ROFL - I really did!!!

Yes, I really did go into the caverns! It was very cool, damp & slippery but I went through the whole thing. It was not as dark and closed-in as I thought it might be. It looks like they just strung out literally miles of wiring to install the lights in the cavern. The fixtures are nestled down among the formations or hung from the ceiling. They are generally not too obvious.

NO - I did not crawl under the saint's bones for a wish. My knees are too shot for that! The tunnel there is fairly narrow, I guess that's the point for making touching the sides part of it.

Some answers

OK - well, it's been an interesting few days. We get up and have a quick breakfast before walking over to the school. Classes start at 9 and the day is over at 2:30. Now, all of you might say, "How cool is that?" However, every Georgian student I have met has private classes or a private tutor in all of their subjects. Then, they compete in academics on the weekends. All of the students at St. Nino's #3 are expected to go to college. Now - I must admit, St. Nino's is not a 'common' school. It is a public school and not private, but it is a pretty special school all in all,

Now - to answer some of your questions:

Is there bullying at St. Nino's? Well, some but not a lot. All of the students here are Georgian so there is no racial bullying and all of the kids are from fairly affluent families so there is not a lot of social bullying. I'm sure there is more than they want to admit, but it does not seem to be a problem. This should also answer your question about racism - it really does not exist here because everyone is Georgian. There are no Muslims, Armenians, or Azerians here at this school.

Driving: You can get your learner's permit when you are 17 and your regular license when you're 18. However, most people don't drive around town at all because they either walk or take the matrushka bus if they are going very far. Taxis are also very cheap here. Also - they drive on the same side we do, however, I've seen the steering wheel on both sides in all kinds of cars.

Drinking: The legal drinking age is 18, however - if you look old enough it's not really enforced. But, because Georgia is an ancient wine-producing country most people start having wine with dinner when they are children.

Dating: Georgia is a very old-fashioned and traditional country. Boys and girls do date but almost always in a group. There is just not a lot of couples only dating because that is just not how it is done here. Teen pregnancy is almost unheard of due to traditional and religious beliefs. In those cases, marriage is most certainly required right away. 

Social media: There are at least 20 students from St. Nino's following me on Facebook right now! (it's not against the rules here) They love Facebook; they didn't really talk about SnapChat or Twitter. 

Music: Believe it or not they love the same music as you guys. They also love classic American rock. Every where we went to have dinner or lunch the restaurant had on a TV channel that is like what MTV used to be - music videos all day every day. I saw only American artists. Even Paris Hilton (YECH!!!)

So - I think I've answered your questions and I'll be traveling tomorrow so I'm not going to post much. I'll post one more time from Georgia on Friday and then I get to come home on Saturday. I'll see you all on Monday!!!

Quick post

It is 3:30 in the afternoon here (6:30 in the morning there) and I just left school. I have not had time yet to read your comments / questions to answer them. I'm headed to a meeting and then a dinner so by the time I get back you will be half way through the day. The students here have asked a lot of questions about you guys. They want to know about bullying and racism. They have asked if you date and if you all drive. I have tried to answer all of their questions honestly - but if any of you have a good answer, especially about racism and bullying - please put them in the comments so I can pass it on. They love the photos I took of you guys and they think it would be very cool to just hang out. They speak quite good English so you would be able to talk about all sorts of things. Here is a photo of one of my classes today.

Another day of sight seeing

Sunday morning arrived with cold, rainy weather (yet again!) but our group of local hosts have been determined to brave the weather and show us the sights of K'ut'aisi. Today we headed a little way out of town to a karst cave system. Karst is a type of topography that is formed by soft rock that is dissolved by water. Texas' own Natural Bridge Cavern is a karst type of cave. Well, here near K'ut'aisi is one called Prometheus Cave and since it does not rain inside a cave we headed out to visit. It's a really good example of a karst type cave. You can easily see the different features that were made by flowing water but the cave also has good examples of many other types of features like stalactites and stalagmites, curtains, and organ pipes. It is beautifully lit in rainbow colors and there is classical music playing softly in the background. When the weather is not bad the trip through the caves ends with a boat ride on the underground river that formed the cave. 

Stalactites hang 'tite' from the ceiling.

An organ pipe formation.

After we left Prometheus Cave we headed back toward K'ut'aisi to go visit the Motsemeta Monastery. This particular monastery is famous because it houses the relics of two special saints in the Georgian Orthodox Church. St. David and St. Constantine were two priest who refused to leave Christianity and convert to Islam when the Turks invaded. They were tortured and then drowned in the river. The story goes that the river turned red with their blood until their bodies were removed and returned to the monastery. Today there is a small tunnel under the case that holds their bones. It is said that if you make a wish and crawl through the tunnel 3 times, without touching the sides, your wish will come true.

The river where the priests were drowned

Bottom, center - by the stairs - is the little tunnel

The frescoes are just so beautiful!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will be teaching a US Government lesson to the English classes for some of the teachers. For the younger grades my lesson will be about the symbols of the US, like the flag, the Liberty Bell, and those sorts of things. I will post more tomorrow.

WOW - what a weekend!!

My travel partner, Kellie, and I had a full weekend of activities scheduled for us while we are here in K'ut'aisi. First of all, the weather did not cooperate with us!!! On Thursday when we traveled to K'ut'aisi it was beautifully clear and cool. On Friday it was overcast and misty. This morning (Saturday) it was cold - about 40 degrees - and rainy. But, we continued on. So, we started off the morning at an English Teachers Association of Georgia meeting held at K'ut'aisi University. There were about 20 in attendance and the two of us presented a little lesson about our schools and the American system of education and we modeled some different types of teaching strategies that the teachers could use in their classrooms. 

It was here that I had my first experience with a Turkish toilet.

Yes, it is essentially a hole in the floor and one stands over or squats over it to do your business. Then, you just flush like usual.
Talk about a new experience!!!! Well, moving on....

After the meeting we walked the three blocks to the school where we were met, in the rain mind you, by 5 or 6 students and joined by 4 of the other English teachers from St. Nino's. They were all taking time on their Saturday to join us on our rainy sight-seeing trip. We boarded the transportation of choice in Georgia, an 12 passenger mini-van called a matrushka and we headed just out of the city, up on the slope of a big hill / small mountain to visit the Bagrati Cathedral. Bagrat III, an ancient king of Georgia, built Bagrati Cathedral in the 10th century. It was a UNESCO world heritage site for quite a long time until a recent Georgian goverment decision to restore it. There were some questions about some of the choices in the restoration so UNESCO withdrew their designation. However, it is still a national treasure and one of the most beautiful buildings I've had the pleasure to visit. 

Bagrati Cathedral

The view from Bagrati over the city of K'ut'aisi

Some of my new Georgian friends!!

The tragey of Bagrati is that the Soviets painted over the 10th - 13th century frescos when they were in control of Georgia. The UNESCO designation was an attempt to save it, but the damage was already done by that time. 

Parts of the original stone work on the floor have been preserved under glass and they give the impression that the original building was more than just impressive - it was regal, as befitting a king of Bagrat's status. 

Original stone work on the floor of the cathedral

We left Bagrati Cathedral and headed to another nearby site - Gelati Monastery. Gelati was already a protected site and thus was spared the attention of the Soviet government. It too was built in the 10th - 11th centuries, started again by King Bagrat and was originally an academy or school. It is currently undergoing the first modern restoration the building has seen so there were parts we could not see. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful place to visit. 

View of the valley from the grounds of Gelati Monastery

St. George's chapel at Gelati Monastery

Inside there are wonderful frescoes, many of the colors still quite brilliant. The whole place is so serene.

There are also a couple of really fantastic mosaics.

These two beautiful girls are both named Nino, after the patron saint of Georgia, St. Nino. She is credited with bringing Christianity to Georgia in the 3rd or early 4th century. St. Nino arrived in Georgia and all she could find to fashion a cross from was grape vines. So, she wove two pieces for a cross from the vines and she used her long braided hair to bind the pieces together. As she traveled the cross piece was not strong enough to stay straight, so the arms of the cross drooped. Consequently, the cross of St. Nino has arms that droop down.

After our afternoon in the cold and rain visiting such beautiful sites and spending time with such beautiful people I headed back to the hotel for a little rest. Little did I know how much I was going to need that rest as I was attending a supra hosted by a prominent K'ut'aisi family Saturday evening. Supra is the Georgian word for feast and let me tell you - they are not kidding. The photo below is what was awaiting us on the table when we arrived at their home. There were at least 10 more courses!!!!! 

Chicken, pork, fish, a variety of salads, cheese, bread, kachapuri, vegetables. More was still to come!!

We ate and ate, little bits of many different dishes, for a few hours. Food just kept coming from the kitchen!! Even though I don't drink, everyone else did and no one was offended when I toasted along with everyone else drinking flavored lemonades. It was an unforgettable experience and I can't believe I was lucky enough to have been a part of it. When we finally got back to the hotel I was too tired to even think about posting this blog. At this point I'm also too tired to continue on and will catch up on the Sunday blog post on Monday afternoon.

St. Nino's #3

My first day at St. Nino's #3 was just wonderful! We arrived a few minutes after 9 and were taken in to see Mr. Tomas, the principal. We visited with him for about 30 minutes. He told us the history of St. Nino's #3; it started as a girl's school in (I believe he said) 1848. After being a girl's school for a while it became an all purpose school and it continues as that today. There are about 1, 450 students at St. Nino's and Mr. Tomas and his deputy are the only administrators. The school has an open enrollment so students come from all over K'ut'aisi to attend. When spots come open siblings of current students have priority and then new students are allowed. They are working on becoming a school that is known for and specializes in English instruction. I must say - the English department is wonderful and welcoming in every way. We walked around the school for a bit and then we headed for our host's 9th grade English class for a round of presentations about Georgia as well as Georgian sights, traditions, and food. I must say, they did so well presenting in English! They seemed so nervous - there were so many adults in the room, but they were troopers and pulled it off beautifully!

Later throughout the day my partner and I presented about our schools and the students were delighted to see what we had to show. One young man was really struck by how big Caney Creek seems to be compared to his school, and it's true that CCHS is much bigger. They were also impressed by how many different activities we have to offer for students. At St. Nino's they are quite focused on academics and do not have the facitlities for many types of activities. They do have a well equiped computer lab, a decent sized library, and a gym for some PE for the younger grades. 

After our long day we returned to our hotel to blog and get caught up on email and such as that. All in all it was a really great first day of teaching here in K'ut'aisi and I really loved it. Our weekend is filled with activities and I'm so looking forward to all of them.

Getting caught up!

My goal on this post is to get caught up on the days I was either too tired or too tired (LOL, sorry) to post while I was in Tbilisi. I've posted about our adventure on Monday and now on to the rest of the week. Tuesday started with a meeting the purpose of which was to explain the Georgian system of education. In a nutshell, they have a fairly centralized education system where the Ministry of Education and Science has the final say in all important decisions as well as some mid-level decisions. (*note - I have since found out that principals do have a certain degree of autonomy in their schools) 

We left this meeting and went to visit our first school. This was Tbilisi Public School #165. It serves grades 1 - 12 in one building. As we entered the school we were greeted by this pair. Little did we know how important they were going to be to our day!!

We went throughout the school, observing classes in every grade. As we entered each room the students stood and, in their finest English, said "Good Morning" and "Welcome". Delightful! After a while we went into a meeting room where we were able to visit with some of the grade 10, 11 and 12 students who were eager to answer our questions about the school and ask questions of their own. 

After a while of visiting with the students we were directed down to the school's small stage. We actually sat on the stage because the performance we were about to see needed the extra floor space. Boy - were we in for a treat! The PS #165 is home to a very well known traditional dance troop that performs all over Georgia and the region. They had just returned from a performance in Egypt and were back in time to treat us to their talent. 

These are super talented young people and one of the other teachers recorded portions of their dances. You can see the traditional wedding dance here: https://vimeo.com/122453805  and you can see the other traditional men's dance here: https://vimeo.com/122482849  Both videos are simply wonderful, so please take the time to show them in class!

Afterward I got to visit with students in the 11th and 12th grade English classes. They had all sorts of wonderful questions about American schools. I was so impressed with how well they all speak English and how much they practice with each other. 

When I showed them the class photos I took of you guys before I left they all smiled and said, basically - "WOW, your students look just like us!" 

We left the school and were off to a panel discussion with Georgian educators at the American Corner office nearest to us. This meeting was quite informative and they answered all our questions freely about the positive and negative aspects of the Georgian education system and some of the plans the Ministry has for the future.

On Wednesday morning we were off early to visit a private school. It is the Georgian - British School and it's interesting. The Georgian students who attend are on one track and the British and other foreign nationals are on the British track. This school is also serves grades 1 - 12 and we saw some really cute classes. At the end of our visit I had the BEST conversation with 4 young ladies in the 6th grade. Their English is so good and they are so poised and confident, I was impressed and delighted to spend time with them.

After the school we were off to the US Embassy where we met with the folks who promote teaching English in the schools, offer exchange programs and other types of activities. We got a surprise visit from Ambassador Nolan, who congratulated us on being in Georgia and who reminded us that we were better Ambassadors than him because we would be making memories with Georgian people. 

After the embassy we had a quick lunch and then we were off to the Ministry of Education and Science for a meeting to update us on future plans that have been developed for continued progress within the Georgian education system. After that, one last presentation and last round of questions before our travel day on Thursday.

I really have only a few photos from Thursday. After we arrived in Kutaisi we were led on a brief tour of the area where we're staying. It was a simply beautiful afternoon; sunny and cool - perfect for a nice, long walk.

The local fellow above was very nice to let me sit beside him for a photo - LOL. That's all until tomorrow!