June 29, 2008 Instant K’ava

Saturday morning Travis and I get to Skola and the door is locked, hard. We were so excited! Haha. Tea, our teacher, showed up and promptly called the school director to open the doors. At least it knocked off like 20 minutes from the lesson. ;) Class was hard for all of us – not only was it Saturday, it was Kathleen’s birthday! Ironically and completely by chance her birthday was the day we were scheduled to have lunch at her house. Her family lives on a farm, all of their food is made by hand. They make their own jam, bread, meat patties from the pigs, chickens and cows in their yard. They made her an awesome birthday cake. It was coffee flavored…I had 4 pieces and a cup of instant coffee. After having about 5 pieces of lobiani (bean bread with cilantro) it is fabulous.

The five of us hung out for about 4 hours after lunch. It was very relaxing and fun to talk about something other than our assignments. We walked to the maghazhia to get some koka kola and tskhali (water). After that I headed home, and made it just in time. There was a massive thunderstorm! It was beautiful to see the pouring rain across the mountains. I sat with chems debi da deda (my sisters and mom) in the kitchen while it rained. I then decided to work on my homework a bit and to work on my homework.

Sunday Kathleen, Travis, Jen, Brad and I met at the Marshutka stop and went into Khashuri. Amanda, Tyler, Phil and Mike met me. Lucy and Jessica met up with Travis. Later we met up with Katie, Garrick, Kirsten, Cate and Katelyn. It was hilarious when we all ended up in the same resturanshi we ate at on Friday as a huge group. So much fun to see so many trainees outside of training!! Things are much cheaper in Khashuri and it is relatively easy to get around. Minus the fact that it was HOT and HUMID…and I have to wear PANTS, it was tons of fun. Haha.

The bazeri (bazaar) has anything you could ever need…it is like a collaboration between the farmers market and the lambertville flea market. When we went to the restaurant I ended up taking charge and ordering. Everyone else became quite timid. Somehow my language pulled through and everyone thanked me for doing it…keep in mind it is very intimidating to be in a place where no one speaks english. And being American doesn’t mean people love you. Anyway, I did it and somehow lunch for 7 people only cost $10. Pretty SUPER DUPER AWESOME if ya ask me.

When I got home my host sisters helped me correct my homework and then Lizi asked me to take a walk with her. We walked through a neighboring village, to a school where I had been last week for technical training on Monday. Lizi and I worked on my Georgian language skills, and I helped her learn the English translations. We sat on a bench outside of the school for a long time and played with her dogs. It was funny to see all the kids in the village stroll through and look at the American girl.

After awhile we began to walk again. Chappy, the smaller dog went buck wild on a chicken in the road and had it by its throat! Hahaha. We called him and he let go, turned around and looked at us with a mouth full of feathers. HILARIOUS. Then he proceeded to chase down every single stinkin’ droha (cow) in the road. Lizi and I were pretty scared as the cows began to run toward us. Lizi had me wait in a field as she disappeared in the woods. She came running out with a huge boquet of flowers for me. It was so cute. J

She then told me that part of the field was her’s, and a few fields down were Giorgi’s and Salome’s. A few dirt paths later and we ended up in her bebias da papas (grandma and grandpa’s) house. I was really excited because I hadn’t met them yet. They are Deviko’s parents, and are quite possibly the cutest people I have ever met, Dali and Ofto. Ofto was disappointed to hear that I did not speak Russian well because he could. Anyone over the age of 20 speaks Russian here because until recently Russian was obviously manditory in schools. Now only some schools still teach it, and many people do not admit that they can even speak it.

Dali showed me pictures of Daniel, the volunteer they had in 2005. He lived with Dali and Ofto; at the time Deviko and Nona were living there as well with their children. It is a part of Georgian culture for people to remain living with the husband’s parents. Most families are very large and live with each other. In any event, it was evident that Daniel really made an impression on Dali. Her eyes were full of love and pride as she shared her pictures of him.

The girls and I wandered around eating grapes off the vine. Cherries, plums and pears from the trees in the yard. It was so much fun. Women and girls do all the fruit picking here- Salome was like a spidermonkey in the cherry tree! I was very impressed with her climbing abilities. She got excited because I love cherries. We all ate dinner together outside and they toasted to victory and a friendship between Georgian and America. They then proceeded to talk about my birthday in Georgian because they didn’t want me to know they are planning something. I learned how to say birthday because two trainees had birthdays this past week so I caught on rather quickly. Nona started to notice and laughed. They are absolutely adorable. Salome and Lizi begged me to stay with their family my two years of service. That would be so amazing!