No, No, Not The State, The Country!

I’m going to admit right now I am living a truly awesome life, in every sense. I’ve been given the huge honor and privilege to work with the program Teach and Learn with Georgia. I will be in the country of Georgia teaching english in a village for the next year. I arrived on December 5th and spent a week in orientation getting to know some of my fellow volunteers and then we were picked up by our host families and scattered through out the country. I was sent to a small village about a two hour bus ride from the capital. I had no idea what to expect, except I was told I would be living with a family with a mother, father, two children and a grandmother in a two story house with an outdoor bathroom an toilet, what ever that meant. The family was warm and welcoming, watching out for me, without being over bering. The house by American standards was not up to par, minor things really, like no microwave. (How am I suppose to cook my tv dinners? Oh wait I get cooked real food here.) However coming into this I knew what to expect and the only thing that really threw me was the fact that my toilet a dirt covered stone slab, with a hole cut into with two stone blocks a little bigger then bricks that were strategically placed around said hole. Ahhh yes a squat toilet ladies and gentlemen. I would also like to say that I have very proudly mastered using it, kind of, but that is a story for another day. Houses in Georgia tend to not look the best from the outside, maybe they need a paint job or some broken siding or what not, but the inside is always well taken care of. (I will come back a domestic goddess) My house had chickens in the yard that were free to roam around, and a big fluffy dog that was always chained up and would bark when ever anyone comes or goes. There was also a decent sized garden with a few remnants of the past growing season.

The village its self was a good sized place with no less then six shops carrying mostly basic foods and goods. The few main roads were paved, but in disrepair and always covered with cow, horse, and donkey manure. The other roads were dirt and often had big pools of muddy water or the ones that went down hills, little streams had been carved out of them.

The village has two schools and I worked in number two, which was in major need of restoration. There is no central heating and all of the classrooms have wood stoves. Most of the teachers and students keep there coats on all day, however the classrooms for the younger children always seemed to have a roaring fire going, which was so hot I was afraid a few times that my boots were going to melt when I sat close to it. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the students in the older grades are too cool to be cold, there for don’t make much effort to keep the fire going. The students are in charge of the classroom fires and some of these kids have mad skills. I bet some of these seven year old boys could beat any of you in a competition of fire building. The school had three floors and the third one was mostly abandoned, except for a computer lab and the head teachers office. That left about eight or so classrooms with there doors nailed shut. I of course tried opening everyone and an old science room at the end of the hallway opened, probably because the rest had nothing in them and I snuck in to look around and take pictures. I don’t really know what happened at my school so it was like that, but with my passion for sneaking into rundown and abandoned places I was more then ok with it.

My village is about 10 or 11km to the next town, so it takes me about an hour and a half to walk, not stopping to explore somewhere and take some pictures. Now living in Georgia with no internet access at my house and a relatively short work day of between three and four hours, leaves me with a lot of time with not a whole lot to do, so this walk in America that may seem pointless and tedious is a godsend. On the walk it leads through flat farm land and pastures, that are filled with animals and there good natured herders that always seemed more then happy to see me. Most of the time they asked if I was a journalist because of my camera, (yes I am here to cover the daily herding of your cows back to the barn for the night. How did you know?) or they knew that I was the new english teacher. Everyone in the village knew exactly who I was and what I was doing at all times. It sounds a little creepy, but I cant get kidnapped with the whole town watching now can I? Also anytime on my walk cars would pull over multiple times and try to convince me that I didn’t have to walk, I could ride in a nice automobile with them to town instead. Not the point of a walk, but these people don’t really understand exercise just because. It was ok because I would just gesture to my camera and explain that I was out taking photos and they were more then happy to let the crazy American go on her way.

Eventually on walk I come to a river that signals I am on the outskirts of the next town over. The river this time of year is mostly dried up and has a bed of mixed stones. I walked in it one day for a little bit and was just struck by the beauty of it all. A dirt road runs the length of the river and dead grassy plains stretch on and on, up into pine tree covered hills that give way to snow covered mountains.

It was so peaceful walking until I couldn’t hear any man made sounds and finding a rock to sit and just enjoy everything. Sitting there I realized how relived I was by my situation. For a year I don’t have to be consumed with all the things I loath, like mass consumerism and keeping up the Jones’s. No Entertainment Tonight telling me the latest Kardashian news. I don’t have to worry about my appearance as much as I would in America. I can wear the same cloths three days in a row and no one will care. The time spent putting on make up in the morning is gone, except for lip balm and maybe some mascara. My students and fellow villagers won’t think twice if I show up to school like this. Also I don’t need it as much for reasons of things like circles under my eyes, because I get 10 glorious hours of sleep a night. Showering once every four days great. It’s cold so you never really smell and my hair looks so much better a few days after my shower. It gets a little darker so its this nice deep reddish orange and so shiny. I think my hair truly feels healthier or I’m just telling myself this. Not having the internet at my finger tips 24/7 is actually quite relieving. My family in Maine has my Georgian phone number so if they really need to get a hold of me they can call. I feel a lot calmer already and I am really looking forward to the next year. I’m in a beautiful country with beautiful people with my camera and chaining the world and I couldn’t be happier about my decision to come. Random village photos I wanted to share: