The never ending lunch

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I get myself up pretty early on Monday and manage to get the Metro by myself for the first time, so I’m feeling pretty smug. I take a marshrutka to Zugdidi but, as usual, things happen that are outside my control and beyond my comprehension. At Senaki I’m told to get off the marshrutka and to get on another one, where we sit and wait for a while. I once again realise that if a Georgian guy wants your phone number there’s really nothing you can do about it. Saying no makes no difference. Saying you’re married makes no difference. If that guy wants your number, he’s going to get it. Eventually we drive to Zugdidi and by the time we get there it’s just me and two guys on the bus. We arrive just in time to get the last marshrutka back to Koki but it’s packed so the guys tell me not to take it. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know if they’re going to drive me back to Koki or if we’re waiting for something. Eventually one of them asks me back to his for dinner but I say no, my family will be waiting for me. Finally I give up and call Eka to try to get a translation and she tells me her and Gala are in Zugdidi so they’re going to come get me. Phew! We go home and have supper and then later, at about 9.30pm, Gala calls me into the kitchen where we eat fried eggs and drink vodka. No wonder I’ve become so fat over the last three months!



Tuesday is a really warm day, but very windy. School is the same as ever but I manage to use the internet and there’s a message from a guy in Tbilisi who says he’ll have a spare room in January so after school ends I wander into Orsantia to top up my phone so I can call him. Orsantia really is a shit hole. Basically you get the impression walking through it that the world would be a better place if it burnt to the ground. It’s weird because Koki’s a really pretty little village and then, just next door, you have what is effectively a rubbish dump. I think it may actually be where the rest of Imereti<span> dumps its rubbish. Anyway, I come home and speak to the guy about the room. He’s going away for Christmas so he says he’ll give me a call when he gets back to Georgia at the beginning of January. Later, a couple of the neighbours come over and we have lunch. But it never ends. We sit there eating and drinking wine for five hours solid. It’s fun but it’s too much! I am very very drunk. I go to have a ‘lie down’ at about 7.30pm and never get up again.



Wednesday is a really rough day at school. My lessons are fine but I have a terrible hangover and I have to go and eat more in the kitchen after classes. They also give me a glass of wine and I’m genuinely scared I’m going to throw up in front of everyone. I eventually escape, walk home and sit in my chair feeling sorry for myself. I am, I have to admit, incredibly precious when I’m hung over. I go to bed as early as I can get away with and watch Skyline on my laptop. It’s a terrible film and I have nightmares I’m being chased by aliens.



I’m conscious on Thursday that it’s my penultimate day at school so everything’s a little strange. We have lessons as usual followed by a ridiculous amount of food in the kitchen – a ratatouille style dish with bread, honey, cakes and a plum dish with nuts. The other teachers want to take me out for dinner in Zugdidi and I still have a few last Christmas gifts to get so I say I will head into town and meet them there. I spend far too much money but I’m happy to finally have it finished. My plan is to leave the gifts with Eka so that she can decide when to distribute them. I figure the others will get into town at around 2.30pm and by 3pm I’m tired and bored and lonely. I sit in a café for a bit feeling sorry for myself. I know it’s only cos I’m bored and my feet are wet and aching but at this stage I just want to go home and sleep. I try to make my cup of tea last as long as possible and eventually Eka calls me at 4pm and tells me to go to the American bar. This is terrible news – it’s the one and only time I’ve been out with all my colleagues and the last thing I want to do is sit in an American bar eating bad pizza and drinking overpriced beer. It’s ok though, they’re actually in a really nice Georgian restaurant next door to the bar. We have a wonderful meal and I realise how sorry I will be to leave these people. They give me a necklace to match the ring they gave me on Halloween and my director gives me a set of clay drinking horns. At one point Eka and I slip out so that I can buy some flowers for her – they’re not cheap but she seems pleased. After the meal we all go to the shop to buy ice cream and eat them on the street before being driven home. As if we haven’t eaten enough we stop and buy bananas and kit kats on the way back. Eka and I give ours to the kids when we get in. Later we’re drinking tea in the kitchen and we’re joking about how tired we all are. Gio disappears and comes back with pillows and tells us we should all sleep in the kitchen, bless him. He’s also borrowed a cello from the school where he takes his lessons to use for the school concert so I get a little preview of the piece he’s going to play and Mari plays the violin for us too. I have a little go at it but I’m rubbish. Mari then does the splits so I have a go at that too but the less said about that the better!



Friday is a strange day. I’m slightly hung over from the meal the night before and I know the day’s going to be kind of weird because it’s both my last day and the last day of term for the kids. I’m told not to go in for the first lesson so I know they’re planning some sort of surprise but they keep phoning Eka to ask for English translations for whatever sign they’re making, who then asks me how to spell the words! When we do finally get into school five of my 5^th and 6^th grade students are lined up on the stairs holding coloured pieces of paper which they proceed to read from: ‘You was best TLG volunteer’, ‘We love you Anna’. ‘Happy New Year’, ‘We never forget you’, ‘We miss you!’ It’s very very sweet. I actually only teach one lesson – most of the day is spent watching the kids practice for the concert, which is good cos it means I get to see both Gio and Mari perform, which I thought I was going to miss. The kids’ faces when Gio takes out the cello make me smile; I don’t think many of them have seen one before. When I’m not watching preparations for the concert I’m having my photo taken. Lots and lots of photos. The kids have made a sign saying, ‘I love Georgia’ so I have to have my picture taken holding this with various students and in various places and then with all the teachers. <span> Finally it’s time to leave and Eka and I are followed out of the school and down to the gates by a procession of students and teachers. I promise them all I will return to see them in January and Eka and I wander home for the last time. I start to pack and I think it finally dawns on the kids that I’m leaving. They’re not very happy about it. Mari says to me, ‘Anna, we no you go’ which I think illustrates nicely what a fantastic English teacher I am! We have our final meal together and I finish packing and show Eka where I’ve hidden the Christmas presents and then there’s nothing to do but wait. I go through the words to ‘I Love You Like A Love Song’ with Mari and she writes it all out phonetically in Georgian, which kind of defies the point, but never mind. Gio asks me to take some photos of their new car to send to their family and whilst I’m doing this I manage to walk head first into a metal pole in the garden producing a bruise to add to the one on my knee from drunkenly walking into my door frame the night before. Honestly, it’s amazing I’ve made it out in one piece.



Finally it’s time to leave (cutting it pretty fine, naturally). I hug the kids goodbye and jump in the car. Eka and Gala keep giving me things, which is really sweet but there’s a limit to how much I can carry! We drive to the station in Zugdidi and Eka and Gala see me onto the train and have a brief chat with the people I’m sharing the cabin with. And now I’m on my way to Tbilisi and I guess that concludes my TLG experience in Georgia. It’s had its ups and it’s had its downs but mostly it’s been an amazing experience and one I wouldn’t change for the world. And something tells me I’ll be back in this crazy country one day.

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Comments

[Rav]

:(
Im going to miss the blog - prefer having you here in London but this was a rather touching end...xx