"the city that loves you"...

So here I am in Georgia!!! 5th day into orientation!!

I left NC on Tuesday afternoon and my first flight was to NY.  In the NC airport I bought The Hunger Games! So so good! So that kept me occupied on the way up.  I ended up meeting 5 other people in the terminal in the NYC airport so that was fun meeting, talking and waiting with them, unfortunately we were all separated on the plane.  Sadly, the plane had no personal tvs!! 

It was a Ukrainian airline that did have an old-school projection screen at the front of the aisle that played a 2 and a half movies. So at least there was something. Supper was good and then I spent the rest of the time reading like crazy and "attempting" to sleep.

We arrived in Ukraine and since our plane was delayed from NY they had held it here for us.  Ukraine was absolutely covered in snow!! Yay!!!

Snowy Ukraine

Leaving for Tbilisi, Georgia!

We were greeted in Georgia by our 2 coordinators, along with a photographer and a news person with a video camera. Someone from our group actually ended up being on the news. They had said to be prepared from media attentions when we arrived.

So now it was Wednesday night. Time traveling in the plane. We got to the hotel, ate a way delicious supper and went straight to bed. 

So the pizza-looking food is called katchupuri which is cheese bread and extremely good and one of the main foods! WIN!

So we have a group of 32. There's people from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada and Egypt! I just love meeting people from all over! It's so great! Reminds me of my time in Prague.  On Thursday we didn't really have much. In the morning a few of us went for a little walk. Since we arrived at night we hadn't seen what was outside. Good morning gorgeous mountains outside the hotel!!!

Then we had to go get our medical exam. That took quite a while, and the rest of the day was filled with lunch and then our first meeting.  We learned some information about Georgia such as the history, culture, people, and different topics like that. We also received our cell phones! After that was dinner(delicious once again, the food here is AMAZING) and then our first night on the town!!!!
So, Tbilisi is known as "the city that loves you". How nice!!
It was absolutely beautiful!! So many places are all lit up and there's the river and bridges and the giant Narikala Fortress(below) and many churches around and over-looking the city. 

So far it's been pretty great. Meeting lots of cool new people and eating awesome food! The days are pretty intense and the jet-lag has been rough. The orientation runs from 9-7.  This is difficult for me to be inside and sitting basically all day.  It's still pretty fun sometimes and it's been really cool learning Georgian with crazy alphabet and cool words, different culture aspects, etc and there have been some good activities during the presentations.
The next night a group of us went out to a pub that played old American music and looked really sweet on the inside!! With lanterns, canvas tapestries, and interesting pictures covering the walls. It was fun to get out and socialize outside of the hotel!
The following night a couple friends and I met up with a guy who has been here teaching for 18 months.  He gave us a walking tour around the city showing us different places! It was neat to get inside information of places along with some fun facts! Then he left and the 3 of us walked all the way up to this magical gorgeous church! It was quite and interesting aka extremely sketchy trip up but well worth it as you can see!!!

Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral

Last night was absolutely EPIC. A group of us headed out walking into the center and took on the hike up to the Narikala fortress!!(top right)

We hiked up the the top of the hill/mountain and then proceeded to pretty much ice hike once we got to the actual fortress. The pathway was solid ice so thank goodness there was a railing and we made it to the top!!

Breath-taking!!

a photo cant do justice

It's weird to only know the city by night.  But also cool and mysterious! A couple of us are planning to go Wednesday morning because we have free time before we check out of the hotel and meet our families!!
Ok that's all for now!
Kargod! (bye)

How to be an explorer of the world

1. Always be looking. (Notice the ground beneath your feet.)
2. Consider everything alive & animate.
3. Everything is interesting. Look Closer.
4. Alter your course often.
5. Observe for long durations (and short ones).
6. Notice the stories going on around you.
7. Notice patterns. Make connections.
8. Document your findings (field notes) in a variety of ways.
9. Incorporate indeterminacy.
10. Observe movement.
11. Create a personal dialogue with your environment. Talk to it.
12. Trace things back to their origins.
13. Use all of the senses in your investigations.

~Keri Smith

Ahh I just love this. Off to explore the world here I go again!!!! Well after all these many years of traveling it is about time to start a blog so here I go!!

So here it is T-1 week til departure, off to this next big adventure! I will be spending the next 4 months in Georgia!! Yes, it's kind of a random place and I get questionable looks sometimes when I tell people, but I know it is going to be beautiful and amazing and just an opportunity of a lifetime that I could not pass up!! I'm going to be teaching English along with such a culture exchange as I become part of my host family and community and share pieces of my culture with them as well.

I have a week long orientation/training for my first week in Tbilisi where they will go over some teaching topics, info about the schools and living with the families, culture shock and adjustments to the culture, Georgian language, etc...but forget culture shock, I'm more in for weather shock as I've spent the majority of winter able to wear shorts or at least not a jacket...but I'm way excited to see snow again even though it will be absolutely freezing!

Anyway, I'm totally excited to find out what part of the country I'll be in, meet my host family, and find out more about my students, overall just to start this new crazy awesome experience!!

Alright, so I'm new to the blog thing/don't know my internet situation but hopefully I'll get to post somewhat regularly! : )