Soccer and Work

A little over a week ago, Friday the 1^st to be exact, Matt (a teacher two villages over) came to my school to co-teach with me for a day. The program encouraged us to go to other schools just to see what they are like. I went to Matt’s the previous week to judge an English competition and it was his turn to come to mine. When I told my principle and co-teacher that he was coming the school went into “get the school ready for a visitor” mode. After school students stayed behind to clean the classrooms, the staff room was cleaned, and the next day all of the students came to school in their uniforms, which I hadn’t seen them wear before. We had a good time teaching but the best part of the day was after school. We had a soccer game for the 10, 11, and 12 graders, and some of the staff. They play this game every spring when they have good weather, and it happened to be when Matt was at our school.

So we each went to our different teams. I played on the Barcelona side and Matt played on the Real Madrid side. Matt’s team won but I scored, so I felt pretty good about that. The students here aren’t that great at football. They have ok footwork but no real concept of structure and movement on the field. Also there was a bit too much “kick it as far downfield as you can” soccer. This probably comes from lack of good coaching, and generations of playing that type of soccer. Anyway, it was very fun and nice to actually move around a bit.

The next day I went to Simoneti, Matt’s village, to help till part of their vineyard. And we tilled it by hand with shovels, not with machines. I was more than happy to volunteer myself so that I could finally do some physical labor. We worked for about six hours and I was exhausted and had blistered hands at the end of the day. Also, in true Georgian fashion, we started the day with cows feet and cognac for breakfast, had sausages and wine for lunch part way through working, and finished the day with a supra, for which Matt was toastmaster. The next day I woke up and could barely move.

I was hoping that upon hearing about the work I did, Ramazi would have me start helping out around his house. Instead, he told me that Matt’s host father was crazy for having us do that and jokingly that Matt was a “bad boy” for inviting me over for that. It’s become somewhat of a joke that I, as a guest, did physical labor at the neighbor’s house. So, I don’t think they’re going to let me help out any time in the near future. O well.

Birdy Birdinger

Just want to let everyone know that is was opening day of the Masters last year when I decided I needed a golfing alias...

The result was Birdie 'The Bird' Birdinger...

Song and Dance

One of the nice things about having a co teacher whose husband is an actor is that you get to hear and see lots of singing and dancing. Kote’s birthday was a few weeks ago and I was invited to go to the party. The other guests were all actors that he works with in Kutaisi. Many of these people have trained their whole life in all different aspects of stage performance, including singing. Needless to say, I got to listen to a ton of great Georgian songs during the Supra.

The week after Kote and all of the actors that I met invited me to a performance at the theatre. All I knew going in was that there would be Georgian folk music and dance. I figured it would be performed by the regulars at the theatre, but was pleased to find out when we got there that it was the national folk group giving the performance. Since Kote works at the theatre, we were able to get in through the backdoor. It was an intense experience, as some of the other actors were doing this as well, and the people in charge of the show didn’t seem too pleased with it. I honestly would have rather bought a ticket and had a better seat, but like I said I didn’t know what the show was until we got there. Anyway, we made it in and sat in one of the side boxes on the second level of the theatre.

The show was amazing to say the least. I’m in no way an expert on dance or song, but Georgian dance and folk music is some of the best I have ever seen and heard. If anyone ever has the chance to see a performance by the national Georgian dance group, go! It will be worth it and it will probably blow your mind.

On a side note, I found out that Kote is short for the Georgian version of Constantine…which is an awesome name.