The most action I’ve seen in Georgia was being patted down by security to see Joe Biden…

What’s that you say? All of the volunteers got to go to Tbilisi on Thursday to meet Vice President Joe Biden! He was here in Georgia to meet all the politicians and extend the hand of friendship in the Caucuses. Biden has a soft spot in his heart for Georgia because of the Rose Revolution and well just because they are awesome freedom loving people like us. I guess it’s just a coincidence that the war was almost one year ago now and Obama just got done meeting with Russia last week. Biden gave a great speech to all the Embassy Staff and to the Volunteers. It was a great opportunity and I am so thankful to the Peace Corps for setting that up for us. Biden is one of the good guys and it was a great experience meeting him. But, at the end when we all got to greet him and shake his hand, I had no idea what to say other than, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Sir! I’m with the Peace Corps.” He replied with, “It’s nice to meet you son!” and a classic Joe Biden grin. Aside from the security pat down excitement, I equated my meeting with Biden like my first sexual experience. It was quick, I didn’t know what to do, and all I really knew afterwards was that I enjoyed it and had a smile on my face the whole time.

Oh, and we go to go to McDonald’s afterwards. Normally I would puke at the thought of that place, but let me tell you those fries were awesome! I didn’t get a picture of me and Biden, but one of the PC Staff members did and I’ll try to get that posted on here later. If you want, you can go to the Georgian Embassy website and there should be some on there and you can look for me. I’m the guy in the green shirt with the killer mustache! By the way, the mustache is coming along just fine. I’m thinking I have a good shot at wining the contest since I’m also naming mine. I’m calling it ‘The Elvis’ since its so cool it needs its own sideburns. Nice! See the bottom of this post for a shot of it as of 3-weeks growth.

I was vaccinated against Typhoid this past Friday. That was less than fun, but oh well. I love our medical doctor here. She is pretty funny and you can tell she really cares about us which is good to know. She isn’t as funny as my doctor in Kazakhstan, Victor. But, there aren’t many people in the world that are as funny and at the same time serious as Victor is. We also got our water filters so we can stop buying water and start just filtering it at home now that our Hepatitis A vaccinations have had time to kick in. I’m thinking after Peace Corps life I might damn well be able to walk through Chernobyl and be just fine with all these shots I’ve had. The first case of H1N1 or Swine Flu was reported here last week. Our doctors tell us we don’t have much to worry about and to just be more cautious with sanitation and whatnot. I’m not too worried about it.

In other news, I’ve reached what they call Kargi Beegie status here in my village. And for those of you that are wondering what that is, it latterly translates to “good boy.” I would call it just being a good Southerner and saying hello to all the old ladies in the village. But, word of my staying home to study at night and teaching “interesting lessons” during practicum to all the students here has made it far and wide. Well as far and as wide as this little village is anyway.
But, for people here, being a kargie/good boy or girl is very important to your social status. Because you are either good and therefore accepted as someone that adheres to social norms and acts appropriately or you are tsudie/bad. Being labeled as tsudie is bad because it is hard to get away from such a label. It is also bad because you then allow people to think that all Americans are tsudie.

Moving on, I realized that I have reached such a status because now when I greet all the old ladies and people in the village I am treated to some rant that I don’t really understand apart from the smiles and the kargie beegie. I get that all is well since they continue to smile and greet me in return. Well, everyone except the old lady down the road that can’t hear a damn thing. She apparently assumes that I’m as crazy as she is because she’s always yelling at me to put on a coat when it’s windy despite the fact that its 95 degrees outside.
I also improved my standing in the village this past Saturday at a huge Supra, or celebration dinner. There were over 250 people in attendance and I was toasted towards the end of the celebration as a special guest and new member of the village. There was a lot of wine flowing and it was hard to understand exactly when to stand, sit, drink, toast, sit, stand and drink again, but I figured it out by watching the people around me. I was seated next to the Mayor, the school director and one of the fathers of two of my students. We are now, thanks to the wine all very good friends. They were impressed with both my cultural understanding of their Supra and my drinking ability. Being bale to drink and not get too drunk to stand is very important here. Never mind that I probably ate about 2 loaves of bread to make sure I constantly had something on my stomach every time another glass of sweet Georgian wine hit bottom.
There was also some interesting Georgian culture on display. Three tables full of nothing but men drinking and eating and one full of nothing but women and small children. All the other women were in the house preparing food or walking around clearing plates.

Everything else is going just fine. As of this posting I have finished Practicum and am DONE with the practice teaching for the summer aside from a Summer Camp thing that I have to do in late August. I find out my permanent site on Monday and go for a site visit next Thursday-Sunday. So, I’ll plan on posting a blog sometime after that to give you my first impressions on my site and how I’m feeling then. Right now I just feel a lot better because PRACTICUM is OVER!!! It wasn’t that bad, those were just some LONG days and now, I’ll have more time to focus on the three languages I’m trying to learn right now. I had another exam last week, this one on Safety and Security. Again, I scored 100%. I need those to boost my ego since my language is a daily struggle. Anyway, I need to get home and do some homework.

Peace!