Day before leaving Georgia for Summer

Time for one quick last blog before I leave Georgia for the summer. It’s been a hectic few weeks here in Tbilisi – finishing my English lessons as well as saying my goodbyes to family and friends (both Georgian and fellow English teachers). Many of the these teachers won’t be returning to Georgia in the fall so in some respects it’s the last time I’ll see them.

As far as I’m aware I’m one of the last ones to be leaving Georgia for summer. There are still many teachers currently in Georgia, but the majority of which are staying here for the duration and are teaching in English summer schools.

For those who have left, many have had mixed fortunes with regards to their flights. I think the problems with some of the teachers’ flights home have been at the back of our minds, mine included. We’ve heard some horror stories about cancelled flights, for example when teachers have arrived at the airport only to be told at the check-in desk that their tickets don’t exist.

Anyway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed there’s no hiccups with me and my brother’s flight and we can arrive safely in Scotland later on in the day. Incidentally, our flight leaves tomorrow at 9 in the morning Georgian time, and we should arrive in Aberdeen, Scotland around 4pm local time. Pretty much a whole day of travelling but thankfully we won’t have a ridiculous layover (how does 50 minutes sound?) compared to some of the guys who were heading back to America.

We’ve not long finished packing our bags and I’m hoping we’re not over the 20KG weight restriction. We have gifts for friends and family which could potentially take us over the limit but in any event I’m sure it won’t cause any problems – if we have to pay excess weight it’s not the end of the world. Giorgi has been really excited for the last few months but today in particular he seems to be on a different level of excitement. I’m really happy for him because he says this has always been a dream of his – to visit the UK.

Just now my host-mum and dad are preparing a supra as a going-away event for myself and Giorgi. It will be the last time I eat khinkali and such like until I return in September so I will make the most of it tonight for sure. I love Georgian food a great deal but I’m also looking forward to having a wee break from that and having some British food again (fry-up, anyone?).

Anyway, I have to admit I’m pretty excited about returning home to Scotland and catching up with friends and family. In the mean time, kargad Saqartvelo da gnaxavt sektembershi – goodbye Georgia and see you in September.

My host-brother and his visit to Scotland

Many of you who know me will know that my host-brother, Giorgi, will be coming back with me to Scotland next week.

Me and my (Scottish) family decided to invite Giorgi to Scotland a few months ago. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, my host-family (although really I no longer regard them as a ‘host’-family; they are my family) have been great to me since I arrived in January. To show our appreciation for this, we wanted to offer him the opportunity to travel back to the country with me and spend two weeks or so getting a feel for the Scottish way of life. Giorgi has never left Georgia before and so this will be a massively exciting experience for him.

Before we could make any real arrangements we had to apply for a VISA first. Because Georgia is not in the European Union this makes it harder for their citizens to come to the UK. We presented a very good application and thankfully (after a few weeks of filling in heaps of forms and collecting vast amounts of appropriate documents to support our application) Giorgi was given the VISA.

Being an only child, Giorgi has never been away from his mum and dad for any great length of time. Naturally, they will be worrying about their child as all parents do, particularly with him being away from them for the first time and in a foreign land, too. We’ve assured them that we will look after Giorgi as we would with any other guest, and they know that he will be able to keep in contact with them (most) days via Skype, or even calling them for a quick ‘check-in’.

Not only will it be a holiday for him but the two weeks should also improve his English a great deal. I don’t speak at full-pace whilst I’m with him here in Georgia (although it should be pointed out I speak faster now than I did back in January), but back at home I’ll be talking to friends and family at full pelt and it’ll be up to him to keep with up conversation! His English is strong enough that I feel this won’t be an issue for him. For two weeks he will be completely immersed in the English language and I’m sure he will thrive on this.

We have a somewhat brief itinerary for his time back in Scotland. The first few days will be spent resting at home, particularly after what will be a long day of travelling from Georgia. I will show him Inverbervie (the local town where I live) and the sights around there. I suspect after a few days of rest we’ll begin visiting family (my two grannies in particular) and then meeting up with friends who I haven’t seen since January. I want to take Giorgi on a night out but as he’s only 17 we might find it difficult to get him in places. I don’t really know how strict clubs in Aberdeen (‘The Granite City’) are these days but we can try anyway.

After this we will show Giorgi sights of interest around Scotland, I’m not sure where exactly we’ll head to yet but I think Edinburgh Castle is a given. One of my American friends asked me where I would take visitors to Scotland and Edinburgh Castle was my first pick. Nevertheless, we should have enough time to see most of the highlights in Scotland. My sister has suggested we go to Blair Drummond Safari Park (yes, Scotland has a safari park) and I think that could be a lot of fun, too.

I’ve told Giorgi to tell us if there’s anything he wants to do whilst in Scotland. I found this somewhat amusing, but one of the things he’s desperate to do is take a ride on a....double-decker bus..! They apparently don’t have these in Georgia. It certainly won’t be a problem to get on one in Scotland and I think it’ll be rather humorous for me to see his joy and excitement sitting at the front on top of the bus!

Our flights are scheduled for the 11th of July so at the time of writing this is only 8 days away. I’m sure to keep blogging over the summer and I have no doubt in my mind I’ll have some great tales to tell before returning to Georgia in September.