I wanted to do a quick note about how we're equipped for our stay here for those of you who might be worrying.
We're doing a 10 week intensive course right now of language, technical, professional, medical and cultural training. We're issued a cell phone, a substancial medical kit and a fair amount of local currency to keep us humming along. We've got a good staff of both locals and Americans and 4 Peace Corps doctors.
Peace Corps headquarters in the capital is our little slice of America in Georgia. We've been using it to meet with the current volunteers and resupply anything we need (books, medical supplies, etc.).
We have a prepaid card plan for our cell phones, text messages are big among the volunteers. One message is about 4 tetri (100 tetri in a lari). Mostly they function as watchs, alarm clocks and flashlights though.
We have Peace Corps filters for our water here. Even though there are days when it seems like we're being vaccinated against every possible disease on the planet we still purify everything we drink or buy bottled. A pretty considerable water allowence is built into our pay here. When we had to go to a hotel for training or a conference center or the like where there's no water to buy Peace Corps staff go there first and install Peace Corps water coolers for us to use.
We're pretty well taken care of here. PC does a lot but its important to remember that we're also in maybe the last country on Earth where America is still popular on the streets. Throw in a grateful Georgian government and an extremely protective host family and we're pretty well set.
I'm sleeping great at night.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Useful skills
Top 3 things I learned in college that are helpful in the Peace Corps:
- How to play Frisbee
- How to take a shot
- How to stretch my laundry in between washes
Top 3 things I learned in college that are NOT helpful in the Peace Corps:
- Comparative Political Theory
- Popular Literature of the 18th century
- Fundamentals of Finite Mathematics
I’ve heard that academia doesn’t always prepare you for real life: I’d say that’s pretty accurate right now.
- How to play Frisbee
- How to take a shot
- How to stretch my laundry in between washes
Top 3 things I learned in college that are NOT helpful in the Peace Corps:
- Comparative Political Theory
- Popular Literature of the 18th century
- Fundamentals of Finite Mathematics
I’ve heard that academia doesn’t always prepare you for real life: I’d say that’s pretty accurate right now.
Second Day in Bebnise: These are good people
My host dog has decided to keep me company while I work on my blog entries. I got my first Georgian shower in today. There’s a wood fired boiler that heats the water, my host grandmother [bebia] was happy to show me how to use it. It’s a bit of an ordeal to set up but, overall, a very pleasant shower. Feelin’ clean and happy.
Ilia and I watched “Gone in 60 Seconds” today. Ilia seems to have the same car fetish as my real brother and, also like my real brother, likes to fast forward through the dialogue to get to the action packed car chases.
I got the 50 cent tour of Bebnise today: the residential areas, the fields, the lake, the church and the 2 shops [maghazia]. The people seem friendly and I’ve had a couple of them come up to me and practice their English. Ilia has some fluency in English (maybe second year college level?) and has been a huge help in showing me around. It remains an endless source of amusement for him and his friends for Ilia to point to something in the town, give me the word in Georgian and listen to me butcher it mercilessly with my miserable language skills. It took about half an hour to see all the highlights of the town today. No sign of the other volunteers in Bebnise (in a town of about 500 families I bet if they were out today I would have saw them), I hope they’re enjoying their stay so far too and not staying in their rooms.
Lunch is about ready.
(Supplemental note: my host grandmother and I just did a shot of the nastiest looking vodka I’ve ever had in my life. It was kind of a dark, dirty yellow color. I think I'm going to go lay down for a while.)
Ilia and I watched “Gone in 60 Seconds” today. Ilia seems to have the same car fetish as my real brother and, also like my real brother, likes to fast forward through the dialogue to get to the action packed car chases.
I got the 50 cent tour of Bebnise today: the residential areas, the fields, the lake, the church and the 2 shops [maghazia]. The people seem friendly and I’ve had a couple of them come up to me and practice their English. Ilia has some fluency in English (maybe second year college level?) and has been a huge help in showing me around. It remains an endless source of amusement for him and his friends for Ilia to point to something in the town, give me the word in Georgian and listen to me butcher it mercilessly with my miserable language skills. It took about half an hour to see all the highlights of the town today. No sign of the other volunteers in Bebnise (in a town of about 500 families I bet if they were out today I would have saw them), I hope they’re enjoying their stay so far too and not staying in their rooms.
Lunch is about ready.
(Supplemental note: my host grandmother and I just did a shot of the nastiest looking vodka I’ve ever had in my life. It was kind of a dark, dirty yellow color. I think I'm going to go lay down for a while.)
My First Day with the Host Family: Frisbee remains the universal language
These are wonderful people. Peace Corps handled out home stay assignments in Khashuri today and introduced us to “our” Georgians. My host family consists of a pair of grandparents, a father, a brother (13) and a dog. Their home is surprisingly big, my room on the second floor is easily the size of the studio I had in Chicago (although considerably cheaper). There’s a small garden out back and a chicken coop, all surrounded by cherry [bali] trees. It’s so beautiful here.
There was a large dinner [supra] waiting for me at home. They make this cheese bread [khatchapuri] that has quickly become my favorite Georgian food. It’s goats’ cheese wrapped in a very soft bread and is uncannily similar to the cheesy breadsticks they serve at Pizza Hut. I couldn’t identify most of the other dishes served but there hasn’t been anything so far that’s unpleasant tasting or has caused problems after eating it. The hospitality has been wonderful.
During the ride back, the tour of the house and the dinner I got to see many of the fascinating differences between Georgia and America, after the feast it was time for the similarities. Even in college I’ve never seen so many bootleg DVD’s (dubbed in Russian). My host brother, Ilia, and I watched “The Fast and the Furious” for a bit and held a game of Frisbee with a couple of his friends. That Frisbee may be the best investment I made of all my Peace Corps purchases and that’s including my solar charger. Humor and humility remain universal throughout the world as the kids, my host father and I laughed and cheered as we either caught the disc or fell on our asses trying. Not a lot of progress was made on the language barrier but for some things words are superfluous.
All in all, I’m rating today as a success.
There was a large dinner [supra] waiting for me at home. They make this cheese bread [khatchapuri] that has quickly become my favorite Georgian food. It’s goats’ cheese wrapped in a very soft bread and is uncannily similar to the cheesy breadsticks they serve at Pizza Hut. I couldn’t identify most of the other dishes served but there hasn’t been anything so far that’s unpleasant tasting or has caused problems after eating it. The hospitality has been wonderful.
During the ride back, the tour of the house and the dinner I got to see many of the fascinating differences between Georgia and America, after the feast it was time for the similarities. Even in college I’ve never seen so many bootleg DVD’s (dubbed in Russian). My host brother, Ilia, and I watched “The Fast and the Furious” for a bit and held a game of Frisbee with a couple of his friends. That Frisbee may be the best investment I made of all my Peace Corps purchases and that’s including my solar charger. Humor and humility remain universal throughout the world as the kids, my host father and I laughed and cheered as we either caught the disc or fell on our asses trying. Not a lot of progress was made on the language barrier but for some things words are superfluous.
All in all, I’m rating today as a success.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Day 4: Georgia!
We're here! Everything is wonderful, I'm in Peace Corps headquarters briefly with the group to do some administrative things and get a few vaccinations so this will be quick:
We're having a fabulous time, the country doesn't disappoint. We arrived in the capital yesterday and were welcomed in. We've begun our training here, mostly (comprehensive) medical instruction and language so far. The food is amazing, best cheese I've ever had. The staff and organization is amazing, none of us is worried. Everyone is cheerful and enthused.
I'll organize my thoughts better for the next post.
All for now.
We're having a fabulous time, the country doesn't disappoint. We arrived in the capital yesterday and were welcomed in. We've begun our training here, mostly (comprehensive) medical instruction and language so far. The food is amazing, best cheese I've ever had. The staff and organization is amazing, none of us is worried. Everyone is cheerful and enthused.
I'll organize my thoughts better for the next post.
All for now.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Day 2: Oh shit! I'm in!
Another round of seminars, paperwork and "team building" exercises today. It becomes more real for all of us each hour but, despite the title of this post, I don't think a single one of is freaking out any more. It's not that we are so thoroughly impressed with the institutions and procedures of Peace Corps (although we are) or that we have recouped our energy through the excitement of others (although we definitely have). Our anxiety is mostly dissipated because we were reminded once again that we are working for the biggest bureaucracy in the world (our beloved government) and the hour long seminar on logistics has stripped away a bit of the "magic".
Not to say we didn't have fun today. We did some more games and ice breakers and, as cheesy as those are, they showed how much energy and intelligence we have packed into this group of 57. We seem to be a talkative and creative bunch so the day has gone by fast. It's evident today even more so than yesterday that we're thrilled to go and ready to dive in. I have a lot of confidence in my fellow trainees. I'm betting that we're all going to need each others' enthusiasm to recharge ourselves from time to time and I seem to have the right group to do that with.
On a less sentimental but equally fantastic note: Sallie Mae can go to hell. My student loans are now officially in deferment and I am psyhic'd! Blowing off those blood suckers for 2 years would make this trip worth it in and of itself. If they're going to loan our own tax dollars back to us at outrageous rates than I feel snubbing them is as much a service to society as anything I'll be doing in Georgia.
We're all headed to New York by bus tomorrow (2.5 hours) and then on to Turkey (10 hours) and then to Georgia (2.5). We're excited to be finally on our way but I think they planned this travel schedule so test our commitment to "peace". They seem like a lovely group of people but, so help me God, if we discover mid-Atlantic that someone has some little "quirk" that keeps us from sleeping in-flight there are only going to be 56 of us arriving in Istanbul.
I have a couple more emails to send out tonight and then I'm shutting down my computer and will probably be without internet access for at least a week. We've got to make a stop at Peace Corps headquarters in Georgia so I bet I can steal some bandwith there but, after that, I'll probably be incommunicato for as much as 10 weeks. I'll be in intense training for a while and I will try to get to an internet connection in that time but the chances aren't great. After that I'll be back in touch with email and those of you who need it will get my new cell #.
Wish me luck everybody.
Not to say we didn't have fun today. We did some more games and ice breakers and, as cheesy as those are, they showed how much energy and intelligence we have packed into this group of 57. We seem to be a talkative and creative bunch so the day has gone by fast. It's evident today even more so than yesterday that we're thrilled to go and ready to dive in. I have a lot of confidence in my fellow trainees. I'm betting that we're all going to need each others' enthusiasm to recharge ourselves from time to time and I seem to have the right group to do that with.
On a less sentimental but equally fantastic note: Sallie Mae can go to hell. My student loans are now officially in deferment and I am psyhic'd! Blowing off those blood suckers for 2 years would make this trip worth it in and of itself. If they're going to loan our own tax dollars back to us at outrageous rates than I feel snubbing them is as much a service to society as anything I'll be doing in Georgia.
We're all headed to New York by bus tomorrow (2.5 hours) and then on to Turkey (10 hours) and then to Georgia (2.5). We're excited to be finally on our way but I think they planned this travel schedule so test our commitment to "peace". They seem like a lovely group of people but, so help me God, if we discover mid-Atlantic that someone has some little "quirk" that keeps us from sleeping in-flight there are only going to be 56 of us arriving in Istanbul.
I have a couple more emails to send out tonight and then I'm shutting down my computer and will probably be without internet access for at least a week. We've got to make a stop at Peace Corps headquarters in Georgia so I bet I can steal some bandwith there but, after that, I'll probably be incommunicato for as much as 10 weeks. I'll be in intense training for a while and I will try to get to an internet connection in that time but the chances aren't great. After that I'll be back in touch with email and those of you who need it will get my new cell #.
Wish me luck everybody.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Day 1: I'm in!
I arrived in Philadelphia today and officially moved from Peace Corps Invitee to Peace Corps Trainee. There are about 60 of us going to Georgia and we're excited and nervious but trying to act nonchalant about it. We did some "ice-breakers" and the like today and airing some of our expectations and anxities, I know I have more than a few of the later.
We're finally here though after all the waiting and I don't think any one of us is having second thoughts. We're a little miffed that we've spent half the day filling out paperwork and taking seminars on safety but I suppose we knew we were signing up for that too.
I'm exhausted. Most of us here today didn't sleep well last night and we have a whole 'nother day and a half of paperwork and compliance activities in front of us so I'll write more tomorrow.
All is well.
We're finally here though after all the waiting and I don't think any one of us is having second thoughts. We're a little miffed that we've spent half the day filling out paperwork and taking seminars on safety but I suppose we knew we were signing up for that too.
I'm exhausted. Most of us here today didn't sleep well last night and we have a whole 'nother day and a half of paperwork and compliance activities in front of us so I'll write more tomorrow.
All is well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)