Our First Snow

Saturday night, the first snow came to Akhaltsikhe. When we had our first cold snap in October, the mountains above us got the first snow, tiny little white caps, while we only got rain. With this cold snap, we got slushy snow. By Sunday afternoon, it had pretty much all melted away in Akh, but the mountains above us are still covered in snow. Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) it was cold but sunny, and the view of the mountains above us, snowy with the sun shining down, was beautiful. I forgot my camera, but plan to take some pictures today. The pictures of the snow the next morning outside our window are actually quite pathetic, so I'm not going to post them, and unfortunately, in the pictures we took when it was actually snowing, the snow didn't really show up well, so it looks like I'm sticking my hand out into the air for nothing. ;)

But I do have some pictures from our cooking adventures on Saturday. On Saturday, Brenden made curry and I made brownies (using the mix package and spices sent by Brenden's mom), and both turned out fabulously, although I think the curry was a bit spicy for our family's taste (Georgian food is not normally spicy). Our friend/almost-sitemate Josh came over and we had a good time just hanging out, eating some definitely NOT Georgian food and relaxing. Vakho, our host brother, also helped Brenden by crushing some spices for him, which is really interesting, because the male sex is never in the kitchen in Georgian culture, and boys are used to just having stuff done for them (for example, the other day, 11-year-old Vakho wanted butter on his bread, so Inga, our host mom, buttered it for him). I also have a fun picture of Brenden with the brownies (Brenden needed milk for his curry, so we also had some milk with our brownies, which was the first milk we've had in Georgia; with cows everywhere, you'd think it would be more common, but people here don't drink it).

This week, my school starts heating the school and also school now begins at 9:30, which will continue throughout the winter. Our lessons were 45 minutes with a 5 minute break, but now they will be 43 minutes with a 2 minute break. I think this really means that our lessons will begin even later, since students often don't show up on time, even with a 5 minute break (on the other hand, they usually go out into the yard, and there will probably be less of that during the winter because it's so cold, balanced out, of course, by the students who just won't even come because of the cold).

Today, because of the snow (and because it is still a few degrees below freezing), I decided I was justified in wearing long underwear on the bottom and the top (I've been wearing long underwear on top ever since the first cold snap, and tights usually under my pants, but not the long underwear proper). Brenden and I have agreed we're going to try to hold off on turning on our electric heater until December, but we agreed if it stays a few degrees below freezing for more than 3 hours (or when I get home from school), we can turn it on. Our family is using a small electric heater in the living room now, but I think in a month or so, when it gets even colder, they will install a petchi (a wood heater) in the kitchen area.