Borjomi-ing

Okay everyone, I now have internet hooked up at my home in Borjomi, which may just be an incredibly dangerous thing to do. I have been hanging out at my new site, kind of trying to just get a lay of the land here. Right now I feel like it’s a little hard to get really integrated into the community since most of the people here are tourists. So hopefully in a few weeks, when they all leave, I will figure out whish people actually live here. Right now it is insanely crowded so I mostly just stick with my host family and their friends. I also have been meeting with one of the women who will be going to Switzerland at the end of the month (to represent Borjomi as an Olympic applicant city) to help her practice English. Even though there will be an interpreter with her, she would like to be able to speak for herself a bit. So, last night we met up and took the Gondola up the mountain and rode the Ferris-wheel together while we spoke English. I kid you not. This is my life. I also have developed a strong liking for bumper cars and ride them with my siblings a lot and eat an absurd amount of ice-cream. I live in an amusement park. I hear that many of the other volunteers have already been leaving their sites to meet up in the cities. I think I may be the only volunteer who hasn’t left site. Mostly cause I don’t really have much of a reason to. My site is entertaining enough. Although I think that next weekend there is some kind of PC picnic in Tbilisi- so I will head off to that. On Monday I will be starting a two week English summer camp for three hours a day. It will be nice to have some work so I don’t feel like I am just living off peace corps money to ride bumper cars (as fun as that is). I also will start getting Georgian tutoring starting Monday.

Life here really is pretty easy except that I can’t speak the language. The other frustrating aspect is definitely the gender roles. I can’t even tell you how many times I have gotten into the losing battle of why doing dishes is not just women’s work with my host brother. He is actually relatively progressive for a Georgian man, and he will often clear his own plate (this is a huge deal people), but still he regards it as women’s work and for the most part my host mother and host sister wait on him and my host father hand and foot. I also hate that if men come over to visit, all the women kind of just vacate the room. There is also this double standard about dating/ relationships here- meaning: men can have them, and women can’t. How this works, I don’t really know. Basically if you spend time alone with a guy, people are going to look badly on you (as a girl). But for a guy, there are no repercussions whatsoever. Men are expected to be with as many women as possible before getting married, and women are supposed to be virgins.

Now mathematically (in a country that has no tolerance for homosexual activity) how in the world do men find women? This is where the tsudi (bad) gogo (girl) comes in. A tsudi gogo includes any girls who:

A: have sex before marriage (and of course being alone with a man EVER implies sex); B: live on their own (given that living on your own implies that you have sex);

C: live off their own income (as in not their family—which implies prostitution);

D: drink (we all know what that implies….).

Translation: any typical American girl.

Pair this with a culture incredibly prone to gossiping, and you have a pretty hard situation for an independent American girl. Anytime I go anywhere with my host sister later her mother reports back to us what the neighbors said (thank god so far it has all been good) about where we went and what we were talking about, etc. So, if my host mother gets calls from the neighbor just to report on what kind of ice-cream I was eating, you can imagine what kind of rumors would be started if I even remotely gave the impression that I was doing any of the above things. And, to top it all off, since it is a well known fact in Georgia that all American girls are tsudi gogos, I am watched EXTRA carefully.

Other funny things about here: Anytime I sit down or lean against something my family freaks out and puts a pillow or blanket between me and whatever cold hard surface I am leaning on, because it is also a well known fact in Georgia that anything cold can cause any number of illnesses. The one they are most worried about seems to be chronic infertility. However, apparently sore throats, stomach aches, and headaches are all common symptoms of sitting on a cold surface. Also (Shirlee you better be paying close attention, this is medical info you may not be getting in your fancy medical school) never sit in a room with windows (or a window and a door) open on the two sides of you. This cross breeze is generally bad for your health and again causes infertility in women. And, on the subject of infertility, if you really want to send the women into an uproar here, try saying that you aren’t really sure you ever want to have children. Oh the existential debate that will ensue. What is the purpose of your life? What do you mean you don’t want to get married soon? Thankfully my family is pretty cool on this stuff, and my host sister even has big plans to study in the US and put off getting married for a while (gasp).

Also, I have recently learned that my shoes are most definitely not cool enough for this country, along with most of my other clothes. The peace corps info needs to have some SERIOUS revision in the “what to pack for Georgia” section. First of all, people most definitely do not wear only black here (unless you are like over 40—and perhaps in the tiniest of villages). Secondly, they should have told us that Georgian people place a HUGE amount of importance on brand names and fashion. Even people who have absolutely no money here, they will spend it all on clothes and cars. People who cant afford sit toilets drive Mercedes and wear designer clothing. I made the mistake of buying shoes in a market in Khashuri, and I have still not heard the end of the mockery from my host sister. Apparently cheap 15 Lari black sandals are like the most embarrassing thing ever to wear around Borjomi. I think maybe its more like this in Borjomi than other places in Georgia, cause this is where all the rich Tbilisi-ites vacation. Anytime we are going out to the park, my host sister and brother have to go change their clothes and put on something nice. I just throw on my sweatshirt and some flipflops (I mean really, who am I trying to impress here? It’s not like I can date here anyway!).

So that’s life in Borjomi. Nothing like what I thought PC would be, but interesting in its own way. Sometimes I wonder if I would rather be digging pit latrines in Africa like Shuly is, but for whatever reason I was sent here instead and I am going to attempt to get the most out of the next two years. I don’t know if anyone has more specific questions regarding life here, if you do, feel free to post them and I can try and answer them.