The Day I Meet My Host Family

The day finally came that we broke free of Bazaleti and went to Gori to meet our host families.  It was every bit as awkward as I knew it would be.  It was very much like a giant game of Red Rover where the one side took the other side home with them. I ended up in the Ruisi Cluster with the Baliashvili family.  They are awesome.

My დეიდა (mom, pronounced day-dah)'s name is Nino.  She's 33 and always happy.  She has an amazing garden and talks to the neighbor lady all the time about seeds and starts.  They are hilarious.  My და ("dah", sister) is 17 and her name is Nazi ("Nah-zee").  She loves One Republic, John Legend, and Adele.  She takes English Conversation lessons in Gori, so she saves me.  She translates a lot, but then feeds me vocabulary constantly.  I'll correct her pronunciation and her homework, and she speaks slowly and repeats things often.  We have a great thing going. And then I have a little ძმა ("dz-mah", brother), Rezo ("Rrrrrez-oh").  He's 11 and fun and I think he is involved with the local church somehow.  I'll figure it out on Sunday.  I told him I would go.  Their მამა ("mama", dad - yes, it's opposite from English) works in the West and I guess he only comes one one weekend a month.  I haven't quite figured out what he does there, but we are taking baby steps here...  Our ბებია ("beh-bee-yah", grandma) lives in a smaller village Northeast of here, but she's here visiting.  She's fun and we commiserate with the cold.  That's about the extent of our communication, but it has bonded us. They are very chill and I like them a lot.  I really lucked out with my host family.

Like I said in my last post, Georgia seems just like home. I'm in a bit of a smaller valley now, so it's just like Cache Valley.  The weather is similar too, but since we don't have central heating, it gets really cold outside. Particularly at night.  I was fine for the first couple hours, but I woke up freezing.  They gave me a great comforter, but it wasn't my usual heated mattress pad and double comforter set-up, so naturally I was cold like unto death.  Cold enough that I was awake enough to know that I needed my sleeping bag, so I rolled over and unpacked it and pulled it over me.  I wasn't awake enough to actually open it and get in.  And also not awake enough to realize that maybe I shouldn't put it directly on my face.  As my body temperature finally rose, my breaths became shallower.  Soon I was gasping for air and realized I was about to suffocate myself in the name of a warm nose.  I made a breath hole and luckily didn't become the shortest-lived Peace Corps trainee.  I almost didn't survive the first night unsupervised.  Funnily enough, they didn't cover that in the Safety and Security briefings... Maybe sleeping bag asphyxiation isn't a huge threat.  Or maybe the rest of them are smart enough to give themselves a slight cross-breeze.

The good news is that Georgian is actually seeming manageable these days. I still don't understand 95% of what is spoken around me and there is so much that I have to learn, but it doesn't sound completely foreign anymore.  I have the alphabet down and I have classes and Nazi. I wish I could remember more of what she teaches.  My brain resembles a saturated sponge these days.  There's just so much to learn!  So I write it all down and I'll come back to it later. But even ცოთა ("tso-tah", a little) progress is progress, so I'll take what I can get.

But I've taken a break from homework to watch Georgian X Factor.  One guy totally killed it with Ice Ice Baby.  He brought the house down, and I think he sang it better than most English speakers.  So life is good here in Saqartvelo (Georgia in Georgian).  I don't have wifi, but their computer has internet, so I have some access.  I'll update with pictures as soon as I can.

Nakhvamdis (goodbye)!

The Day I Finally Take a Picture

This one, to be exact:

So far Georgia looks a lot like home, actually.  But then again, I haven't seem much yet. We have been mostly stuck in a "compound" that used to be a Russian radio scrambler (as in they would take the US radio signals and bury them in a deep dark cave or something).

I really wish I had more to report.  We have just been in the compound, learning Georgian and having discussions about what to expect for PST (Pre-Service Training). The good news is that I now know how to say "I don't know" and "where is the bathroom?" The two most important phrases. I hope they come in handy tomorrow when I have to meet my host family.

I'm mostly excited to get out into real Georgia soon.  We have been pretty isolated so far and just been surrounded by fellow PC Trainees.  After all the waiting and now orientation, I think we're all ready to start jumping and and getting our feet wet.  Tomorrow will be an exciting day for everyone!

Oh this old thng?

Yup, I'm bringing this blog back from the dead for my travels to Georgia (the country).  I'll try to blog pretty regularly, so we'll see how successful I am.

We are officially Peace Corps Trainees!  After months of waiting and preparing, it's quite a relief to finally be in-country, meeting staff, and discussing action plans for work.  It's also a relief to finally be here because of the long journey it took to just get to this location. I left Richmond at 5 am Thursday morning, drove to the airport in snow and ice, flew to Washington, DC, rode metros and cars to see friends and check-in at staging, spent a couple days being trained by US Peace Corps Staff, then we all hauled all our luggage to the airport (there was so much luggage), and flew to Munich to have an 8 hour layover.  Most of my new friends stayed around the terminal, but my old friend Logan and I spent the day at the spa.  Best. Layover. Ever.  Seriously, I've never felt so relaxed and pampered between plane rides.  Thanks Munich! Our flight to Tbilisi got in at 3:15 am, but we were still welcomed by many staff and current volunteers.  Such a warm welcome.  We loaded into buses again and drove up north to our training site in Bazaleti.  It's a little lake town and we are all housed in an Old Russian Radio compound.  It's all updated and quite nice. 

So far the staff seem amazing and I really like the other volunteers.  We are a diverse group, but we are all united in the fact that we signed up for this crazy adventure to this beautiful country. 

Georgia, sasiamovnoa (nice to meet you)!