The Transcredible exploits of John Wright in Georgia: Why you don't want to have an exorcism in school

School started this week, and I am happy to not have to look for creative ways of killing time now in my tiny village of 145 people. It also means less drinking during the day, which has vastly increased my productivity (read: I answer emails on time now).

The first day of school was the cluskerf@$k you'd imagine it to be. the director introduced me which was nice, and I got to see the new students (1st graders) stand in a row to be gawked at by everyone else at the school and then have to suffer the humiliation of reciting a poem in front of everyone. As you might anticipate, one boy started crying, and then tried to hide his shame by crouching behind his friend. It was more funny than it should have been.

I'm supposed to be observing for the first two weeks, but with my tiny village and small school, that doesn't make much sense since I already know what teachers I'm going to work with, and what classes I'm teaching. For the most part the classes are going well. When students act up or talk while someone else is talking, I make them stand in front of the class and repeat what the last person said, and then make them form the statement into a question. Social shame is powerful motivator in any country it turns out.

The best time I've had so far was in my 9th grade class when the students were talking about exercises, but they kept saying the word exorcise instead. So I had to stop the class and explain that exercises are things we do in class or a gym, and an exorcise is something that you do when the priest comes to your house to remove demons. Given the highly religious and superstitious society I live in now, you might imagine the look of horror they had on their face when they grasped the meaning of their error.

probably not what my students meant to say when talking about their school day

Last weekend I went to Prometheus cave near Kutaisi, and it was really neat. they had recently renovated it and they had really cool lights along with classical music playing through the entire ordeal, ending with a boat ride out of the cave at its end. My friends host father knew the guide, and so a tour that was supposed to cost 10 GEL ended up being free, as I saw no money changing hands at all. The following morning I was awoken by 2 hours of constant bells ringing as part of a political rally for the elections coming up on October 1st. That could prove to be an interesting time for anyone who's been paying attention to the news.