Winter Woes

The most overdue post yet.

 

For those of you waiting in anticipation for my posting… the time has come……

 

This winter has been a strange one. It has been filled with many guests and very little hot water. I doubt any of you are unaware that Giga returned in November and is here for an indefinite amount of time while he figures out what to do next. In early December Andrew and Angela visited for a much too short 3 days. Unfortunately, because it was such a short amount of time, Andrew was forced to do the same tour he did the first time he came out. We spent a day in Tbilisi and then a day in Borjomi before heading back to Tbilisi so they could fly out. However it was a really great visit for all of us. My family loved having Andrew visit again and they are still talking about what a "good girl" Angela is. I don't know what she said to my host mother (mind you they don't even speak the same language), but Marina (host mom) won't stop talking about Angela. Also, it was an extra fun trip because of all the goodies that they brought out for me and my host family. I swear I have enough poptarts to feed me for another two years. After they left, I had just a few more weeks of school before my parents would come visit. School was the usual. Some days I love it, some days I hate it (note below a story about the days I hate). Right after Christmas (non-Georgian Christmas) my parents arrived and I got to be a tour guide yet again. They were able to see a Georgian celebration of New Years. It was actually quite amazing and my first time seeing what they do here as well. Of course, we were in Tbilisi, so we probably didn't actually get to see a very traditional celebration, but I am pretty sure that would have involved a supra and lots of alcohol. Instead we were in Tbilisi with a room looking out the Marriot at the "time square" of Georgia (we call it Freedom Square). It was quite possibly the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen. Because they are so cheap here, everyone can afford to buy the super large fireworks (thank you China). So at midnight, all along the hillside everyone was shooting off their large fireworks throughout all of Tbilisi. Also, even the gipsy children could afford the big fireworks and they liked to run into the crowd and shoot them off at peoples feet. I was pretty surprised that no one burst into flames with all the children throwing fireworks at each other. Anyway, it was a really nice trip and my family loved meeting… my family. We had an American Christmas celebration that my Georgian family loved. Opening that many presents in a row was completely novel for them and it was like having Christmas with little kids. My host parents loved the real parents and everyone seemed to get along amazingly despite the language barrier. We also got to go to some really interesting shows and museums in Tbilisi. I was a little worried for a while, because although we were supposed to start school on the 8^th, that was pushed to the 15^th. But then, I was told by my counterpart that we won't start till the 22^nd or maybe the 29^th.  I told her to call me when she knows for sure. So she calls me on the 14^th:

 

Counterpart: I am going to school tomorrow…. And happy birthday

 

Me: Thank you. Should I be going to school tomorrow, because I am in Tbilisi.. and you told me the 22^nd.

 

Counterpart: Oh no no no, you don't need to come at all. I will call you tomorrow (Monday) night and tell you if we are starting.

 

Me: Okay….

 

Monday: Nothing

 

Tuesday night:

 

Counterpart: You may come to school tomorrow… if you would like.

 

Me: I would like to

 

Counterpart: but the students aren't coming

 

Me: So why should I come?

 

Counterpart: The young students might come. They are more eager.

 

 

So I went for Wednesday. Then Friday comes around and I wake up at my usual 7:45 and I look out at Borjomi covered in nearly a foot of snow. I can already tell it will be cold. I lay in bed for 15 minutes weighing the benefits and drawbacks of not going to school.

 

Benefits: my bed is warm….I have to trudge through the snow for 25 minutes to get to school where the room won't even be heated

Drawbacks: I will feel guilty

Benefits: my bed is warm…. And half the kids won't go anyway since there is so much snow outside.

Drawbacks: I will feel guilty

Benefits: I will actually have time to eat breakfast and enjoy a hot cup of coffee while lazing around in my pajamas

 

You get the idea. I did this for as a long as I could… but guilt won over. I got up and put on the long underwear. I put on two more layers and the boots, jacket, scarf, hat, and gloves. I trudged out in the snow to see that I would have to be the first to carve a path through the snow to school. My nose was freezing. As I am walking I am thinking… It sure is beautiful out right now. This is perfect snow and its untouched because nobody is up yet. Nobody is around and I am alone in this mystical fantasy world. It is so pretty and quiet…. And quiet…. And then I think… Why is it so quiet? Why is nobody else walking to school. That's odd. So I get to school and low and behold… nobody is there. I stand there like an idiot until some woman comes to confirm that in fact, there is no school.

 

SO I trudge home. I get home and inform my host mother, "There is no school today!" She says, "Of course not… why? Were you at school???? (ten minutes of laughter) Why would you go to school? Everyone knows its St. Somethingrather's day of doing something rather." 

 

Would it kill people to give the idiot foreigner a schedule?

 

 

 

Tired of my stories yet??????? Wait one more:

 

I really hate the days that the second graders turn in to monsters and spend the entire class-time mocking my funny accent in Georgian. One of my favorite stories from last year occurred when I attempted to teach the 2^nd grade by myself (without my counterpart there). When they asked me to go do this I thought… Sure, why not? How bad can 2^nd graders get? Oh, Erica, how naïve you can be. You know all those horror films where cute little children turn out to be possessed by the devil and start burning holes in things with their eyes? Well, this was worse. I lost control of the class early on due to the fact that the kids probably had no idea what I was attempting to say to them in Georgian and they seemed to find this quite funny. The class clown of the group, a little boy named Beka, found that he in fact had much more control than I did over the classroom. Every time I turned to the board, all the kids would just burst out laughing. I would then turn around and say in my broken Georgian something that probably sounded like, "What so funny children?, Why you laugh when I not see you?" This of course did not have the desired effect and instead caused more giggles to erupt. So then, one child who probably felt really sorry for me forced out between her giggles "Aren't you going to make him take off his hat?" I, being apparently totally ignorant about the no hat in the classroom rule, said, "No… it be cold in the room, why he not need hat wear if he cold? I not care." This of course caused uproar in the classroom as the kids fell out of their chairs laughing. I calm them down briefly, and I attempt to continue with the lesson. But I finally realize that nothing is going to be done unless I address the hat situation. So I say, "Fine, you think it so funny? Take off hat Beka and now we learn letters." So Beka takes his hat off and the giggles stop and I think to myself, wow Erica,  that was some quick thinking…. Of course, the second I turn around the blackboard again, he puts the hat back on and the classroom erupts in laughter. We played that game for a while. Every time I looked back and asked what was funny, he had taken his hat off again and the most angelic smile on his face. To make matters worse, as my students were getting more out of control, my Georgian skills were rapidly decreasing. I started pleading with the children, "please stop laughing, it really is not funny, it's just a hat." I moved the trouble-maker up to the front of the room to sit facing the board. Of course this only gave him more to do. He would jump up and dance on the chair waving his hat around while the kids laughed uncontrollably. And every time I turned to face him he would sit down again (I know, you are all saying, why couldn't you just send the kid out of the room—maybe to the principal's office? That isn't allowed in my school. The Director doesn't really do that sort of thing and I wasn't even sure she was around. Plus, I knew if I let him out he would just run away and I would get into trouble for letting a 2^nd grader out on his own. Or I could walk him to the office and lose all the other children).

This story is getting really long. Point is.. they got really out of control and I was practically crying because every time I turned around the kid jumps up and the chair and waives his hat around. So finally I confiscate the hat and tell the kid in broken Georgian, "You want hat? If want hat, after class, you go Director's office and talk why I take hat and Director give you hat back." I said this in my most angry teachers voice ever. Then I explained to a room full of second graders that they were going to be responsible for the American leaving Georgia… way to keep your cool Erica….

 

Anyway, so class ends and I walk out with the kid's hat. He asks me if I will give it back and I repeat my incomprehensible sentence that he can get it back when he explains what he was doing to the director. So I walk out with the hat and the students can't believe. So naturally, they follow me exclaiming their surprise to each other and other students along the way: Where is she going? She took his hat. Why did she take his hat? I don't know. Where is she going? She has his hat. She has his hat??? Why does she have his hat? THE AMERICAN TOOK HIS HAT!!!!

Kids start yelling to each other the news. As we walk by the other classroom we begin to multiply. Five feet behind me I have not only all the 2^nd graders, but the 3^rd graders, 4^th graders, and possibly a few 5^th graders. We make our way up the stairs to the teachers lounge collecting the school along the way. Everyone is yelling, "She has his hat!!! She has his hat!!!!! WHERE IS SHE GOING??!!!!!!" They can 't handle this. This is unheard of behavior for a teacher. You can't steal a child's clothing.

I make it to the teachers' lounge and sit down to wait for my counterpart to come back. Meanwhile teachers are coming into the lounge after pushing their way through the crowd of children outside the door. One woman comes in the room and says, "What is going on out there… who took a hat?" But I resolve to not give in the pressure of the other teachers and return the hat. No no no, I will teach this child a lesson. He will be punished. My counterpart comes back and asks me what happened. I explain the story and she puts on her serious look and says she will take care of it. She goes out and comes back in with Beka. Is this the boy? I confirmed that it was. She says in her angry voice, "You say you are sorry!" Through an obvious smile of satisfaction for having gotten so much attention from the school the kid says mockingly, "Sorry…" That's all-- just one word with a smile on his face. No explanation for me. I am not even sure the kid knew what he was apologizing for. My counterpart then puts on a big smile and kneels down and says, "You are such a good boy! Here is your hat." He runs out the door to show the school that he won. I was defeated. Woe is me.

 

 

THE END