Orientation was actually pretty fantastic. I love the people in the program and attempted to soak up all of the Georgian we were learning very rapidly as our orientation was only a week long.
Our days were packed as breakfast started at 8AM followed by an orientation session from 9-10:15. Language classes started after that and ran until lunch at 1PM. At 2PM we had another session followed by a 3 hour intercultural training. We had a final wrap up before dinner at 7:30PM. This is when we could either eat at the hotel for dinner or go out and explore.
A small group of us went out the second night to the town center of Tbilisi. It was much more modern than I had thought it would have been. We went to a restaurant downtown where we had traditional Georgian food including kinkhali which is basically like a dumpling with either meat, cheese, or veggies in it. Khachapuri is another traditional dish which is just bread with cheese in it. From there we walked passed the president's house, a fortress, and a bridge that is gorgeous when lit up at night.
Another night, we went to the restaurant next door for dinner and watch the place explode into dance and song. I am eager to learn Georgian Dance but am not sure if there will be a means to do so. We'll see.
Mid-way into orientation, our group was asked if any of us were interested in applying to teach police officers instead of at a school. About 12 of us were interested. We were asked to send in our resumes. They made a decision the next day and I was one of two selected! So I will be teaching police at a police station rather than children at a school. I'm very excited for the opportunity!
As orientation came to a close, the host families or representatives of different areas came to pick all of us up. Pavell, the other police teacher, and I were picked up by a driver from the police station. It is technically a 5-6 hour drive, but it took us about 4. Demur drove like crazy! I do not recommend ANYONE to drive in Georgia. Trust the locals that they know how to drive on their roads, so leave it to them. :)
More to come about host family situation...
Friday, January 27, 2012
What do you mean 57? - January 17, 2007
Sitting in the O'hare airport, I look across to see a group of people chatting outside the gate to Warsaw, Poland. Strange. Surely not all of us could be on the same flight randomly. So, naturally, I eavesdropped until I felt quite certain that they, too, were through the Teach and Learn with Georgia program. Sure enough...9 of us met in the airport all the while I was thinking I would be the only one. My recruiter left some details out. Many people went through a recruitment agency named GreenHeart or FootPrints. I went through Reach to Teach. I missed out on a LOT of information as I would come to find out.
No worries. Adaptation and flexibility is the name of the game. About an hour into our flight toward Warsaw, I realized that the guys on either side of me were also TLGers! Ha! Sweet. We got to chatting. One of them had just finished a one year stint of teaching in Thailand and the other just finished an unsuccessful attempt at the Peace Corps.
The 9 original of us that met up in the O'Hare airport went out into Warsaw which was a bit of a gong show. We went out in the freezing cold, hopped on a bus, and went into the center of town. After walking into the Old Town, we found a nice warm place to sit down and have a bite to eat. All but 5 of us went back to the airport, but with a 13 hour layover, we had plenty of time to kill, so the rest of us set out to see if we could find the Warsaw Ghetto. Big mistake. Apparently it doesn't exist anymore... We walked around in the cold and snow to walk into a Radisson Hotel which responded to the question, "Where is the Warsaw Ghetto?" "You are in it." Haha. Very well. We headed back to the airport to meet up with other TLGers who were on the same flight to Georgia. After another 5 hours of lying around on the airport floor, we finally boarded the plane to Tbilisi.
We were met by a TLG representative, Tamara, who took care to get us all to the hotel. I was interviewed by a tv crew about why I was in Georgia. At the hotel, we were left to sleep or explore until our medical exams at noon. My roommate, Krissi, and I passed out and woke only to head to our exams. With all said and done, there were 57 of us in the program and we were to spend the next week getting to know each other and Georgian culture.
No worries. Adaptation and flexibility is the name of the game. About an hour into our flight toward Warsaw, I realized that the guys on either side of me were also TLGers! Ha! Sweet. We got to chatting. One of them had just finished a one year stint of teaching in Thailand and the other just finished an unsuccessful attempt at the Peace Corps.
The 9 original of us that met up in the O'Hare airport went out into Warsaw which was a bit of a gong show. We went out in the freezing cold, hopped on a bus, and went into the center of town. After walking into the Old Town, we found a nice warm place to sit down and have a bite to eat. All but 5 of us went back to the airport, but with a 13 hour layover, we had plenty of time to kill, so the rest of us set out to see if we could find the Warsaw Ghetto. Big mistake. Apparently it doesn't exist anymore... We walked around in the cold and snow to walk into a Radisson Hotel which responded to the question, "Where is the Warsaw Ghetto?" "You are in it." Haha. Very well. We headed back to the airport to meet up with other TLGers who were on the same flight to Georgia. After another 5 hours of lying around on the airport floor, we finally boarded the plane to Tbilisi.
We were met by a TLG representative, Tamara, who took care to get us all to the hotel. I was interviewed by a tv crew about why I was in Georgia. At the hotel, we were left to sleep or explore until our medical exams at noon. My roommate, Krissi, and I passed out and woke only to head to our exams. With all said and done, there were 57 of us in the program and we were to spend the next week getting to know each other and Georgian culture.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Georgia, I have arrived! - January 15, 2007
As I attempt to re-integrate myself into the blogging community, I realize it has been quite some time since my last update. My hope is that this won't again be the case.
I have journals of Andy's and my travels from this summer, but conveniently have left them on my other computer. When I manage to extract them, I will also post them on this blog. We had the amazing opportunity to travel through Pittsburgh to DC, up to New York City via a stop in Delaware to visit my cousin Carrie, and on up to Boston. We then drove up through Maine on our way to Canada where we camped in Quebec City before heading to Sutton Montreal for a friend's wedding. To finish off our road trip, we traveled down through Niagara Falls and finished with a trip to Cedar Point to fulfill Andy's and my love of roller coasters. We also spent two weeks in Alaska. After my cousin's wedding in September, I headed to New Zealand to meet Andy for the Rugby World Cup. We rented a camper van and traveled all over the country stopping occasionally for rugby games. In between the last main game and the final, we traveled to Australia for two weeks where we also rented a camper van and traveled from Melbourne to Sydney. We returned to NZ for the rugby final where luckily the kiwis overcame, for if they had not, the country would have fallen apart. We then traveled to Fiji for two weeks to visit friends before heading back to England for a month.
That brings me to now!! I am in Georgia (the country!) It came about quite quickly, but I decided that this was the best option for me with the amount of time I had. Andy stayed in England and continued his search for a job, and as it is quite an ordeal to get a visa for an American in England, here I am. I am here teaching until June before hopefully heading back to England to complete a masters in International Development. I have already been accepted to the University of Manchester and am waiting to hear back from the other three universities.
I have been here for two weeks but will make separate posts about my experiences as to not overwhelm with details.
I have journals of Andy's and my travels from this summer, but conveniently have left them on my other computer. When I manage to extract them, I will also post them on this blog. We had the amazing opportunity to travel through Pittsburgh to DC, up to New York City via a stop in Delaware to visit my cousin Carrie, and on up to Boston. We then drove up through Maine on our way to Canada where we camped in Quebec City before heading to Sutton Montreal for a friend's wedding. To finish off our road trip, we traveled down through Niagara Falls and finished with a trip to Cedar Point to fulfill Andy's and my love of roller coasters. We also spent two weeks in Alaska. After my cousin's wedding in September, I headed to New Zealand to meet Andy for the Rugby World Cup. We rented a camper van and traveled all over the country stopping occasionally for rugby games. In between the last main game and the final, we traveled to Australia for two weeks where we also rented a camper van and traveled from Melbourne to Sydney. We returned to NZ for the rugby final where luckily the kiwis overcame, for if they had not, the country would have fallen apart. We then traveled to Fiji for two weeks to visit friends before heading back to England for a month.
That brings me to now!! I am in Georgia (the country!) It came about quite quickly, but I decided that this was the best option for me with the amount of time I had. Andy stayed in England and continued his search for a job, and as it is quite an ordeal to get a visa for an American in England, here I am. I am here teaching until June before hopefully heading back to England to complete a masters in International Development. I have already been accepted to the University of Manchester and am waiting to hear back from the other three universities.
I have been here for two weeks but will make separate posts about my experiences as to not overwhelm with details.
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