Georgian lessons - 1

პირვეი ქართული გაყვეთლი, დღეს! (First Georgian lesson, today!)

We didn't start from the very beginning, as I'm already OK with alphabet, pronunciation and some other basics, but we didn't entirely skip those. I got some long-standing questions answered, learned new words (გუშინწინ, "the day before yesterday", აღარ, "not anymore"). Nino, the teacher is really good, she also explained me that I will hear a lot of mistakes in everyday spoken Georgian, but I should strive to avoid them. I was about to explain her about congiuntivo, but I passed...

And I got homework! It's really back to school!

 

 

 

Sioni Lake

A wonderful day of nature, food and fun at the Sioni lake, a water reservoir north-east of Tbilisi, with Mariam and Levan (two previous CouchSurfing guests), their two Austrian friends and three more Georgian guys.

I have to say that despite the scenery, I am not a big fan of freshwater swimming, but the relief it brought was undeniable, as the heat is still quite intense.

After the swimming we had a pleasant time with equal amounts of food, drinks and political discussion. No blood was spilled.

 

 

 

The way back showed us other beauties, like the abandoned Ujarma fortress (უჯარმა ციხე), some endless sunflower fields and some beautiful electrical pylon-laden landscape. Oh, Georgia, this is going to be a wonderful period.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Georgian

As far as I remember, this is why I am here. Learning Georgian. So today I had my first contact with my future teachers, at the Tbilisi Technical University. I had a very good impression of them, they asked me a lot of questions about what I aim to achieve, what were my studies, etc.

The director was particularly pleased to know I studied Latin, as it's surely closer to Georgian in structure (case-based grammar, lack of articles, etc) than Italian. They also seemed surprised I could already pronounce ყ, but they can't know my past struggles... 

Anyway, the plan is to do a semi-intensive private course. Five days per week, two hours per day, from 09:00 to 11:00, so to be free afterwards to work (11:00 in Georgia is 09:00 in Italy). Two days with a teacher and three with another, with different tasks. It starts next Monday.

I am ready!

Tbilisi's pay boxes

Of the many things that amaze me of this little country, one is pay boxes.

You see them all over the city. With different colour coding, according to which bank they relate to, these small terminals are available in Georgian, Russian and English. With those you can do a lot of things. Pay services (electricity, gas, etc) and taxes, top-up your mobile or your transport card, even pay Steam! Yes, THAT Steam!

According to this article, the vast majority of residents of Tbilisi use these tools.

"As the result of ACT research show, residents of Tbilisi are avid users of Pay Boxes – nine of ten (90%) citizens have used this method to pay/transfer money in the last 3 months. In this context, men are more active than women (94% and 88% respectively). 

According to the research, absolute majority (97-98%) of the younger citizens (18-34-years old) uses Pay Box services and as the age rises the consumption tendency decreases. However, it should be mentioned that even in older people, the consumption rate is still high– as it turns out, in 65-years old and older people, seven out of ten (72%) make use of Pay Boxes for payments and other kinds of money transfers."

I was thinking, wouldn't be awesome if we had these in Milano? Being so many, they would virtually eliminate queues at ticket machines, post offices and the like. Then I started thinking. Even not considering the initial distrust of our senior (and even not so senior) citizens, the scenario would be the following: some of the pay boxes would be vandalised after one week. Other would simply stop working due to lack of maintenance. The remaining would work, but poor connection would make them unusable, and the few survivors, maybe two or three in Duomo, Centrale and Garibaldi, would be deemed too complicated or cold ("but what will happen to human contact?").

All in all, we are simply not ready for them.

Tbilisi, finally.

As I arrived in Tbilisi yesterday, I discovered two things.

That Tbilisi doesn't love me anymore (No more "Tbilisi Loves You" free wifi at the airport) and that my Beeline SIM card expired, despite containing 1 lari. So, in order to warn my friend Ani of my movements, I had to get another SIM, this time from GeoCell. And since I was there, I got one for my laptop as well, in order to be able to work.

That evening, Ani showed me ფაბრიკა (Fabrika), an awesome multi-functional space with two bars, a hostel, some restaurants, bike rental, coworking area, a skate shop and even a barber shop, plus some more stuff that I probably missed. While we were there I met Zon, my Japanese friend from the first time in Georgia. It's emblematic that of all my Georgian friends here, I meet a Japanese one, right?

Fabrika is a fantastic place and I will surely come back many times.

Today I went for a walk and I discovered that Tbilisi indeed does love me. In the Garden of the First Republic of Georgia I found an INSANE amount of cicada exuviae, plus two Rhino beetles (male and female) and some random extra bugs. Not bad for the first full day, uh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this entomological feast I had something to eat and then visited one of the apartments I am planning to rent. It looks weird from the photos, but it is actually awesoeme live! The current renter wasn't there, so I will wait for him to be back to ask some questions, but I really like it... It has to be mine, it has even a (small) garden! Not to mention the rock-bottom bathtub...

Hello Georgian Airways

From my mail to Georgian Airways online help:

"Hello, I checked in for my flight (ref: SZ5K4) for tomorrow at 13:00 from Prague to Tbilisi, but I didn't get a boarding pass to print and neither an email. Is it possible to receive it in order to print it?"

From their answer:

"Dear Mr. Anselmi, You have done online check-in and the system assigned you the last row. I’ve rebooked to the front row, seat number 7D. Sorry, I’ve done without asking you, if you prefer last row, please advise and I’ll do the changes. Have a nice flight!!!"

Wait, what????

Some info on Georgian courses

On August the 1st I will finally land in Tbilisi (seriously, I can't wait!), then I will take contact with the language school. The courses are as follows:

• Georgian language traditional full course, presented in an easy way with case studies, role play, simulations
• Survival Georgian course -26 hours. Just learn Alphabet and Basic Conversational Georgian
• Everyday Georgian course -28 hours. Study and go out with teacher to practice and activate your knowledge
• Conversational Georgian with a focus on communicative skills – 110 hours
• Trad. Georgian course - 45 hours. European Language Scale – A1/American -1 
• Trad. Georgian course - 45 hours. European Language Scale – A2/American -1 + 
• Trad. Georgian course - 70 hours. European Language Scale – B1/American -2 
• Trad. Georgian course - 80 hours. European Language Scale – B2/American – 3 
• Trad. Georgian course - 90 hours. European Language Scale – C1/American – 4 
• Preparation for Georgian language exam at FSI (Foreign Service Institute)
• Course on technical and Georgian.

I don't really need a C1, so I might focus on getting a B1, which is described as the intermediate level:

"Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans."

Once I get there I'll see what best suits me. There is more than one language school in Tbilisi, although this is the arguably the best, as diplomats study here once they get to Georgia. Look at the short but impressive speech given by Justin McKenzie, the new British ambassador to Georgia. Sure, there are some pauses and incertainties, but hey...