Martha and Julien in... America?: Two perish, but four more enter the world... (and my more about my birthday)

I am going to try to keep this short, but the family has grown again, and again; by surprise. On the very day of the pig slaughter (more later, but I will save you from the 80 pictures Julien took of the event and its aftermath) for my birthday party dinner a pig that no one knew was pregnant (I am not a veterinarian, but come on, there have to be signs) gave birth to four little baby pigs. I am trying not to get too attached to these cute, little piggies because I have been told that they will die soon and I will likely have to eat them. See picture, but try not to get attached either. I also found out that small pig meat is much more delicious than big pig meat, not actually through a taste test, but through many discussions with the host family. This discussion came about when the carnage for my birthday party was increased from one big pig, to one big pig and one small pig. I as many of you know am not a vegetarian, but after this weekend and the ensuing demise of my little pig friends am thinking about picking up vegetarianism as a hobby. I did make it clear that as there were real live vegetarians at the party there would be no big head on the table and it was agreed and I didn’t have to see pig head until a few days later when it (small pig head) was served to me for lunch. I should have made it more clear that most Americans have no connection at all to where their food comes from and most of us like it that way. I honestly could not tell the difference between big pig and small pig, as they were both served at the bacchanalian feast that was my birthday party. The party itself was really nice and I was glad to have had some Peace Corps friends come and see the new place. Our host family really outdid themselves and I think are very glad that there are no more birthdays for a while.

Julien and I are gearing up for the start of school and to get really geared up we have been running a summer camp at our schools for the past two weeks. These have been going moderately well although I think as English teachers more actual English language lesson was expected of us, but I told them from the get go that this was going to be a fun camp. I have 65 students in my camp which as you may guess is a lot, but I am really glad that we have had this opportunity to get to know each other before the formal educating starts. One problem is that it has been really hot (like 95 and there is no AC to speak of, anywhere) and because I am an American I drink a lot of water which then comes out of me in sweat form, so I am afraid I might simply be known not as the American teacher, but the" American-teacher-who-sweats-a-lot." Julien and I ran a field day on Monday which was a lot of fun and I think that the kids really liked it. It was the first time that they had ever seen the spoon and egg race or the three legged race which was really funny to watch, please see pictures. I wanted to have it on the playground, but it was the only day since we got here that it was rainy and cold, but somehow I still managed to be quite sweaty.

I have gotten several requests for my new address, but as there is not really a postal system in Georgia all of my mail should still go to the same address in Tbilisi. I will repeat it again for you:

PCV Martha Wawro

110 b. Burdzgla Street

PO Box 66

Tbilisi 0194

Republic of Georgia

I would also like to request some items be sent if anyone is so inclined.

First and foremost would be some reading material. Magazines would be the best I think because they would be easiest to send. So for the specifics I would really take anything, but People magazine, The New Yorker and The Economist the first of course for me and the last for Julien, but he will steal People and relish it whereas I will only read the interesting articles in the Economist and leave all of the weird number crunching articles for my hapless students.
Food items- it may seem as though the Georgians have this bit covered, but there are a few items of necessity that we can not get. There are an incredible lack of gummy candies here. Anything would be appreciated, Swedish Fish, Peach-Os, Sour Tongues, Gummy Bears etc. There is also a lack of hot sauce, my personal favorite is Marie Sharp’s Habanero Pepper Sauce (Hot) from Belize, but it can be difficult to find, so Chalula would be much appreciated as well. Some Mac’ and Cheese with the squeeze packet (Annie’s has a squeeze variety that is very good) because despite all of the cows they don’t drink a drop of milk.
Business Products- many of you who know me well, know that I am a bit of a pen snob and am somewhat incapable of using a simple bic ball point. I thought I would get over this affliction here in Georgia, but it has not happened yet and I have had to resort to sub par pens which make me crazy. So I would like, if at all possible, the refills for a Pilot G-2 Roller gel pen in black ink .05 width.