Dinner with the President.

Sunday, 18th September 2011 Saturday afternoon, I got an email from head office inviting us to watch a show Keto and Kote (Georgian Romeo and Juliet) at the Opera House with the President of Georgia. I was in! Apparently teachers from other regions had transportation and accommodations/meals paid for. Michelle and I were slightly jealous. I thought, we'll just crash their hotels after the show. My host dad dropped me off at the Intourist Hotel where the other teachers would be staying. I went to meet up with Lo, another teacher based in Batumi. I saw a few of the co ordinators, some I'd never met, one was one of the first people I met in Georgia. About 15minutes later Lo arrived. We lingered around the hotel, she tried to get a room, unsuccessfully. We all were taken to the Opera House in 2 big buses. The Opera house is amazing! It's so beautiful with lots of water fountains in and out of the building. There were a lot of teachers there. I met two South Africans, a guy from Cape Town and one from Durban. I also got to hang out with Monica, another Batumi teacher. I saw Latoya, a nice chick I met my first weekend in Batumi. It was nice to see her. She has a very good vibe about her. I can't wait to actually get to spend time with her. I saw a few of my group members, I had called Harriet and Amy during the day to find out what everyone's wearing. They neither took my calls nor returned them. Amy's excuse was that she heard I've moved to Batumi and thought I'd be at the Opera, therefore we'd talk there. So basically, she ignored my call because she wasn't going to talk to me on the phone and, later in person. Fair enough. For each his own! I didn't bother to ask Harriet why she didn't take my calls. Michelle called her while we were at the Opera house, she didn't take her call either. I sat next to a nice older lady, who's also a teacher and is based not to far from Batumi, unfortunately, we didn't get to exchange numbers. On my right was Monica and next to her was Michelle who felt so bad that we didn't get seats next to our group members. Before the show, I saw Josh, my old friend from Kutaisi. He was talking to Amy, who saw me and waved. I pointed at Josh, signalling for her to tell him I wanted to sign. I thought that was a universal gesture, I guess not where she's from as she looked at me very perplexed. I kept pointing at Josh like a fool, and not once did she think to tell him to say hi to me. Knowing that I know him and he and I used to be friends once. Sometime while we were all seated waiting for the president, Josh did see me and waved at me. The president came in about 30minutes late. He walked straight to his seat with a few not scary looking men. I later heard that one was the Prince of Moroco, I guess the rest were body guards? The show was nice. It lasted 2hours. It was in Georgian and there were English 'subtitles' on a a screen atop the stage. After the show, I found out, I'm the only one that actually ejoyed the performance. That made me laugh out loud. Partly because of how people kept applauding during the performance, that made me think they were enjoying it. I guess that's another not so universal gesture. No word from the President. Not even a wave, or a pause on stage for us to take photos. NOTHING! Lo and I got on one of the buses. We wanted to be dropped off either at our homes or at the hotels and we'd figure our way home from there. We got kicked out of the bus. Because we weren't on that bus before blah blah blah. She then found a bus with her friends and called me to go join them. I was over running around begging for a lift for a company I worked for that actually took me there in a bus. I told my regional I needed to get home and asked her who's responsible for that. You'd think that since people from 8 hours away or so, got free transportation, food and nice hotel accommodation, they wouldn't mind giving us lifts in the buses for a 5km ride! They did! I got a lift with Beth's connections. She's also a teacher in the Batumi area. Lo called and said to join them at the hotel. I had to pass, it was midnight and I didn't have any friends there. I had had enough awkwardness for one day. I talked to Michelle for a bit. She was half asleep, I let her go and went to sleep myself. She apparently ended up working on the computer for 3 or 4 more hours thereafter. Go figure! 2011 Saturday afternoon, I got an email from head office inviting us to watch a show Keto and Kote (Georgian Romeo and Juliet) at the Opera House with the President of Georgia. I was in! Apparently teachers from other regions had transportation and accommodations/meals paid for. Michelle and I were slightly jealous. I thought, we'll just crash their hotels after the show. My host dad dropped me off at the Intourist Hotel where the other teachers would be staying. I went to meet up with Lo, another teacher based in Batumi. I saw a few of the co ordinators, some I'd never met, one was one of the first people I met in Georgia. About 15minutes later Lo arrived. We lingered around the hotel, she tried to get a room, unsuccessfully. We all were taken to the Opera House in 2 big buses. The Opera house is amazing! It's so beautiful with lots of water fountains in and out of the building. There were a lot of teachers there. I met two South Africans, a guy from Cape Town and one from Durban. I also got to hang out with Monica, another Batumi teacher. I saw Latoya, a nice chick I met my first weekend in Batumi. It was nice to see her. She has a very good vibe about her. I can't wait to actually get to spend time with her. I saw a few of my group members, I had called Harriet and Amy during the day to find out what everyone's wearing. They neither took my calls nor returned them. Amy's excuse was that she heard I've moved to Batumi and thought I'd be at the Opera, therefore we'd talk there. So basically, she ignored my call because she wasn't going to talk to me on the phone and, later in person. Fair enough. For each his own! I didn't bother to ask Harriet why she didn't take my calls. Michelle called her while we were at the Opera house, she didn't take her call either. I sat next to a nice older lady, who's also a teacher and is based not to far from Batumi, unfortunately, we didn't get to exchange numbers. On my right was Monica and next to her was Michelle who felt so bad that we didn't get seats next to our group members. Before the show, I saw Josh, my old friend from Kutaisi. He was talking to Amy, who saw me and waved. I pointed at Josh, signalling for her to tell him I wanted to sign. I thought that was a universal gesture, I guess not where she's from as she looked at me very perplexed. I kept pointing at Josh like a fool, and not once did she think to tell him to say hi to me. Knowing that I know him and he and I used to be friends once. Sometime while we were all seated waiting for the president, Josh did see me and waved at me. The president came in about 30minutes late. He walked straight to his seat with a few not scary looking men. I later heard that one was the Prince of Moroco, I guess the rest were body guards? The show was nice. It lasted 2hours. It was in Georgian and there were English 'subtitles' on a a screen atop the stage. After the show, I found out, I'm the only one that actually ejoyed the performance. That made me laugh out loud. Partly because of how people kept applauding during the performance, that made me think they were enjoying it. I guess that's another not so universal gesture. No word from the President. Not even a wave, or a pause on stage for us to take photos. NOTHING! Lo and I got on one of the buses. We wanted to be dropped off either at our homes or at the hotels and we'd figure our way home from there. We got kicked out of the bus. Because we weren't on that bus before blah blah blah. She then found a bus with her friends and called me to go join them. I was over running around begging for a lift for a company I worked for that actually took me there in a bus. I told my regional I needed to get home and asked her who's responsible for that. You'd think that since people from 8 hours away or so, got free transportation, food and nice hotel accommodation, they wouldn't mind giving us lifts in the buses for a 5km ride! They did! I got a lift with Beth's connections. She's also a teacher in the Batumi area. Lo called and said to join them at the hotel. I had to pass, it was midnight and I didn't have any friends there. I had had enough awkwardness for one day. I talked to Michelle for a bit. She was half asleep, I let her go and went to sleep myself. She apparently ended up working on the computer for 3 or 4 more hours thereafter. Go figure!