Technical difficulties...

Hello all, this is Chris, posting for Erica. Her laptop is having some technical problems so she may or may not be online checking email and updating the blog in the near future. She will  be contacting IBM technical support in Georgia to have the problem taken care of, unfortunately however I don't know the time frame. I'll post updates as I receive them. :)

-chris-

Rockin it in Georgia

Gamarjoba! Rghor Khar? Me Kargi dzallian var. (Hello, how are you? I am very good)

I bet you all didn’t think you would hear from me! Don’t worry, I am alive and well. I have been here for less than a week now, but we have already done so much. We flew in to Tbilisi on Friday early morning and got on a bus for a very long long bus ride. We were all pretty tired and stinky but we couldn’t help ourselves from getting excited as we checked out the sites on the way to Likani (where we were to have a three day orientation). From first glance we decided it looked a bit like the Sound of Music, and I think it remind me a bit of Nojiri as well- incredibly green, big, rolling hills and the bluest sky you have ever seen. This may win for being the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

We arrived at Likani at about 7:00 in the morning and they didn’t let us sleep; instead they made us immediately jump into training. Likani is some sort of spa/resort (though they use those terms pretty loosely here) that used to be some sort of government complex where the Romanovs vacationed. We lived in a dorm style building and had training about Peace Corps rules, basic language lessons, and info about diseases (complete with visuals and sound effects to explain causes of diarrhea). We ate at a cafeteria where we had food that I thought was pretty good, but most everyone else seemed to hate it. Apparently it was Russian cafeteria food… I would do really well in a Russian school, because I thought it was good. After our training we were paired up with our host families and sent off to our new homes for the next 8 weeks. I am placed, along with 5 other volunteers, in the small village of Kvishkheti (yeah, you try and pronounce that….). This is another “resort village” they say. I don’t really know what that means, but it seems pretty nice--- although very very very rural. There are about 800 people in the town I think and I live about 5 minutes away from the school where we have lessons. The other volunteers all live pretty near me and my teacher lives across the street. Everyone knows everyone here.

My host family is wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better family to be placed with. Nona, my host mother, speaks English well enough to explain things to me, so I think I am pretty lucky (as none of the other volunteers have this luxury). I also have hot showers every couple days—and yes, being able to take a hot shower every three days is totally posh compared to the other volunteers. I mock them in class because they all stink. The houses people live in are pretty large and most people have lots of land where they grow their own grapes and make homemade wine. There are three children in my family; they are 8, 10, and 12 years old. They are incredibly cute and well behaved and seem to love me. They also have become my best teachers. They take me all over the house and teach me how to say everything. We spend hours and hours just practicing counting and basic sentences—they have more patience with me than anyone else I think. In turn, I am teaching them the English words. It really works out pretty well. Lizi, the 8 year old (and quite possibly the cutest kid on the planet), is sitting here right now fascinated by my typing and the computer in general. I have no idea what she is saying to me ever, but she rattles off in Georgian anyway. Needless to say, she is the subject of many of my pictures (she recently mastered saying “one, two, three, CHEESE”). My family has two hunting dogs who keep me company if I am ever alone (which is never). I thought it would be hard living with a family. Sometimes I wonder if I am ever going to get any alone time, but I guess it is good that they keep me busy enough I don’t really have time to get sad or feel homesick.

We have language lessons everyday in the morning and then teacher training in the afternoon. On Fridays we will be traveling to another town to meet up with the other volunteers for a day of group training. This town doesn’t have a post office, so I guess Friday is when I will be able to mail things as well. But, I do have internet right here in my host family’s home. It is the slowest dial up ever. But it works. I just will pay my host family at the end of the month, and I think it is 2 Tetri a minute (one cent). So its not too shabby of a deal, but it takes forever for anything to load, so I won’t be doing much on here, just posting once in a while I hope. I haven’t been able to check my email yet, because Gmail won’t load… I think its too slow or something.

So, to sum it all up, so far I love it here. I really do. I actually have sat around and thought about how bad I feel for all you people who aren’t here. It is beautiful and the people are wonderful. It really is true that Georgians love Americans. They are so kind and patient with us when we can’t communicate and everyone invites you in and hugs and kisses you like you are an old friend. They believe that guests are gifts from God and they will treat you that way. OH OH. How can I forget to mention the food? The food is fantastic… no wait.. that doesn’t sum it up. The food is…. Incredibly, amazingly, fantastically, delicious, and wonderful. Seriously. My host mother makes homemade bread, cheese, and wine (all of which I hope I will learn to make soon). For dinner we usually have Kachapuri (a cheese bread), some sort of potato dish with lots of cilantro or dill or some other spice, wine, salad, sometimes meat, and sometimes this bean stuff. For breakfast she usually makes this sweet rice mush stuff (tastes like rice pudding) or French toast. I have yet to find something I don’t like. Everything is fresh from the garden or homemade… its amazing. Cheese is huge here; it is mostly this very salty, feta-like, goat cheese. MMMMMMM. I know you are all so jealous now, and you should be. So yeah, food excellent, house nice, scenery good, weather nice (pretty cool about 55-60 usually), people great. I have yet to experience a real Supra, but we have sat around and made toasts, I mostly just nod and smile since I have no idea whats going on. But they just tell me when to raise my glass and I say Gamarjos and everyone loves it. They think its hilarious to make me pronounce words since I totally can’t say half their letters. I would type a word for you, but we don’t use the sounds, so you wouldn’t really get the idea. The language is hard, but I hope that with the kids help and my language classes I will be able to at least somewhat communicate soon. As of now I can basically say: I am Erica. I am a Peace Corps volunteer from America. I want _____. This is_____. Etc. Pretty basic stuff for the most part. But I am getting there. Alright, so this is pretty lengthy for only a week. But now you get the idea. I hope you all can come visit me here, because I am pretty sure you will love it too. The squat toilets take some getting used to, but they aren’t so bad unless you eat too much cheese…. J Too much info?

Well with that I am off. Love you all and I hope that this was not completely confusing. The more you study another language the worse your English gets.

Amsterdam

Hello everyone!

After a long, but pretty decent, flight to Amsterdam some of the volunteers were just so tired that we went to hotels and got roms and slept for our 12 hour layover. Some others chose to walk around the city. I slept, and I am glad. I was able to take my last hot shower probably for a long time and got a wonderful nights sleep. Amsterdam does look like a fun city though. Our flight for Tbilisi takes off in about an hour so this is probably my last post for a long time. The group is great and I feel very excited about the adventures to come. I miss you all.

so long and thanks for all the fish

Hello to you all on my last night in the USA. Tomorrow my group of 35 or so volunteers will be flying out to Amsterdam where we have a 12 hour layover, and then will be off to Georgia. We get into Tbilisi at 2 in the morning and then have a 3 hour car ride out to our first training site. We stay in a lodge for 3-4 days and then split off into smaller groups for training out in other rural villages. We were told today to pretty much expect to have no internet access for the first 9 weeks of training. This was a tad shocking for most of us, but I guess this is the whole "be flexible" policy that the PC preaches so much.
The last two days have been filled with training activities. Mostly they have been information sessions where we discuss various issues that may come up during service and training. Safety, adaptation, and coping strategies were discussed and silly games were played. Overall it was pretty fun and a good chance to start to get to know the people I will be seeing a lot of over the next few months of training. Mostly the group seems comprised of young recent college grads (although i am the youngest... surprise surprise) and a few older people. Everyone is friendly, excited, and nervous. Some people are here for very specific reasons and others have said that they simply joined the Peace Corps because they couldnt think of a reason not to. A few people said they were looking for career changes and others said they had been unemployed for so long they just needed a place to live and food to eat. People have come from all over the country and seem to represent interesting aspects of American culture.
I just had mexican food for the last time in probably a very long while. It was good.

Because I may not have internet or phone for quite a while, you may not hear from me for a bit. But, please don't stop checking back here, because you never know. But more importantly, please keep emailing me. Because when I finally do get to check my email, I hope to have a full mailbox. Also, some of you have already sent me letters and packages, and I thank you in advance.

Thanks for all your kind words.

Wish me luck!

All packed and ready to go...

... well pretty much. I really have a few last minute things to do, but, other than that I am pretty much ready to fly on out to DC tonight. I will be staying with my friend until monday and then heading over to staging. We will leave out of DC on the 15th, and have a 12 hour layover in Amsterdam before we fly on to Georgia. I will have my cell phone with me up until I leave here, so everyone should feel free to call me and say goodbye. Afterwards my Dad will be taking over my cell phone number. So everyone is free to call him and say hello.

Now, off to repack my carry-on, again.