turkey update

so, after i posted my last post i found out my new host family actually has 4 female turkeys. they all look the same so i had no idea. in other news, ghana is the last african team in the world cup! woot!

while i wait for the second to last episode of this season’s bones to load, i will write a post. things are starting to wind down here in alkhaldaba. this week we still have 4 hours of language class in the morning (boo), but we also have the opportunity to get some of the community kids together for a summer camp. we had a good turn out today, especially since it was the first day and the weather was iffy. the 5 of us just planned some fun games and had 2 hours with the kids. tomorrow we get to play red rover (my favorite). definitely the most difficult thing about all this is explaining rules and directions in english, but i think we get through it with gusto. we will see how the next 3 days turn out. friday we have our “hub” day with the rest of the g10s and FINALLY get the lowdown on all the rules and regulations of being a bona fide peace corps volunteer. yippee.

tomorrow is my host mother’s birthday. i finally get to meet her husband who, the entire time i’ve been here, has been in tbilisi. apparently he’s a police officer (?). and, of course, what would this blog be without another pig story? this time there was a roasted and barbecued pig lying in a box on the kitchen table. i was informed that it would be our dinner tomorrow and came from our sty in the front of the house. i have yet to go check, as i normally take a peek on my way to school, but i seriously hope they did not choose to kill my favorite piggy: the fat and short one. i just couldn’t tell from the form splayed out in the cardboard box.

in other news, a couple of us trainees took a hike up one of the mountains in town[[pictures to come]]. it was about an hour up and we spent about an hour milling around the ruins located at the top. the sights were fabulous, the weather was great and the breeze was splendid. i realized, while sitting on top of the rock formations over-looking the town in which i’ve spent the last 8 weeks, i will seriously and without a doubt miss this place. i will miss waking up every morning to the beautiful greens of the mountains and my 4 year old host brother’s screams. i will miss the humming of the traffic outside of my open window and the sight of the brown river flowing towards tbilisi. i will miss the fabulous food of the host families and the random pigs that appear, in numerous ways, on the kitchen table. but alas, i still have 2 more years left in this fabulous country with 2 more years worth of stories. are you ready?!

i realized this a while back and just never remembered to slip it in here, but my average daily schedule is as follows:

4 hours of language — 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

lunch — 1 pm – 3 pm

technical session or, for this week, summer camp — 3 pm – 5 pm

when we were doing our practicum in the local schools, language class was after lunch and teaching was in the morning. add to this the dreaded saturday morning language class and you have my typical schedule for the past 8 weeks. every other friday or so we have “hub” days that bring all the g10s together in one place to discuss and listen to presentations regarding health and safety and various other things. this is also the time the g9s come and share their experiences with us.

on that note, i shall end this post. until next time and, slightly ahead of schedule, HAPPY CANADA DAY and HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!