Bummer...

The last ten days have been really unlucky for me. Ten days ago, I was eating lunch and preparing to go off to PDM (Program Design & Management) Training in Borjomi when my front tooth broke. For those of you that remember, this is the tooth that broke eleven years ago and was bonded. I knew it would break sooner or later, but I expected to be back safely in the U.S. when it happened. Apparently, the same day I called about my tooth, 3 PCVs had called earlier with medical/dental emergencies, so my appointment wasn't until the following Wednesday (two days ago, the 23rd). Luckily, I wasn't really in my community during that time period, so hopefully, the locals won't be telling future PCVs about the G7 with the missing tooth. ;) Anyway, I went to PDM, which was an excellent training, and it gave my counterpart and I a good chance to expand and revise the grant we're writing for an English resource center. It was in Borjomi, where our friends Bob & Gill live, so we got to hang out at their house after training. Since our hotel had a spa & medical services, I also got a back massage while I was there (the medical center offered services like hot baths, sonagrams, and colon cleansing, which I passed on).

Unfortunately, due to staying up late every night, by Friday, I was pretty tired and I had started coughing. Brenden came into Borjomi Friday morning, and we went together to Tbilisi, where we were observing, commenting, and judging 8th, 9th, and 10th graders debate in English. Their command of English was quite amazing, especially since all of them spoke well in English. There were a few bad debates, but overall, it was quite impressive. But, I coughed through the entire thing. I actually can't remember the last time I coughed so much. Then we went out to dinner, and—against my better judgment—I ordered a bean and cheese burrito. Only in Tbilisi (as opposed to the rest of Georgia) would you see this on the menu, and even here, there's probably only 2 places I've seen with this particular item. It was a huge let-down. Instead of salsa, there was marinara sauce on top of the burrito, the beans were quite dry and pretty flavorless (which they don't have to be—Brenden has made good refried beans here before), the cheese didn't melt well, and the Spanish rice was overcooked. I figured it wouldn't be great, and probably not very Mexican, but this wasn't even very good for what it was. Oh, well—if I hadn't ordered it this time, I probably would've ordered it the next time. On Saturday, we woke up early and went out to Rustavi (about 30 minutes from Tbilisi), where our old clustermate's NGO has a debate team. So we explained all about debate in the U.S. and gave examples of how debate in the U.S. is different than debate in Georgia. By this point, my cough had (somewhat) subsided, but now my throat hurt and I just felt bad all over, but I did enjoy this debate meeting. After the debate meeting, it was back to Tbilisi, where we got lunch, went to an English language bookstore (I needed to make up a booklist for my grant), then I just collapsed at the PC office (there's a volunteer lounge area with couches, books, and our mailboxes). By that point, I was coughing again, and after an early dinner, we made it an early night on Saturday night and resolved to sleep in. Sunday morning, I felt marginally better, but not really, so we just spent some time at the PC office (the free, fast Internet is a big draw), went to the bazaar area of Tbilisi (we went to the dollar store near there, which is one of the few places in Georgia where you can find American-brand food; we bought lime juice, barbeque sauce, and some plastic food storage containers), then bought popcorn at the marshrutka station, and went home. We got home around 7pm, exhausted.

Monday, I rested, which was good, because Tuesday morning, I got up early and went back to Tbilisi. I got my tooth repaired, and they did an excellent job, but my mouth was propped open for 2 hours, without a break. So now my teeth are very sore, so I'm on a yogurt diet right now. Then, as I was coming home Wednesday night, a woman shut a marshrutka door on my head, and, yes, it's just as painful as it sounds. So now, although my tooth was repaired and the cold/flu from last weekend is gone, now I have a bruised head. I'm taking iboprofen, and that's helping, but these past 2 weeks have really just been full of unpleasant surprises. Here's hoping this next week will be better!

This weekend is Orthodox Easter, so I guess we'll get to see what their celebration is like. :)

- Carissa