Fire Safety

I thought about writing about the issue of fire safety at my school months ago, but decided it would be better to wait.  This way, I would not worry my mother.  You see, she has asked me several times if I know the schools plan in case there is a fire.  She asked me this only knowing that the school used wood burning stoves in every class for heating.  I didn’t feel the need to point out the other issues that made me doubt my safety and that of all the students if the school ever did catch on fire.

The day I seriously started to worry about what would happen if there was a fire was a cold day in November.  I was done with classes for the day and sitting in the teachers’ room talking with my co-teacher when she told me I could go home.  It was in the middle of the lesson so the halls were pretty empty, but I was not the only one trying to leave the building.  When I got to the main doors they were locked and we had no apparent way out. 

It took nearly ten minutes to find someone who had a key to let us out of the building.  The concept of doors you can open from the inside but not the outside hasn’t occurred in Akhaltsikhe yet.  I understand that they lock doors to keep people out during classes as to not disturb all the learning that is going on. But, because there is a window missing above the door, I have seen students who are locked out boost each other up over the door and come in through the window.  Locking the door only keeps the undetermined people away.

So, not only was there a wood burning fire and a lack of water in most rooms, the doors were all locked, leaving no easy way out.

Apparently, a few weeks ago, as the weather was starting to get warmer, someone else realized that the school was a major fire hazard.  The doors are no longer locked.  Also, the school was littered with papers showing the fire escape plan.  Consequently, I wasn’t that surprised when a short time later, in the middle of my 4^th grade lesson about Halloween, we experienced our first fire drill.  In fact, it almost went along with the theme of the lesson.  I was talking about haunted houses and then we pretended that the school was burning down. Why we are now reading a book about Halloween in April I can’t explain.

Anyway, the fire drill went very smoothly.  Everyone exited the building in a calm and rational way.  It was not the single file line-go to your assigned places so your teacher can take attendance-fire drill that I remember from school, but it wasn’t too bad. Once we got outside, no one knew what to do.  Still, I feel slightly safer knowing that the school has a fire plan. I still worry a little bit about other building issues, but I feel pretty safe at school.  

Ten Things Georgia Has Taught me

1.     You don’t need to speak to people to love them.

2.     It would be easy to be a vegetarian.

3.     Kids are kind of the same everywhere.

4.     You don’t need money to be rich.

5.     How to pee in holes in the ground, (All though I do a good job of avoiding them).

6.     How to avoid eye contact with all people walking down the street.

7.     As much as I like any food variety is what makes eating enjoyable.

8.     How to choose my clothes based on what smells the least.

9.     To eat raw garlic and enjoy it.

10. To shower only once a week and accept that I only shower once a week.

Who Wants to Play Doctor?

First I really hope I never have to go to the doctor in this country.  I don’t think the health care here is bad, and plenty of people live to a what by any countries standard would be an old age despite the constant smoking and drinking, it’s just the health care is a little different. The hospitals don’t seem like sterile environments, windows are missing and everything looks at least 50 years old.

But now I am not going to talk about the health care system in this country, which of course needs help, as most people would think about every country.

What I am going to talk about is when my host little sister came to me and asked me to play doctor of course I said yes. I didn’t know what I was agreeing to at the moment. I thought one of us would be the doctor and the other one would be the patient.  She brings out a doll and says one of us will be the mom and the other one the doctor.  She then goes and gets many medical supplies that are no longer needed. I have a lose understand that someone died and now they don’t need these things. 

She takes out a glass vile and files off the top. She starts mixing powders and such. Then spoons this mixture in the dolls mouth. My host mom sees us playing and says we are good doctors so I know what she is doing is okay. Then she moves on to another vile and files off the top. She uses and syringe with a needle to draw out the liquid and give the doll a shot. I honestly have no clue what we were shooting in to the baby but I am thinking contact with what ever it was must not be harmful. Shortly after the shot we put together an IV bag and filled it with water, we had the baby on a water drip. This was one sick baby doll, but we cured her and it was fun.

Snowballs, Mink Coats, and Surgical Mask

These three things may not seem to go together, but they could all be seen in the halls of School Number 2 on Monday.  

Sunday night was the first big snow of the year here in Akhaltsikhe.  Monday morning I wondered if school would be canceled if they did things like cancel school here because of snow, but I realize canceling school takes some form of mass communication, that I just don’t think they really have in place. Most students walk to school anyway, so it’s not like the bad roads would put them in harms way. Canceling school for snow here seems silly, but it is logical that they shortened the school day in December because the sun was not up early enough to have class at 9, in a building where most the classes don’t have lights.  

So you have probably already guessed, the snowballs are coming from the snow. The students would have snow ball fights in the middle of the halls, the halls are not heated and the snow would not melt, no one was stopping them, so why not?  To me it was interesting to see my first indoor snow ball fights.

I also find it weird that so many of the teachers were wearing mink coats. Mink coats on a country were no one has money? Sure, why not?  The teachers make less than the equivalent of 200 US dollars a month. You don’t need money to buy things, I have a feel bartering works for payment and people pass things on. It just blows my mind to see teachers wearing minks in a hall where snowball fights are taking place.

So now on to the surgical mask, which could also be seen at school. The flu has been quite rampant here so many students and teachers are wearing surgical mask. The mask seem to be worn by the people who are already sick as to prevent it from spreading, not by the healthy people to keep from getting sick.  I don’t understand why saying you have a party to go to is a good reason to miss school, but having the flu doesn’t seem to be a reason to have to stay home.

So if you ever wonder where you can see people in mink coats wearing surgical mask, having snowballs thrown at them look no farther then the hall of School Number 2 in Akhaltsikhe.