School Update

I can’t believe I forgot this in my last entry about school..
Around November or December sometime, the firecracker fairy came to Georgia and suddenly every kid in school had the power to potentially cause a heart attack. I learned about this firecracker craze the hard way (at school of course). They weren’t the firecrackers that light up, they just made a really loud BANG. I thought I saw a lit cigarette in the hallways (which didn’t surprise me), went to put it out with my foot and it went off in my face. I screamed and cursed at them all in English… It started to sound like a war zone in the hallways. Later I was walking down the street in Kobuleti and somehow these boys lofted one with perfect placement and timing without me knowing so it would go off right as I walked on top of it. All I could manage to get out before they laughed and ran away was, “You are so rude!!!!” I really need to work on my Georgian profanity… Now the firecrackers are nowhere to be found but school is still a nuthouse.

This winter has been a lot colder than last winter so the snow stays for awhile. I was expecting some snowball fights inside school but that didn’t happen. They used their firecracker throwing precision to throw snowballs through second and THIRD floor windows! That takes talent. They’re always keeping on my toes I tell you..

Last week a student slammed my counterpart’s hand in the door and it was swollen for the rest of the day. Many of the doorknobs have been ripped off our newly renovated doors. Also last week during my 8th form lesson, some punk who was supposed to be in class decided to kick the door and run away so we couldn’t see who it was when we opened the door (it happened 4 or 5 times).

I try to work with the handful of good students and ignore everything else but its hard! I don’t know if my school is worse than most other schools in Georgia, if it has gotten worse lately or if I’m just now allowing it to really get to me. My camera is broken but I’m going to try to get a hold of one with video so I can get some of this stuff on tape before the end of the year.