Spring is truly a beautiful time in Georgia. What was once a world of grey and sickly browns transforms magically into a sea of green and brightly colored flowers and trees.
More than anything, Spring reminds us of the power of renewed life and the miracle of possibilities. Although it may sound like the beginning of my new self help book (coming to a dollar bin near you!), it's actually just an observation that happens to fit in nicely with my life right now.
Given the big changes coming my way soon, it's nice to have a visual, environmental reminder that the world is full of incredible things. Sometimes in winter, as the long cold months drag on, you forget how beautiful things can be when change finally comes around. And one day you wake up and realize that things are different, that the time for being sad is over. Springtime is a chance for positive change, and I hope that my last couple of months here in Georgia are full of that.
Tomorrow I'll be heading to Gurjaani for a regional spelling bee, a last-minute project put together with the help of a few other PCVs and some students with competitive spirits. Assuming transportation works out ok, it should be a good time. Thankfully my sitemate was able to help negotiate a private marshutka to haul people an hour away. The concept of parents driving for an hour to support their children in competition is really not the norm here, something that can be really frustrating for someone who grew up participating in activities where parents drove 15 hours, paid for hotel rooms and had t-shirts and signs made. America.
Speaking of social norms, today I really had a harrowing experience. After not getting much sleep the night before due to allover body aches, a sore throat and hot and cold flashes, I was eager to spend the day in the comfort of my bed relaxing and willing my body to repair itself in time for the spelling competition. But some of my 6th grade students had other ideas.
Now, it's a pretty well-known cultural truth that Georgians simply do not value privacy the way that Americans do. It is a foreign concept to them, and it makes a lot of their behavior seem rude or outright inappropriate to your average American. So today, a few of my 6th graders decided that it was IMPERATIVE to talk to me AT ANY COST. The result: 30 (literally, I only wish I was kidding) missed phone calls and continuous yelling, banging, kicking, screaming, bell-ringing at my door ALL. DAY. LONG. Some people may not believe in hell, but I've experienced it.
You may ask yourself, "why not just answer the phone/door?" A perfectly good question! The problem was two-fold: The first problem is that I knew that I would not understand what the children were saying. They have a terrible habit of talking very quickly, in high-pitched voices, and all at the same time. I had already experienced this earlier in the week, when they came by and I gave into the loud banging and screaming. The second problem is that THE VERY LAST THING YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE ILL IS DEAL WITH INSOLENT CHILDREN WHO HAVE TERRIBLE MANNERS AND NO SENSE OF PROPERTY VALUE.
As my sitemate (who speaks much better Georgian than me) was out of town for the weekend and I had no other friends staying over who could cover for me, I had to endure the horrifying racket throughout the day until he returned home and dealt with them. I had texted a neighbor earlier in the day asking for assistance, but she was at work. She claimed that she called the next-door neighbors to come to my aid, but they either didn't get the memo or just didn't care, as they allowed the children to literally try to break into my apartment when the door and phone went unanswered. So there you have it: a Georgian child's solution to someone not answering a locked door: BREAK IN. THAT WILL MAKE THEM TALK TO YOU! I'm sure there's not a REASON that person isn't coming to the door.
As it turned out, they believed I had agreed to let them "re-take" the spelling contest since they had not placed in the top 3 spots which would allow them to go to the regional contest. I don't even need to get into how ridiculous of a concept that is, and yet, this is how things work here. SO. The long and short of it is that I will try very hard to not strangle them tomorrow since they will apparently be traveling to Gurjaani for the contest tomorrow.
And that's my anecdote for the week.
Wishing good things for everyone back home (and even a few people here as well)!
See you soon.
Lauren
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