Duck, Duck, Goose!

Well, this week has been great! Started school, catching up with friends and fam, teaching, grape picking, and supra tonight!!

This week started out quite interesting though. I get to school on Monday to find out I have no schedule for teaching yet and probably no classes that day. I was there for 3 hours for a 10 minute presentation.I still am not sure what time I need to be at school on Monday because the teacher that I am suppose to be teaching grade one and two with had no idea about our classes on Wednesday and I was there 2 hours before I actually had to be. I am actually getting to do some teaching this semester though, which is so much fun :) I also found out that aparently, the English World books refer to an eraser as a rubber. I found this out when Mari (my co-teacher) was doing translations with my grade 4 class and one girl put her hand up and answered "Do you have a rubber?". OMG I legit almost spit my water all over the desk. I casually mentioned to Mari that we should call them erasers from now on! I am really looking forward to this semester, I can't wait to dive into the teaching and see how much these kids learn this semester :)

On Friday, I took my grade 3 class out and taught them how to play duck duck goose as a reward for finishing their homework, it was SO MUCH FUN!!! I now have grass stains all over my jeans, but it was totally worth it!! It was hard getting them to get the hang of it at first because my co-teacher (who usually translates things into Georgian) was inside with the other kids that didn't finsish their homework. It is such an amazing feeling though, when the kids actually start to catch on to what you are teaching them. We eventually had an audience of kids looking through the windows of the school, even other teachers were coming out to see what we were doing. Im pretty sure I enjoyed it just as much as the kids did :)

Yesterday I went into Telavi, then spent the night at Neema's in Zemo Alavani, which is another village close to mine. It was nice to catch up and have a girls night. When I got home today, I spent the afternoon picking grapes. It was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Thankfully there was a couple visiting from Russia who spoke a bit of english so I could actully communicate with everyone :) Then at 6, I was invited over to their house for a Supra, where we had even more laughs and all the toasts were translated for me by the Russian couple so I actually had an idea of what was being said. Lots of food and lots of laughs made for a great night :) I can still hear the party going on next door!

I am very much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and having a very relaxing day! Next weekend we are taking a trip to Batumi (the Black Sea), and I will hopefully get a chance to post some pictures!

Love and miss you all!!

Back to the Grind

Well, I think it is safe to say, that was a good weekend. Very relaxing :) School starts tomorrow and I am very much looking forward to it. As much as I enjoyed laying around trying to get over my jet-lag this weekend...I dont think I could make it an every day thing!

At supper last night, Nineli asked me to go to the market with her this morning. We set a time for 9 am...Well, I was fully awake at about 6 -_- I spent the majority of the morning in Akhmeta browsing around. Walnuts are in harvest right now and everyone is buying/selling them to make various Georgian foods. Right now, practically the whole deck at my house is covered in them. The grapes are also almost ready at my house :) They are still green but I have still been sneaking the odd one as I walk by!

Sofi still isn't back from Batumi yet, where she is playing in a basketball tournament. I am very excited for her to come back on Thursday, its weird not having her around.  :)

Sorry this hasn't been a very exciting post, I can't think of anything to write at the moment. I have been thinking all weekend "oh I have to put that in my blog" but when push comes to shove, I can never remember any of it. I guess I'm going to have to start writing things down...jeez I hope this doesn't mean Im getting old... hmm. Well, TTFN folks :)

P.S. A certain unmentionable may or may not have fallen off the clothes line into the neighbours yard (all the yards are separated by a short concrete wall and the clothes line is on the deck). Any ideas on how to retrieve this certain unmentionable? (reaching down to get it isn't an option!)

Finally!!

Well, after what seemed like ages, I am finally settled in to my Georgian home, and couldn't be happier!!

The plane landed last night at 11pm and I was warmly greeted with a bottle of Georgian wine from passport control. I then headed down, collected my bags and exchanged my money. I organized my things and headed outside to grab a taxi to my hostel. It is nice to know that I haven't lost any of my negotiating skills as the driver tried to charge me 40 Lari for a cab to my hostel (the same ride to the airport from the hostel only costed 20 when I left for home), after a short broken english/georgian conversation he called a taxi for 20 Lari (I win :)). To my surprise, I was exstatic to be here, thinking I was going to be missing home more than ever when I landed, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. When I arrived at the hostel, I settled in, called home and tried to call it a night, but with no success (I have the time change to thank for that). I finally fell asleep at 4:30 am, and didn't wake until 11. I made myself presentable, and headed out to enjoy Tbilisi until my Marshutka left at 3.

When I got to the bus station, I was told that the marshuta wasnt leaving for another hour (for my fellow Canadians, 1 hour in Georgia is not 1 hour, GMT=Georgia Maybe Time). I waited for almost 2 hours and we set off to Akhmeta. When I finally arrived in Matani, after negotiating another cab from Akhmeta, I could barely contain myself as I knew my family was waiting for me through that large steel gate. I thanked the cabbie, dropped my things outside of the cab and practically ran up the driveway. My host mama was sitting down cleaning walnuts, and quickly dropped everything and ran to me. I could feel the tears welling up as I opened my arms for her hug. I barely set my things down and Nineli, says "Katie, eat?", this didn't surprise me one bit! I brought my things to my room and went downstairs. I get to the kitchen and she had made me scrambled eggs, and soup(she knows what I like!!). After dinner, I made some tea and sat out by the fire with my mama. After my tea I decided to head upstairs to unpack and set up my room. Now, I have taken up my usual spot on the balcony/deck and am enjoying all the sounds Georgia has to offer :).

Man, I can't even begin to describe how happy I am to be here. I miss everyone and everything at home tremendously, but I am quite content where I am for the time being!

Until next time!! <3