AAAAAAAA!!!

So, school started.

1st day: Not bad. I gave a speech, there was a big party/celebration/opener thing with dancing and singing and poems. Because of schedule distribution and general chaos, I only got to watch one class, which was my host sister's 10th form class. There's only 8 of them, and they were pretty well behaved as a result. No text books yet, so my counterpart had to sort of wing a lesson about summer vacations.

2nd day: I could have died. My counterpart had to take her granddaughter to the hospital, and apparently the school knew but didn't tell me. This = problem because 1) I'm not trained to teach by myself, and 2) I'm not supposed to be teaching the first week anyway, just watching. So the first class comes in, the 10th form with my host sister again, and I made a half-attempt to get them to play the name game. To their credit, they were very patient. THEN... 7th form. If you've ever seen on tv when there's an unruly class with a substitute, that was it to a tee. They were screaming and beating eachother with notebooks and throwing pens and OH MY GOSH and they didn't speak enough English to even know what I was saying long enough for me to tell them to BE QUIET FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, but eventually that class ended, as all classes do. As the 11th form class filed in, I called my program manager, who called the principal and within 10 minutes, I had been replaced by an actual teacher. In later situations, I'll be informed when my counterpart will be absent, and on those days told not to come in.

Perhaps on the third day, all will be right with the world. I note here that I only have to teach 15 hours, and my counterpart has 22 hours which includes 4 hours of that 7th form class... perhaps that's where some hour-cutting could take place on my part...

Other than that, things are great. Honestly, having been a waitress off and on for 6 years, I've been way more stressed out in other work situations than I was today. I do look forward to when the students and I have gotten used to each other and when I'm able to make my teaching chops. Until then, I'm hoping my counterpart will be able to come in tomorrow.

By the way... is there anyone who can send Halloween candy for my students? Yes, if it gets here late, I will eat it. And if there's more than I need, I will eat it. The thing is that they don't have a lot of American candy here in bite-sized form, and I'd like to do something fun for Halloween. Mom sent a lot of little presents, so there's no need for those. But seriously. And it could be like one bag in a box, so shipping wouldn't be that much... we have here Snickers and M&Ms and Twix, but not much else. I was thinking like Starburst, Jolly Ranchers, Hershey kisses, Reese's cups, things that are individually wrapped. Let me know! No pressure, just because I'm a lonely volunteer, 8,000 miles away in a foreign country, with little money and no family...

Still not doing anything

But school starts tomorrow! I'll be watching classes for a week (and giving a speech on Monday... eep), and then I'll pick up my role as Ms. Jennifer, teacher extraordinaire. Actually, I'd accept a role as Ms. Jennifer, teacher adequate if it comes down to it. No sense in burning out early.

Fyi, the house is still said to be getting internet soon, but in the meanwhile, they're installing a shower with radio and building a new bathroom for the jacuzzi. Yes, jacuzzi; why wouldn't my Peace Corps home have a jacuzzi? Satellite tv won't be here till November, so it's just Georgian and Russian tv on the flatscreen till then. You know how it is.

If I think of anything else surreal, I'll post it. I guess since I'll be working soon, I'll actually be able to start writing about the volunteering and effort and improvement stuff, so that'll shine this blog up a bit.

I'm still here

Welcome to my life in Georgia, waiting for school to start. I believe the last post also had something to do with school not starting yet, but at least I had the summer camp to run and make something of myself with. For the next 11 days, I have approximately zero to do. Don't get me wrong, I've been signing up for future things like crazy, but NOTHING is going on right now.

Among the future things: FLEX program (which sends 50 Georgian kids for a yearlong study abroad in the US), a run/walk for cancer awareness in Kutaisi, Georgian lessons for myself, the search for viable book donors for our school library... that's about it, I guess, but it'll equal out to a relatively full plate later. I hope.

In the meanwhile, I guess I'll have to reconcile myself to the fact that getting an internet connection in our house tomorrow will be an effort liberally appreciated through the winter...