Welcome to Georgia

Since my arrival in Tbilisi, I have done nothing but move. I departed Austin just after noon, arrived in Chicago by 3 PM , left Chicago around 6 PM, arrived in Amsterdam at about 10 AM (Amsterdam time, so about 2 AM my time), ran to catch my flight to Tbilisi which left at 11 AM and arrived in Tbilisi around 6 PM (Tbilisi time, so about 8 AM my time). I had now been awake for more than 24 hours and on planes for 15 of those hours. Most of my fellow teachers were in the same boat as I was, so I'm sure the Teach and Learn Georgia members were taken aback by our disheveled appearance (although, we weren't the first group, so hopefully they were prepared). Once we'd gone through passport control in Tbilisi and signed in with one group of TLG administrators, we sat around for over an hour waiting for our bags. Which never came. Luckily, I packed at least three or four changes of clothes in my carry-on, so I wasn't as bad off as some of the other teachers who only had what they were wearing.

After waiting around for our bags, we proceeded to wait in line to declare our luggage missing. Then we waited for everyone to finish declaring their luggage. Luckily, none of us were going to commit any murders, since immediately upon leaving the baggage claim area, I was checked in by another group of TLG administrators and given a name tag. These administrators however, were accompanied by two large men with machine guns. Welcome to Georgia!

We finally hopped on the bus to the hotel, checked in, had dinner, got a brief orientation and were informed that we would not be staying in Tbilisi the next day, but driving entirely across the country to Batumi, where we would be meeting the president of Georgia. We were expected to be checked out and on the buses by 9 AM. I gave up trying to figure out what

time that really meant to me, because I was too exhausted to calculate time zones.

The bus ride was eventful, to say the least. The buses are not well air-conditioned and the windows didn't open. Therefore, a bus filled with more than 20 teachers in 85 degree weather with the sun out and no AC became a very uncomfortable prospect. Especially when we were all dressed in our finery (or as best we could do without our luggage), which generally meant slacks and dress shirts. Halfway through the trip, the air conditioning began to leak on myself and the two seats in front of me, forcing all of us to abandon ship and move to the back. We finally go to Batumi (and all of us were quite relieved as the roads in Georgia are brand new, so fairly good, but the drivers are insane and don't follow any sort of traffic laws I could figure out, plus much of Georgia is mountains, which meant insane switchbacks with little between the bus and a freefall onto the cars below) and all piled out to run into the club where the president would be speaking with us. It was right on the beach, very posh and completely stuffed with teachers and members of Georgian television crews. After the president's speech (which was very interesting and informal), he left and we wandered the pebbled beach of the Black Sea taking pictures. We ate dinner, then piled into the bus once more for a 3 hour bus ride to Kutaisi, where we would be staying for the next 7 days for our training.

Here in Kutaisi, we are staying in a training center for people involved in the Georgian government, so it is rather well-equipped. Well, half the toilets are actually ceramic holes in the floor, but you get used to squatting rather quickly (or so I've discovered). There is a computer lab, laundry room and meals provided of course. Our first day of lessons (which was today, Monday) began at 7:30 AM for those of us who had not gotten our medical checks in the states (or wherever we were coming from), so we packed 15 people into a van and drove to a back alley (no joke) where there was a very clean, very sanitary and very nice clinic that took our blood and did a urinalysis. After that it was breakfast from 9 AM to 10 AM, Georgian lessons from 10 AM to 1:30PM with a 15 minute break, lunch, Methodology lessons from 2:30 to 6:45 with a 15 minute break. Next up is dinner from 8PM to 9PM, then from 9PM to 10PM we should be getting our cell phones. The rest of the week is exactly the same. I'm honestly not sure when we're supposed to sleep, since we basically have homework and work from 10AM to 10PM every day with only a few breaks for the restroom and breaks for lunch and dinner. It's insane, but that's how it goes I suppose.

After all that travelling and studying and learning and stressing out about no luggage and if I'll know the language and when I'll be getting my cell phone and whether or not I have internet, you would think I would be insanely stressed and hate it. Not so much. Despite my methodology teacher being completely intense (looks like Liza Manelli and talks like Mrs. Bouquet, according to my British classmates) and my Georgian teacher moving faster than I can follow, I absolutely love being in a classroom again. I'm a nerd, apparently. Not to mention Georgia is absolutely beautiful. The countryside is incredible, the weather is fine, the people are friendly (minus the staring; we are foreigners) and I feel strangely comfortable.

I have no idea how often I'll realistically be able to update this (and will be surprised if this actually goes through), because I may be in a tiny village with no internet. I'll do the best I can, but e-mails and entries may be sparse and I'll probably have to choose one or the other. Also, mail will probably be impossible, as Nino (one of the leaders of the group) told us that it once took a package 8 months to get from the US to Georgia. I'm sorry I won't be able to keep in better contact, but I promise to do my best.

Both pictures were taken in Batumi. Essentially, I took a picture of the landscape, then turned around and took a picture of the sunset (one was before the presidential speech, the other was after). I have pictures of the president, the beach, the drive to Batumi and me with my feet in the Black Sea, but it took so long for those two to upload that I gave up and hopefully I'll be able to post more later in the week, assuming I get another spare moment to myself.

Love you all!