An Overdue Post

Gamarjobat!!
I am so sorry that this post has taken so long for me to write. I feel like this is the first free time I have had in the past two weeks; things have been dzalian giji (very crazy) on this side of the world. I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving with your loved ones. I was so sad I wasn't able to attend my family's thanksgiving; it is my favorite holiday and it broke my heart a little that I wasn't able to be with them on that special day. We celebrated thanksgiving here, though. A few of my friends and I went out for a nice dinner, had a few bottles of delicious georgian wine, and ordered many, many chocolate cakes. We went around the table and each said something we were thankful for. It was no thanksgiving at home, but it was enough.

Anyways, where to begin, where to begin? Istanbul was totally incredible. I went with two of my closest friends, Caroline and Elana, and we flew into Istanbul last Saturday morning. We spent the evening before our flight camped out in the airport, snuggling under artificial trees, looking up at the escalator. Not exactly relaxing, and we boarded our plane at four after the security guards had to wake us up from the other side of the glass. We got to Istanbul at 6:30 in the morning and made friends with the somewhat creepy man sitting in front of us. Dave (the creepy man) pursuaded us to come with him because, as he said, he knew his way around. Four hours later, we had taken a taxi, a marshutka, a subway, a ferry, and a tram and finally made it to Sultanahment, the region of Istanbul where we were staying. We bid Dave kargad (goodbye), and checked into the Metropolis Hostel where we would spend the next three nights. Our hostel proprietor was actually the biggest jerk in the whole world, so we didn't spend much time in the hostel because he was all negative energy. This was not a problem, however, because istanbul was AMAZING. We spent the four days shopping, being touristy (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Underground Cistern pictures to come), eating an offensive amount of doners/shwarmas, etc. One of the highlights was the Turkish bath we went to, in which we, not only the only american girls in the place, but also the only CUSTOMERS in the place, were ushered into a room of about 130 degrees and ordered to strip and lie on a heated slate of marble. after leaving us there, sweating for 45 minutes (elana and caroline looked at me and wondered why i was so much sweatier than they were....i was actually a waterfall), four naked, obese turkish women came in with scrubs in hand. They lathered us up with soap, scrubbed our bodies clean of dead skin, and basically whipped the blood into our limbs. It was interesting. Painful is a word that comes to mind. But also hysterical. The three of us were dying as we left there, trying to piece together the reason that people do this but also relishing in how truly clean we felt being doused by such an ancient method of bathing. It was an exerience. Our trip to Istanbul concluded with an amazing four hour jam session on our last night with some truly cool backpackers from the UK, hookah, and some great friends. It was a trip I'll never forget.

We got back from Istanbul at five o'clock Wednesday morning. I naturally called in sick to school (I actually really was sick though), and finished the week out just fine. This weekend all of us teachers went on a government sponsored trip to Signaghi, this beautiful little village about an hour and a half east of Tbilisi. It was a big festival with lots of food, dancing, and singing. We walked around the city for the day, buying little souveneirs, eating, and taking pictures of the beautiful wall that surrounds the small city. It was a lovely day, and we got back early enough to grab dinner, go to a bar with some friends, and to a nightclub where we danced the night away!

My experience in Georgia has been amazing, rewarding, frustrating, and difficult. This country is so new, yet so old. It is torn between a past of Soviet rule and consequently an outdated education system, yet it so wants to be considered a part of Europe. It is rooted in traditionalist beliefs about genders and races, yet it seems stubborn to welcome new ideas. It has been interesting to be a part of this culture, but it wears on someone like me. I feel as though the country is stuck in a rut, like it has to either committ fully to its Russian past or give itself completely to a new, European identity. If it doesn't move in either of these directions, it will continue to be stuck in the position it is in, and this stagnance is a large part of my reason for leaving it in three weeks when my contract is up. I don't feel like any of the things I am doing are getting anywhere, because the country maintains such ideologies as to not let it. It is frustrating to want to introduce new literature, new games and ideas to my students, to see them struggle with it and give up because they just do not have the drive or the discipline to learn. It is frustrating to be their teacher when they are so unbelievably disrespectful in class. While I have a few good classes, my students are largely horrible, and they create a  negative atmosphere in which their more driven peers are incapable of learning. It is such a shame and has become very difficult for me, for the more I invest in teaching and in providing my students with new, progressive methods of learning, the more they seem to lose interest. What can one person do in a country that is stuck in a rut between the past and the future?

Frustrations aside, however, it has been an amazing two weeks. Istanbul and Signaghi were two of the highlights of my time here for sure. I have three weeks left here--I'll be sure to make it count!

xx