For anyone who may not have gotten the full story, I'll be leaving soon to teach English in the Republic of Georgia. I've signed up for six months, but unless catastrophe strikes, I'll be extending my contract through the end of the school year in June. I'll be living with a host family, and teaching alongside local English teachers in a public school.
There are many things I still don't know about this adventure: where exactly I'm going to be placed, what age group I'll be working with, what my host family will be like, and other similarly large questions. I'm trying to take the stoic/experienced-world-traveler approach to all these unknowns, though, and tell myself that I'll adjust and make the best of whatever comes my way. So far, this attitude has managed to prevail against the, "What on earth am I getting myself into" attitude, if only just barely at certain times.
What's that you say, you thought Georgia was just a state known for heat, humidity and peaches? Well, long before Columbus reached what he thought was India, and even longer before James Oglethorpe was inspired to create a colony for poor people, there were a people who called themselves Kartvelebi (Georgians) living high in the Caucasus Mountains between the Black and the Caspian Seas.
Georgia was one of the very fist kingdoms to officially convert to Christianity (in the 4th century), and the people there have managed to preserve their unique religious traditions, along with their unique languages, foods and musical styles, through repeated invasions by Persians, Byzantines, Turks and Russians. It was through singing, in fact, that I first learned about Georgia, and I go there in the wake of many friends who were drawn there at first by the music but came back raving about the food, the scenery, and most of all, the great hospitality.
I have been trying to learn a little bit of basic Georgian before I go, but this is not proving to be an easy task. The South Caucasian language family, of which Georgian is the dominant member, is unrelated to any other language family. The language has its own unique alphabet, and is also unbelievably stingy with consonants ("gvprtskvni" is an extreme example, but seeing as it means "you peel us," I don't think I'll be needing to use it too often). In case you're interested, here is some rather more useful vocabulary:
Hello: Gamarjoba (გამარჯობა)
Good morning: Dila mshvidobisa (დილა მშვიდობისა)
My name is Ben: Me mkvia Ben (მე მქვია ბენ)
Thank you: Gmadlobt (გმადლობთ)
Goodbye: Nakhvamdis (ნახვამდის)
So, nakhvamdis for now, and stay tuned for the next update!
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