Around the World with A Book In My Hand: Saying "Goodbye" doesn't mean forever...

Do you remember that last day of summer camp? You know, the one filled with all of the group activities but a sense of melancholy that this was all ending just lingered in the background. Everywhere you went, you had the feeling that this was the LAST time you were going to do this. The last swim in the pool, the last campfire, the last sing-along, the last time you were going up this particularly hard hill on your hike.

Today felt like that to me.

Although we only arrived last Thursday, it seems like forever that we have been here. I've become accustomed to the cobblestone streets, uneven under my feet, but decorative and beautiful. I've learned now to really look both ways when crossing the street, even a one-way street. I can use the complicated stair structure at St. Andrews to find any room in the building. I know when Mama Shoo plays with his beard, he is thinking a profound thought about the work they do here and I should listen. To quote Into the Woods "I know things now, many valuable things that I never knew before..."

Today was the last day that I would spend with these wonderful people. The last time I would mime English words to help students understand "fat, fatter and fattest" The last time I would be mobbed in the hallway for a hug or a picture with "the Americans," the last time I would hear the shy "hello" or "how are you" from students who had never used those words to communicate before, just knowing them as an academic exercise in a class. So many lasts in a place that I experienced so many firsts. My first true supra, my first time teaching students English when I was the one who needed to learn their language, my first experience in seeing REALLY old stuff, my first experience with traffic laws that seem to be optional, my first experience in finding a place without a map or GPS (it involves rolling down windows a lot and asking total strangers where to find something), my first visit to the Black Sea or a rocky beach. So many firsts and so much still to learn.

Tonight we had a dinner with Mama Shoo and some teachers from the school at Nino's house (she is our host teacher) and it was delightful. Full of laughter (especially about the sign in English downtown that says a restaurant will feed you, give you wine and "sleep with you" in its attached hotel), stories of childhood in an era gone by, stories of students(the universal language of teachers everywhere), and toasts to everyone and anything we could think of. It was like a hundred dinners I've attended over the years at friend's houses, during the holidays--people getting together to share their humanity, their stories, their lives.

So, although I have said "Goodbye" to these wonderful souls, it will not be forever. They will live in my heart. I have discovered one basic lesson during my time here in Batumi. Although the Georgian people may not have as many computers or shining new classrooms or any of a million things we are so used to in American schools, they do have the most basic thing they need. As one dinner guest said last night, "The one thing in life that is important is love." Love, my dear friends, they certainly have in abundance. And to quote an old song by the Carpenters, "Love will keep us together."

If not in body, certainly in mind.

And now on to the pictures!

These are of the docks at Batumi. It is a major shipping port for Georgia and the sea is how many here make their livelihood.

This statue is of Ali and Nino, a famous pair in Georgian literature. At night it lights up and the statues move apart and together. Check out my picture below and then go to YouTube to find video of them moving. Truly remarkable!

A very old church in the center of Batumi. I would have taken pictures, but we were summoned to the bishop's house early..which kinda felt like being sent to the principal's office early...were we in trouble? Turns out...no!

Here is the bishop's house. We had a very nice reception with him where we discussed issues around schooling children. He has beautiful art he has made in his house. It is nice, but he used to live HERE!