Gamarjobat Megobrebi! It’s been a while. Since we last spoke, Martha and I have been promoted from lowly PCT’s (Peace Corps Trainees) to PCV’s (Peace Corps Volunteers!) In other
terms, if Peace Corps were a video game (like a weird cross between Monkey Island, Frogger, Carmen Sandiego, and Microsoft Excel,) Martha and I just beat the “Boss level,” and are now saving the princess, or what-have-you. Our promotion required us to pass all of our accumulated technical competencies, as well as language training benchmarks, and I’m proud to announce that both of us passed our LPI (Language Proficiency Interview.) Though, to be fair, Martha did pass “Intermediate-Medium” whereas I only managed an “Intermediate-Low.” (I think I struggled when trying to explain to my interviewer – in Georgian mind you - why exactly do I enjoy photography as a hobby.)While this allows us to graduate from the Training Phase of our service, it doesn’t mean that we’ve struggled through our last Georgian language class. Part of the deal with being a Volunteer, is signing up for tutoring while at Permanent Site, which we are looking forward to, since 75% of our time at Site is spent staring, mouth agape, at a stream of unknown words shot in our direction. “Did she just ask me if I liked Polo?”
I’d like to take a moment, however, to thank our LCF (Language and Cross Cultural Facilitator,) Maka. Maka was assigned to our village cluster of Ateni for the entire summer, and lived with a host family like the rest of us. In her regular life, when not saving naïve Americans from themselves, or answering inane questions about bus schedules, she teaches English at a University in Tbilisi (Go UT!) She was the person responsible for our cultural integration into the Ateni community, and also was our language teacher for the 4 hour morning sessions. Though the same age as many of us, Maka led us through the trials and tribulations of this very challenging language with the deft authority of a veteran instructor, and we enjoyed every minute of her company. (We’d like to think that she found our
sophomoric antics charming as well.) She would always be present to correct our use of the post-position –shi or remind us of the correct use of Dative vs. Nominative, or help us outside of class: “Try the chicken, it is very delicious.” We will miss her company, and we look forward to seeing Maka, her Linebacker/Dancer husband Levani and their baby Saba in Tbilisi. (The picture is from the lovely thank-you card that one of our site-mates penned for the occasion of our departure. I’ll let you guess which one is Martha. HINT: Who else wears pink polos with green shoes?)
Our rite of passage into PCV-hood was celebrated by a swearing-in ceremony in a lovely art-deco theater in Tbilisi. Ministers and Embassy folk made speeches, Volunteers spoke in Georgian,
Marthas sang, choruses boomed, and dancers danced. We also swore to “protect and defend the 
Constitution of the United States,” which actually felt cooler to say than was anticipated by the G7’s who were too-cool-for-that-sort-of-thing (and yours truly.) A framed copy of our oath was generously given to us as a gift by our country director and I’m sure it’s something that we will both proudly hang on our cubicle walls for years to come. (I’ve included a picture of it, but NO P.C. LOGOS ON BLOGS, so I’ve blurred out a bit of the oath.) We’re still settling into our routine here in Terjola, but we will send out another post before school starts mid-September. Until then, we’ve got plenty to do, with summer camps, yet more community integration, and watermelon eating.
terms, if Peace Corps were a video game (like a weird cross between Monkey Island, Frogger, Carmen Sandiego, and Microsoft Excel,) Martha and I just beat the “Boss level,” and are now saving the princess, or what-have-you. Our promotion required us to pass all of our accumulated technical competencies, as well as language training benchmarks, and I’m proud to announce that both of us passed our LPI (Language Proficiency Interview.) Though, to be fair, Martha did pass “Intermediate-Medium” whereas I only managed an “Intermediate-Low.” (I think I struggled when trying to explain to my interviewer – in Georgian mind you - why exactly do I enjoy photography as a hobby.)While this allows us to graduate from the Training Phase of our service, it doesn’t mean that we’ve struggled through our last Georgian language class. Part of the deal with being a Volunteer, is signing up for tutoring while at Permanent Site, which we are looking forward to, since 75% of our time at Site is spent staring, mouth agape, at a stream of unknown words shot in our direction. “Did she just ask me if I liked Polo?” 
I’d like to take a moment, however, to thank our LCF (Language and Cross Cultural Facilitator,) Maka. Maka was assigned to our village cluster of Ateni for the entire summer, and lived with a host family like the rest of us. In her regular life, when not saving naïve Americans from themselves, or answering inane questions about bus schedules, she teaches English at a University in Tbilisi (Go UT!) She was the person responsible for our cultural integration into the Ateni community, and also was our language teacher for the 4 hour morning sessions. Though the same age as many of us, Maka led us through the trials and tribulations of this very challenging language with the deft authority of a veteran instructor, and we enjoyed every minute of her company. (We’d like to think that she found our
sophomoric antics charming as well.) She would always be present to correct our use of the post-position –shi or remind us of the correct use of Dative vs. Nominative, or help us outside of class: “Try the chicken, it is very delicious.” We will miss her company, and we look forward to seeing Maka, her Linebacker/Dancer husband Levani and their baby Saba in Tbilisi. (The picture is from the lovely thank-you card that one of our site-mates penned for the occasion of our departure. I’ll let you guess which one is Martha. HINT: Who else wears pink polos with green shoes?)Our rite of passage into PCV-hood was celebrated by a swearing-in ceremony in a lovely art-deco theater in Tbilisi. Ministers and Embassy folk made speeches, Volunteers spoke in Georgian,
Marthas sang, choruses boomed, and dancers danced. We also swore to “protect and defend the 
Constitution of the United States,” which actually felt cooler to say than was anticipated by the G7’s who were too-cool-for-that-sort-of-thing (and yours truly.) A framed copy of our oath was generously given to us as a gift by our country director and I’m sure it’s something that we will both proudly hang on our cubicle walls for years to come. (I’ve included a picture of it, but NO P.C. LOGOS ON BLOGS, so I’ve blurred out a bit of the oath.) We’re still settling into our routine here in Terjola, but we will send out another post before school starts mid-September. Until then, we’ve got plenty to do, with summer camps, yet more community integration, and watermelon eating.
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