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Published: December 14th 2011
Our week of orientation is coming to a close, we are both exhasted yet excited to begin our time in Gerogia outside the four walls of this Hotel. I don't know whether we have decribed the hotel before, it is a huge ex soviet hotel with very dim lights and resembles something from a horror flick.
.Mikaela and I got the news two days ago that we have been placed with a host family together meaning that we will not have to rent an appartment which was a relief to us as we wanted to see Georgian culture from the inside. We have been placed in a small village named Shilda near the region centre of Kvaveli in the Kakheti region in East Gerogia. Our region is known as the wine capital of Georgia. Our family has 6 people including grandparents, parents and two boys so it is surely going to be interesting! From what we have learnt it is very typical for a number of generations to live together in one house hold in Georgian families.
The training days have been long (from 9am to around 7:30pm) and at times trying. We have had lessons on Georgian language,
culture, how to use the various public transport systems and teaching methodology. Our favourite classes have been Georgian language class because our teacher Nana is so cool, yes that is how I will describe her, she happens to also be a really good teacher. We are both struggling with all aspects of the language but have both made some progress in different areas. Mikaela seems to have a much better basic understanding of the language structure and vocabulary and I put on a great false Georgian accent. Between us we can say basic greetings, ask how to get to places, explain where we are from and why we are here and negotiate with taxi drivers.
Some things we have learnt about Georgian culture:
Georgians turn three lanes into five when driving (this we have already experienced)
Guests are seen as gifts of the gods
Georgian gender roles are extremely defined. Men are the primary breadwinners and head of the house, they make all family decisions. Meanwhile the females are the neck that moves this head. Even if an idea belongs to the woman her job is to make the man believe that it was in fact
his idea. Mikaela thinks that this is also the case with us however I know I run the show.
When dating Georgian women hold the power and will force men to chase them for a long time if they really want to marry them. It is said that no means yes, maybe means yes, and yes means you are not a Georgian.
We have been exploring Tbilisi during the evenings, it is a beautiful city when lit up at night, I forgot to take the camera so there are no shots in this blog, however I am sure at some point we will ruturn from our village and I will take some photos then. Going out to dinner is very cheap here even in the capital city. We went to a large Gerogian restaurant and shared all different Georgian cuisine (which is amazing by the way) including drinks which cost us $6 each!
We are both nervous and excited about meeting our family tomorrow. It is going to be a huge day and I will write about what happened in our next blog rather then explain what may happen now, from what I hear it is going
to be emotional for both our family and us. It will be sad to leave the friends we have made over orientation, but we have all planned to stay in contact and meet on weekends and during the holidays to maintain some sanity.
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marnee and amy
non-member comment
bonjour
hey aaron and miki, we are very impressed with your new life! would love to have seen aaron drunk, mikaela not sure how u managed NOT to vomit while holding the bag for him! look forward to new posts. its snowing here, white christmas hopefully! have a great christmas holidays. love marnee and amy and baby bunnell