Aly's Pretty Georgious

Is it safe to say? C’mon, C’mon

Dedaaa. I’ve been absolutely terrible blog-wise.
Perhaps since I’ve moved out of a host family, my cultural run-ins have significantly decreased.
Perhaps, it’s just nearing the end of the year and things that used to feel so foreign, no longer are out of the ordinary.
Perhaps I’m just really lazy.
Really, it could be any of the above. Most likely a combination of all three.
For now, it’s time to revive the blog as the year ends so I can go on with my usual reflections, being both ecstatically overjoyed to leave, but also a little bummed too.
But it’s not time for that quite yet. I’ve still got a few more weeks of school to get through before I can start feeling like the end is near (although, I did have my last class with my first graders today so I guess the end is closer than I realize).

Anyway.
Since we last spoke..Hmm, it’s been a while, eh?
Well, I had my interview with EPIK, first of all. And it went well. Of course this is me we’re talking about so “well” is a relative term. “Well” means that I passed! “Well” also means that the internet connection was absolutely terrible, it cut out in the middle so the lady had to call my via phone, I couldn’t understand anything she said and I had to ask her to repeat herself every time she asked a question. But, hey, I passed and that’s all that really matters, right? RIGHT.
I also made an enemy the morning of my interview. A nervous wreck and set to wake up at 8.00 to prepare for the 8.30 interview, I had an alarm that went off a little earlier than I planned. At around 6.00, my enemy awoke. And that son of a gun woke me up too. A bird. A very loud, very obnoxious bird. A bird that likes to imitate a car alarm (you know the one that has the eight or so different sounds: woooooooo, wooooo; beep beep beep beep beep; shwoooo, swhooo; honk honk honk; etc). That jerk didn’t know that I was trying to get a good night’s rest so I could think clearly through my anxious haze. I will never forgive it.
But, again, I passed so I guess it doesn’t really matter.

Also, after the interview, sending in my documents (thanks Mom!) and a few normal, boring weeks of school, I also took a weekend to return to my Georgian roots: Mestia.
After a minor panic attack on the way up there (a volatile mix nerves, nostalgia and a 4 hour marshutka ride), I got there and immediately headed to my old school. At first, I thought that I did not want to be back there; Mestia is a chapter of my life that I closed in December. I appreciated and loved my experience (albeit not all the time), but I’m not in a hurry to relive it. However, after running into one of my former co-workers, Mutaz, and then heading to my old school, all of my fond feelings quickly returned. I had forgotten how much I absolutely loved who I worked with. My co-teachers and my host family were my only friends in Mestia; hands down, those are the people that kept me sane. And I absolutely love them for it. After hugs and a couple toasts for a couple hours. The rest of the group (sans Adam and me) went to the Cross for a hike. We, on the other hand, went to my old stomping grounds and hung out with my old host family.
I loved seeing them all again, but it was so weird to be back. Having lived essentially 6 months of my life in that living room, it was strange to return as a visitor. Although I will always love them and consider them my family, it really hit me that that place was no longer my home. They had lived their lives, grew up, changed haircuts. You know, gone on with their lives after I left (GASP). Nonetheless, it was still nice. Plus, I was lucky because the following day Mari and Keti returned home from Tbilisi and I got to see my little best friend again! Although she didn’t really remember me, she took to me quickly and to make myself feel better, I told myself she remembered me subconsciously.My little baby friend now also walks and talks. SO ADORABLE. I almost stole her and put her in my handbag. I also got to see my little bud, Gaby, who most definitely remembered me. My posse was reunited! Me, Gaby (3 years old) and Keti (1.5 years) together again. Like 3 peas in a pod.
This time as we left Mestia, I knew it would be for good. I said my goodbyes to the people and the city, this time for the last time. It was surprisingly hard. I never really realized how much Mestia meant to me until going back and realizing how much I really, really missed it. Sure, I’d never choose to live there again for a long period of time, but it will always, always be my Georgian hometown. I think I have Mestia to thank for a lot of my positive experiences in this country. So thanks, Mestia, for everything. Seriously.

Now, only 3 more weeks to get through before Turkey, Tanzania and adventures aplenty.
HERE WE GOOOOOO.

Run deep, run wild.

Spring break’s over :( Can I get a “wah waaaah”?
Because, let me tell you, what a bummer it is to return back to “real life” (as if my life in Georgia is real life. Puh-lease) after a wonderful week in beautiful Yerevan.
Let’s just say I loved it. It was ridiculous and bananas and full of delicious, delicious food. I can give the most thanks to the man of the week, Kush. He hosted myself, Adam, Natalie and Brennan at his apartment in Yerevan. Not only did he show us the ropes of the city, but, more importantly, taught Natalie and me to make amazing homemade Indian curry(!!!). There was ice cream, curry, Mexican food, Armenian food, and REAL pizza (aka sans mayonnaise and with REAL cheese!) to be had by all.
Not to mention the grocery stores. VAIME! Do they know how to do a proper grocery store in Yerevan. 24 hour, have-everything grocery stores. I was in grocery store heaven (which I’m pretty sure is a place only I dream about). Honestly, a couple of times I just wandered around for no reason at all, other than to look at all the pretty food items at the tip of my fingers. And how glorious it was. I’m sure Tbilisi is the same way, but I have yet to find the same kind of wonderful supermarkets that we had in Yerevan (other than incredibly expensive German grocery stores, like Populi or Goodwill).
All in all, an amazing trip. A little pricey, but definitely worth it (:

And now it’s back to good ol’ Georgia. For the most part, it was the same as how we left. Except there was one difference: THE GREEN! Finally, green grass, green trees, green everything (except the flowers, obviously). It was nice to have the vegetation seemingly come from nowhere after our return. And the sunshine! YES PLEASE. Sunshine, warm weather, greenery? OH herrrooo there, it’s nice to see your pretty face, Spring. Although, honestly, this is more like summer to me (remember? Seattle, me and the intolerance for temperature above 20C?), but, for now, I’m not complaining. Especially with my relatively easy school schedule this semester, there’s plenty of time to be spent lounging in the sun, catching a tan (alright, let’s be real, not a “tan”, but catching a “not-so-freakishly-white-normal-looking-color”). This is actually pretty important for my sensitive, vampire-white skin considering I will be soaking up that African sun in only 2 months time!!!!

Yeah, when I’m not trying to turn my skin to a humanly color, I’m reading/researching/daydreaming about our African adventure that commences mid-June! Although things in Georgia have been going relatively well, I can still say I’m excited to leave and start another adventure. And since I don’t know my next “long term” venture (well, long term for me. Aka a year or so), I have the Turkey (pt2)-Tanzania (giraffessss!)- Zanzibar shindig to look forward to in the meantime. But, speaking of my next step, wish me luck. Someone has an interview for Korea this Friday. And that someone is THIS GIRL. Alllll riiiiight. So keep your fingers crossed (seriously, if you don’t keep them crossed all day on Friday, or Thursday rather to factor in the time difference, I think it’s safe to say we’re no longer friends. Just kidding….Sorta. You’ve been warned) that all goes well. I get nervous ordering pizza a restaurant (and I’m the CUSTOMER), but here’s hoping I can nail an interview with my potential future employer. DEDA. Since it’s at 8.30am Georgian time, hopefully I’ll be too sleepy to get nervous. But that could also mean I’m too sleepy to think clearly and I could still botch it. Oh gracious.
Luckily Adam’s interview is tomorrow so I can milk him for his interview knowledge.
Anyway, just wish me luck.

Oh, and in case anyone’s counting (well, you’re not because you a) don’t care and b) don’t know what you’re counting down to, or from for that matter), I have 6 Mondays and Tuesdays left and 7 Wednesdays-Fridays left of school. HUZZAH! We’re getting there, people.

The gang at Lake Sevan

At a jazz bar in Yerevan, this time with Kush and Jo!

We really ain’t got no where to go.

SPRING BREAK! SPRING BREAK! SPRING BREAK!

I’m not sure if you can tell, but, just in case, I’m really really really REALLY excited to have some time off. Okay, so it’s not reallyyy “spring break” per se, but it’s close enough for me to pretend it is. And technically, I still have school/work next week, but how can I possibly work during my pretend spring break? The answer: I can’t! So skipping school it is! But at least I have an excuse. Because we’ll be soaking in Armenia so I won’t even be in the country all next week. Can I get a huzzah? Huzzah!
Yep, Armenia for spring break? Not exactly Florida or Cancun, but I’m sure we’ll make up for the lack of beach lounging.
Not that my life has been lacking sunshine lately. Because, seemingly, after 2 weeks of a transition to spring, we’ve skipped over the season and headed straight for summer.
No complaints here.
Except that maybe it’s been too hot (; You can never please me.
But apparently I’m the only one who thinks it’s been too hot because:
a) I’m from Seattle and we suffer from the inability to deal with temperature extremes. Anything about 60 degrees is proper summer weather to me!
b) I seem to be the only one who thinks that wearing pants and sweaters will result in heatstroke. Yesterday I wore a quarter length sleeved sweater and a pair of jeans to school By the time I got there, it looked like I had just jumped in the trash-filled river. I was a hot, sweaty mess. Meanwhile, Georgians, were covered, head to toe, in sweaters, pants, tights, hats, suit coats, etc without breaking a sweat. Granted, as I said, I have a genetic intolerance (okay, so it’s not genetic, but it’s easier to blame genes than to admit I’m a pansy) for hot weather and sunshine (although, i can blame my vampire-white skin on genes and that does make the sun harder to tolerate. Sunburns are no fun!), not to mention the Georgians probably weren’t late for work (well, in reality, they probably were, but they probably didn’t care. Ever heard of Georgian time? Well, actually you probably haven’t, but Georgians tend to be late. For almost everything) so they probably weren’t breaking out in an awkward jog, but still! I would break out into a sweat just standing–no awkward brisk movements necessary! And here these people were, blobs covered in black cloth. Did we not just live through the same winter? I don’t get. Oh well.
I, on the other hand, as I’ve been saying, didn’t fare so well in the heat. Every day after school ended in victoriously ripping my pants off upon the moment of getting home (I wish they were the pants that had the buttons down the side so I could have actually ripped my pants off. I like that image better than the normal, boring one that actually occurred) and then sitting around for the rest of the day (since movement caused me to sweat, I obviously couldn’t do a whole lot of that, right? Right). And, as mentioned, my skin is about as white as a sheet of printer paper, so I did more reflecting than soaking in the sun, but, you get the idea. Not a bad way to segue into SPRING BREAK! (I forgot I was on break for a second and upon realizing that I had a whole week off of school, I got excited again. Hence the unnecessary capitals. Apologies).
SO, I guess one might say life is getting better. Because life is always better in warm, sunny weather.

See you on the other side, my friends. And by the other side, I mean the other side of spring break. The working side of spring break. Ah man, what a bummer to think about. But now? SPRING BREAK!

PB&Jelly bones.

What day is it again? Oh yeah, it’s April 2nd.
That’s right, peace out forever (and by forever I mean until next year), March!
It feels SO good that March is finally over. Now it seems like the next few months will be nothing but cake. With good weather finally beginning to show its face, Easter vacation right around the corner (less than a week!), and summer slowly approaching, it appears we’ve made it through the worst of it. And by ‘it’, I mean winter in Georgia.

Things have been going relatively well, I guess. Nothing new to report.
It was nice to get a glimpse of warm weather and sunny days last week. For some reason, it made being holed up in the house while it’s rained all weekend more bearable. Probably because I was actually able to venture outside at some point. Hope exists again!
I even went for a long walk this last week. A walk to, I’m not really sure where. After sitting in the sun, reading on a bench in the boulevard for a couple of hours after school, I got up to walk home. But then I just kept walking. I saw the turn off to our house and decided “Hmm, I think I want to keep going”. And so I did. And then 2 hours later, I ended up in a village in the middle of nowhere somewhere outside of Zugdidi. It was refreshing to be outside of the city where fields of cows stretched on either side of me for as far as I could see. It was a relief; it reminded me of Mestia in a way.

The other weekend also took me on an adventure to Batumi to visit my friends Anna and Chris. On the Saturday I left, it was the second nice day I had experienced since the start of spring, so as we rolled down the hill into Batumi, it reminded me of this summer. With the beautiful sun setting over the Black Sea and the warm breeze blowing through the window. It made me think of how much relief I felt driving into Batumi for the first time, after being in Mestia, alone, for 2 months straight. It feels like that day was so long ago–I can’t believe how much has happened since August of last year.
But it also got me thinking about how I could be living in Batumi right now instead of in Zugdidi.
And, for some reason, that just weirds me out. I could be living in Batumi?!
ERROR: *Does not compute*
I just can’t imagine living anywhere else or doing anything differently. I definitely know I made the right choice for me. Especially considering my current living circumstances (giant room/bed with an awesomely large house shared with friends? YES PLEASE. Freeeeeeedom!). But it still makes me wonder, nonetheless. I’m sure there’s an Aly in a different dimension that chose to stay in Batumi…and I wonder how that Aly’s doing. Does she hang out on the beach all the time? Or is she anti-social and poor from all her trips to Zugdidi? Meh, I guess it’s not really important. But it does make me think about all the different outcomes that exist for me, especially considering how many times I’ve moved (an embarrassing amount: to Mestia, to Batumi, to Zugdidi’s host family, to my current house…soooo 4 times in a year’s time. Yikes. Good thing I actually don’t have that much stuff with me). What if I had stayed in Mestia? What if I had stayed in Batumi? What if I had stayed with my old host family?
I guess, one could even ask…what if I had never come to Georgia to begin with?
It’s crazy to think about how much of an impact each decision has on your life.
Because even though I have complaints a plenty about Georgia (today’s post office debacle was just another to add to the list. But when do I NOT have a post office debacle?! Foreign post offices and I just do not mix), I would continuously choose to do everything just as I’ve already done it. I can’t imagine not living in all the places I’ve lived (no matter how short) nor can I imagine what my life would be like if I hadn’t come to Georgia.
This has been such an influential experience for me. (Plus who else can say that their co-workers gave them cha cha to keep warm? Uhhhh, no one in America, that’s for sure!). And all these amazing people I now know (Georgians and TLGVs alike)? Yeah, hard to say I’d trade that for a 9-5 job in America.

So, I guess, when it seems difficult for me to finish another boring, rainy day in Georgia, I just have to think about all the things I now have and know because I took a crazy chance to move to a country I knew nothing about. And now, my life is full of khachapuri, lobiani, gaumarjos, ludi & ghvino…yeah, you get the idea. And if you don’t, I guess that means you’ve never been to Georgia (;

5 more days until our Armenian adventure! HUZZAH.
I’m ready for some more international shenanigans. I haven’t used my passport since January–unacceptable!!! (:

The fox ran after the rabbit.

What day is it again? March something? Buh, who knows, but it’s still March. Darn you, March.
Actually, now that I look at the date, it’s March 22nd. Which is:
a) Farther in the month than I thought it was (YES!)
b) Officially American spring (in Georgia, spring starts when March starts)
So there’s more hope than I originally thought. Although judging by this weather, it’s not very springy.
It’s pretty hard to tell (sarcasm alert), but I’m over it being March. Once it hits April, it’ll all be downhill; I just need to push through these last couple of weeks and then VOILA–all will be magical! Okay, so that’s not true either, but I’ll only be 2.5 months away from my amazing summer vacation and for some reason, 2.5 sounds so much better than 3.
Plus, I feel like the start of April finally means the start of spring (for real, not just on the calendar). And I’m reallyyyy ready for the start of spring.
For two reasons:
1) I hate winter. Always have, always will (unless it’s a winter in, like, Hawaii. I have a feeling a Hawaiian winter wouldn’t be all that bad)
2) I’m SO sick and tired of being sick and tired!
Seriously, I’ve been sick every other week since I came back to Georgia. I’m not exactly sure why, but I have a feeling that this cold and wet weather has something to do with it. Luckily I haven’t been throwing up in the snow, but I’m currently suffering from a brutal cold that’s left me with a raspy voice (and not the cool sounding kind), a lovely cough (the kind that sounds/feels like I’m trying to cough up a lung or two) and a few other super attractive symptoms. It’s pretty fantastic. Obviously.
It was also the cause of me sleeping through one of the two WARM, sunny days we’ve had recently. What a bummer. Darn you, cold!

In other news, the trip to Tbilisi was pretty good though. Definitely much needed and well worth it. It was spent eating delicious ice cream (lots of it!), getting tattoos (again, not me), enjoying the sunshine (even though it was cold, I can always appreciate vitamin D that doesn’t have to come in a multivitamin), eating FALAFEL (om nom nom!), getting THAI FOOD (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, ASIAN FOOOOOOOOD! curry curry curry! rejoice rejoice rejoice!) and kicking it at a sweet hostel with friends and some cool hostel workers (we always stay Friends Hostel and I have yet to be disappointed. Awesome people, good location, and decent prices, so SHOUT OUT! Haha). Overall, a much needed Zugdidi break. Tbilisi, although, in my opinion, not as cultural rooted as other parts of Georgian (since it’s pretty Westernized), is actually a really awesome city. So, after being fed up with Zugdidi, it was a nice, much-needed break, even if I did burn through more laris than I hoped (I blame those STUPID 20 lari nachoes–not worth it, Hangar, even if they were pretty tasty. You can bet I’ll never go back there again!).

Anyway, what was I saying again? Who even knows. Actually, you probably know, but I’m too tired and ill (but mostly just lazy) to read up a couple sentences to remember my train of thought. Wow, I think I’ve reached a new level of laziness. Good thing I at least have my sickness to blame or I’d sound pretty pathetic, huh? (;

So in conclusion: I’m sick, lazy and ready for March for to be done. Peace out for now, world.

Paddling out.

Remember that wall that I hit a few weeks ago?
Yeah, well, I’ve been continuously running into that same wall for the past week or so.

I guess I’ve just had enough. It’s not even the country so much (kinda). It’s just my life. And how totally and utterly useless my entire life has become. Because, essentially, I don’t do anything. (No wonder I’m counting down the days)
I wake up every morning and go to school where I, basically, just walk around the classroom and feel relatively useless. Then, I come home where I KNOW I’m completely useless. I just sit here, trapped in the kitchen (since the rest of the house is too cold to comfortably live in) and for hours, just sit, waiting for bedtime to roll around, so I can get up and feel equally as bored and worthless as the previous day.
I guess it’s just been wearing on me.
In America, my friends and family can attest, I’m busy. I was in school full time, working 20-30 hours a week, volunteering at a couple of different places and still finding time to see my friends or have a family dinner. You’d be surprised how much time is actually in the day. I was stressed out and busy, but that’s what I do. That’s what I LIKE to do. I like to feel like I’m doing something or working toward a goal. In school, even though it wasn’t always my favorite thing, I at least was working for a good grade and, in the end, for my diploma. For work, I knew that every hour I was stuck there, was more money in my pocket. At the very least, I knew that the pro shop needed me; without me working my shift, the store wouldn’t be open. And then volunteering/friend/family, that was for my own personal fun. I worked, but I also had time to do what I wanted to do. I made use of my time.

Here. UGH. I get none of that.
At my job, I feel useless. At home, I am useless. I have no motivation for anything. Even teaching. No matter how hard, or how little, I work, I still get paid the same amount (a big ol’ less than 300 USD a month). That’s hardly an incentive to do much of anything. But, besides that, there’s NOTHING TO DO. I don’t have access to the same opportunities I do in America. Even just something fun. All I’ve found to do (this is speaking in terms of the Zugdidi region; Tbilisi doesn’t count) is sit in a restaurant, spend money and drink. Hardly ways that I would want to spend the hours and hours of free time I have everyday. Especially since, as I said, my salary doesn’t allow for a whole lot of extra spending money (after rent, electricity, food, etc). What about movie theaters, museums, bowling alleys?! Something. For goodness sake, ANYTHING. Plus, with this terrible winter weather continuing to drag on, it’s not like I can enjoy the one thing there is to do (aka walking around and/or sitting on a park bench).

I’m just in dire need of something different. A break. Or a vacation (If I had the money, Dave, I would be emailing you about those apartment keys in a hot minute. Unfortunately, again, that 277 USD a month doesn’t exactly set me up to save for a fancy Dutch vacation. Oh well).

I know I’m not the only person who’s hit a wall. I have a couple of friends who are as equally as fed up and frustrated as I am. In fact, they’re doing something a little more drastic than I’m able to do to solve this wall-hitting dilemma (more on that in a few weeks!).

Perhaps the trip to Tbilisi this weekend will save me though. Although I’m not excited that we’re going to Tbilisi yet again (I’m tired of seeing the same things in this country; I’m ready for a new location, pleaseee), it’ll be nice to leave Zugdidi for the first time in 6 weeks (and I’m wondering why I was going stir crazy?). Plus, there’s actually a reason people are going there: Tattoos! (No need to panic, parents. You should know by now that I’m too indecisive to ever decide on something I want to paint on my body for the rest of my life. At least piercings can be taken out!) But it’ll still be fun to watch a bunch of people get theirs done. Mostly because I’ve never seen one being done before.

Don’t get me wrong, I have things to look forward to (some trips coming up, a hopeful visit from the wonderful Joana, summer, sunshine and even better, more awesome vacations). But I feel that’s all I’ve been doing lately–looking forward to things that aren’t happening right now. I better change my attitude sometime soon though or the month of March is going to be my downfall.

Throw your hands up with me.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Have you heard of it? Because I sure haven’t. But it’s a weird, random holiday that Georgia has decided to celebrate. And any holiday that they give me off of school is okay by me.
Plus, being a lady and all, it celebrates me! Which I can also get on board with.
Also, while I’m at it, happy March! And even though that greeting’s well overdue, it’s better than never, right?

And one more congratulations is in order. A congratulations that I will make to myself (Pathetic? Sure. Well deserved? You know it!). And that’s a congratulations to me on finishing my TEFL certification! HUZZAH! Most of you didn’t know, but for the past few month, I’ve been taking an online TEFL course (through i-to-i) to get officially certified for the job I’m already doing (Ha). It’s not so much to help me with what I’m doing in Georgia (although in some ways, it did), but it’s mostly for the next move I’m planning (South Korea, in case you missed it), so I can make more monies. I had to pay a pretty penny for the certification and also work harder than I’d like to (pleaseee, I just graduated college, so sue me for not wanting to jump right back into school mode), but, hopefully, it will pay for itself by this time next year. Several times over (fingers crossed). But seriously though, that thing was haaaard. I talked to Elaine (who did an online TEFL certification, too, but through a different company) and Adam (who got his undergrad degree in education) and they both can attest to the difficulty. Lesson plans, extensive essay questions, tests, etc. Hardly how I want to spend my free time. But now it’s finally done! With only a couple hours to spare before my course expired, I finished. And how glorious it was. For everyone, not just me (I had been stressed out and hadn’t been feeling good, so I guess, one might say, I had been a little grouchy).
So, congratulations, me. On a job well done.

Everything else in my life has been going fairly well, too. School is nice. The house is good. Georgia is…the same. Ha.
Sometimes, though, I forget where I’m living. Living in a house of foreigners has been like living in a bubble. It’s hard to forget where you are completely (the freezing indoors temperatures and having a shower that trickles water is a reminder of that), but when I hole myself up in the house for a day, it’s always a small shock to re-enter the Georgian world. To walk down the street and see the weird alphabet on all the signs, to come walk around and come with a couple of inches of a speeding car (Sorry, Dad, I told you you wouldn’t like the driving), to walk around and just get stared at. One of the reasons it’s nice living in our bubble is because, for hours at a time, we can retain a sense of normalcy. We don’t feel so different and strange; we don’t just sit around staring at each other after all. But even when I was walking down a busy street on Wednesday morning, on my way to school, a group of men standing around doing nothing (for some reason, mostly just in Zugdidi, standing/sitting around and doing absolutely nothing is a favorite activity of the men here) stared at me, said “look! An English teacher” in Georgian, and continued to follow me with their gaze until I was well up the street.
It’s not bad. I never feel unsafe or in harm, but it’s more annoying than anything else. I may be foreign, but I’m still just a person. In fact, a lot of people have mistaken me for Georgian (even when they knew I was with foreigners). Again, it’s not bad, but I’m just ready to feel normal again (although if I want to feel normal, I guess South Korea probably wouldn’t be such a great place for me. A 5’10 tall, white girl with light hair and blue eyes? Yeahhhh, I don’t think I’ll stick out there at all. OHWAIT). But it’s nice that I ate least have my little foreign bubble that I can come home to (;

Sneak Peek.

The house: from the front

The room.

The room from a different angle: sweet blanket, eh? Haha

Bathroom fit for royalty.

One of TWO living rooms. And this is even the "smaller" one.

Kitchen complete with woodstove, fridge and unpictured breakfast nook

The backyard! Coming soon: 2 chickens and a turkey!

Courtyard in the back with our own lemon trees

Nature of the experiment.

Well, I have some somewhat surprising news.
Actually really surprising to almost everyone besides those in Georgia, my parents and Elyse.

I moved!
Again.
Yeah, yeah. I know. But third move’s a charm, right?
Because, well, this has been my third move since the end of January, which is pretty pathetic. Less than 2 weeks in Batumi. Less than 3 weeks at my host family in Batumi. And now here.
I guess I should tell you where here is though. Believe it or not, I’ve finally decided to stay in a city, so I’m still in Zugdidi. I’m even still at the same school. But I’ve finally stopped complaining and done something about living under someone else’s roof. And that, my friends, is to move under a roof of my own. Well, it’s not exactly mine per se, but I live with 3 other friends (Adam, Blessing and Elaine) as opposed to living with a Georgian family.
Now I can call the shots. We all can.
We can come and go as we please, have people over, make our own food when we’re hungry.
Blessing mentioned moving out their host house to Adam on Monday last week and since I had been talking about moving out of my place for awhile, we all decided to just look together. A mention one day turned into looking at places the very next day and by day 3, we already had a place.
So last Wednesday I told my host family my plans.
My host mom (the only one I ever really talked to) took it surprisingly well at first, which was a relief. It wasn’t until a couple of hours later, when she asked me how many days I would be gone, did I realize that she had no idea what the word “move” meant (in the sense that I wouldn’t be living there, she thought I meant “move” as in move my body/exercise/move around/etc). It was kind of awkward to have to explain it again. She didn’t take it as well the 2nd time (when she actually understood what I was saying), but it wasn’t that bad. I mean, I had lived there less than 3 weeks and I wasn’t there a lot of the time anyway; it’s hard to imagine that she was super attached to me. And then on Friday after school, I gathered everything, picked up and moved to my new (and hopefully final) living place.
It’s in this fabulously large, fully furnished (pots and pans and everything!) house. It’s farther from my school than my old house, but it’s about the same distance as my school in Mestia (about a 30 min walk), so it’s not too bad. I could probably use the exercise anyway. Plus, now I can do whatever I want, whenever I want and never feel guilty about it! And even though I have to pay a little but more, did I mention I have total freedom again?! Yeah, WORTH IT.
So I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I already love it. I feel so much more relaxed and at ease; I finally feel the pressure of having to conform to someone else’s expectations lifted from me. And it’s nice to feel normal again in my own home.
Plus, since this is Georgia, there are no contracts and we can rent month by month (even if it’s only 4 months).
So that’s the big news in my life.
I’ll make sure to post pictures of my sweet new digs when I get around to actually taking pictures. Until then, you should probably just imagine that I’m living in an awesome castle. For no reason really. Just that I like the idea of me in a castle.

Learn to say the same thing

Sorry about my rant last post. I want to make it clear that my family has been nothing but nice and relatively accommodating; it’s always an adjustment to live with new people. And my frustration is/was more a product of the circumstance rather than Georgia, TLG or my new family. It’s going to be hard for any independent adult to suddenly live under someone else’s roof again, no matter where they are and what the family is like.
It’s just an adjustment. An understandably difficult one, but one that I’m sure I’ll get used to with time.
If I can get used to Mestia, then I can get used to anything.
Speaking of Mestia.
I never in a million years thought I would say this, buuuuut, I wholeheartedly miss it.
There’s a girl living in my old host family, teaching at my old school, who I’ve been in contact with recently. It’s just reminded me how much I utterly love and miss all of the amazing people that I met and got to know during my time there.
Earlier, the girl, who was in Kutaisi last semester, was texting me and I was on the verge of tears.
It’s SO lame.
But they honestly became like my family. Especially my Keki! That baby is and will always will be (even though she won’t have any idea who I am in a year) my best friend in the entire world.
It kind of threw me for a loop because I didn’t expect to get emotional about Mestia. Especially now. But here I am, sappin’ it up like a fool.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!
I honestly don’t know, but Mestia and all of my Svan people (shout out!) will always have a special place in my heart. I can’t wait to see them again (: (:
I’ve already told Adam (another shout out? Gasp! Haha) we need to make a trip ASAP to get back to my Georgian hometown. We’re planning for the first weekend in March (once we get paid and aren’t totally broke anymore). Is it weird that I think 2 weeks is too far away?!
It would probably be sooner had we not already spent almost all of our January paychecks already. Sigh.
Anyway, things have been decent, I guess. School is going relatively well and I’m getting along with my co-teachers. One of my co-teachers always smells like cinnamon so that’s always a nice perk.
I still feel like I’m dragging my feet though.
Honestly, I’m not sure the source of all of it —I can’t tell if I’m just sick of winter or really, really ready for a change, or that I’m overly excited to get all of my cool summer activities started (bought my ticket to Tanzania on Saturday so it’s all starting to feel real!).
I think it’s probably a mix of everything. In Sweden I think I hit this same lull about this time too. Man, February is such a bummer of a month. And worse, this year’s a leap year, which means there’s an extra day of winter to dread. Buh. When’s the summer and warm weather going to hit? It may make going to school even more of a task, but at least we can all stare out the window, wishing we were basking in all the vitamin D, counting the hours until school’s let out (I think I, as a teacher, am more guilty of wanting out of school than the students are…whoops).
Because, honestly, I feel that’s how I’m living. Day to day, hour to hour, waiting for the moment I can cross another week in the school year. Again, I think it’s just a winter lull, but it’s starting to become painful. I’m constantly telling myself, “Okay, Aly, just 3 more classes left in the school day before you can go home…only 20 more minutes left in this class before you can go home…only 4 more days left in this week before it’s the weekend…only 2 more weeks left in this month before it’s the next month…only 5 more months left in the school year before it’s summertime”. My life is a series of sad, pathetic countdowns. I live to cross another month, week, day, hour, class, or minute off of my life. (That sounds like a more terrible way to live than it actually is. I swear.)
But only 8 more hours until I can go to sleep. 4 more school days before it’s the weekend. 9 more days until February is over. 3.5more months until I’m done with school and I can get ready for summer fun (Turkey pt 2: Beach camping on the Aegean Sea edition, Tanzania & Zanzibar, Baltimore, Philly [hopefully], Outerbanks beach fun, and back again to Seattle!). Seeeeee, if you had this summer planned, wouldn’t you be counting down the minutes tooooo? Give me a break, man, I think it’s pretty understandable.