parasi-tastic

so, i may or may not have a parasite. nothing serious…yet. i just wasn’t feeling well the day after my birthday and had some stomach problems for the entire week. i’m doing better now though. again, nothing serious.

on to better news…i promised both the 3rd and 6th grade classes that if they behaved during the week before halloween, they would get to go “trick or treating” (actually, i just bought enough candy, divided it between a couple teachers and took the kids around to those teachers to collect their goodies). the 3rd graders had a ball! we made masks and walked around the school knocking on teachers’ doors and asking for candy…i’m convinced any activity with free candy is a good activity. it’s not super sustainable because the georgian teachers don’t really do stuff like that, but for now the kids get to have a little fun. unfortunately, my 6th graders did not get to go trick or treating because they did not do well on their spelling tests, nor were they well behaved. but, i did end up giving them candy anyway. they’re cutie patooties, i couldn’t help it and i had a lot of extra candy. win, win.

this past week we had our language and all-volunteer conference outside of tbilisi…at a hotel that was rather similar to what i imagine a mental hospital would be like. i only mention this because i had been reading one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. however, there was hot water, so i can’t complain that much…even though the shower head exploded, but alas, the details aren’t important. we were also lucky enough to enjoy a thanksgiving dinner prepared mostly by fellow volunteers, but also with turkeys provided by the radisson hotel (read: some swanky turkeys). the american ambassador to georgia was in attendance along with most of the peace corps staff. it was a fun-filled evening…especially because of the provided bottles of wine. i’ll save my ‘i’m thankful for…’ post for later. but, the educational portion of the week was interesting and i think i  learned a lot. i’ll know for sure if  i can utilize the information effectively.

being back at school after a week of “pseudo-vacation” has been a challenge. i pretty much fell asleep during a lesson. thank goodness my counterpart was actually doing the teaching. i even ended up going home early and skipping out on tutoring because i couldn’t keep my eyes open for more than 5 minutes. lesson learned: don’t stay up past my bedtime for an entire week and get back to site in time to catch up on some sleep (i.e., not the day before school starts). i will be heading back to tbilisi on sunday because i have a committee meeting on monday morning. ah! i am a new permanent member of our SPA committee (small project assistance). the committee receives money from USAID annually and gives grants to peace corps georgia volunteers who request them. the committee is meeting on monday to review grant proposals and to, hopefully, give out some money!

as for the animal update: we have more turkeys. where they came from, i don’t know; i mentioned previously one of our chickens went blind,  now one of our chickens has a broken leg. i’m starting to think that letting the laundry water run out of the machine and into the yard has something to do with this. one more reason to get that energy efficient washer!; october the cat is doing well. she’s getting to be a fatty fatty fat pants. she enjoys her kitty kibble, fish and cheese. my host parents refer to her as “cat” and not october.

i hope this will sustain you all for a little bit. my pre-new year’s resolution will be to attempt to update more frequently.

regards to all and thanks for all of your support :]