A month has passed since I arrived in Rustavi, but it seems that everything happened in an instant! One moment, one thought, one right decision (big thanks to Linda and Laura!), brought so many changes in my daily life.
This is my second visit to Georgia, therefore, I can’t say that I felt culture shock or for a long time got used to local traditions, behavioral features, Georgian_Maybe_Time or food. Here I feel like at homeland, comfortable, safe. It seems my acclimatization is coming to an end, because now Tbilisi guides rarely offer to me excursions by boat and wine tasting. (maybe I become look like a local? 🙂
Last summer I traveled around Georgia with hitchhiking and a minibus, made trips in the company of other volunteers, often spent the night in a tent, meeting sunrises and sunsets in the territories of natural parks, was surprised by the unusual (for Latvia) wild animals, trees, air temperature. I have a lot of wonderful memories of trips, and of those people with whom I spent that summer.
This year I have not moved further than Bakuriani, which means that everything is ahead! Only one minus that I noticed at this time of the year (and which is “hidden” by tall grass and foliage in the summer) is the amount of garbage in Georgia... Plastic is everywhere, this is a real problem, and the disease of the whole Earth, this one makes a sad impression. “Parki ar minda” - unfortunately, becomes the motto of many European volunteers here...
Now I live according to the schedule of GYE and for the first time in my life I teach yoga for beginners, which I really (really!!) like and it makes me happy.
I develop my skills by attending yoga classes in Tbilisi. I am also leading English for beginners and Russian conversation club, taking pictures and sometimes visiting the Sapovnela children center. Working with kids is something completely indescribable, because all of them are very different, active or passive and it’s impossible to predict how the lesson will pass! 🙂
Has my English improved in the month of my stay and work in Georgia? A little bit. 🙂 I understand more, I speak more often, and I have almost no fear if I don’t know any words. I am lucky that the people around are very attentive and patient, they always try to explain phrases differently, more simpler for me. I learned one important truth - no one here is a native speaker of English, we all learn and everyone has mistakes. (Thank you, for supporting dream-team: Dante, Patrik and Delhia!). Language is not an ideal tool, a non-verbal method is more better. Body position, glance tells me more about a person, so I recognize people through observation too.
Separately, I would like to note the training in Bakuriani: it was beautiful! It was the training that helped me to overcome the language barrier, gained greater confidence in your EVS, learn more about motivation, how to solve problem situations, and get to know very different and wonderful people. And of course ... stunning trainers Ana, Nurana, and volunteers around, which is always very important, especially if you are locked in the same territory for 5 days.
Listen to your heart, reader,
Namaste (traditional Hindu greeting / farewell; means "I bow to the divine in you"),
and see you soon,
Marite.
Strategic EVS project “Corners of Europe” is financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union that in Latvia is administrated by Agency for International Programs for Youth.
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