This week has been.

Dear all,

As stated in the title, yes, this week has actually existed. It is actually a great story, that I am going to save for when I can tell it in person, with all of my pointless hand gestures and loud repetition. Here are some of the highlights: A vampiric insane Bee, Bananas, Russian drugs, a witch trying to jumpstart me like a car, and shampoo. That is just a little taste of the most dramatic story you will ever hear. To make it better, see if you can't get me to eat some candy of drink some Fanta right before I tell it. It will be epic.

Anywho, Derek asked me in an email what I want when I arrive home. I know the answer to that like I know the stages of the Paleozoic. Really well. Just ask me. I want Whole milk, Salsa Verde Doritoes(The green ones :D), and dried pineapples ( I like the ones from winco, but I bet others are good too.). I have put a lot of thought into this, and so I will explain. There are so many insanely good things at home, all of which I have been deprived, I have gotten to the point where I have sort of just driven them from my mind. Not so these three things. The milk is because there is not much to have here. I have had fresh boiled milk twice (utterly deliciouse (bahahaha, that was punny)), and I tasted the horrifying terror that is the milk they sell here once and wanted to curl up into a ball, weep, and then die. It has added vegetable oil, so all it tastes like is drinking vegetable oil. So, I have been craving milk since my arrival. The Doritoes are another story entirely.

And here it is: My leprachaun friend was craving "crisps" (Silly leprachaun, they're chips.). SO we kept our eyes out for them. Eventually, we spotted some chips, there were even Doritoes brand and Lays for her! We were both so excited that we did not even quibble over the fact that we were paying a huge amount of money for the smallest bags of chips either of us will ever buy. They sounded like chips, the bags crunched like chip bags, and as we opened them, and got those first chips to eat, we could not have been more excited about it. And then: HORROR! Imagine my situation, all the signs were leading to a good chip, doritoes in a green bag, the correct shape and color, the appropriate amount of seasonings. I was ready for a reasonably tasty treat. Instead I got the worst chip ever. Think of the grossest chip you have ever eaten, multiply that grossness by the square root of poop, and you will have the taste of my chip. Then use that in a formula to derive sorrow in a situtation, keeping in mind my expectations, an you will be simply shocked. I was heartbroken, and I could not even bring myself to finish my miniscule bag of chips. I gave them to another friend, who laughed at my sad, sad situation.

The pineapples come from somewhere dark in my head that sometimes springs crazy thoughts on me the way a panther springs on a happy bunny in a meadow. I am the happy bunny, so I do not enjoy it, but, as the happy bunny, I am consumed by the panther and must there after follow its will. The panther this time is a deep craving for dried pineapples with my chips and milk. Let's all be grateful that the dark panther is usually only things like that, and not a deep desire to see all the men of the world noseless or some other such dangerous nonsense. My crazyness aside, both green doritoes and dried pineapple go really really well with milk, so I am ready for that when I get home. And thanks to this stupid post (and also to you Derek), those three things will be on my mind even more than they already have been. I will be home a little less than an exact week from this very moment! I love you all!

Katie

!!!! <-Jessica can tell you how that sounds. So ask her.

Dear all,

I have good news! Finally! I will be flying out of Tblisi insanely early on Wednesday the 22. I am scheduled to arrive home at ten thirty, home time, the same day. So, if everything works out, that will be about 29 hours from taking off in Tbilisi to landing in...SACRAMENTO!! They managed to take a hint (my hint being a very bossy and brisk email demanding that I not be flown into San Francisco, but instead to Reno or Sac), and are flying me to the perfect place! I still have not got the tickets, but I am glad to know when I am actually leaving! This means that I will have a short two days to cram in all the pre-Christmas awesomeness I need. The Muppet Classic Christmas Carol, for example. I have been positively dying to watch that movie. It is hard to get into the Christmas spirit over here, because the shops have not been bombarded with Santas, snowmen, and trees. I miss it. I also really miss the radio, with all the awesome Christmas songs!

I have an email in my inbox that has more info about my flight, but the format is all jankedy and this stinky little computer I am using can't open it. So, as soon as I have more info, I will put that up!

Anywho, love ya all!

Katie

PS. Beans is pretty much the cutest thing in any movie ever.

Pointlessnessery

Dear all,

I have not got much to say. There is really no point to this post at all. I have been having a lot of weird dreams lately, most of which have at least one character from home in them. I still have not gotten any info regarding my flight out of here, but given what happened when I came, I am not terribly suprised. As far as coming home goes, I am pretty much so super excited to see everybody again, that it is sort of pathetic. So, I love ya all, and I will see you soon!

Katie

Gary Pottery and Russian Cranberry Jam

Dear all,

I went to Harry Potter. It was awesome. That is one amazing movie. You know how I know it is so good?! Because even in Russian it blew me away. Yep, we saw it in Russian. There are no English screenings anywhere, of any movie. Not even subtitles. I learned some Russain words. I also learned that Russian does not have an H sound. Gary and Jermaiune and Ruun were the three leads in this movie. Luckily, I am so intensly nerdy, that I did not need to know what they were saying. I have read the book enough to know exactly what was going on. At some points, I think I even knew what they were saying word for word, when I combined my innate ability to remeber trivail things (like dialogue from random books) and my mad lip reading skills. I am excited though, because when I come home and see it in English, it will be like a whole new movie!

Anyway, that was last Friday, in Tbilisi. I had a really good adventure last weekend. On Saturday I inadvertently made a mortal enemy of a street vendor when I offered her to little for some cool felt slippers. Sorry Anika and Jess, but you won't be getting those for Christmas. In addition to all that good stuff, I also had a psuedo-Thanksgiving! Some of the volunteers got together and made what we could out of the little we have here. One magical guy managed to get his hands on what may just have been Georgia's only 17 pound butterball, and Christina managed to locate Russian Cranberry sauce! We had mashed potatoes, stuffing, and Khinkhali as well. There were a ton of people present, so most of us just got a taste of everything, but that was enough! Alone we could never have managed it, but together we made a pretty impressive dinner. There were also a bunch of Georgians and British people present, who thought we Americans were insane. But it was awesome!

Anywho, love you all!
20 days and counting!
Katie

Kinder Suprises are the neatest suprises.

Dear all,


They have this lovely sweet here, called a Kinder Suprise. It is German chocolate and I have been told it is very popular worldwide (except apparently at home). It is this deliciouse chocolate egg with a toy inside. As I am a very mature adult, I purchase one of these when I go into town. They are really just too cool for words. One of the toys I got is this little blue man that is holding a frisbee! Also he changes color in the sun. I ask you, could there be anything cooler?! I submit that there could not! Anywho, I just got word today that we should get out flight info by the end of next week, so I will start looking for it a week after that.

Hey, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!!!!!! I almost forgot! Here are ten things I am grateful for!
1- Kinder Suprises!
2- Warm socks!
3- My mom!
4- The internet!
5- The Scriptures! (right now I am reading in 3rd Nephi were Jesus vists the Nephites!)
6- Shelia Collins, Christina Peebles, and Jaime Mcllwraith!
7- Good long hikes!
8- Naval fiction! (It can be a bit violent at times, but it is good. I came across eight books for about 50 cents a piece, so that has been my reading material of late.)
9- Mandarins!
10- Last but not least, all my dear family and friends at home!

Love
Katie

* At the top it says that I posted this on Wednesday, but it is definetely Thursday here, and properly Thanksgiving. PS, give my love to the turkey.

I bought the greatest ever fingerless gloves at what appeared to be the worlds largest open air thrift store.

Dear all,

Really though, the gloves are great. I also got some great green knee high socks, some lovely maroon socks, and some bright yellow mittens that are pretty small, but I wear then anyways, because they are sooo yellow! If you did not notice the trend in my clothing purchases, it is warmth. I am so cold here! It is like all my blood has been replaced by ice! It is not even that cold, but my once majestic curculation is failing I think! Every night before bed I jog in place for a half an hour. If I don't I can't go to sleep because my toes do not thaw out otherwise!

Anywho, life is great. Last night I had this salt/cheese/salt/rice/salt dish. It was sort of like drinking a salt solution that had as much salt dissolved in it as physically possible, and then they put more junks of salt in it, for fun. Actually, that is what it was. I don't know if I have mentioned this, but Georgians really, really dig salt. They put it in milk. I am not kidding. My host dad always tries to get me to salt stuff. He also tries to get me to drink, all the time. Oh, they also put salt in their beers, and sometimes in the wine. I have a feeling that salt is the biggest industry here. After wine I mean.

I don't drink, ever. You would think that you would need to tell people that only a few times before they realised that you actually never did consume alchohol. But it just doesn't sink in. No matter how many times I decline some wine, saying that it is against my religion, or that I won't drink it, or that tiny gremlins will pop out of my forehead if I have a drop, they still try.

It is a lot of work declining some things here. I was rushing through a market in Tbilisi one day with some friends, on the way to the metro, when this rather frightening man blocks my path. He offers me some rotten looking fruit and seems determined to make me eat it. I declined kindly, saying, "ara, madloba" (no, thank you) and yet he persisted. So after a few minutes, I looked him in the eyes and almost yelled, "Me ar minda! (I don't want it)." After this senior creepy laughed and stepped out of my way. Thank goodness. But, since I had had to raise me voice to make him move, the entire surrounding area was now staring and laughing, suprised to see that such an obviously not Georgian girl was able to stand up to that guy. I was, needless to say, frazzled, and I was more than glad to finally get onto the Metro, where I had only to worry about small gypseys trying to steal from me.

Love you all!
Katie

PS: Georgia is the best country in the whole world. I learned that important fact from a man who has never been more than a twenty minute drive from the house where he was born. Just so you know.

I made a ghost out of a napkin to help me celebrate Halloween.

Dear all,

So, it is official! When I come home at Christmas I will not be returning to Georgia. I am excited but I also feel guilty, despite the lovely words of comfort from everybody. But, I am pretty sure my guilt will fade fast! Ok, so, I have just a few things to go over:

1) I lied a while back. On accident! the Lyrics to that song are "Pride is really falling, I'm proud that I'm not proud." I missheard. So Lynsey, dear, I am sorry. It is from an awesome song called "Here's to Now" by Ugly Casanova.

2)Turns out I only had one thing! Great!

Love you all and I cannot wait to see you!
Katie

Hi, my name is Katie, and I am a flakeoppatomus

Hi! Glad to meet you!

An exceedingly boring post that Anika wants...

Dear all,
Anika has asked repeatedly what I do on a day to day basis.
So, here goes:

On every school day except for blessed Tuesdays (my lie in day, as Shelia calls it ), I wake up at about 8:30, get dressed as fast as I can, brush my teeth and my hair, and leave the house before 8:45. School starts at 9 in the morning. Tragically, today is a Tuesday, and in my haste to leave the house, I did not recognize that. So I missed on of the things I look forward to all week. Sleeping in on Tuesday. So, anyway, once I get to school, I go to class. I teach three classes a week with a teacher named Zhana. She speaks very little English, and the kids speak even less. I don't really do much in those classes. I correct a lot of mistakes, and act as the tape player, in reading out English passages in my best slow monotone voice.

The rest of my classes I teach with Ia. We have a lot of classes. Every week they seem to be giving me more. In the classes with Ia I am more involved, but sometimes I really feel like it is pretty pointless, my being here and all. In classes with Ia I am more involved, but I still feel like I don't do much. But it is exhausting.

I spend all day making sure that I do not commit any offenses. And I do anyway. The kids laugh at me for no apparent reason, and no matter what I wear, I am judged. My shoes especially seem to be some sort of village discussion topic. When I wore my Chacos for the first month and a half, every old lady in town would shake her head when she looked at my feet. The kids would point them out to each other. Then, one cool morning when I wore my black trainers, It was like I was an alien. It is because all the teachers here wear these horrible high heeled black boot things. Not only can I not afford them, I also really don't want to wear them. The others will get used to the differences in dress, or at least they will shut up about it. Maybe.

Anyway, after school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I teach the older kids who never had a chance to learn English. The president apparently initiated a sort of exit exam, that includes an English portion. This really peeved the Russian and German teachers, as well as basically everybody, off. So, pretty soon here I am going to be teaching that class all alone. As soon as my co teacher has "taught them the alphabet" she will abandon them to me. I told her that I did not want to do it and that I have no teaching experience and other stuff. But the administrators think that if one volunteer can do something, we all can. I think there is some sort of heroic super teacher out there, screwing over the rest of us teachers, making us all look bad.

Once I am finally home, exhausted from school, I generally curl up in my freezing room and try to take a nap, or I sit next to the fire and read my book. Not much of anything happens. On Wednesdays I go to Sachkhere and meet up with Shelia, Christina, and Jaime, and maybe a few others, for some food and conversation. At other times throughout the week I do this and that. I may go on a run or a walk, peel a mound of potatoes, pop the corn off dried cobbs for the chickens, or do varous other activities. On the weekends I either stay at home and do nothing, or I travel! I have been to Batumi once, Tbilisi four times, and Chiatura once.

I have been blessed enough to go to church three times already, and I really love it. I am making tons of good friends, and learning a lot.

Love Katie

If prides my only folly, I'm proud that I'm not proud

Dear all,

First, ten points to whoever tells me who sings those lyrics. No internet cheating please!

Next. Pride. I am way to proud. It makes a fool of me. Here is a story which proves what a proud fool I am:

One Friday last I was trying to make my way to Tbilisi. I walked from my house to the nearest off time frequent marshutka stop. (Marshutkas and their mysterious schedules are not a thing to be trifled with.) I waited patiently for a few minutes for a ride to come along. Eventually one of the white minibuses showed up, so I hopped inside. It was fantastically crowded. It started off in a direction I had never gone before. I was under the impression that the marshutka would simply drive a ways down the road, turn around, and take me to my desired destination. But that was not my fate. After about thirty minutes of driving, stopping, people getting on and off, driving, stopping, people getting on and off, driving, and so on, the marshutka came to a stop. A real stop this time. Not the previous idle. The driver had backed the marshutka into what seemed to be a shady little glen. I think it must be his normal spot. Because there was no need to park for shade, as it was raining.

At this point, I was sitting in the front seat of the marshutka, nearest the door. Here is where my pride hit me first. This was not my desired destination. I honestly had no idea where we were. The driver and most of the passengers were staring at me with this look that clearly stated, "Silly girl, she does not know where we are!" But rather than shake my head stupidly and remain seated, I bounced off the marshutka, gave the driver some money, and bounded off down a street. I almost wrote "bounded off down the street" but the article "the" would imply that I had some vauge ideas about it. But I did not. I walked down a street (it was a lovely little walk) for about fifteen minutes, at which time I did an about face and began to walk back the way I had come. I figured that I had walked long enough for most of the people to have dispersed, or that they would think I had completed an actual task. Just as I rounded the corner that gave me the first view of where the marshutka had parked, I saw it driving away.

So I walked. I walked for about an hour and a half, with my backpack and everything. I still had no idea where I was, so I just followed the road most traveled. The man in that poem had more time than I had. Anyway, at one point I can to a T in the road. I was so happy, because I recognized right where I was. But then I did not know if I should go left or right. So I swallowed that stupid pride, and asked this boy sitting on a fence which way to Savane. I am glad I asked, because he told me the opposite of the way I was inclined to go. So, eventually, I ended up back in the right place. Stupid pride.

Katie

*Mom guessed John Gorka. She was wrong. Any other guesses?

Why my Mom is awesome. Also, I am still alive.

This is an email my mom sent me after my last post. It contains the truth:

Katie dearest,
I just wanted to make sure you survived the possible clown invasion. You speak the truth about those varmits and I support your efforts to eradicate their very existence. You see, clowns are the only known zombies that roam in licensed packs. That's why they are kept in tents. That is a natural defense to their venomous breath. OK live well, keep the world free from the notion that clowns can and will stay contained.
MY LOVE TO YOU, MA

Turns out the "circus" was not of the clown variety. Thank heavens. It was a man in a big tie, doing silly little magic tricks. The little kids were all crowded around at the bottom of the auditorium, and they were so cute. They gasped and laughed in all the right places. The older kids and a few adults at the top mostly just laughed. But then the assistant started doing his tricks, and it was not so fun anymore. His tricks were the gross kind. Like laying on nails and knifes and stepping on glass. It was most likely not as bad as I think it was, but I could not actually see what was going on. It turned my stomach. Then right at the end, he jumped on the glass, and it made the exact same sound that was made when I stepped on a beer bottle at the end of the Tomatina. Ew. I was frazzled.

I recovered. Eventually.

10 reasons Clowns are freaky

I found out yesterday that the circus will be at my school today. I have no classes right now, so I am killing time until the shindig starts. I realized last night, with a jolt, that there might be clowns at the circus. I actually then had nightmares about clowns. I hate them. I hate ceramic clowns that people stick in eachothers toilets and Jellos (ask Anika). I hate crying clowns with painted on smiles. I hate the drunken clowns in Dumbo. And most of all, I hate murderer clowns. So, in an attempt to alleviate my fear (possibly ill concieved, as this may result only in terrifying myself.) I will now list ten reasons clowns should not be allowed:

1) They wear to much make up.
2) Their voices are either really annoying, or really creepy.
3) They eat people. (I know this is a generalization, and not all clowns are cannibals, but some of them are.)
4) Their hair is all sorts of strange.
5) They wear weird clothes.
6) The shoes they wear must mess up their posture, making them grumpy.
7) The Fantastics, Goosebumps, Dumbo, and Stephen King can't all be wrong. But clowns can.
8) Jack-in-the-Box. The hidden terror is always a soul stealing clown.
9) Their laughs. Just thinking about it sends a chill up my spine.
10) They play mean tricks on people. Water squirting flowers!? Honking noses?! Cruel visciousness.

So, in conclusions, if I never write again, it means that there are clowns at the circus, and that I died of fright, and probably then they ate me.

Three...Four Topics and Pictures!

Dear all,

I have three topics to address today: 1) A classroom occurence that made me feel really awesome. 2) Church attendance and other outings. 3) Cool stuff I have been thinking about.

So, to begin, I will begin with the beginning. I was in class on Wednesday, and we were learning about words for appearences. Part of the class was to have the kids describe themselves or a classmate. On of the boys (the smartest, and best student in the whole school) asked if he could describe me. I said that he could so he proceeded. "Miss Keti have, uhm, has big wavy blonde hair." You must excuse this star pupil, in comparison to Georgians, my hair could be considered blonde. "Miss Keti has a short nose." I like my nose, so I choose to interpret that to mean my nose is awesome. "Miss Keti has rosy cheeks." I would be very flattered at this point, if it weren't for the fact that every description included that tidbit. Georgi was told he has rosy cheeks, as was the albino kid (There is not an albino kid in my class. That was a joke.) Then the young student added his final sentence that made me recognize his true genius, "Miss Keti is very beautiful." I was flattered indeed, and blushed, so that the rosy cheek part of my description was more true than ever. I am not bragging here, I just felt so happy for the rest of the day, I wanted you all to share in my joy! I will now address my next topic.

In the true fashion of an unorganized writer, I will address my third topic, and let the second fall into last place. I know that this could be easily avoided in this early stage of writing, but I am going to leave it. So, this next topic is cool things I have been thinking about. Anika, do you remember that one time we fixed your ignition? That was so cool. I am especially proud of the part when I scratched your key on the ground, making it work in the ignition, and the part where you were able to get all the panels off and not resort to beating and plastic breaking, like I wanted to. I love you and your car Anika, and I miss you both. Mom, do you remember that time, many years ago, when we drew a picture of ( if my memory is serving me correctly) a Hawk with the head of a butch lady? I recall it making us laugh for no less than an eon. Another cool thing, that was pointed out to me by a cool person, is the mention of Georgia in The Beatles "Back in the USSR." Go look it up! Note: This in no way proves that I am in Russia, I am in what used to be the USSR, but is no longer. Cool stuff is way cool. Also, I want to publicly thank Anika for the cd Grand Street by Matt and Kim. I love it. It is cool stuff.

Topic the last! Church attendance and other outings! I went to church the week of conference. It was wonderful! I am going back next weekend I hope! Church is in Tbilisi, about a two and one half hour drive from Sachkhere, which is a twenty minute ride from Savane, my village! Tbilisi is grand, the biggest and livliest city in Georgia. I am excited for church next weekend! I have also been to Batumi. That was last weekend. My travel companions and I were told that Batumi was a warm and lively city, that was basically always bumpin. I think that who ever told us that is a big liar face who needs to rethink their lives. Batumi was fun, but in no way lived up to our high expectations. We stayed at a midrange hotel, that had a sauna and dunk pool. Warning: Dunk pools are not heated. They might actually be cooled. I thought I was going to die. But then I found the Sauna and I was ok. In addition to turning myself into a human ice cube in Batumi, we also walked. A lot! We walked up and down the abandonded boardwalk, and played on a really cool paddle boat, sadly it was chained to another paddle boat, and weighed approximately 8000000000 lbs, so we did not put them in the water. I did dance on one of them though. That was fun. I stood in the sea, and I wanted to go swimming, but then I saw a broken beer bottle and decided to wait until next time.

Also, on a much stranger note, we went to a Coolio concert. You know, "Gangster Paradise" and "I'll see you when you get there." It was really weird. I would not reccomend Coolio to any of you. Especially not a free Coolio concert in a country where a group of seven non natives is a huge number and they are not at all used to the antics of drunk and old rappers. The "Opener" was this traditional Georgian group, complete with an old man who danced. We seven came to the conclusion that that was the real show, and that Coolio was really just the closing act. Oh, there was also a German DJ playing Club music in the middle. It was the sort of thing where his two songs lasted at least half an hour. Batumi is awesome, we just hit it at the off season I think. Hopefully I will get to go back at the end of my trip here, maybe in May, when the season has started back up!

Oh, hey! I just thought of another topic to write about! News! So, here is what I learn when I watch the news with my host family! First, either Obama's ratings are dropping a lot, or a rocket with his face painted on it crashed. I don't know why, but I know it is a big deal. Also, Hillary Clinton either likes Georgia, moved here, or possibly she died in a freak firework accident. A British Kid moved to Georgia to play soccer, or a Georgian Soccer team moved to The UK to play with that kid. A Georgian girl is the new Miss World, Universe, something. Not really sure, but she was shown repeatedly in a sash and a crown. For what ever reason they also showed Ashwaria Rai, who is not Georgian. The Georgian President, Misha, gave a bunch of laptops to a bunch of little kids. Thats the news, I think.

I am too lazy to do the required research to clear up some of these topics, since news finding takes like ten minutes per topic, so if you have any information, let me hear it! When I say I want news, I am dead serious. From the international revelation, to the personal trivialities, I want it all!

Lots of love!

Katie "Bread Eater" Mitchell

Christina, Shelia, and I at the Coolio concert! They are the best girls to have in Georgia!

Jaime, Christina, Shelia and I at the sea side! This picture was taken by a timer, skills.

Jumping Picture taken by Jaime, also skills, for reals.

The mother of Georgia. She is not based on any one real. She has a bowl of wine to offer guests, and a sword to protect from enemies. I think the wine is poisen, so you are dead either way.

Really cool graffiti in Tbilisi. There is not much graffiti, but it is done very well. Except for the inexplicable "RAP GANG" that is prayed all over the place. We cannot figure it out.

Thats me! So you don't forget.

The Giant Huge Massive Church at the top of a hill in Tbilisi.

Timer pictuer of us girls in Tbilisi in St. Georgi's Square. It is not square though. It is a round about surounded by a polygon formed by the streets.

The goblet is full of the wine they wanted me to drink. The small glass either has antfreeze, or one of Georgias favorite fizzy drinks. It is tarragon soda. If you refuse to drink wine, you must indtead damage your brain with the dye of this drink. Also it tastes funny.

The commencment of my first real Supra. With the teachers from school. The food shown here is less than half of what was brought out over the next four hours. Supras are a gastronomical suicide.

A view of our house, along with the corn we husked, and one of the tarps. The tarp is a banner for a spanish soap opera. I would really like to know how they got that.

*I don't know how I hyperlinked my post to the picture, but I cannot undo it. I feel silly.

Keti is getting into the groove of things....

Dear all,

I have finally devised a system. That's right, I really have. I will bring my flash drive down to the school, load all the emails and things that you send me, so that I can peruse them more freely at home. I will then write my replies, and bring them back to the school to load onto the interweb machine! Look at me, making a plan and stuff! Plans! Yeah!

So, my sweet sister, (Who has yet to email me about her life. (Come down to it, neither of my fair sisters have emailed me anything...(Hint: Anika and Jessica you should both be ashamed of yourselves.))) sent me a hearty complaint of my lack of details as to my exceedingly boring day-to-day (count for count my details are beating your Anika. Katie: a few, even if it is not enough for you vs. Anika: none, zip, nada) life. So, I will try to be better about writing things that will bore you darling people to tears.

Today my alarm clock went off at 7:45. I was terrified by the noise and flailed around in my bed for about thirty seconds before I remembered what, who, and where I was. After I figured out that the horrible sound was emanating from the small black plastic thing next to my bed, I punched a button, and fell back to sleep. Ten minutes later the same thing happened, minus the terror. I lay in bed for a few seconds, working up the energy to fling half off my body off the bed, and try and kneel next to it. I succeeded in the end, and started praying. I woke up about seven minutes later, slumped over and decided that I would have to stand up, or I would just fall asleep on the floor. By Providence alone, I somehow ended up standing. I reached out for my glasses, and grabbed my brush instead. So I brushed my hair. I thought that everything seemed too fuzzy, so I reached up to clean my glasses. But they were not in their proper spot!

"Oh no!" thought I, "what has happened?" I turned around, and in surprise, snatched my glasses up from the vile desk that had some how removed them from my noggin (or so my still 87.3% asleep brain thought.). I put on some clothes. My ginormican brown skirt, my green belt (to hold that brown skirt on; it looks silly), and a Patagonia shirt (in part to hide the totally ridiculous belt thing I have going on.) I put a clip in my hair that I was proud to see was brushed, and walked into the wall. I stood in a stupor for a while, then managed to find the door, open it, and exit the room. I wandered into the bathroom, events occurred, and I walked out. Then I meandered back into my room to throw a few things into my bag, and wander back out again. I walked out the front door of the house, and then walked back in, through the living room, into my room, and got my phone from the recesses of my bed. It was dangerous. That bed has some magic, or maybe chloroform, that wafts from it. Getting to near it makes you yawn, then close your eyes, then want to jump off the Sears Tower, to see if you can fly. That last one is actually a dream I had, meaning the bed makes you fall asleep. I was trying for a joke.

Anyway, I went back outside, slipped my feet into my Chacos (I love my chacos more than I love chaco tacos, which is a lot.). I walked to the gate, went through it, then walked to the end of our driveway. Then I tightened my chacos. I don't know why, but I always wait until I am at the end of the drive to tighten them. I am going to go ahead and make up a reason: I do this so that the chickens, who are at this time generally taking a morning bath in the ditch, can view and appreciate the beauty of my shoes. Then, I walked to the school. It is a really lovely morning walk, just long enough to really wake me up. I went into the school, and began a futile search for Jana (I have no idea how to spell her name, that is a vague guess sort of thing.) who is one of my co teachers. I was under the impression that I was supposed to teach a class with her in the first period. I was wrong. Having no other classes, I went back home. Once there, I told my host parents that I would be "depriving myself of their company so that I could make the journey unto the shining city of hot springs." I actually said something that translates into roughly "I go Tbilisi today marschutka alone for until Sunday." It makes about that much sense in Georgian. It works.After that I ate food. It was awesome. I had bread, stewed tomatoes, potatoes, and water! It was so good! Not kidding. I like food.

After that, I went to my room and packed and fixed up my ipod. I was all ready to go, walked out the door, walked for about ten minutes, then realized that I had no idea what my pin code is. And as I was down to my last few Lari, I needed that information, badly. SO I walked back to the house. Some of the old men I had floated past (I was listening to Beirut as I walked, and could not help but float.) laughed at me as I marched sullenly back to the house. My host parents laughed when I walked in the door and told them (I have become quite an actress and am adept at conveying messages through the movement of my hands and eyebrows.) that I left something. I went to my room, found a number, and walked back out. My host Father drove me to Sachkhere, so I did not go back and wait for the now missed Marschutka. Today was the first time I have ridden in a car that was not older than I am, and also the first time I have seen a Georgian put on a seat belt. Good thing, because he was driving down an almost dirt road at about a gajillion miles an hour. I found a bus to take to Tbilisi. It was leaving in ten minutes, so I ran to a shop and bought some sweet bread, ran to another, and bought some chocolate, and ran to a third and bought some peach juice boxes. Set for the ride. Yeah. I got on the bus, and off we went. I ate a bun, drank a juice box, put on my sunglasses, and passed out. It was awesome.

I came back to earth about two and a half hours later, in Tbilisi. I got on the metro (I have never been on any metro before coming here, other than the MRT in Singapore, and it was awesome. There are these escalators that are miles long. They kinda freak me out.) and rode away. After a few minutes I realized I did not really know where I wanted to go, so I just hopped off at a random stop. Then I walked down the road. I had gotten off the metro in what turned out to be the swankiest part of town, so I wandered down a street of really expensive clothes and shoes. I walked, and walked, and lo and behold, there was a completely recognizable landmark. I knew where I was!

I wandered a bit more, and then wandered to another Metro station. I jumped on (40 tetri per ride. That's about 24 cents.) and rode to the top of the circuit. Then I got off again. It was cool. I got to ride another one of those wicked cool escalators. When I got out, I went to this sweet awesome second hand store that I found last time I was here. I got some shirts. I tried on about seven, and bought two. Then I hopped on a marshutka I thought was the right one, and it turned out to be! Yay! I did not get murdered!I came to this place where I have been for a while, and started to write this insanely long thing. Then I continued. And now I am stopping. Goodnight!

Love,

Katie "The juice-box drinker" Mitchell

This one is special...

Dear people who have taken the time to be official followers:

I wanted to take a moment to thank you so much for the time you have wasted, and will continue to waste (I hope!) reading my writing. By some ill fate, I am not able to actually see who you are (maybe the president thinks that knowing who "follows" you is just as unimportant as facebook, but I do not agree, because I love you.). As my followers, I want to set your minds at rest on a couple of points:

1) I will never ask you (through this blog anyway) to give me your life saving, or to invest your nest egg into a sketchy bussiness venture. I do not approve of fly by night doll museums, or African princes who want to launder money to America. As such, I will not ask you to do these things.

2) I will not try to convince you that I am a sun goddess, and that we should all start glueing tin foil stars to our glasses. But how cool would that be? We could do it if you want to! But I will never try to convince you.

3) I will always respect you, my followers, and never lead you into battle where the odds are against us like the odds were against "The Adventures of Ocie Nash" ever getting an Oscar.

In conclusion, my beloved followers, I sure do like you guys. The number I see, as well as the vaugly human shape that signifies your virtual presence, cheers me to my core.

With all my heart, darling followers,

Your stalwart, appreciative Leader (for, if you are my followers, if follows that I am your leader!)
Katie "The clothes wearer" Mitchell

PS. My middle name could use some work. Any good sugestions?

Keti is Busy

Dear all,

I know I am woefully overdue with this post, but did some of you, you know who you are, really have to write messages that would make me cry like a three month old baboon? No, you didn't. I wrote last on the 11th, and so I have a lot of catching up to do. So, here is my plan: I will write a quick note here at the school, then when I go home today, I will type up an overly long explanation of all my doings and going ons. Then, when I am back at school, I will post it all in one big magical post of information! OK!

Also, I have to note that on my last post, I wrote that I am in the Savaneti Village in Imereti, but I am not. I lied, and made a typo. I am in the Village Savane, near the town Sachkhere, in the Imereti Region. So Morgan can take his superiority complex, put it in a Trebuchet, and launch it to Russia. Yes, Russia, a country I am not in.

Another also, I don't have facebook priveleges, the president thinks it is a waste of time, so my visits to that happy website will be pretty rare. Unless one of you cool cats can tell me one of those sneaky website where you can bypass blocks. I know they are out there, or were four years ago, I just don't know what they are.

Also, one more, I just want to tell those of you who are desperate for information that \i am equally ready to hear from you! All I get is "Not much going on here" and "Nothing happens over here" and "We just want you to do all the work in this writing relationship" and "Katie, ARE YOU DEAD OR WHAT!!" So, tell me what Is going on in your lives. Or else.
(my email is katchya_9@yahoo.com)

Love you all with affection unspeakable. Collectively as well as individually.
Katie

Keti is Tall and sour.

Dear all,

The post got that name because I am cool. The post is going to be short and sweet, and I am tall and sour. Not actually sour, it just fit. I am borrowing my host brothers internet, and have already been on here too long, so just a few quick words:

I love you!

Also, I am with my host family, in the Village Savaneti. It is near a town called Sachkhere. Look it up id you want to, I have not yet so I have very little information. I do know it was the home of a very famouse Georgian writer whose name I cannot even remember, let alone spell/pronounce!

I will write as soon as I can, but I am not sure how soon that may be. Just know for now that I am safe happy and well!

Katie

PS:

Dear Ma,

I am alive still. I love you a lot. The weather is weird, and so is my email.

Love Katie

Keti is in awe!

Dear all,

I think I left off on Sunday midday? Let me go check. Yeah, I left off with some ramble about my noggin. I do in fact still have my head! Which is a good thing, because without my head I would not see all the amazing things I get too!

Sunday was a good day. Intercultural learning turned out to be a wonderful class, I just have two hours of it left, and then comes banking and contracts. I am not so excited about that. Anywho, on Monday (I think that was yesterday?) we got to actually go out of this prison/training facility. We have been allowed to walk around as much as we want, in our free time, but there is only so much of wandering these all but abandoned streets that a person can take.

We were taken by hot stinky bus to on of Georgia's most important landmarks. It is called Galeti, and I highly recommend looking it up on Wikipedia or some such thing. It is beautiful, and houses one of the most beautiful and famous representations of Mary and the baby Jesus from the 11th century. In one of the buildings is buried King Davidt the Builder, who commissioned the church, as one of the first academies in Europe. King David requested that He be buried at the entrance to the church so that the world could step on his chest. His tomb is still there, intact, but worn, form the millions of Georgians and others who have stepped on the chest of king Davidt. We went to the Monastery at night, and there was no one else present, but worshipers and monks. We heard them praying, and even though it was in Georgian, I could recognize the love and devotion that these men have to the Lord. They almost sing their prayers, and the monk who was performing most of the ceremony had a simply amazing voice. This combined with the awe inspiring acoustics of the building resulted in one of the most inspirational things I have ever heard. The whole situation was amazing. I spent the rest of the night in a state of amazement.

Today has been a long day. We had breakfast, and our all team meeting in the morning. When that was over Nino held some of us who are having IT problems back. I wanted to try to fix my computer, so we all went to a store where they sell and fix computers and things. They could not fix my camera, but they had a reasonably priced camera that I might try to get. We have had lesons and meetings literally all day, they only just finished now, at ten. I feel bad for missing two hours of Georgian class this morning, so I need to go study. I also am in desperate need of sleep.

I love you all!
Katie

Keti is tired!

Dear all,

I have been renamed. My Georgian teacher calls me Keti, and insists that I, as well as all of you, have been saying it wrong our whole lives. We say cady she says, and "Georgians cannot say." Jessica's name for me would be out right awful. Keti, said with an immense amount of force behind the t, is the only proper way to say my name. According to Marika.

I am halfway through the third day of lessons, and I am so tired. Georgian is a hard language, with so many extra sounds, many of which are sounds that americans only make when they are sick. One of them actually sounds like that noise that Anika makes when you stab her in the throat. I will get there eventually, the teacher says, but I am not ready to believe her. Instead I want to give way to a despair that would result in a three day coma. Yeah, that sounds nice. Three days of sleep. But ჯ, ჰ, ქ, and წ would plague my dreams I am sure. We finished Methedology yesterday, and are now ready to move onto intercultural learning. I, along with all my fellows, have very high hopes for this class. We are all praying it might be full of light and interesting information that will be automatically stored in the back of our minds to recall once we are at home again, that we might dazzle our families with our random facts about a strange land. That is what I am hoping for at least. If we are expected to takes notes and remember facts, I fear my head will simply fall off.

Yep, fall off. It will fall onto the floor, where, in a rush to give me aid, my sweet new friend Craig will accidently kick it out the window. Then Drew (The other Mormon here!) will volenteer to run down and grab it before it starts to get licked by the dogs. Then Nino (our current taskmaster/a super sweet and helpful Georgian) will tell me to talk to the doctor when she come tomorrow, and she will write in her book that my head fell off.

გამარჯობი = Gamarjobi = Hello!

Hey all,

So, to start things out, I love it here!

Ok, I left off writing on Thursday morning, and it is now Friday. Yesterday was basically a hurry up and wait day. We were rushed to the Ministry, where we waited for half an hour for the Minister to come in the room we were in. After a short speech, he left us. They gave us Georgian wine and Juice. I had some peach nectar (amazing!) and some cherry juice (which I have never had before but is completely genius!) . Then most of us who had lost our luggage were swiftly escorted over to a very expensive and fashionable shop. I bought no actual clothes, but I ran across the street to a store where they sold undies. Really expensive undies. I don't know if it is a Georgian thing, or if it was the store I was in. But then again I am comparing in prices of a Georgian Boutique to Walmart.

After this we rushed back to the Hotel so that the people who did have their clothes could change. It was around this time that I realized that my camera was busted! I think there is an inner mechanism that is freaking out because the camera turns on, but as the lens slides out it makes this wicked clicking noise, then it continues to zoom out as far as it can go. It will not zoom in or out according to what I do at all. And worst of all, it will not take pictures. Nothing. It would be one thing if all of my photos were super zoomed in, but to have no pictures at all! It sucks.

Anywho, we waited around the hotel for a few hours, finally leaving at 3:30 when we had been informed that we would go at 2:30, no matter what. We drove to the beautiful Marushka and had our first introduction to supra. Supra is a huge meal that is generally spread over hours and has many many courses. Usually a toastmaster is voted on, and they lead the festivities. During supra you can only drink when a toast is made, but it seems you would never go thirsty. Since our supra was for almost a hundred people and we had no toast master, we just ate and drank at our leisure. Our meal was sort of an imitation supra. At the end there is traditionally fruit, and I think I have never had such flavorful peaches, nectarines, watermelon, honeydew, and plums.

At the end of the supra one of our directors told us that some of the luggage had been delivered to us. I went to have a look, not letting my hopes get up. But lo and behold, there was my bag, sitting all lovely and green amongst the others! We drove an additional four and a half ours to the outskirts of the city Kutaisi. The school we are all in is a boarding school that was fixed up for government use, so it is really nice. We have great air con in our rooms and the whole building is very lovely. I took a shower and changed into lovely clean clothes, we had a small dinner, and after scriptures and prayers, I went to sleep.

I woke up fairly early this morning, after a wonderful nights rest. My bed here is like a cloud. After several weeks of Anika's couch, and many many hours on Airplanes and buses, I could not ask for something more delightfully soft. We had breakfast first thing, then had a meeting. It was long and boring, and closely followed by our first Georgian Lesson. Georgian is really beautiful and very difficult. It is one of only fourteen of the worlds alphabets, and it is very curvy and pretty. We spent hours at it, learning some really basic introduction phrases, and began trying to learn the vowels of the alphabet. There are five vowels in the alphabet. ა is a like in a sheep's ba. ე is e like in sheep. ი is written i but pronounced like eh. ო is o like in can't remember. უ is u like in blue. Georgian has no capitalization, so that's good.

After Georgian and lunch, we had methodology. It is one of those subject where everything is pretty obvious, but some one just decided to swing by and name it. Like positive vs negative feedback. I already knew it was a bad idea to tell students that they are idiots, but now I know what to call it. After methodology I went down the street with one of the girls here. Eairlier this morning me and a couple of people went for a walk and found this joint store that is like a gas station (without the gas) on one side and a ladies pharmacy one the other. It is kind of weird, but dead useful. Anywho, after that, I stood in the rain a while, wrote the first half of this, went to dinner, and came up here to write finish up. So now I am just sitting here rambling. I have one more meeting in a few minutes here, and then I am off to sleep in my insanely comfy bed!

I have decided to keep this blog as faithfully as I can for now, as a sort of journal-ish thing, so if you get bored of my ramblings, I give you official permission to skim.

Love you all!

Katie

Hear me whine!!

Hello all!

So, my flights were alright, San Francisco to Chicago was fine, then I got to sit in Chicago for a while. I was starving, so I had some pizza. I figured that was a good thing to do in Chicago. Once I found my gate, I happened upon a bunch of others who are in the program. It was nice to know for sure that it was real, or at least that ten other people had been similarly hoodwinked. We flew the eight hours from Chicago to Amsterdam, and then, since that flight had been about and hour and a half late, we had to run from one gate to the next. We ran through customs, and a bus took us out on the tarmac to this rickety little plane. It was awesome. I sat next to a guy who is in the program, and he is from Atlanta, Georgia, US. I thought that was cool.

I had a few hours of insanity at the end of the flight. I kept falling asleep for twenty minutes at a time and waking up, thinking I must have been asleep for hours. This drove me completely nuts, and to add to that I had no concept of when we would start our descent. Just when I was about to either force my way out the window, or start doing flips down the aisle, the Pilot told us we would begin our descent and land in twenty minutes. As if on cue I passed out for the last twenty minutes, and my little bout with crazy was over.

When we arrived in Georgia, we were met by the woman who is head of the program. She also has some fancy title in the ministry, but it was confusing. She told us that our luggage was lost, and we most likely won't get it back until Saturday. But, lucky me, I will wait even longer because in Amsterdam when we were rushing through customs, the lady at the desk never gave me my luggage tags back, so my lost and found paper work is incomplete.

We drove from the airport to the Bazeleti Hotel. It is very fancy. I took what I think may be the best shower of my life. And then we had dinner. There are about 50 people with the program here right now, and we all ate and chatted together. Then the woman in charge (I will tell her name when I find it out) informed us that we are meeting the Minister of Education and Science, at a formal reception tomorrow, so could you all please dress nice, except those of you who don't have any clothes. So I get to meet a high ranking government official in a pair of running shorts and my favorite green t-shirt. Cool!

This has been a very whiny post, but I want every one to know that I am having a great time and I am thrilled to be here. I love you all so much!

Katie

PS, Danielle, I don't know how to reply to you, but thanks! Can you give me any tips on this blog?

Heck must be a giant airport.

Dear everyone,

My journey has officially begun! Mom drove me to Derek and Rachel's house last night, and we said our goodbyes. I cried, she cried, Jessica cried. It was bound to happen. This morning at 3:45, Derek and I got up an hour later then we meant to, and drove to San Francisco at about 8000 miles an hour. I was to late despite all Derek's best speed racer moves. I had to pay a couple extra bucks, and everything is back on track. I am now officially exhausted, from my three hours of sleep, followed by about four hours of really bad nerves. I always find being nervous to be one of the most tiring activities in which I partake. Nerves are not as cool as giant tomato fights.

Speaking of giant tomato fights, I went to one of those on Sunday, and it was awesome. There is nothing like being pelted from all sides with smelly red Solanum lycopersicum. Afterward we went down to the Truckee and like the bright thing I am, I stepped on a piece of glass and sliced the bottom of my foot open. Anika said it was Sunday Karma, because I was involved in a giant awesome activity on a Sunday, but I think I would have stepped on the glass no matter what day it was, because thats just the way I am.

My free internet time is almost up, so I might write some more when I am in Chicago, or Amsterdam. Love you all!

Katie

Some more...

Dear all,

Don't worry. I am sure that as time passes I will become better at thinking up enticing and exciting names for my "posts." I am also confident that someday, most likely out of boredom, I will learn how to properly use this blogger deal. Anywho, I decided that since it has been over a month since I decided to start this thing, I should write some more. Read it if you want to, only if you want to though.

So, I have been formally accepted into the Teach in Georgia Program, and I am only awaiting information about when my flight leaves and such! I am ever so nervous! But also exceedingly excited and bubbly at the thought of going! I have been trying to gather all the information about Georgia that I can, as well as try to figure out what in heavens name I am going to take with me! I feel like this transient person, just sort of moving from one place to another, waiting to go. I already quite my job, moved out of my house, and sort of gave up my calling at church, so now all I can do is wait. It sucks.

As far as this whole cancer junk goes, I was blessed to be led to an awesome doctor. He has already become one of the biggest blessings of my life! I had my first appointment with him a while back, and he did a full body check. It was quite as embarrassing as you can imagine. Then on the 11th of this month he went in and removed a whole lot more tissue, so right now I have this nasty gaping wound on the side of my arm. I never realized how frequently people punch/poke/touch that part of my arm until I really did not want them to. I have one more meeting with the doctor before I go, so I will try to make an update about that. Maybe.

Oh, also, I guess I could tell all you people about this blog, since I am going to all the trouble of writing it. I think I will get on that Ole Facebook thing right now and let you all know. I really started this so that my Mom could have an immediate way to know whats up. I love you Mom. Also, now you are famous Mom, you are on the interweb machine!

Love you all, even though so far you aren't really anybody! But I still love you!

Love,

Katie

The start of it all

Dear All,

On the 28th of June, 2010, I found this website offering a teaching position in the Republic of Georgia. To qualify the applicant must have at least two years of university, be at least twenty years old, and be a citizen of an English speaking country. I qualify! Or will in a few weeks! So I decided to apply. I contacted one of the coordinators, and she told me how confidant she was that I would be accepted. I went to the doctor the day after to get my physical for the application.

Everything was fine at the doctors, but right at the end of the visit I asked him to check out this ugly mole I had on my right arm. He took a look at it with a magnifying glass, and decided that he thought I should have it checked out. I scheduled a meeting with him for the next week, and thought no more of it. I continued to work on my application as well.

I asked three great people to write me letters of recommendation, and needless to say the letters are wonderful. I had most of my information together, and I was almost ready to go. So on the 6th of June I went in to have the mole removed. I was really nervous, but I knew it would be over fast. Sadly my wonderful doctor was unable to do the procedure, because an oversight had caused the nurse scheduling me to forget the doctor would be gone that day. So another good doctor did the "minor surgery," as she kept calling it.

With that over, all I had to worry about was how itchy the stitches were and about when i was going to get my application sent in. I decided to do what ever it took to send it in the next day. So, I emailed the wonderful lady at the programs office, and asked her if they wanted the applications before all the paper work had been sorted, since the program starts on the first of September. She replied in the affirmative, so I emailed her all my papers.

That same day, July 8th, the doctor called me. I did not expect to have the lab results back so soon, and the doctor sounded very chipper on the phone, so I did not think anything was wrong. But it turned out that she had called me back so soon because they had discovered that my mole, that seemingly innocuous blemish that I rarely noticed, was actually a melanoma. I was able to stay under control for the next twenty minutes, helping some one who walked into the office, and talking to my boss.

It is weird to me that my boss was the first person I told about the whole business, but I sort of broke down when she asked me if anything was wrong. The Dean walked in a few minutes later and found me crying. They both told me I could go home, but I did not think that that was a very good idea, so the Dean invited me to sit in her office while she went to a meeting. I did, and had a good long cry. I called Anika and told her what the matter was, and we agreed to meet for lunch.

It is remarkable how Sushi can dispel many issues. When I came out of a lunch that had entailed more food than most people would think reasonable, and a delicious mango mochi, I felt infinitely better. So this is the beginning of my adventures. I do not know much about what life is going to be like, but I do know that with my amazing friends and, frankly, perfect family, I will be able to do anything.

Love,
Katie