post. Massively. it has been hard to even get in and out of my village because the roads are so bad, and school has been cancelled for the rest of this week. The temperature has also been way below normal for here, and when you don't have indoor heating except for a wood stove at nights, it gets cold! At least I know I'll be one of those people who claim to have had to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways, you know, the one whose story always seems to trump other people's cold stories and turns them into an epic bad-ass? At least that's what I tell myself as I slip along the icy road to school: Alright, Kelsey, you may be from Arizona, you may have been teased a lot by your family for wearing a jacket in Minnesota in November, but you don't have heating and your outdoor shower and toilet are currently covered by two feet of snow. Everyone else is a wimp. Though really it's more of a chant like this: When will it be warm when will it be warm when will it be warm?
*To rub it in, people around here have been asking me what the weather is like in Arizona. (Well actually what the weather is like in America...) Warm and sunny I grumble. They ask more questions and then tell me how great it is, but really I feel like it's just a cruel conversation that I have on a daily basis.
*Last weekend, we barbecued some pork Mtsvadi out in the yard and then set up a table and sat in the snow eating and drinking wine. A nice lunch! I wish I had taken more pictures, and I seem to be saying that a lot more lately because my time here is almost done.
*I was in Tbilisi one weekend to help out with the same IDP center where some other PCVs and I organized a camp at last summer. We were asked to come back and conduct a training on the history of Peace Corps, volunteerism, and how to design some volunteer projects. Besides GLOW this has been one of my favorite projects/organizations to work with. This center has everything so well put together, and when most of life here is frustrating beyond belief, having something be organized, easy, and productive is a welcome opportunity for us.
*Here are some pictures from the English cabinet we renovated last semester. The problem with how Georgian schols are set up is that each group of kids stays in the same group and same room all day, while teachers rotate in and out to see them. This means that resources are never used because teachers have no where to store them or have to carry the around all day. My counterparts and I thought creating an English cabinet (room) where we had all the English books and a nice environment with a new laptop would make teaching easier, and then the classes could come to us. It didn't work out that way though, since the school apparently didn't have enough rooms to go around, so the 5th grade was put there permanently. This meant that everytime we wanted to have a class in there, we'd have to kick 5th grade out. 5th grade has also been dubbed by the teachers as the heathens, which didn't mean good things for the room. The door was broken immediately and there was trash everywhere, as well as sunflower seeds (I really really really hate sunflower seeds). We finally lobbied our director put 11th grade in there, and they take really good care of the room, but we still rarely use the room itself because shuffling of students just takes too much effort. Luckily we bought a laptop that is portable, though throughout all of last semester it was broken and I was constantly going back and forth to Tbilisi to get it fixed. Anyways, pictures!
*I'm in super hibernating mode since its so cold. There's really no where warm during the day except in my sleeping bag, and that limits my activities to watching TV on my computer with my head poking out, or sleeping. Really, trading our hard drives with each other to get new shows or movies is a bit of a social event for volunteers. I've managed to watch so much TV the past two years though I almost feel proud of myself. 6 seasons of House, 6.5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother, 6 seasons of Sex and The City (twice!) 5 seasons of Big Love, 4 seasons of Mad Men, and a lot of movies. Now I'm finally starting on The Wire. Almost proud of myself except that I had absolutely no interest in ever watching these shows in the first place. I've also gone through almost every interesting book in the volunteer lounge at the office here (there are a lot of non interesting books) and I think the same goes for books as it does for TV and movies here....people will read anything just to not be totally bored. Maybe that's why the office has 5 versions of Beowulf.
*My counterpart and I were teaching 5th grade the other day. I really don't like 5th grade (they are the heathens after all) and they especially like to set off fireworks during class. I thought this was going to be a really bad day, but it turned out alright. My counterpart did nothing to take the fireworks away, but she soon had gathered up all their sunflower seeds and thrown them into the petchi. Then in retaliation one of the boys proceeded to make fun of my Peace Corps issued phone (it is pretty lame I have to admit) but he had to stop once I noticed he had a pink tinkerbell backpack and took the opportunity to point it out to the class. Please don't judge me for making fun of a ten year old.
*And the final story of this post. Georgians have a thing against being out in the cold, without slippers in the house, or with wet hair because they say that is how you catch colds. When I got home today after traipsing though nearly a foot in snow, I asked my host grandmother if Georgians make snow angels. She said yes but that I shouldn't do it because I'll catch a cold. Taking that as a semi-dare, I went outside and started on my snow angel. She and my host sister followed (who was brimming with glee that someone besides her was being rebellious) and I stood up defiantly, but one minute later as my back was turned a horse cart with wood went through the yard, perfectly decapitating my snow angel. She told me that's what I get for not listening to her. (and before any parental units ask, there was never any danger of any Kelseys being harmed during the snow angel adventure. I do know not to lay down in front of horse carts)
*also.....have you seen my post to the right of the page about donating to GLOW? We have over half of what we requested!
*To rub it in, people around here have been asking me what the weather is like in Arizona. (Well actually what the weather is like in America...) Warm and sunny I grumble. They ask more questions and then tell me how great it is, but really I feel like it's just a cruel conversation that I have on a daily basis.
*Last weekend, we barbecued some pork Mtsvadi out in the yard and then set up a table and sat in the snow eating and drinking wine. A nice lunch! I wish I had taken more pictures, and I seem to be saying that a lot more lately because my time here is almost done.
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| view from my balcony |
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| our back garden |
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| they're too chicken to walk in the snow. ha, get it? |
*I was in Tbilisi one weekend to help out with the same IDP center where some other PCVs and I organized a camp at last summer. We were asked to come back and conduct a training on the history of Peace Corps, volunteerism, and how to design some volunteer projects. Besides GLOW this has been one of my favorite projects/organizations to work with. This center has everything so well put together, and when most of life here is frustrating beyond belief, having something be organized, easy, and productive is a welcome opportunity for us.
*Here are some pictures from the English cabinet we renovated last semester. The problem with how Georgian schols are set up is that each group of kids stays in the same group and same room all day, while teachers rotate in and out to see them. This means that resources are never used because teachers have no where to store them or have to carry the around all day. My counterparts and I thought creating an English cabinet (room) where we had all the English books and a nice environment with a new laptop would make teaching easier, and then the classes could come to us. It didn't work out that way though, since the school apparently didn't have enough rooms to go around, so the 5th grade was put there permanently. This meant that everytime we wanted to have a class in there, we'd have to kick 5th grade out. 5th grade has also been dubbed by the teachers as the heathens, which didn't mean good things for the room. The door was broken immediately and there was trash everywhere, as well as sunflower seeds (I really really really hate sunflower seeds). We finally lobbied our director put 11th grade in there, and they take really good care of the room, but we still rarely use the room itself because shuffling of students just takes too much effort. Luckily we bought a laptop that is portable, though throughout all of last semester it was broken and I was constantly going back and forth to Tbilisi to get it fixed. Anyways, pictures!
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| my awesome counterparts and I carried all the tables and chairs in. then they were replaced with real desks. boo. |
*I'm in super hibernating mode since its so cold. There's really no where warm during the day except in my sleeping bag, and that limits my activities to watching TV on my computer with my head poking out, or sleeping. Really, trading our hard drives with each other to get new shows or movies is a bit of a social event for volunteers. I've managed to watch so much TV the past two years though I almost feel proud of myself. 6 seasons of House, 6.5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother, 6 seasons of Sex and The City (twice!) 5 seasons of Big Love, 4 seasons of Mad Men, and a lot of movies. Now I'm finally starting on The Wire. Almost proud of myself except that I had absolutely no interest in ever watching these shows in the first place. I've also gone through almost every interesting book in the volunteer lounge at the office here (there are a lot of non interesting books) and I think the same goes for books as it does for TV and movies here....people will read anything just to not be totally bored. Maybe that's why the office has 5 versions of Beowulf.
*My counterpart and I were teaching 5th grade the other day. I really don't like 5th grade (they are the heathens after all) and they especially like to set off fireworks during class. I thought this was going to be a really bad day, but it turned out alright. My counterpart did nothing to take the fireworks away, but she soon had gathered up all their sunflower seeds and thrown them into the petchi. Then in retaliation one of the boys proceeded to make fun of my Peace Corps issued phone (it is pretty lame I have to admit) but he had to stop once I noticed he had a pink tinkerbell backpack and took the opportunity to point it out to the class. Please don't judge me for making fun of a ten year old.
*And the final story of this post. Georgians have a thing against being out in the cold, without slippers in the house, or with wet hair because they say that is how you catch colds. When I got home today after traipsing though nearly a foot in snow, I asked my host grandmother if Georgians make snow angels. She said yes but that I shouldn't do it because I'll catch a cold. Taking that as a semi-dare, I went outside and started on my snow angel. She and my host sister followed (who was brimming with glee that someone besides her was being rebellious) and I stood up defiantly, but one minute later as my back was turned a horse cart with wood went through the yard, perfectly decapitating my snow angel. She told me that's what I get for not listening to her. (and before any parental units ask, there was never any danger of any Kelseys being harmed during the snow angel adventure. I do know not to lay down in front of horse carts)
*also.....have you seen my post to the right of the page about donating to GLOW? We have over half of what we requested!
Nice job on the cabinet!! Those chairs are an interesting design, specifically the legs.
ReplyDeleteAnd to comment on your being a wimp from Arizona. Now, it is true that I had to walk to school when it was 30 degrees below zero, but I did have indoor plumbing and hot water for a shower! Your grandma grew up more like what you are going through. I guess, like smartness skips generations, (at least you and GM tell me that) so does toughness. Your dad.
ReplyDelete