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| A typical Adjaran May day, storm rolling in (as seen from my bedroom door) |
People often say things like "Peace Corps changed me!" and I used to secretly look down on those people, since teaching English for two years in Georgia didn't seem like such a big deal to me - many Georgians will do it for a lot longer than I will. However, despite my best efforts, Peace Corps has indeed changed me in significant ways:
- I not only willingly eat plain pasta (for breakfast!), I actively look forward to it. I am planning on making my host mother teach me how to cook plain pasta in such a delicious way, so that I can continue to eat this in America.
- I clean my shoes on a daily basis. Apparently I've been a slob for my entire life up until this year, who knew!?
- I am now absolutely confident that I do not wish to be a high school teacher for the rest of my life, and I also respect my teachers considerably more than I used to. Thanks guys~
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| 12th grade's last day/ბოლო ზარი was Friday, but they stopped bringing books & coming to class in January -_- |
Life-changing experiences aside, the last year has been weird and fast and beautiful and busy. I'd never written a grant before, and now I feel like I am constantly writing grants and then dealing with the aftermath (actually receiving them). I have an intern (!!!!), and I am trying very hard to treat her well and have this be an educational and helpful experience, since I'm fundamentally opposed to unpaid internships to begin with. I have taught many classes and my younger grades at least seem to enjoy them. My counterpart and I have started an English club that meets weekly, I've made them make zines and hopefully soon we will have the technology to watch movies & do other ~*fun*~ ~*English*~ ~*activities.*~ My English spelling skills have deteriorated drastically. I live with a very sweet host family. I have made friends, Georgian, and American (and more!). I have forgotten a lot of Arabic, but learned a lot of Georgian, and replaced all of the Russian grammar I learned in college (not much) with random food words. I have learned how to play several initially incomprehensible Georgian card games, and have played much more table tennis than I ever had previously. I know what the past perfect is now. I know an unexpected amount about Georgian political parties. I have eaten delicious food products in many different forms. I have learned how to make a new dumpling form. I have been to so many beautiful places - Chiatura twice, the Kutaisi amusement park in the aftermath of rain, Narikala at 7am, and a lot of baths. I go hiking alone, and I have seen a (dead) jackal, a (dead) weasel (stout? mink? ferret?), a (dead) mole, and 2 (dead) hedgehogs - unfortunately, I live next to a highway. I have 33 plants.
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| My adorable club students making books with my counterpart Nineli. |
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| An awkward pic of me & the mayor as I add to my extensive certificate collection. |
I waited to write my 1 year reflection because the family dog died right about then and the post that I was writing in my head was something like "My Peace Corps Experience Has Been A Stream of Deaths," which isn't exactly untrue but leaves out a lot of other things. I then wrote more but decided against the blog-as-diary and against sharing other people's personal tragedies to explain my experience here so far, but here's some Mickey:
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| A sweet & weird baby dog. |
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| <3 |
Hopefully I'll start writing often enough that everything doesn't pile up into unwieldy unstructured posts like this again, but keep your hopes low... Aside from writing more, goals for the next year include:
- more lesson planning/professional development work with both of my counterparts
- daily Georgian study & daily yoga
- write a newspaper article about Keda
- apply for and get into grad school
- visit my coworkers & Georgian friends more
- visit every (accessible) region of Georgia that I haven't made it to yet (Samegrelo & Zemo Svaneti, Racha-Lechkhumi & Kvemo Svaneti, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, & Kvemo Kartli)
- figure out how to predict when my host family will eat meals so that I can join them
- spend less time in cities & more time at home but
- spend less time in my room on my computer.
On that note, until next time!
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| Celebrating Adjaran poet laureate Fridon Khalvashi on May 17, his son Zaza's birthday. |
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| I climbed a tree for these~ |
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| Happy Ramadan from a village near mine! |
