Blogs from Georgia, Asia - page 27

On Monday night I sleep really well for the second night in a row and wake up in a great mood on Tuesday. I don’t think I realised how rubbish I’d been feeling until I wasn’t! It’s nice to be back at school after my day off. I tell Maia all about my weekend and everyone asks me about Bakoriami and Maia tells me a story about her weekend. Apparently her and Eka had a training session in Zugdidi and during the break they were sitting in a café with a ‘negro’ boy (her word not mine). One of the other volunteers I think. Some Georgian guys at the next table started throwing cake at him. They had to persuade him not to call the police! Honestly, some people. For all its wonderful qualities every now ... read more

“Hotcha ladakh!” we call out, causing the children to scatter in fits of giggles like frightened mice. Slowly, little faces reappear from behind broken masonry and an old rusting car. “Hello” the least timid one whispers back at us. “Hotcha ladakh” we say again. This time they literally roll over each other laughing. “Are you sure that means hello?” “Perhaps not the way we are pronouncing it.” “Maybe he was winding us up and it means my mother is a horse or something like that”. The reaction to our attempted politeness has become more pronounced with each person we pass; from a wry smile by the lady all in black at the bottom of the hill to a shared chuckle from the sturdy women carrying vegetables a bit further up. As we now approach a group ... read more

Having arrived a day before other people in our group we spent the day exploring the city by foot with two of our fellow TLG members. Gerogian drivers are crazy, a zebra crossing does not mean that they will stop or even slow down - there were definately a few close calls today. We explored some of the old city and wonderd through streets and parks. The majority of the buildings were built in the soviet era and are in very poor condition, it is facinating to see how destroyed buildings can look if they are not maintained. It was good however to see that they are in the process of rebuilding and repairing the old buildings with construction work going on all over the town. Not only does this provide jobs but the buildings that ... read more

Ok, I’m going to warn you in advance that this is going to be a fairly whiney post. I don’t mean for it to be, I just had a bit of a rubbish week. A combination of no electricity (and therefore no shower), no sleep and being ill (albeit only a little bit) just conspired to make it a bit miserable. I’m up and off to school with the kids on Monday morning but the marshrutka doesn’t stop for us so we have to walk and we’re about ten minutes late. If I had my way we’d walk every day, partly for the exercise and partly because if the marshrutka fails to turn up or is full then by that time it’s way too late to walk to school in time. Mari and I have the ... read more

Monday morning involves a bit of a mad rush for school. I always forget that Eka has no lessons on Monday so I’m generally waiting for her to put her shoes on as a sign that our departure is imminent. It doesn’t really matter anyway because we wait until 8.45am and, with no sign of the bus, Mari and I start walking to school as fast as our little legs will carry us. When I get home our neighbour’s two grownup daughters are over visiting so everybody sits in the living room chatting and I sit there trying to pretend I have a clue what they’re talking about. Later Eka tells me that Gala wants her to go to his friend’s birthday the next day in Senaki but that she has three classes. It’s not the ... read more