Day 3: Adventures beyond Stalin Street

Gamarjoba! First of all I would like to say thank you for all the thoughts and prayers you have sent our way to Eastern Europe! They have been greatly appreciated as our travel thus far has lent us plenty of rocky dirt roads, and roads without navigational lines, literally, yet we have been safe, warm, and happy, so thank you again.

I would like to apologize for not having any pictures this blog, but I have taken over 350 personally, not counting Dr. Jenn, Heather, Renee, and Stephen, so they will be posted shortly.

Now that we have seen some sights, it was time to learn about Georgian Education and witness it first hand - by visiting schools in the rural parts (which is most) of the country outside of Tblisi. Our first destination was the village of Chala, a semi-self-sustaining (say that three times fast) agricultural community that had one of the premier schools (k-12) in the country. On our way there we witnessed something very strange, a middle-aged lady walking down the middle of the road on the opposite side of the highway from us. A small group of people were watching on the side of the road from their vehicles. Our translators, Teona and Sescilly, were quick to inform us that the mountain above the hgihway was where Joseph Stalin was born. I guess even when he been dead for almost 60 years, he still has a cult following, but if they don't get out of the road soon they're asking for the "suicide cult" title. This theme awas once again revisited as we turned unto the main road in Chala, Stalin Street. I'm glad we can say that no people were walking down the middle of this raod, however we almost did hit 3 chickens, 2 dogs, 5 head of cattle, and a goat.

The school in Chala was large with chain-linked fence surrounding it. The first man we met was Archil, the school's principle; he ushered us inside, and after a bathroom break we began touring the school. The very first place he took us was a second fllor classroom that as we approached we began hearing familiar words like "light", "Black", and "down" being sounded in unison. We turned the corner and...Third Graders! Learning English! I could only manage to mumble one word, amazing.
They were being taught by a U.S. peace Corp Worker named Jess. She was from Pennsylvania and said she "wanted a challenge." She picked a good one. Blessed be.
We concluded the tour with a trip to their greenhouse, that included full stands of cucumbers and tomatoes. Now to Archil's house for our first Supra (a feast of food including mandatory toast). Once again, our plates ended up stacked three high on the table and Stephen, Curt, Heather, and Myself toasting our hosts and hostess to health, personal success, and relationships. It was quite and experience to say the least.

I'm running short on time, but will be back as soon as possible with pictures and stories from the camp. It should prove even more exiciting as the high schoolers have been waiting for this moment since last year's camp.