Apeni for your thoughts: The Host Family

gamarjoba!

I’m sitting in the outdoor kitchen area of my host family’s house writing this blog post while the neighbor's cow moos loudly and my host father and one of my host cousins attempt to set up Internet on the family computer.  I’ve officially made it to the village of Apeni in the Kakheti region of Georgia and everything is completely different than I have ever known.  There are already so many different things to share with you all I hardly know where to start and it has only been about 24 hours since I left the hotel in Tbilisi.  I guess I will start from the beginning of August 22^nd.

On the last day of orientation our host families (or another representative if they couldn’t make it to Tbilisi) had to come and pick us up from the hotel and attend an informational meeting.  It was quite a scene to see as all of us teachers assembled on one side of the hotel lobby while the family members stood on the other side.  It was like we were all finally being adopted and we were all anxious and nervous about the whole ordeal.  One by one we were called into the middle of the lobby where we met our host families.  When I heard my name called I walked to the middle of the floor to find out that I was meeting my host mother, Tamila.  We immediately gathered all of my luggage and made our way to the car where my host father Beso was waiting.  Tamila speaks a little English which it is often broken and hard to understand some times; I don’t think Beso knows any English.  Immediately they both got a small laugh out of the fact that I put my seat belt on once I got in the car.  I tried to explain to them that it was a habit and from what I’ve seen of Georgian drivers it would definitely keep me safe if we were to get in a crash. 

The ride to my new house took about 2 hours including a few stops along the way to buy watermelon, bread and cheese off the side of the road.  The bread and cheese were absolutely delicious and fresh!  As Beso drove, Tamila attempted to tell me about the family and why they wanted to me come and live with them.  Tamila really wants my 12 year old host brother, Luka, to learn English and thinks this is a good way to accomplish that.  As part of my contract with Teach and Learn with Georgia, I must hold English lessons for my family 3 hours a week.  I told her I could do this and Luka and I will start English lessons today.

We drove along the countryside of Georgia which was absolutely stunning.  There were many hills covered in grass and tiny villages were spread out over the area.   As we entered more of Kakheti, grape trees for wine were everywhere since this is the region of Georgia that is famous for wine growing (my host family even has a bunch of trees growing out back and they will make more wine in September when it is grape harvest!!).  Also, many Georgians would sit outside their homes as we passed, selling bread, watermelon and cheese to passing cars.  At a certain point, we stopped in a small town to go to the grocery store and bought a few things to eat later that night.  After this village (I want to say that it was Gurjaani), the landscape was then surrounded by the Caucasus Mountains.  They are huge, navy-colored masses on the horizon and I can see them outside my bedroom window.  After driving a little while longer we ended up at my family’s house. 

Tamila is a doctor and I think she must earn quite a bit of money since I think they have a pretty nice house for Georgia.  I’ll try to post more pictures once I take them but I’ve included a few so far.  They have an outside kitchen (which I think is common in Georgia, they do all the cooking outside) and then a smaller inside kitchen.  Once you walk in there is the dining room table, a TV and chairs.  It’s like a combo living room and kitchen.  They also have a fully functioning bathroom and washing machine off of this room too.  The biggest room in the house is where the front door is and only contains the computer desk.  It looks newly renovated and like a living room you would see in the U.S.  On another level of the house is a formal dining room that has a table in it along with a full bookshelf and china cabinet.  There’s a hallway off of this room that leads to my bedroom.  From what I understand, they renovated my room for me and it was finished the day before I arrived.  It has new hardwood floors, recessed lighting and a large window that opens up into the backyard.  I feel really blessed to be able to have this room since the family shares 2 rooms that are connected by a door for their bedroom (it’s part of the contract we both sign that I get my own room).

My backyard, the little hut is a chicken coop I think.

The view from my window!  Behind the trees here are my family's grape trees and then in the background right under the clouds are the Caucasus Mountains.  They are spectacular even from this far away.

Fancy dining room area.  My room is down the hallway on the left (not seen) and the family lives in the bedroom through the door.

My front yard

The outdoor kitchen.  There is a sink and stove by the metal door.  Through the metal door is a Turkish toilet and the backyard.

My newly renovated bedroom!  It's very nice and quaint.

Another interesting part of the house is that Tamila has an office in the basement of our house.  She has just a small, low ceiling room with one bed for a patient and a small desk she works at.  She also has a cardiogram (I think this is what it’s called) that she can use right in her own home to provide care for patients.  People in the village come over at any time to receive care from her.  The house has a big garden in the front and side yards, so hopefully there will be lots of fresh food around the house (if not, we can always go to the market which is every Wednesday in Apeni).

That night we had a small dinner with Nino (the 17 year old niece of the family who speaks really great English) and my host grandfather.  My host father grilled some kind of meat and Tamila cut up some cucumbers and tomatoes.  I even got to try the family’s homemade wine, which was definitely unlike any other wine I’ve had.  It had a strong taste to it but I’m looking forward to trying some more soon!  In Georgia you are only allowed to toast with wine (since if you toast with beer, you are toasting to an enemy I believe) so Beso made several toasts during the meal and Nino was kind enough to translate the majority of it.  Toasts were made to me coming to live with their family, to family, to my family, to USA and Georgia relations and I think there was one made to the English language but I can’t really remember.  And then I was caught off guard when Beso said I could make a toast since toasting is such a big deal in Georgia when one attends a meal or a supra in which toasts are made.  I thought for a minute and then I just decided to toast to my Georgian experience and we all drank wine to that.  Next time I hope I can say my toast completely in Georgian but I think that is quite a bit away from now!  The rest of the evening was spent in the company of my host family (an aunt and her kids and my host grandmother stopped by to meet me), talking in very rapid Georgian but Nino was nice enough to translate a lot of what they were saying.  Apparently I look Georgian (having brown hair helps I think) and that they all love me so far, so that was a nice feeling.  It will definitely be a difficult adjustment not understanding about 90% of what is being said around me for the next four months.

I spent my first full day here mainly just sitting outside in the kitchen writing in my journal and studying some Georgian.  I’m a little apprehensive to leave the walls of my yard without some assistance since my Georgian is so bad, but I hope to explore the village sometime soon (since there is not a lot to do here otherwise).  I went to 1 of the 2 stores in Apeni last night to buy some more time for my cell phone, but Nino was the one that did all the talking to the shopkeepers.  I’m learning to take things day by day since most Georgians don’t do any planning until the last minute and a lot of what I encounter is a completely new experience for me. 

I’m hoping to start my English lessons with Luka today and will hopefully take some more pictures in the coming days so you all can see where I live now!  For now, just know that I miss you all terribly and will write again soon!!

Love,

Kelsey

P.S. As you can see, I have Internet in my house which I think they installed just for me yesterday!  Feel free to send me email or any questions you have about my experience, I LOVE hearing from you all!