My Weekend in Kutaisi

Friday afternoon I was successfully able to get away from my small town life here in Abasha and visit my new friends in Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city.  

From the town center of Abasha I flagged down a Marshuka, which I can only describe as looking similar to either a "60's style shaggin' wagon" or a "rape van" filled with individual seats and smelling like cigarettes and body odor. The ride was only about an hour long and the sights along the way were breathtaking and hilarious.  The silent panic and simultaneous laughter at cows standing in the middle of the highway and an old babushka chasing down a stray dog who was holding onto his stolen goods in his mouth and running for dear life, can only be rivaled by the view of the mountains-- with the thin layer of white snow atop the highest peaks visible. Stunning. Once arriving in Kutaisi, I was immediately overwhelmed by-- everything. Unlike Abasha, Kutaisi has traffic, noise, and well...people.   After using the nicest bathroom in all of Georgia at the McDonalds, I took a bus into the center of town and met Chase at an outdoor park. Next stop, American Corners. Abasha doesn't have one, so I wanted to see what it was all about. At American Corners I met Anne, a peace corps volunteer, who was giving a presentation to some Georgian students on Hispanic Heritage Month. Then I dropped off my things at Chase's host family's house, where I was staying for the weekend, and we headed to happy hour! On Friday nights the expat community in Kutaisi, including a fair amount of cool Georgians, meet up for drinks and dinner. I got to crash this event and meet lots of new and interesting people. We drank some wine, played a few rounds of "fingers"--a drinking game, ate some kinkhali and some meat- frankly in the shape of a turd. Then a small group of us decided to check out a Hookah bar nearby. I can't say it was the best Hookah bar ever, there was only one flavor and the Hookah wasn't properly set up, but nevertheless a good time was had by all. We met a small homeless puppy, in Georgia they are everywhere, with with Chase had some sort of cosmic bond with. Despite my love for animals and my nerdy obsession with animal planet, I couldn't bring myself to hold it because I knew it would be covered in fleas. Eww.  

Saturday morning, I volunteered with Chase and a fellow Fulbrighter in the area, Shawn, with the FLEX program. FLEX  Basically I just helped administer the test and make sure no one was cheating.  Lots of kids came out, about 300, to take the exam and I was happy that I had a chance to be a part of it.  After the FLEX program, the three of us were invited to the The Lion's Club- Lion's Club- to help give a presentation.  During the exercise that followed the presentation, my team, consisting of 3 Georgian girls from the University, created a NGO named Green City and devised a budget for it. I was glad to see young people take such a genuine interest in community service work. At Bates I was a member of the National Bonner Program, doing about 80 hours a semester of community work with the local ESL program and I 100% support any program that gets young people involved with serving their communities. After the presentation, the three of us went back to Chase's house where Shawn and I did a thorough investigation of Chase's laptop-- nothing too interesting unfortunately, except for a hidden file named "boobs map"-- and began drinking wine! By 8 we were successfully inebriated and we stocked up on cookies and cheap Georgian vodka and headed to Tom's "swanky" apartment (an expat working with a finance company). Here we met up with another expat working with TLG, Laurel, and the five of us got to know each other over more than a few glasses of alcoholic drinks (well I can't speak for everyone, because I was definitely the drunkest betch at the party), but from what I do remember, Kutaisi has a very interesting and fun group of expats- and Georgians-- who I can hope to consider close friends :)

Sunday I spent most of the day in Chase's host family's house. I have decided to dedicate an entire paragraph specifically to this family- because that's how awesome they were. Chase's host sister, Nini, speaks very good English and we chatted more than a few times about our favorite American TV shows and our favorite hot actors. Upon hearing that I also watched the TV show Teen Wolf (guess this embarrassing secret is out of the bag) she made me a power point of pictures of hot guys from the show being hot. She was adorable. I didn't have too much interaction with Giorgi, Chase's host brother, except for when I completely misunderstood what was happening and moved all my things and set up shop in his bedroom. Oops. Chase's host mother, Irma, also my host mother's name, didn't speak any English but she was super nice and when I was on my way out she refused to let me leave without making me a giant delicious dinner- which I didn't refuse. The host father is a big drinker (like all men in Georgia) and he had me up Sunday morning, meeting the neighbors, drinking wine, smoking cigarettes, and picking grapes with the whole neighborhood. Meeting this absolutely ridiculous family was by far one of the best highlights of my trip.

Arriving back into Abasha late Sunday afternoon was pretty comforting. The hustle and bustle of Kutaisi and the overwhelming excitement of making new friends was more than enough for one weekend. And my host family was glad to see me! Little Giorgi, who was sitting on the steps, ran down to greet me at the gate, even the cat was nice to me (probably because I'm the only one that sneaks her food). Yes, Abasha I love you, but I hope to be back in Kutaisi again very soon.  

View of Kutaisi from the bridge

The American Corners

The kids waiting to take the FLEX test

Festival of Abasha

Last saturday was the village festival. It was everything that one expects from a Georgian celebration. There was a church service, music, dancing, tables and tables of food, lots of wine, and lots of Georgian men immediately ready to fill your empty glass. I'll start with the church service. My colleague, Nino, took me inside the church where a service was being held. It was beautiful inside, with lots of brightly colored icons on the walls.  It was unlike any service I have been to. It was incredibly small and everyone was standing, sometimes pushing rather fiercely I might add, and everyone was talking. Friends were embracing and having conversations while others sang in the corner and still more lit candles and just observed. Nino forced me to take pictures of everything, pointing and saying "take picture now" and "now from this angle, it would be better." I think I even have a picture of the bathrooms. After the service was the music and dancing. Getting to the front row of this small concert was seriously worse than being at a Jay Z concert. Georgian moms with cameras have the strangest ability to finagle their way through the smallest of spaces. I stood at the very front in the beginning and somehow ended up near the back after only 5 minutes. Those of you who know me know that I am super competitive and not easily pushed aside. So I did what I would do at any other concert, I showed them I meant business! -- I finally made it to the 4th row, fair enough. The dances were beautiful. The Georgian people are so proud of their traditions and everyone was clapping and smiling and of course the moms were waving their cameras. Next, we feast! By far my favorite part of the festival was the socializing and drinking and feasting that came afterwords. Long tables filled with food: meat (seriously a goat that still had its head but it stomach had been carved out and filled with apples), bread, cheese, fruit, eggplant (which was amazing), cakes and WINE. Yes, wine. Drinking sometimes from long horns and sometimes from bowls and sometimes from cups, not even sure which cup was mine at times as there were so many. After a toast you are required to drink back your whole glass and of course, in Georgian fashion, there were about a hundred toasts.  When the whole village had become inebriated, including myself, there was lots of hugging and cheek kissing (sometimes you went in for the cheek kiss and they moved last minute for a real kiss...oops) and I was even fed some grapes-- yes they actually insisted on putting the grapes into my mouth. The whole thing was less sexual than I'm making it sound I promise... but not by much. Anyways here I met another foreigner working in a nearby village. He is from Canada (ay?) and his name is Daryl. Only a few miles away, I suspect we will be hanging out a lot. Chase, a fellow Fulbrighter, living in Kutaisi, also met me there. The three of us were a pretty damn awesome bunch.

Daily life resumed after the Saturday spectacular. My new Georgian friend, Davit, texted me on Sunday to make sure I was alive. His actual text read "How are you feeling morning you drank so much yesterday :)" Frankly, I am not amused. I just got out of 4 years of college....in MAINE, if there's one thing I can do its drink. I happily let Davit know that I was feeling great.  The rain continued all of Sunday and Monday unfortunately and although I am happy to have my super durable waterproof rain jacket, it is no match for the monsoons of Abasha. Note to self: get large umbrella.  My classes have started to become a familiarized routine. Although the kids are amazing and the teachers try their best it is not always easy. Children almost never do their homework and teachers follow lesson from lesson from what I can only describe as a hilariously bad British textbook. Half of the time I don't know what's going on because everyone is speaking Georgian and another quarter of the time I don't even understand the English directions. But alas, everything is tolerable when the class is over and the teachers usher me into the lounge and make me coffee and feed me cake and tell me I'm pretty. Yes, this will work nicely for me.

Fun facts:
Sneakers in England are called trainers, sweaters are called jumpers and to "turn over" means to change the channel on the TV.

Georgian feast

Goat with no stomach

Inside of Georgian Orthodox church

Traditional Georgian dance

First Impressions

My friends have all insisted that I keep a blog of my Fulbright adventure in Georgia. On this hot afternoon in Abasha, with no clue where my host family is or has been for the past 4 hours, I have decided that this moment would be the perfect opportunity to begin blogging.  I will try and update the blog at least once a week with the comings and goings of my new small town life.

First Impressions.

Abasha is beautiful. It is extremely green. Grass and palm trees are abundant and so far the sun has been out in full force. All of the houses and buildings, at least on the main road, have a Mediterranean feel to them-- brightly colored yellow and orange buildings surrounded by palm trees and sunshine. On the outskirts of this one road town the houses turn into what I can only describe as villas. Small, cement houses, sometimes on stilts, surrounded by large green yards filled with cows, chickens and horses.

Abasha is a small town.  Having only the capital city, Tbilisi, to compare it to, Abasha is unnervingly small-- with a population of about 6,400 people. This means of course that there are almost no attractions, and it takes about 3-5 minutes to see the center of town, BUT it also means it has that small town charm. There is no traffic here, no crazy scary Georgian driving. Cars honking horns are to wave hello at neighbors and friends on the streets.  A friendly "gamarjobat" is spoken at almost every turn and to almost everybody.

Schools in Abasha are unparalleled by any in the United States that I have witnessed. Things here seem so informal. Classes start at 9, so I arrive at 8:50 only to be whisked away into the teacher's office and given grape juice, figs, bread, coffee and friendly conversation for about an hour. At 10, I am finally taken to my first class. The bell has rung, but the teachers have decided that to let already poured coffee go to waste is a shame. In class, students stand up when I walk in, yelling "Hello Teacher!" before they sit down again, hands folded atop one another on the desk and backs straight. Certainly something you'll never witness in a public school in Rhode Island. Students stand up when called upon to answer questions or when making inquiries and bad behavior is awarded by a painful pinch to the arm or a slap on the back of the head, not to mention lots of shouting in Georgian.  For the most part, I am done with teaching my classes around 2 pm almost every day. Although I am still not sure how this is, as after every 30 minute class there is a break that seems to last forever and involves food, drink, and relaxation. Out of the whole 5 hours a day I spend at school, about 50 percent of the time is spent in the teacher's lounge with my feet up. Not too shabby.

No personal space. The teachers here and people in general are comedically interested in my lack of a boyfriend/husband. I believe the exact words used over and over again are "she has no husband, no boyfriend, she has nobody" thanks a lot guys. They keep trying to set me up, introducing me to Georgians and assuring me that "he is single too." I have been introduced to the single math teacher at least 5 times, "by the way have you met the math teacher?" Yes, yes I have...and he's 45. Bathrooms at the school are what we like to call "squatty pottys." A few holes in the ground surrounded by a outdoor shack known as the "bathroom." I have recently found the personal teachers bathroom and it has been a huge upgrade from squatting (with no stalls) next to my students. Talk about awkward.

My host family here is awesome. Merabi and his wife and their 3 children, Meri, Keti, and Giorgi, ages 14, 10, and 3. I am not even going to attempt to spell out their last name. Members of the family also include a kitten, from what I can figure out named "cat", the family dog, the family cows, and the flock of chickens in the backyard. Last night we had chicken for dinner and I realized that at one time it had roamed the yard unsuspecting of its fate, like the others do now. Of course that didn't stop me! Apparently Irma, the wife, makes homemade cheese from the cows milk! Meri and Keti both go to the same school that I work in and Irma works there as well in administration. Merabi is the school director for a public school nearby and a well respected man in the community. Giorgi is very small and likes to chase the cows around the front yard and play with the kitten-- and by play I mean forcefully move the kitten's arms and legs up and down and side to side.  They are all very welcoming and very nice people. Luckily, from what I hear, I have it pretty good. Merabi's house has indoor plumbing (which you can imagine I am overjoyed about after having read about the "squatty pottys"), hot water, and heat. Yessss! BUT. it also has mosquitos. Like actually though, it is mosquito season and it is horrifying.

There is not a whole lot to do here. Once classes have ended, I pretty much wander around for a bit and then head home. As soon as I am settled more, I will start using the weekends to make trips around Georgia. And lucky for me, I am only 40 minutes away from Kutaisi, the second largest city in Georgia, where there are a few other Fulbrighters located. Next stop, Kutaisi, then Batumi, a beautiful resort town on the Black Sea.

My room

Front view of the house, dog on front steps

Just the family pets roaming

Giorgi and "cat"