It has been about two weeks since I last updated and feel as though it is about time, while I have the time, to inform you all of recent happenings.
First and foremost, to get it out of the way, this past week I was hit with phase two of culture shock. The so-called "honeymoon" was over and I felt sudden, inexplicable irritation and sadness. I have been told about culture shock and know that it can be very real, that it is okay, and that the difficulties usually do not last...that is, if you do not let them. It is up to the individual to fight it and remain openminded, which is what I have done while also making sure to take care of myself. I do not think this "phase" is over, but I have done my best to keep my spirits up, to remember why I am here, and to enjoy being here. In a place like Keda, where heavy rains are the biggest thing to usually happen, one has to take pleasure in the small things - in meeting people, being invited into a pharmacy for coffee, and talking with a security guard who immediately brightens when he learns that you are an American.
Less than a month into my grant and I am already trying to figure what I am going to do after it is complete. It is something over which I am extremely torn and go back and forth on constantly. Three forces, each of immense value to me, are swarming in my brain telling me what it is I should do. There never has really been any doubt about wanting to go to graduate school, if such an opportunity under the right circumstances (funding, primarily) opened up, I would do it in a heartbeat. This past summer, I sent out applications to potential jobs that I have wanted to be in for as long as I have thought about careers - and I received a call back. Since I was going abroad, their was nothing that they could do, but asked me to reapply when I return to the States in 2014. A career could also help me get to graduate school. Yet, I am a time in my life where I am not tied down by family or career and the time to travel is now. A week before I found I was accepted into the Fulbright program, I was offered a job to teach English in Russia, which, for obvious reasons, I backed out of so I could come to Georgia. However, in my last conversation with this company, I got the impression that should I want to still come to Russia, I could - I would just have to submit a new application (everything else would still be on file). There are questions to consider...ones that are primarily financial, but this is where I currently stand. This is the conundrum that sits before me.
Graduate school? That cannot happen without funding and I am not willing to take on more loans. For those of you who are curious, I am looking to continue in the field of Russian and Eurasian studies which is broad and encompassing of many aspects. There are schools that look promising.
Career? Well, there is not much explanation needed for this.
Russia? Anyone who knows me knows I love (pretty much) all things Russian. In the few short weeks I have been in Georgia, another country and culture that I love, I have had to use Russian in order to communicate. Yes, I plan on studying the Georgian language while I am here, but I have realized in a very short period of time, how much I want to become fluent in Russian. Yes, I can go to graduate school and take classes; yes, I can enter a career and be trained in the language; but what better place to learn Russian than Russia?
I have not made any decisions yet. These three forces are jumping and clawing and fighting for first place.
Now...back to Georgia! I did not go through a difficult application process and even longer time waiting for news to just throw my experiences under the bus as I figure out the next step of my life. No. It is important to live in the present, to bask in it, to smile and enjoy (even in difficult moments) something only a handful of people get to do. Despite the culture shock, despite homesickness, I am thrilled to be here.
I have always scoffed at the idea of being a teacher, but I have found that, under the right circumstances, I enjoy it. This happens to be one of those circumstances - I am in a place that I love teaching another language that I love, English. Right before I left the States, at a professor's suggestion, I bought a guide on the English language and have now found myself reading this guide like a book. I find topics such as grammar and syntax fascinating. Linguistics was something I discovered all too late in college...
Soon, I will provide an update on what it is like to actually teach in Keda Public School. I will have more to say when I have figured out my schedule and when I can actually plan activities for the students. But for now, here are pictures of the home in which I am living:
Time will only tell where I will be in a year...
First and foremost, to get it out of the way, this past week I was hit with phase two of culture shock. The so-called "honeymoon" was over and I felt sudden, inexplicable irritation and sadness. I have been told about culture shock and know that it can be very real, that it is okay, and that the difficulties usually do not last...that is, if you do not let them. It is up to the individual to fight it and remain openminded, which is what I have done while also making sure to take care of myself. I do not think this "phase" is over, but I have done my best to keep my spirits up, to remember why I am here, and to enjoy being here. In a place like Keda, where heavy rains are the biggest thing to usually happen, one has to take pleasure in the small things - in meeting people, being invited into a pharmacy for coffee, and talking with a security guard who immediately brightens when he learns that you are an American.
Less than a month into my grant and I am already trying to figure what I am going to do after it is complete. It is something over which I am extremely torn and go back and forth on constantly. Three forces, each of immense value to me, are swarming in my brain telling me what it is I should do. There never has really been any doubt about wanting to go to graduate school, if such an opportunity under the right circumstances (funding, primarily) opened up, I would do it in a heartbeat. This past summer, I sent out applications to potential jobs that I have wanted to be in for as long as I have thought about careers - and I received a call back. Since I was going abroad, their was nothing that they could do, but asked me to reapply when I return to the States in 2014. A career could also help me get to graduate school. Yet, I am a time in my life where I am not tied down by family or career and the time to travel is now. A week before I found I was accepted into the Fulbright program, I was offered a job to teach English in Russia, which, for obvious reasons, I backed out of so I could come to Georgia. However, in my last conversation with this company, I got the impression that should I want to still come to Russia, I could - I would just have to submit a new application (everything else would still be on file). There are questions to consider...ones that are primarily financial, but this is where I currently stand. This is the conundrum that sits before me.
Graduate school? That cannot happen without funding and I am not willing to take on more loans. For those of you who are curious, I am looking to continue in the field of Russian and Eurasian studies which is broad and encompassing of many aspects. There are schools that look promising.
Career? Well, there is not much explanation needed for this.
Russia? Anyone who knows me knows I love (pretty much) all things Russian. In the few short weeks I have been in Georgia, another country and culture that I love, I have had to use Russian in order to communicate. Yes, I plan on studying the Georgian language while I am here, but I have realized in a very short period of time, how much I want to become fluent in Russian. Yes, I can go to graduate school and take classes; yes, I can enter a career and be trained in the language; but what better place to learn Russian than Russia?
I have not made any decisions yet. These three forces are jumping and clawing and fighting for first place.
Now...back to Georgia! I did not go through a difficult application process and even longer time waiting for news to just throw my experiences under the bus as I figure out the next step of my life. No. It is important to live in the present, to bask in it, to smile and enjoy (even in difficult moments) something only a handful of people get to do. Despite the culture shock, despite homesickness, I am thrilled to be here.
I have always scoffed at the idea of being a teacher, but I have found that, under the right circumstances, I enjoy it. This happens to be one of those circumstances - I am in a place that I love teaching another language that I love, English. Right before I left the States, at a professor's suggestion, I bought a guide on the English language and have now found myself reading this guide like a book. I find topics such as grammar and syntax fascinating. Linguistics was something I discovered all too late in college...
Soon, I will provide an update on what it is like to actually teach in Keda Public School. I will have more to say when I have figured out my schedule and when I can actually plan activities for the students. But for now, here are pictures of the home in which I am living:
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| The house in which I am living. My room is with the two windows on the right hand side. This is Tiko's garden in the foreground. |
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| My bedroom. I have since switched to the left side and have made my bed. Tiko remade it like this, although the next day she told me it would not do and redid it a different way. |
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| The living room. |
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| The kitchen. |
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| The cats: Jackson is sitting on top of Alex. |
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