A Summer in Tanzania and a School Year in Georgia

A continued update on the past 5 years...

Through kind of a weird situation I found myself in Tanzania for 8 weeks during the summer of 2012. I spent most of my time in Arusha, which is the mid point between Cairo and Cape Town and is at the base of Mount Meru.

I spent a lot of time at Arusha school and ended up organizing their library with some helpers which was messy but a blast.

A few weeks in I went on a safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater which to date is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen or done! It was surreal and I got to see elephants, giraffes, hippos, zebras and many more animals in a beautiful landscape.

I spent a lot of the time in Arusha with a girl Neema who showed me around and we shared many meals together. Arusha wouldn't have been the same without her!

I ended my time in Tanzania with a quick trip to Zanzibar. 

This was just one small glimpse of a huge continent. I hope to see more in the future!

While in Tanzania, I found out that I would be going to Georgia (the country) with Teach and Learn with Georgia, a program through the Georgian government. In September of 2012, I flew to Georgia and spent the school year living and teaching in a village 50 miles east of the Tbilisi, the capital. This was my first time living with a host family which had its ups and downs, but I love the country, village, and family!!

The village

Other than residences the village consisted of a school, a church, a factory, and a couple of shops. I spent my free time wandering around, chatting with random people, hanging out with my host family, reading, and writing letters. I learned enough Georgian to get around. Georgian has its own unique alphabet which made learning to read interesting.

Georgian food was good, and I wish it was more accessible to eat now that I am in the US. Some of my favorite things were lobiani (bean bread), badrijani (eggplant with walnut paste), khachapuri (cheese bread), khinkali (like dumplings), and well basically everything. Georgians eat bread with every meal which was right up my food alley.

Bread

I spent many weekends in Tbilisi. It has a feel of a mix of old and modern. It also had friends, unlimited showers, and shawarma (usually the real draws). 

Tbilisi

I was able to do a good amount of traveling around the country. One of my favorite places was Kazbegi, a village in the Caucus mountains a few miles from the Russian border. It's gorgeous. There is a church to hike to (pretty much all the tourist attractions in Georgia have a church). Some other interesting places in Georgia are Gori (where Stalin was born), Sveneti (mountainous region), Vardzia (cave monasteries), and too many other places to name. 

Kazbegi

While in Georgia I was able to take trips to Armenia and Turkey. To get to Armenia was a quick marshutka (public transport) ride while Turkey was a looong bus ride. In Turkey I went to Istanbul, Selcek, Cappadoccia, and Trabzon. I spent my week and a half there riding overnight buses, seeing historical sites, and eating delicious food. 

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul

I could go on and on about Georgia- It's a country that I had never given any thought to before I went and ended up being intrigued and becoming attached. I can't wait to go back to visit someday!

4th grade at the end of the school year

I just reread many of the letters that I sent to people while I was in Georgia, so I'll end my post about Georgia with a little story in one. 

"Sunday I got to the marshutka station around 5:30 since usually there is a 6 o’clock marshutka to my village. Apparently the last one was changed to 7 instead, so I had to wait an hour and a half to leave. The only other person waiting was Sopo, one of my favorite 5th grade students. She is a hilarious and happy child and we chatted. She had missed the past week at school to stay with her older sisters in Tbilisi, and she had her English book with her so we went over the lessons she had missed. The driver, Bajani, is one that I often have and he is hilarious and every time I see him he greets me with “გამარჯობა ამერიკელი!” (Hello American!). He bought us Fantas and sunflower seeds since we were waiting so long. I told him that I'm leaving soon and he, along with everyone else, told me I can go home for the summer but I need to come back in September and find a Georgian man. There was an old lady riding the marshutka, and she put a bag under my seat. I thought it was moving, but knew that was impossible. Then it started making noises! I had a burlap bag of chickens riding under my seat! Then as we were driving we picked up an older drunk man who rode on the marshutka for about 10 minutes. Before he got off he gave the driver a bag of homemade suckers, which the driver gave to “the children and the American”. When I got off the marshutka to walk to my house, a car of men stopped (one who looked familiar) and gave me a ride to my road. What a trip home"