And like a week later...

Change of Address

Hello all. It's been a while, but it's been a crazy week. Due to certain circumstances that I’m not going to go into detail over right now, I have moved host families. Well, that situation was… I really don’t even know what to say about that. All I really can say is that I moved out of the Tedoradze Family’s place on Thursday for certain reasons and it was super awkward. Thanks to Kas (a new TLG friend) for being there as my moral support.

The new family: Ktchashvili.

I honestly cannot pronounce the last name at this point. I’m working on it and hopefully I’ll master that soon. The family members consist of a mother, Bella, an aunt, Rusico, a 16 year-old daughter, Mari, and a 15 year-old son, Giorgi. Sorry to the family if I've spelled names wrong. I need to stop doing that. Mari, my host sister, speaks English really well and I have a feeling that she is going to get sick of translating between me and the other family members. She says she doesn’t mind and I’m really happy that she’s so willing to do that. Helps me a lot! Giorgi is actually a 9^th grade student at the school I teach at, but I don’t work with his grade. Darn! Haha. Mari does not go to my school, but at Batumi N1. As far as I can understand, Bella works at with an organization that cares for "displaced" children of Batumi and the surrounding area. Rusico works at Batumi Public Library. I have been to the Library many times but I don’t remember seeing her there. Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention. Plus, I walk straight to the American Corner as well.

The living situation: AWESOME! It’s closer to the school than the other host family. The only downside is that it’s on the top floor of the building, but I like walking so I feel like it doesn’t even count. That up-sides are:

-I have my own room! That would have been enough for me, but it gets better.

-I have a Double/Full size bed.

-Electric blanket that I turn on every night J

-Western toilet and western shower! That’s right! I no longer have to “shower” sitting in a bathtub and holding the shower attachment above my head. A proper shower.

-Washing machine

-Oh yeah and free wi-fi in my bedroom! It’s a little touchy sometimes but any wi-fi is better than nothing! Super stoked.

A picture of my room. Sorry about the mess. I was in the middle of moving in :)

There have already been a lot of memories made with my new family.  I have a couple favorites that I will share with you now.

1.    1. The other day I came back to the apartment after school and had lunch with Bella and Giorgi. Bella was getting the food ready and she brings out this big jar of something that I didn’t recognize. She starts scooping some out and placing it in a small cup. She notices that I’m watching her and asks me what’s the English name of this? (Of course she asked me in Georgian) Since I honestly didn’t know what it was, I just stared at her for a second. Then she just starts laughing and I start laughing. It was great. Then she pulls her elbows into her side and “flaps” her hands a little and makes a “buzzzzzz” noise. Light bulb! So I simply say, “honey.” Of course we start laughing again. Throughout the entire hour we’re eating I would occasionally hear her say, “honey… honey” and then she would giggle to herself. Priceless.

2.     2.This past weekend, Mari (my host sister) took part in some sort of competition. To the best of my interpretation, I would compare it to an Academic Decathlon.  Saturday evening she brought home her group to hang out and for coffee. They probably also wanted to meet the very strange foreigner living in their home. I was okay with that because they are all super nice, funny, and interested in learning about my life and America. They speak English very well. Good for Mari so she didn’t have to translate everything. Anyway, this meeting turned into a little mini-supra complete with wine and toasts! It was a little more modern than the other supras I’ve been to because normally you have a Tamada  (a head of the table, typically male unless it’s all women) and the Tamada makes all the toasts during the supra. However, we did not have a designated Tamada and we took turns making toasts. I loved being included in the toasts! That was awesome. I felt involved and included. :happyface

To sum up, I moved host families and they are awesome. End of story.

Until next time. Adventure is out there.