Wednesday 30 March 2011

Georgia 1 Croatia 0 – A Night to Remember

On Saturday I went to the Georgia versus Croatia Euro 2012 qualifying match. What a night it turned out to be!



Match background

Ranked a lowly 72nd in the FIFA world rankings, Georgia were massive underdogs going into the match against a very good Croatia side, currently sitting at a highly commendable 8th in the same rankings.
Interestingly, this was the first time the two countries had faced each other at senior international football. Further yet, and perhaps less surprisingly, teams representing the two nations have never met in UEFA club competition (I found these stats on the UEFA website).

As for their qualifying table (Group F), Croatia were sitting top of the table with three wins and a draw out of four (10 points). Greece occupied second place with two wins and two draws from their four games (8 points). Georgia, despite also remaining undefeated, only had the one win from their four games, with three draws (6 points). Without a doubt Georgia needed to take something from the Croatia game to have any realistic prospects of qualification, whether it be automatic or through the dreaded playoffs. Israel, Latvia and Malta made up the rest of the group, but with Latvia and Malta both having lost two games already are off the pace and it would take a miracle for them to occupy a qualification spot at the end of the campaign. Israel are still in the mix, and they play Georgia in Israel on Tuesday evening which could a vital match for both nations.



En Route to the Stadium

I went to the match with my host-brother and some of my good TLG friends. Me and my brother left our home in Gldani (a district of Tbilisi) and made our way for the metro. Unsurprisingly, the metro was very busy with excited fans also making their way to the game. The somewhat crammed metro ride didn’t take too long before we all piled off at the nearby stop. Outside the metro there was a huge gathering of fans, some of whom were no doubt waiting for friends coming from other parts of the metro.

The stadium is only a five minute walk from the metro and it’s no problem to get to. We waited near the metro for some of our (Georgian) friends to arrive. When they did, we walked to the ground. Initially, we could not see the stadium from the metro, but we could make out the nice glow of the floodlights which made it easier for us to navigate there. It’s a great feeling walking to the stadium alongside all of the other fans in anticipation for the night’s match. The local Georgians were in high spirit and sang plenty of songs en route. Many carried Georgia flags, had their faces painted and had various drums with them. Some had even filled empty plastic bottles with stones to make a sort of rattle, although I would have been highly surprised if they got into the stadium with that.



Arrival at the Stadium

We arrived at the stadium about fifteen minutes to kick off. Unlike most football stadiums in the UK there are no turnstiles. Instead, each access point to the stadium are blocked by about a dozen police officers, who are in charge of checking each fan’s ticket before letting them into the concourse. There was no queuing system so you had to push your way to the front if you wanted to avoid waiting. Once you made it past this blockade you were inside the stadium’s concourse. You could then walk around the perimeter of the stadium to find the stand your seats were allocated for. As it so happened, our tickets were for the East stand which was right next to the access point we had come in at.

We encountered our first problem of the evening and it was a considerable one at that. We walked up the stairs and approached the last police ticket-check we needed to pass through which would take us into the seating area and give us our eagerly-anticipated view of the inside of the stadium. Inexplicably, my brother had somehow managed to lose his ticket at some point between the first ticket-check outside the stadium to this final ticket-check before taking our seats. Consequently, the police refused to let him in without a ticket. How he managed to lose his ticket in about a two minute walk I will never know, but things like this do seem happen in life so it was best not to dwell on it. We told the friends we were with just to take their seats and we would have a stab in the dark of trying to find the ticket on the ground somewhere. As you can imagine, this was all in vain and it was nowhere to be found.

I could tell my brother was massively disappointed and most probably felt a combination of embarrassment and stupidity as well as other negative emotions. He said he would go home but I persuaded him to stay and told him to speak to some of the police officers; it was worth a shot. Thankfully, after a great deal of pleading, one of the police officers let us through and we got our first glimpse of inside the stadium.



Inside the Stadium

The game was already underway, and the whole stadium looked utterly mesmerising, particularly as it was full to capacity. The atmosphere was electric and the pitch was in great condition too, perfect for a night’s football. Unfortunately, we were actually a tier up from our friends. We didn’t really have any other alternative considering we were very lucky to be let into the tier without both our tickets in the first place. As the match was a sell-out, we had nowhere to sit. Instead, we stood in the stairwell bisecting two areas of seating. In fact, there were lots of other Georgians standing with us, either the organisers oversold tickets or the police officer who let us through let everyone else without tickets through too! In any event, it gave us a perfect view of the game, very similar to the TV view of football matches. From where we were we could see our friends sitting (where we should have been) at the front row of the bottom tier very close to one of the corner flags.

As I said in the previous paragraph, the atmosphere was electric. This could have been a World Cup Final for all I’d have known; the place was absolutely buzzing. There were several Mexican Waves, the first time I’ve seen that at any sporting event in years. There were also several chants throughout the match, some included “Saqartvelo!! Saqartvelo!!” (Georgia!! Georgia!!) and “gooalllliieee!!” (goooaaallll!!), which they chanted throughout the match whilst it was 0-0. The Georgians were very much in high spirits and it was interesting to watch their reactions as the match went on.



The Match

The match itself was very interesting to watch. In the first half, Georgia looked very slow and sluggish, and I felt Croatia were much crisper on the ball. Georgia couldn’t really create any real chances, and kept losing possession with stray passes and also failing to win any 50/50s. They opted for a fairly defensive 4-5-1 formation leaving eventual-goalscorer Kobiashvili stranded up top by himself. He chased everything, but as many Scottish football fans will know (i.e. anyone who has ever seen Kenny Miller playing the same role for his country), without decent support from the midfielders it’s very difficult to put the defense under any significant pressure. Having said this, Croatia could not create any meaningful chances themselves, despite having quality attacking players such as Luka Modrić, Niko Kranjčar, Nikola Kalinić, Mladen Petrić and Darijo Srna. They all looked very classy on the ball, particularly Modrić who always looked lively, but they could not create anything in the final third. It was no surprise then that the first half ended 0-0. I fully expected Bilic (the Croatia coach) to lambast his players at the break which would see the team perform much better in the second half, but this wasn’t the case.

On a side note, Kakha Kaladze, the Georgian captain, was as ever a rock at the back. The team won’t be the same when he eventually retires. He brings so much more aside from his defensive attributes. He’s a leader and has a great footballing psychology, similar to the presence Ryan Giggs has in the Manchester United team. Hopefully, Kaladze can lead his country to qualification. Already 33 years old, he has a few more years left in him, and so would be great to see him finally lead out his country at a major tournament. Time will tell…

Anyway, the second half started much the same as the first half ended. At times it was a bit sloppy with too much of the game being played in the middle of the park. Croatia still looked the better team, but still failed when it came to putting the ball into the back of the net. The game started to stretch around the 65-70 minute mark. Georgia suddenly became much more confident and created some decent chances, despite none of them registering as a shot on target. I genuinely felt this game would end in a stale-mate. I even said to my host-brother with about five minutes left on the clock, “This is definitely going to end 0-0”. I possibly said this in the vain hope something extraordinary would happen. And indeed this proved to be the case. In the dying stages of the game, substitute Martsvaladze remained onside to cut the ball back (in true Pro Evolution Soccer or FIFA fashion) for striker Levan Kobiashvili who coolly applied the finish to beat the Croatian keeper from ten yards.



The Celebration

The whole stadium went absolutely nuts. The feeling was euphoric. It all happened so fast, but I remember hugging my brother and some of the Georgians who were stood beside us. It didn’t really matter; we were all there supporting the Georgian team and we were all united. I can’t recall how long exactly we were jumping up and down for but it felt like forever. I had my camera in my hand as the goal went in and had to try my best, in between the jumping and the hugging and the cheering, not to drop it as it surely would have been a goner upon impact.

On one of the big screens in the stadium it read ‘goal’ in Georgian (I’m not sure on the actual Latin spelling of the word – but my guess is ‘goalie’…). It was also an amazing sight to see ‘Georgia 1, Croatia 0, 90 (minutes)’ on the other big screen. Somehow, somehow, Georgia had managed to pull off a massive upset and cemented their place as serious contenders for the qualifying spots in the table.

Despite this last minute goal, there were still a few minutes of injury time to be played. The celebrations were put on pause momentarily as Croatia suddenly started to push forward and put the Georgian defense under great pressure. They forced two corners right at the death – I was a little surprised that the Croatian keeper didn’t go up for the second one at least – and our hearts were in our mouths. Thankfully, the defense managed to clear the danger. A few seconds later, the referee blew his whistle to end the game; Georgia were victorious!

The celebrations resumed the second the referee had blown his whistle, a massive cheer around the stadium followed by hugs all round. The national anthem was then sung by every Georgian in the ground which was awesome. After this Queen’s ‘We are the Champions’ song echoed round the stadium as the fans started filtering their out of the stadium.

On the way back to the metro all the fans were singing, chanting and partying. There was a carnival atmosphere in the city. The metro was heaving and there were long queues, but no-one minded because of the fantastic result. Eventually, at around 1am, my brother and I arrived home. It was one of the best evenings I’ve had here in Georgia and I am very much looking forward to going to some of their other home qualifying games later this year.



Aftermath

Despite the victory of the group leaders, Georgia remained 3rd in the table because Greece also secured a last minute victory over Malta. The top three teams are separated by only two points, so it is all very much to play for. On Tuesday evening, Georgia play away to Israel, and if they win this game they will go top of the table. A win for Israel would take them back into contention, and it would mean the top four teams are separated by just two points. Qualification may not be out of the question just yet, but I can’t honestly see Georgia topping the group. Consistency is the key although I don’t think the squad is strong enough for this to be achieved. I am going to predict Croatia topping the group and *fingers crossed* Georgia coming in a close second.




Aftermath - UPDATE

I am writing this on Wednesday evening, two days after finishing the first edit of the blog.

Last night, Georgia suffered a massively disappointing 1-0 defeat to Israel, meaning Group F is wide open once again. Interestingly, this was Ketsbaia’s first defeat as Georgian coach since taking over in November 2009. They had been undefeated for ten games, which is almost as big an achievement as beating the Croats on Saturday evening was.

After their 1-0 victory, Israel have actually leapfrogged Georgia into 3rd position, with both teams having played a game more than Croatia and Greece who occupy the top two positions in the table. Georgia have it all to do now, especially since they still have to play the Croats away from home in June, but I believe they can still qualify. It is vital they beat Latvia and Malta in September as well as Greece in October. In fact, the game against Greece is at home and is also the last qualifying match. I will definitely be at that match, and it’ll be a fascinating evening if, for example, their qualification to the Euro 2012 finals rests in their hands. Of course, only time will tell, and I remain hopeful. One thing is for sure, it’d be an absolute miracle if both Georgia and Scotland qualified for the finals!




Friday 25 March 2011

Family and the Internet

Today is the 69th day I have been in Georgia. Or, in other words, the 69th day since I last saw my family. It’s been one hell of an adventure thus far and an experience like none other. It really feels like I have been here much longer and I’m desperately looking forward to what the rest of the year has in store for me.

I’ve thought about my family and friends back home very often during my time in Georgia. Not a day goes by without me thinking about what they’re up to and how things are going for them in Scotland. Before I left in January to come to Georgia, I was curious to see how I would react to being away from my friends and family, the latter particularly so since this is easily the longest time I have ever spent away from them in my entire life. I envisaged ‘culture shock’ setting in sometime around the one to two month mark. Already in my third month of being away, I don’t see this being a problem in the near future, and I have to say the internet has played a significant role in this.

I don’t want to talk at length at the pros and cons of the internet; everyone young and old knows this. Instead, I’d like to talk about how the internet has helped my experience of being away from home - away from friends and family - in a new and in many ways unique culture.

I’ve learned to appreciate the internet more now I am more 2000 miles away from home. The instant forms of communication (in particular Skype and Facebook) have enabled me to keep in touch with loved ones back home. I Skype my family about once a week, and I think it’s great we live in this day and age where things like this are possible. Even going back ten or fifteen years this would have been unheard of. Sometimes it’s crazy to think how far technology has come in recent years.

I really enjoy my Skype chats with my Mum and Dad. We don’t talk for hours, but long enough to share new stories and catch up with things at home, as well as finding out how the rest of the family are doing. To be honest, as much as I talk about the internet helping my experience of being away from home for the first time, I think my Mum and Dad are more grateful for it, as they can keep in touch with their son thousands of miles away to see how he is doing. Perhaps webcams have also enhanced this experience as my parents will be able to see for themselves how I’m doing. Funnily enough, a few weeks ago on Skype my Mum was concerned because she thought I looked down. “No, Mum” I said. “I’m just hungover...”.

Aside from Skype, it’s nice to be able to send short emails to each other whenever we have an opportunity. I’ll sometimes send a quick email to my parents just to give them an update of how I’m doing. In return I’ll often get a new picture of the cat causing mischief around the house. Sounds soppy, I admit, but its things like this that make you smile and can really cheer you up if you’re happening to have a bad day.

Obviously, I miss my family a lot. I think about them every day. But I think the internet has helped a great deal because we can still have the same level of communication, albeit without physically being in the same room as each other. I also think the internet has lessened the chance of me becoming homesick. The likelihood of being homesick would be significantly increased if I did not have access to the internet here; if I was unable to talk to my family for long periods or if I couldn’t find out how they were doing for example. The internet has certainly bridged these gaps and I know if there’s ever a problem, either on my end or their end, we will be able to talk – face to face – on the internet. It’s soothing to know they are only a click away, and here I make my case that the internet has made my experience here in Georgia all the more enjoyable. If I know my family are well and are happy, this gives me the strength and confidence to continue enjoying myself in this magnificent country.

Tuesday 1 March 2011

School - Part 2

I’m writing this blog entry about two/three weeks after I posted the first part on school. I have almost completed my 5th week at the school. It feels like much has changed since I last posted, but I’m not really sure how. Perhaps I have learned more about myself in a teaching capacity and now have a clearer idea of what teaching in a Georgian school actually entails.

In the previous blog about school I wrote about the school building and described some of its features, inside and out. This part will discuss what life is like at school; the teachers; the students; teaching styles; after-school lessons as well as a few random comments here and there.

I am well aware that the TLG (‘Teach and Learn with Georgia’ – i.e. my employers) read these blogs, so I will be careful with my choice of words. I am a big supporter of the programme and would not like to say anything which could potentially be misconstrued and consequently cause problems for either myself or the programme. Common sense prevails so obviously I will not name any students or teachers in this blog and I will certainly not discuss confidential issues. Instead, I will concentrate on the wider challenges I have faced whilst teaching at the school.

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I teach around 23 lessons a week. Over the week, that’s about four to five lessons a day. I start teaching at 9am most mornings, and I am always finished by 2.15pm. I like the schedule and it gives me plenty of time in the afternoon to meet friends in the city centre or just head back to the house to rest.

I work mainly with three teachers, but occasionally have the odd class with one or two others. All the teachers I have worked with as well as others I have met during my time at the school are very friendly, just like the other Georgians I have met in the country. For many of the teachers it is the first time they have met a native English speaker and I think it is exciting and interesting for them to meet someone new. Aside from the English teachers most of them don’t speak English, although I get by with my basic knowledge of the Georgian language. Greetings and every day conversation – “Hey how are you?” etc is sufficient and I enjoy the interaction. I am actively trying to improve my vocabulary and will always try to use new words and phrases when possible.

The teaching styles I have seen vary. Two of the teachers I work with, who are certainly in the latter half of their careers, go straight to the textbook every lesson. EFL teachers (English as a Foreign Language, for those who are not familiar with the acronym) are always encouraged to avoid relying on textbooks because many books, particularly ones used in countries like Georgia, have mistakes and are often very uninteresting for students to learn from. This is not a fault of the teachers because they have always taught this way. Yes, English is still learned by the students, but perhaps not as effectively as it would be if they did not rely so much on the books.

During the first few weeks of teaching at the school it was mainly a chance for the students to ask questions about their new teacher. The students seemed interested in finding out about my hobbies and what Scotland is like. Many asked for comparisons between the two countries and whether I liked Georgia. As with any new experience it was daunting to begin with, but I soon felt very comfortable in front of the classes and I have to say it felt very natural being there. The main topics of conversation included music, sport, whether I am married or not (Georgians get married much earlier than your average couple in the UK), and…religion.

Religion is one of those topics you need to be very careful with when discussing with people from another culture. I discussed Christianity in the UK and explained that, compared to Georgia, there are far less people who are religious (I read a few months ago that almost 84% of Georgians are Christian Orthodox). I know a lot of teachers have avoided the topic of religion in their classes and I have no problem with that, but if a student is genuinely interested then I feel obliged to provide them with an answer. I explained that despite being christened at birth, I do not believe in religion. They asked whether I celebrate Christmas if I am not religious. I explained that I do, but for me and my family Christmas represents a time for us all to get together and celebrate being a family. There were no problems with us discussing religion in the classes because the students were engaged and I think they found the topic insightful and interesting. I don’t think discussing religion needs to a problem so long as it’s done in a mature manner and there is respect for each individual’s views/beliefs. As an English teacher, I’m just happy for the students to be discussing topics in English!


The ages I teach vary from about 7/8 years old (3rd grade) to 17/18 years old (12th grade). I enjoy teaching all ages and wouldn’t say I prefer one grade to another. The little ones are full of beans and are very keen to learn English. Their knowledge of English is remarkable and has far exceeded the expectations I had prior to teaching. Teaching English to children at a young definitely has its advantages and I think they will significantly benefit from this in the long run. At the moment, the majority of students in the 3rd to 5th grade are at similar levels. They love to sing songs and always have smiles on their faces which is nice and makes the teaching very worthwhile.

It is a slightly different story for the higher grades, which I will discuss now. There are two main points I’d like to make regarding the students in the higher grades. Firstly, and most importantly, many students that I teach have an excellent understanding of the English language. Whether it’s reading, writing, listening or speaking, they are very impressive and there are many individuals who are practically fluent in English. This is a fantastic achievement for them considering the majority of them have never spoken to a native English speaker before. Without going off on a tangent, I think telecommunications has a lot to do with this. Particularly through the internet, students now have exposure to media such as music and films from all over the world, and I think this has helped improve their English. Some of the students I have spoken to at school have said this is exactly the case, which is great as far as I’m concerned.

Onto the second point. Whilst many of the students in 10th/11th/12th grades have excelled and have a very good understanding of the English language, too many others have stalled somewhere along the way, and are now at the point where they are not interested in class because they do not understand the material. This is disappointing and frustrating because these classes have a distinct divide, which perhaps most evident when you’re standing in front of the class. You have students sitting at the front of the class who bring their books each lesson and actively want to improve their English, and those at the back of the class who don’t take books with them and just speak in Georgian. Maybe all English language classes are like this, I really don’t know, but it certainly presents me with difficult challenges, particularly when trying to get everyone involved in the lesson. In fact, there is also a third group within each class, and this consists of students who do not care about learning English and do not tend to make much of an effort in class, but have excellent reading skills and can pronounce words perfectly. This is possibly one of the most frustrating aspects for me because these students clearly have the ability, but for whatever reason they are just not motivated to use it. Despite this however, I do my best to involve all students in the lessons and always try to encourage everyone to participate.

Just today I spoke with the school Director (Principle or Rector depending on the school you went to) about having after-school English lessons for students who want to learn and improve their English. This will be open to students from the 10th to 12th grades. I must first gauge the number of students who would want to attend these lessons and over the course of the week I shall speak to the classes concerned. I believe there will be enough students to fill at least one classroom, and if there’s more demand than I initially anticipate, then I will see about holding these lessons over two days instead of one so everyone gets to attend. I guess one of the main advantages of these after-school lessons is that the students are not held back or distracted by the students who do not care for learning English. It would also be much more informal, and I’d encourage students to bring up any problems or issues they have whether it’s grammar, pronunciations, definitions or any other aspect of the English language. Time will tell how these plans pan out, but I believe I can make it work and have the resources and support at school to make it happen. Perhaps this will feature in one of my future blogs.

Before I wrap up this blog entry on school, it’s important to discuss one more thing. Despite what I have written about many of the students who do not care about English and do not make an effort in class, I have yet to meet one bad person. Every student I have met, whether it’s in class or when I’m walking around the school, are polite, well-mannered and very respectful. It certainly makes the whole teaching experience less intimidating. At the start and at the end of class, every male student shakes your hand and say “hello” or “goodbye” as appropriate. If you see students around the school or when moving from class to class, almost everyone you recognize says hello and there are many students I’ve had good conversations with despite having never taught them in class. It certainly comes down to the whole Georgian mentality of being just really nice people and I think it’s absolutely fantastic. Collectively and individually Georgians are just great people and at school this is certainly no different.


This has easily been my longest blog entry thus far, so if you’ve stuck with me from start to finish then thanks very much. Over the coming weeks and months I hope to have more detailed blog entries on topics such as food, drink, driving (not combined with drink, obviously), the Georgian people, weather, and one on Tbilisi also.