Hello, My Faithful
Readers
September 24, 2017
Volume 1, Number 13
Day
84 of Daily Meditation
Where do I begin?
It took a little bit of time to recover from moving into a new apartment
and also returning from North Africa (I like saying North Africa). But, I am
back to top speed and enjoying my new digs.
So, let us start with the move. I found a
professional and reliable moving company here in Tbilisi. This company usually
does really big jobs (mostly Embassy or World Bank folks, etc. moving in or out
of Georgia); however, they do take on small jobs like mine. The fee was a
little steep; but, it was worth it to know that I could depend on service.
I was all packed up and ready to go; and the mover
arrived at 8:40am. There were four men moving the items and one man in the
truck watching as the truck was loaded. We rode over to the new apartment (not
too far away) and by 9:20am all of my possessions were transferred from the
truck to the apartment. Of course, I didn’t have much – but, still – it was a
relief to finally be out of the old apartment.
I realized almost immediately that I was going to
need a refrigerator. The refrigerator in the apartment was one of those college
dorm type (small) appliances; and I may have been able to deal with other; but,
it had no door on the freezer. I placed ice cube trays and a yogurt in the
freezer and almost 5 days later neither item was frozen. Now, in my life I
don’t have many wants…but, ICE is something that I cannot live without. Winter
or summer – I need ICE.
So, I spoke with the Realtor to see about splitting
the cost of a bigger refrigerator. Without hesitation the answer came back as
NO. I was disappointed but not surprised; but I went ahead and bought one
anyway. It stood about 5 feet tall and was very inexpensive. Delivery was free
and I watched a Georgian man put the refrigerator on his back and climb up 3
flights of stairs. It was a purchase that was necessary for the apartment. A
few weeks later the Realtor was at the apartment fixing a door and was so
surprised to see the refrigerator. I don’t know what he thought I was going to
buy; but he said if I move out he would buy the refrigerator, or pay half the
cost…so, win-win all around.
My apartment faces Mziuri Park. There is not a lot
written about this area; but, I’ve listed a link that will give you a visual of
the place. Much of the park if walled off/ or fenced off. This is the area that
was flooded a couple of years ago and because it is so near the zoo, all (or
most) of the zoo animals escaped (link below).
Because I am so close to the zoo, at times, I can
hear sounds that come from the zoo. Sounds like elephants, or lions or
something with a roar. Sound travels in interesting ways and I believe this is
what I am hearing. It is curious to sit on my terrace and listen.
Lesson learned….again and again. So often when
something does not happen that I think or want to happen, of course I am
disappointed. However, very often (I should keep a chart) more times than not
what is behind the disappointment is better than the original “want”. (Should I
put this on a fortune cookie) – HA. For example, I was so disappointed about
what my previous landlord did (using my apartment without my knowledge when I
traveled). I felt so many things, mostly negative; but didn’t see the upside.
In hindsight, he did me a favor.
My new apartment is just about perfect. The only
thing missing is the Ocean within my view. I was so annoyed that I had to move.
I liked where I lived; but if still there I would still be looking at walls
rather than the trees I have outside my window. I would not have a terrace and
not have the simplicity of watching the breeze move the trees and watch the
leaves fall at we begin to change seasons.
Ah, such serenity at times I feel like I am at “Waldon Pond” – of
course, without the pond.
One aspect of the apartment that could have been a
disaster was the fact of wild life that I didn’t anticipate. I keep the door
and windows open (I feel like I live in a tree house)….Georgians don’t have
screens, or many Georgians don’t – however, it is odd that the place does not
fill up with insects. What the problem was….. a squirrel. I watched my neighbor feed the squirrel on
their terrace and felt a deep ache in my stomach. Not living around nature most
of my life I truly didn’t think about the kinds of things (other than bugs)
that live in a park/forest. At that point my behavior changed; I didn’t keep
the door/windows open unless I was on the terrace. I kept the windows closed at
night….and was feeling kind of secure about things…when the worst happened.
One morning I opened a window just a little bit to
catch the breeze. I was on the sofa (not far from the window) when I watched a
squirrel jump on my plant table and into my window and then onto my bed. I was
stunned. I opened the door to let it go out; but, it ran under the bed. I am
sure he/she was as scared as me…and eventually it did fly out the door. At that
point; everything was closed up and I thought my tree house was not to be. I
spoke to my landlord/realtor about screens on the windows and was brushed
off…”just wait a month and they will be gone.” Well, that was not going to work
for me.
I tried on my own to find a place to have screens
made but came up empty time and time again. Like I said, screens are not
something that Georgians use. I persisted and finally got a positive response
from my landlord/realtor when I coupled the conversation with the rent payment.
When he came to measure I was unsure of what that meant as so often in Georgia
they take the first step but there is often no follow-up. But to my complete
surprise the very next day…he arrived with the screens. OMG, I was dancing on
air. He came prepared with an electric drill so the screens would be secured to
the window and the screens were professional done. My faith in humanity was
restored…..
Bottom line…I have screens on the windows. The door
is still only opened when I am on the terrace; but I can live with that. I
don’t want anything running in. I can keep the windows open at night and not be
afraid that I will have an unwelcomed visitor in my bed.
I am continually gushing but I cannot express the
glee about living in my tree house. When the weather changes (oh please let it
change soon). It has not gone below 30C yet during the day. It is so
uncomfortable…then I won’t need the fans any longer (don’t have A/C). One day
recently we had a wind storm and then thunder and lightning. I was sitting on
the terrace watching the lightning over Tbilisi and because of the terrace
above me on the 4th floor, the overhang blocks some of the rain. It
was awesome. The wind made it feel like the trees were going to come into the
apartment. Almost like one of those horror movies where the tree reaches in a
carries you away J
We have not really had rain here in the villages and
here in Tbilisi for, maybe 6-weeks. The crops are suffering in the villages.
I posted pictures of my front door. The way the
apartments are arranged is unusual. I have a security door. You have to punch
in the code (18) and then the door opens. Once done, there are (3) doors…one of
which is mine. When the outer door opens a light comes on so that I can open my
front door. As I am on the 3rd floor (it is a walk-up/makes me think
of old NYC), each floor has a light which comes on when you reach the landing.
This is a nice feature which is pretty standard here in Tbilisi.
I’ve also posted a picture of the front of the
building. We have a front door but it is NEVER closed. It is an old Russian
building, I am told and looks really nasty from the outside; but, inside (at
least my apartment) is fairly modern and nice. I have the main branch of the
TBC bank as my neighbor and the traffic at times coming into the bank is
terrible. The streets here in Tbilisi are just not able to accommodate the kind
of car traffic that exists. They actually have a man directing traffic on my
street so that people can park and more cars can drive….and, as usual, if you
are a pedestrian, you are out of luck. The priority here is the automobile.
There are limited sidewalks on my street; so I must have eyes everywhere as the
drivers don’t have any (or much) consideration for people walking in the
street.
Trying to communicate….I verbally asked my
landlord/realtor to give me the code so that I could use my mobile devices off
my wi-fi in the apartment. This went on for weeks waiting for the information.
I finally asked for what I needed in a text. So, I thought – “cannot be any
mis-communication in this way.” I wrote “Can
I please have the code so that I can use my mobile devices in the apartment.”
I waited for a couple of day and then sent the message again…saying “I don’t understand what the issue is”?
I finally got an answer back which was “YES”.
What does that mean???? So, I called – OMG. You want to talk about the comedy
routine “Whose on first?”…..I did
remain calm and patient and all was resolved; but, what an ordeal. This is an
example of some (not all) of the situations that we ex-pats deal with on a
regular basis….
I love the smallness of the apartment. It is so
cozy; as compared to my old apartment which felt like a convention hall. I have
a lovely chair by my bed so that when the weather is nasty (I cannot wait for
weather – snow, rain, ice) I can watch the trees as the wall is glass from
floor to ceiling. I do wonder if it will be cold; but, I have a space heater
from PC days so it will be ok, not to worry.
Here in Georgia lots of things squeak; for example,
doors, chairs, tables, windows – really anything can squeak. For the most part;
Georgians just let things squeak. At the supermarket I’ve seen WD-40, oil
lubricant, but no one (or at least no one I know) uses it. All the doors in the
3 apartment cluster that I’m in squeak. No matter how quiet you are coming in;
the squeak gives you away. I am told the Georgian people like it this way so
that no one can sneak up on them (likely story). As with most things here in
Georgia, the work is shabby and not exact; and squeaks just adds to it. Most
things in Georgia are so old, old…most have outlived their usefulness and, in a
word, are exhausted. I do plan to get some WD-40.
In addition, a while back I wrote about “ants”. The
Georgian people have this saying about “ants” and that is “the ants bring the
money.” Of course that is not true but given the Georgian mind-set; when you
have “ants” you almost feel lucky.
So, now in my new apartment I have “ants” in the
kitchen. I have to keep everything in plastic bags or contains. If I leave
something out; or a speck of food in the sink, well then the “ants” come
a-runnin! In the scope of thing; it could be worse so I am forced to be extra,
extra clean….and that is not a bad thing.
That is enough about the apartment; although you
will be reading additional stories as times goes on.
So, what else is going on….Now that September is
here school is back in session. I was invited back to continue working at the
University of Georgia Law School. I continue as a Seminar Leader; however, this
year I have (2) sessions instead of the (1) I had last year. It seems it is
hard to get native English speakers with Master’s Degrees; so, in order to fill
the void I took on another session. Both are on the same day, Monday – however,
the timing is a not back-to-back. I am pretty much at the University for the
entire day as the classes are (11:30-1:30) and then 4:30-6:30). So, in order to
make this work for me I have a plan.
During the 3 hour break; I am doing research into
various topics; geographic locations; the stock market; trends of upcoming
happens, etc.. Left to my own devices this type of research would be hard for
me to make time for; however, as I am captive waiting for my second session –
it works out perfectly. It is a good plan and one that I plan to make full use
of.
The number of students has more than doubled since
last year. The course I am teaching “Legal English” is required; so if they
want to graduate they must take it. I have (25) students in each section. That
is a hard number to deal with; but, so be it. This year also the administration
wanted to include a daily written or oral test based on the material that the
students did for homework. I was not thrilled with this requirement as so
often, if not always, most of students don’t come prepared with paper or pen
and most don’t bring their text book. Of course, they all bring their phone.
The test is 10 questions straight from their
homework so you would think the scores would be high. The best student (and
only student) got 5 of the 10 correct. The remaining students got 1 or 2
correct and some students didn’t get any correct. That didn’t surprise me as
most, not all, Georgian students really don’t put much effort into learning the
materials and sadly the teachers don’t push them for excellence. In keeping
with the lack of holding students to a high level; my professor was upset with
the scores and asked me if he could change them so they would reflect higher
(the scores are posted on the internet). I said he could do whatever he thought
best; but that seriously the scores reflected the amount of material that was
retained by the student. But, if the scores were increased maybe it would give
them motivation.
This is the story here…students cheat to gain high
scores and if they don’t cheat teachers fudge the scores so that they are not
an actual reflection of the reality. Most students are unprepared and fully
expect that someone will cover for them; as that has been the history to date.
Consequence is not a familiar word here.
The second venue is teaching a private student. She
is an older German Woman who is highly intelligent. She speaks (4) languages –
Polish, German, Russian and English. She wants to improve her English – so, we
meet once a week in the evening at her home after she finishes work. This is a
joy for me and I get paid very handsomely for it. Although I have to go to her;
the travel is not that long or complicated. We work on reading and
comprehension skills, vocabulary; writing emails and other forms of writing and
the big goal is to work on conversational English. Each session is 2-hours.
I
think that is too long; but, she insisted – although, we may go to 90 minutes.
Towards the end of 2-hours she gets very tired. She is leaving Georgia at the
end of the year as her company will transfer her. She works in the financial
department of her company.
The third venue is a new group called ELL (link
below). This will be a Saturday undertaking that will start at 10am. I will be
teaching conversational English to upper level high school students with either
a B1 or B2 rating (Cambridge). I’ve listed a link below that will give more
background on this scale.
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/177867-the-methodology-behind-the-cambridge-english-scale.pdf
ELL stands for “English Language and Life”. So much
of the curriculum deals with non-traditional topics that students don’t have
access to while they take formal regular classes. Meeting with the women and
men who run this program felt “so good” and if I must say the salary is not bad
either. They pay USD rather than Georgian currency which is very non-standard
here in Tbilisi.
At the moment I have (1) confirmed class as
registration is still going on. There may be another class which would follow
the 10am class…that would be great. In addition, I would take on private
students in the afternoon as many parents want their children tutored by a
native speaker – so, all this remains to be seen. More on this in the next blog
as my tenure with ELL starts October 7th.
The below link is an article that was posted that I
thought you may find interesting. One of my concerns here in Georgia is that
the overall thinking that Georgia is a country that is very welcoming and loves
visitors, but that picture is not exactly correct. I think the Georgian people
like to think of themselves in this light; but, I’ve found (not exclusively)
that all this talk of hospitality is short lived. Of course, I have many
friends who has welcomed and helped me; but, as a country the Georgian people
are inconsiderate and inhospitable (unless someone is watching). If there is an
audience they want to show how warm and generous they are ; but, out of the
limelight it is a different story (as told by the article below).
Ok, I have written so much and could write more;
but, I will close for now and post again at some point next month. More good
news is that I will be traveling to Macedonia in mid-October to observe the
elections in Macedonia on October 15th, 2017. This is with the same
group that I traveled to Moldova last year. In addition, if there is no clear
winner then myself (along with the US delegation)
will travel back in mid-November to observe the run off elections….more about
this next time.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful adventure with
me.
Best, Catherine Lawrence – 9/24/17
My Garden is growing and color has been added, on the terrace.
