The Quest for a Marshutka Proof Bag

Marshutkas are crowed, smelly mini buses. They are the standard form of transportation in every city and between cities here in Georgia. The great thing about them is that they are cheap and easily spotted. The bad thing about them is they are excruciatingly uncomfortable. You get smashed against the windows, or worse two strangers. Most of these strangers do not bathe as frequently as my timid American nose is used to. If you are carrying anything with you from a purse to a luggage bag, you had better hope that it can survive being crushed even more than your body and being thrown around some. Finding a bag that satisfies these requirements and can carry a 17" laptop is a tedious and frustrating journey.

I first attempted to find a large black purse in the Poti market that would fit my English books and laptop. Most Georgian women walk around all stylish and posh with a large metal studded, fake leather purse. My purse just didn't fit the requirements of Georgian streets even if it did fit all my books; which it didn't. (For the record, I never buy any bag unless it can fit at least one standard paperback book ;) Not always the easiest thing to achieve.)I bought two different bags that fit the requirements and had both break and be torn apart in one week. The continual rain and tribulations of riding in marshutkas did them in. I gave up on style at that point and just wanted to find a sturdy bag that would fit all my stuff. Weeks of searching yielding nothing. I even recruited volunteers in other cities to help me search.

Finally, I ordered ThinkGeek.com's "Bag of Holding". My dearest parents then shipped that and my kindle (New purse requirement: must fit kindle. Who knew life could be so easy!) over here to Georgia. I was told that the service I used, usa2georgia.com, would provide courier service to Poti. They did not. I can't complain, though, since it only cost me 45 GEL to ship a medium sized package to Georgia. That's a steal compared to the $300 with USPS or FedEx. The problem remained on how to get the package from Tbilisi, the capital, six hours away.

Yesterday, I braved the mountain roads by boarding a marshutka in the morning headed to Tbilisi. This one was crowded but not terribly so. I could keep to myself with my MP3 player. It was a long ride, six hours. None of the marshutkas have new or comfortable seats. Eventually, your but will hurt from sitting so long. Mine did.

When I got to Tbilisi, I met Ana in a taxi. She helped me translate to the driver where I needed to go. I picked up the package at the station from a super nice and English speaking woman. TLG or ex-patriots in Georgia, www.usa2georgia.com is definitely the way to get supplies from the states. They were awesome. After that we stopped at McDonalds for a hamburger. I'm not a fan at home in the states, but seeing those golden arches did make me smile a bit. The food is mostly the same. The menus just don't have prices, are written in Georgian, and don't feature any value meals or the dollar menu. In another taxi, I headed to the bus station again. All of this took a little over an hour. Perfect timing! I managed to get on the last bus headed back to Poti by five o'clock.

The marshutka going back was even more crowded than the first. I was squished in the back seat. I sat next to a very nice and friendly Georgian man from Telavi. The only problem was that I could tell that he distinctly was not wearing deodorant. It was kinda gross!

I can though, say that my new bag is marshutka proof. It was all worth the effort. I have triumphed over evil, righted wrongs, and proven my worth. . . as a marshutka passenger.

An introduction to Poti

I would like to first mention that there are fireworks being shot off in the rain tonight. I have no idea why, but it certain makes you wonder about cultural differences, doesn't it?

Poti is an odd city. It lacks much of the juxtaposition that Tbilisi had. There is construction going on in a few areas. However, most of the city looks like the stereotype of a post-soviet city. There are buildings in ruins everywhere. Stray dogs run rampant. There are cows just hanging out on the street corners next to the chickens. Through all of this you begin to see the certain charm that such a city holds. You can easily walk down to the Black sea from my house. There is a long trail that runs along the port where you can find people biking or walking. Every house has fruit trees and grapes growing in their yards. The architecture is very unique. The city is begining to grow. Businesses are moving in. This means the standard of living is much greater here than in the villages.

A picture of my house in Poti

I'm very lucky to have the host family that I do. The mayor, Gucha,  is very busy but kind. His wife, Nino, is amazing and a cardiologist. They both know a fair amount of English and are eager to practice. I haven't picked up too much Georgian because they both want to become comfortable with English. Nino said she'd help me learn though. They have been very generous. My room is well furnished. I even get my own bathroom! They have two sons who are studying in Tbilisi at the University there. Some of the anticipated issues that were mentioned in training like lack of privacy or lack of luxuries have not been an issue for me. 

 

School has been interesting. I work with four different teachers and have 25 lessons every week. One of the teachers has been working for 40 years. You can tell by her yelling at students and the books she prefers to work with. It's this old book that just has a few boring texts to read and nothing conversation related. Thankfully, she can only use it with the sixth graders. I'm hoping to add a lot of games to that class. So many of students look like they are falling asleep in class. Ironically, this is the same teacher who was trying to correct my own pronunciation of words while I was reading today.  No it wasn't a "q" sound, it was the word mountain. I'm pretty sure I say that one correctly. lol We get a long fine otherwise, though. The students are eager but noisy in class. I could write a lot more about school, but I'll leave that for another day. 

I really want to make a small mention about driving in Georgia. IT'S TERRIFYING! To get to Poti, some men from the resource center picked me and the other Poti volunteer up in Tbilisi. We drove on only one road through the mountains. It was like being on a roller coaster. Imagine a two lane road winding through the mountains. Then add cars and trucks going over 140 km/hour. Cars pass each other all the time, including around corners and up hills. The only notice they give is the occasional honk. The cars are also driving three a breast for one lane. Oh, and add the occasional cow in the middle of the road. You have to be very brave to drive here and I give a lot of props to the man who got us here safely. Craziest part of living in Georgia so far!

Spontaneous Interview with Georgian Police

Tonight was incredibly surprising. Our last meeting of the evening was mainly about our placements. We were being told what city we would be living in for at least the next six months. Before the announcement the director (who reports directly to the minister of Education) spoke about the program. She then asked that four of us, including me, follow her.
We all follow her out into the freezing cold hallway trying to think of a reason for us being called out. Did we break some rule? We weren't the ones going out every night, so what could we have done wrong? Were we being sent home? Needless to say it was a nerve racking fifty feet.
Our destination was the TLG office in the hotel. There a man, that we had seen earlier observing our Georgian Lessons, was waiting. It turns out that the Police Academy has a couple TLG volunteers for Tbilisi and hoped to add two female teachers to their group. There would be no host family, rather you would live together in an apartment paid for by the academy. You would be teaching adults and not really be working with a co-teacher. Essentially, it was a huge twist on the program we thought we signed up for. He wanted to interview the four of us. One of the fellow volunteers declined because she had really wanted to be with a host family. It just left the three of us.
I volunteered to go first. I knew coming into this program that I would have to be flexible to whatever changes were brought my way. This was definitely a big change! It really wasn't what I had hoped for. I wanted experience in a classroom and an opportunity to learn Georgian in a host family. However, I was willing to take the risk and see what happened. He just asked about my work experience. I forgot to mention volunteer work which was silly of me since it includes most of my teaching experience.
Once I was finished (a whole three minutes later), I waited in the hall outside for the other two girls to go. We chatted and nervously wondered about this change in fate. He told us after the third individual that I was the one not selected. Frankly, I was a bit relieved. I didn't think I would be able to offer my best in the capitol city to a bunch of adult Georgians. I have no experience teaching adults.
I walked back to the meeting room with the director while she called to find out my placement. She told me that I would be in Poti, the second largest port city on the Black Sea, living with the mayor! It sounded fantastic to me. I leave tomorrow to head out to my host family and new home. I can't help but wonder if my host family will like me. I wonder if I can really handle this complicated Georgian language. I wonder if my smiley personality is going to cause problems. I guess we'll find out in less than 24 hours.
Wish me luck!