Saturday, February 11, 2012

Aloysius (and sanity) Out


I really find I have ZERO purpose in Georgia when I am not in school.  This past week we had a 3 day snow day that was effective throughout the whole country—so it would be exciting to have a 5 day weekend except for the fact that its cold and there is nothing really to do if I leave my host family other then sit around at someone else’s place trying to stay warm. 

Wednesday night I headed into Tbilisi to visit Duncan at his apartment.  The whole night was ok at best—we ended up going to a bar filled with a bunch of question marks.  From the white Estonian in one corner to the wannabe Georgian Rastas in the other it really wasn’t my scene.  We decided to leave his roommates there and made our way back to the apartment to realize that they had “couch surfers” over and we would have to share a bed the size of a matchbox (no seriously, it wasn't even a big enough for him without me in it) together instead of me sleeping on the couch as per usual. That was legit one of the worst sleeps I’ve had in a very long time. The room had ZERO insulation and more than enough loud snoring to last me a lifetime.  Long story short—never again. I’d much rather sit and die in Rustavi until the weather warms up then gallivant around in this “everywhere cold” country.

(This is what I actually look like right now)

I got to talk to Albart for 3 hours on Skype—that definitely made my Saturday night in awesome! I have never been home on a Saturday night in Georgia before.  I was debating a bath before the impromptu Skype date but I figure I take one tomorrow at some point and  maybe straighten my hair for the coming week, I don’t know.  With all this free time I could maybe count how many hairs on my head there actually are. I’ve been home pretty much ever since Friday morning sitting on my bed just wasting time. I cleaned my closet, my room, did pretty much all my laundry except for what I have ON me, watched a movie and uploaded some old pictures I found on an old hard drive during the break on Facebook. I also (out of sheer boredom) found that if I scrape my house slippers along the carpet really hard over and over, I can clean it and get all the matted hair off of it much better than the vacuum cleaner.  So my area rug has NEVER been/looked cleaner than it does right now!  I had finished all my little self-imposed school projects before this whole lame “snow storm” thing hit so now I’m just playing the waiting game for Monday to roll around so I can be happy again.



5 comments:

  1. Hey, I was looking through the TLG blog till I stumbled upon yours; probably the one of the few recent and active ones. Just a quick question. How has it been for you? How are you coping and what are some of the things you actually do with TLG? I am keen on joining the program but I'm now second guessing. I've read blogs from people describing their horrible experiences with host families and all. Appreciate your response. Hope all is well for you over at Georgia!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello :)

      It's has been wonderful and life changing. It is one of the best decisions I ever made in my entire life and I should have done it sooner. I love teaching so I believe I am here for the right reasons which is why I think I am really enjoying myself here. Other people aren't so lucky as they didn't come here with a positive attitude or an open mind.

      I have been here since September and your more then welcome to read my blogs as they do mention TLG every now and then. TLG trains you, finds you a host family and places you in a school. They are a wonderful support system and try to help you with any problems that come up from health concerns to issues with family to helping you find the nearest bank.

      With regards to host families, what I have learned is that honesty is the best policy. I have a very modern family that accept the fact that I enjoy spending time alone. They are respectful and made me feel like I was part of the family very early on. If you were to have an issue with your host family, TLG is very good at finding you a new one usually within a weeks time.

      I should also warn you that you are signing up to teach children grades 1-6 and it is up to you if you want to teach the older grades but that is not what you are here for necessarily.

      Honestly, don't second guess yourself. Life has a funny way of putting you were you need to be, when you need to be there.

      If you have any other questions, let me know, I'd love to help!

      Love and light,
      Herta Bolgar

      Delete
  2. Hey! Thank you replying! Sounds like you have an awesome host family and an even awesome class! You're probably doing something right if you're getting a smiley cloud. Haha! The only thing that is sort of stopping me is my job. I'd have to quit my job if I decide to go, and that'll take a lot of faith and guts for me to do. Everyone has their own demons to fight right? By the looks of things, you seem to be doing alright if not, better I should say. And I'm glad you to stepped in to join the panel. Like you said, emotional rollercoaster.

    So Herta, in your opinion, what would you say or advise a would be volunteer like myself?

    Thank you once again and keep writing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My question to you is: Are you happy what you are doing right now job wise? Are you passionate about it? Do you think you want to teach? Why are you considering Georgia? Is teaching something you want to do or are you looking into TLG merely for traveling?

    Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith as anything worth doing never feels secure.

    Herta :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey! To be honest I think I need to hire my own existential detective. Haha. Ok on a serious note, it's not that I hate my job here. I've been working for almost 2 years. The money is good and my colleagues are generally nice. Technically this my
    first job. I'm 24 this by the way. I don't think I wanna do this. I'm good at this job and my superiors like my work. I just don't know if there's anything I'd rather do. I still want to explore and not limit myself to anything. At this age, I can do that. I don't want to end up with regrets. I love to travel. Though I can't say I have enough experience in teaching per se, I have taught and mentored some individuals but it was not in a classroom environment. That counts right? I want to help make a difference in someone's life. I hope you don't mistake me for one of those hippy wayward youths who are in it just to have fun. (I hope you get what I mean) I understand that there are responsibilities to fulfil. And teaching has always been an option in my head, but I studied science and engineering for pragmatic reasons.

    Fad

    ReplyDelete