Summer in Poti

This last week I helped with a clean up of a city park near the National Park office building. It was fun to work with the kids and other community members as we cleaned up the park and after someone played the guitar and others sang. What is really nice for me about this clean up is that this park is where I go for my daily walk at lunch time. It park stayed clean all week and I enjoyed sitting by the lake and watching the frogs. 

Another exciting thing happening is the European Youth Olympic Festival happening in Tbilisi. I am not going to make it into Tbilisi to watch any of it live, but I've enjoyed watching it on TV a little. Those of you who have ever talked to me for more then 15 minutes know I love the Olympics a lot. So I'm really excited that these games are being held in Georgia. As of right now Georgia has 5 medals. Italy is winning with 11. Yes I do look at it as winning, That's the American in me.   

I went to an outdoor concert this week at the city center. It was really cool. They had clowns passing out candy, 20 foot tall women singing, a marching band dressed in all silver, and a firework show. The band that played was really good. My host family and co-workers were really excited that they were coming to Poti. I had never heard of them before, but it turns out they are very popular here. In wasn't like outdoor concerts in the states where everyone tries to get to the front by pushing, everyone just watched and enjoyed their own space. This made it possible for me to make it to the front for a little bit. After the show I made one of my co-workers come up with me to get a photo with the lead singer. At one point I pushed her in his way so she could meet him. It was really very magical. 

It was one of my host sister's birthday this week and we had a party at the pizza place here in town. I liked the pizza. They do a thin crust here and less cheese then we do at home, but it was still good. It was a great night and everyone had a lot of fun. The restaurant over looks the port and you can watch the cranes working as you eat. I really like living so close to the Sea.

 

Poti Party

I'm now 26 years old. It was a good birthday weekend. One of the other PCVs here in Poti also had a birthday last week, so a friend of ours came for the weekend. It was like being a camp having someone to talk to late into the night. At work on Friday we went out on the lake and had a supra. You haven't partied until you have had a real Georgian Supra. There was so much food and everyone had a great time. The lake at the National Park is so amazing. There are so many birds and everything on the shore is green. If any of you come to visit I will take you out there to enjoy for yourself, or to save on travel cost I am working on a website at work you can look at. Saturday three of us went to the black sea and spent the day swimming, sitting in the sun, and sliding down a large inflatable slide. That thing would not show up on an American beach I'm sure of it. So much fun, so unsafe. And I know you all want to know if I put on sunscreen, the answer is yes I did. Four times. Still a little sun-burnt but not as bad as I am most of the time. The next day my host family had a small party for me with cake and Georgian firework candles. Enjoy the photos and remember there an't no party like a Poti Party!

New Acronym

I'm a PCV! It has been a crazy few days. Thursday night we had our big dinner all together. One group gave everyone awards. I got most likely to dance (my cluster picked it for me). It then turned into a big dance party. It was a fun mix of Georgian/American dancing. It was funny to watch people dance who aren't use to sober dancing like us Mormons are. After dinner we all went home and finished packing. I don't know where all this stuff came from, or how I got it all here from the states. I haven't been buying anything, and yet there was more stuff. I had a whole bag of just books the PC gave me. Really SO MUCH STUFF. The next day was swearing in day. It was a long day starting at 6 with packing all my stuff down the stairs to the street and waiting for the van to pick us up. A small breakfast at the hub school in Gori and we were off to Tibisi. It was our last marshrutka ride all together. So we all fell asleep/put in music/didn't talk to each other for most of it. It's the 20 something way.
We had about 20 minutes to get dressed. A lot of girls in one bathroom trying to put on make up. It's always a good time. Everyone looked so good, being in the PC it's easy to forget that once upon a time we were all normal people who put effort into how they looked. I brought a special dress to wear for swear in. I had been saving it the whole time and was really excited about getting to wear it. It's the small things in life. We took some photos (there were so many photos), and were ready to swear in. Two of the G15s got to talk and the US ambassador swore us in. After a dance team did some Georgian dancing for us. Two of my coworkers from Poti and my new host sister came to watch as well as my cluster's host families from Tiniskhidi.
My host sister and I went to Poti on a marshrutka. It was a very long ride, about 5 hours. And now I'm here. We went to the beach last night and watched the sun going down over the water.

The End of PST

It's been a few weeks, sorry about that. It's now the last week of training. I will being going to Poti (my home for the next two years) on Friday. I feel like I've learned so much the last 11 weeks. I now know a little Georgian. I've made some great friends who I feel like I've known forever and not just 3 months. I've passed so many test, writing projects, and booklets. I only have one more left tomorrow. It's our Georgian test called the LPI. I'm not looking forward to that, but it is what it is. Gori has been a great home and I'm sad to be leaving it, but so excited about the things to come in Poti. The only feeling I can really compare this two is finishing a semester in college. You know you will see people again, but you also know it will never be the same. I've had an amazing cluster and host family. I'm happy that my first memories of Georgia will be with them. Our LCF was amazing and did her best to keep us in line and help us learn. It really was asking a lot of her.
Last week on the 4th of July we had a big picnic with all the PCT (Peace Corps Trainees), PC staff,
and host families. The staff tried to make it as American as they could. We had all the most important 4th of July food including hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon, and ice cream. You should know that PCTs eat a lot of ice cream for some reason. I think it just makes us happy. Each cluster had to make a pie or salad. For my cluster I made a crisp like my Dad always makes at home. It turned out ok, my host mom was right it needed more sugar. It was the last big and fun event together before we all head off to our sites. It was so cool to finally meet all the host families and see the people we have been hearing stories about this whole time.
Today was our last day of classes. We finished off Georgian strong...take that how you will. At the end of IOD training we all went into the school gym and stood in a circle. Everyone was given a certificate with someone's name on it. We all took turns talking about the person we had and then gave them their certificate. It was really nice to have that little time together. I almost teared up. We are now ready to go out and help people. I feel like I'm ready for it.
OK, I have to go get my last Georgian lesson in before the test. Thanks for reading and I hope you Enjoyed. Next time I post I'll be a PCV!