Batumi Public School #7

School year started on 15th September. I'm still not sure why. It's really weird for me because in South Africa, school year begins with the beginning of the year. In January. I want to know what everybody did the whole year until September, in the beginning of time, that made them only start School towards the end of the year. I got a call from my reginal rep telling me not to set foot on the school premises before I've attended the introduction meeting. I asked her where the meeting was going to be held. She said, listen to this: she told me to go to the school, meet my co-teachers and then catch a lift with them to the meeting. This is of course, withought actually setting foot on the school premises. I told her I'd love to do that, it's must better than trying to find the meeting place, if only I knew where the school itself was. She laughed, bade be good bye and hung up. She called me again, closer to the day of the meeting, I reiterated that I didn't know where the school was. She laughed and hung up. I guess this was an inside joke she shared with herself. Sending me to a school I didn't know to meet people I didn't know, that spoke a language I don't speak, to take me to a meeting place I didn't know. All in a day's work. I found the school, its about 15 - 20 mins (walk) from my home. None of the teachers I met, including the principal spoke English. I sat in the principal's office, she gave me a huge bouquet of flowers that I'm convinced was given to her. I know because of how they looked at each other when she gave it to me. And everyone had a huge bouquet of flowers each. It's some kind of a tradition, first day of school celebration. I met their care taker. A very pleasant man, who speaks English. She asked me if I know some American English teacher I don't know. And told me that guy's his friend. He's been hear for a while now and is married to a Georgian woman. We had our Batumi introductory meeting at the Dept of Edu something something. We all went there in one car. When we arrive, we got out of the car. Someone told me to go back and get my flowers and parade with them. I didn't feel comfortable with this at all. Its very Georgian to show off to the world that they have a foreigner and are very nice to IT! There were limited seats in the meeting room and my flowers needed their own seats. I wished my flowers dead there for a moment. Until another lady walked in with a much much smaller bouquet! Yay! There were 4 other foreign teachers, their co-teachers and school directors (principals). The meeting lasted 2 hours. It felt more like 48, so boring and unnecessary like all meeting and training sessions I've attended here. My co-teachers rushed home after the meeting. I only managed to exchange number with one other teacher, Monica. She moved here a day prior. I know that for sure because, I got a call at 6am from the Regional rep asking me which vagon I was on (wagon aka train carriage). I of course told her I was in bed, sleeping at my new home. Wrong number. Beep! ed on 15th September. I'm still not sure why. It's really weird for me because in South Africa, school year begins with the beginning of the year. In January. I want to know what everybody did the whole year until September, in the beginning of time, that made them only start School towards the end of the year. I got a call from my reginal rep telling me not to set foot on the school premises before I've attended the introduction meeting. I asked her where the meeting was going to be held. She said, listen to this: she told me to go to the school, meet my co-teachers and then catch a lift with them to the meeting. This is of course, withought actually setting foot on the school premises. I told her I'd love to do that, it's must better than trying to find the meeting place, if only I knew where the school itself was. She laughed, bade be good bye and hung up. She called me again, closer to the day of the meeting, I reiterated that I didn't know where the school was. She laughed and hung up. I guess this was an inside joke she shared with herself. Sending me to a school I didn't know to meet people I didn't know, that spoke a language I don't speak, to take me to a meeting place I didn't know. All in a day's work. I found the school, its about 15 - 20 mins (walk) from my home. None of the teachers I met, including the principal spoke English. I sat in the principal's office, she gave me a huge bouquet of flowers that I'm convinced was given to her. I know because of how they looked at each other when she gave it to me. And everyone had a huge bouquet of flowers each. It's some kind of a tradition, first day of school celebration. I met their care taker. A very pleasant man, who speaks English. She asked me if I know some American English teacher I don't know. And told me that guy's his friend. He's been hear for a while now and is married to a Georgian woman. We had our Batumi introductory meeting at the Dept of Edu something something. We all went there in one car. When we arrive, we got out of the car. Someone told me to go back and get my flowers and parade with them. I didn't feel comfortable with this at all. Its very Georgian to show off to the world that they have a foreigner and are very nice to IT! There were limited seats in the meeting room and my flowers needed their own seats. I wished my flowers dead there for a moment. Until another lady walked in with a much much smaller bouquet! Yay! There were 4 other foreign teachers, their co-teachers and school directors (principals). The meeting lasted 2 hours. It felt more like 48, so boring and unnecessary like all meeting and training sessions I've attended here. My co-teachers rushed home after the meeting. I only managed to exchange number with one other teacher, Monica. She moved here a day prior. I know that for sure because, I got a call at 6am from the Regional rep asking me which vagon I was on (wagon aka train carriage). I of course told her I was in bed, sleeping at my new home. Wrong number. Beep!