As I write this, I realize that I should be doing homework. I am, however, way too excited to share this news with you. After almost two years of waiting, planning, waiting, hoping and waiting, we have our Permanent Site Placement information!!!! The name of the city is Kutaisi, and sort of incidentally, we were both just there together last weekend for a little mini vacation from training.
Kutaisi is one of Georgia's largest cities with 185,000 people. It is 260Km west of Tbilisi in the Imereti Region.The Rioni River runs through the center of town. There are three rather famous historical churches, all of which we saw last weekend. The city itself claims history back to the 6th century B.C. However it's modern founding was around 2000 B.C.(I guess I use the term "modern" rather loosely here) It has been the capital of various kingdoms within Georgia throughout it's history, perhaps most noteably that of David the Builder.
Another interesting note: Kutaisi is said to be the place where Jason (yes, of Jason and the Argonauts) found the legendary golden fleece. The story behind the fleece is that the folks around ancient Kutaisi would pan for gold in the Rioni river using sheep's wool. They would stretch it across the flowing river and little flecks of gold would collect in it, hence, a golden fleece. The Lonely Planet notes that this tradition is stil in practice in further flung areas of the Caucasus.
Here's a little more information about both of our job assignments.
Tom: NGO, Community Youth Center. Tom is currently at his Supervisor's Conference where he is meeting his Supervisor and doing some training before going to visit our site for 3 days. He will be back on Thursday and can write in a little more detail at that time.
Amy: Kutaisi School #19 (schools don't have names, just numbers, blame the Soviets) 700 students grades 1 - 9. They start teaching English in the 2nd grade. There are currently more than 8 English Teachers and I will have a few weeks to choose a counterpart who will be my primary co-teacher for the next two years. I am the first Peace Corps Volunteer this school will have. I will leave next Friday for my Supervisor's conference and site visit.
And, our new family:
Father - Dato (age 42)
Mother - Sophio age (34)
Brother - Giorgi (age 10)
Tom is staying with them right now during his Site Visitation and has reported that it's a huge house, and perhaps the biggest news of all ; Tom now has a dog for the very first time in his life. He's completely beside himself and I have a hard time getting anything else out of him on our brief nightly phone calls.
I'm not sure how much we'll be able to blog for the next few weeks, so here's what we'll be up to.
July 21 - 26: Tom is at Supervisor's Conference and Site Visit
July 28 - August 2: Amy is as Supervisor's Conference and Site Visit
August 3 : Tom's NGO group has meetings in Tbilisi.
August 9: All groups visit Peace Corps Headquarters in Tbilisi
August 17: Language Proficiency Interview (final test)
August 18: Swear In Ceremony
August 19: Travel to Site and get to work!
Congratulations! What exciting news! You both must be so happy to know what you will be doing for the next 2 years. We know how hard the waiting can be. I'm glad to hear you will be in a large city (Georgia standards) as well.
Good luck with your meetings with supervisors and your assignments! We keep you both in our thoughts and prayers.
Be well and enjoy yourselves,
Kelly