To me, the zoo has always been a magical place. I didn’t get to
visit very often when I was a child, however, as it was at least an
hour’s drive away and expensive, which means that I enjoy it even more
as an adult. So when my co-teacher mentioned her thought of taking some
of our students to the zoo, I fully supported the plan.
Because one marshutka cannot take everyone, my co-teachers decided to
select the upper level students from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th classes.
Given my past experiences with Georgian start times, I just smiled when
my teacher said we would leave at 9:00. However, I haven’t been able to
part with all my American idiosyncrasies, and I arrived on Saturday
morning about 10 minutes early. Imagine my surprise, then, upon finding
the marshutka already there, students waiting excitedly, and only one
person missing. Within a few minutes, he arrived, and we left the school
at exactly 9:00.
After stopping halfway through our two-hour drive to Tbilisi so
students could use the bathroom and buy ice cream, we stopped 20 minutes
later to eat lunch. Carrying their backpacks and bags to the table, I
watched in amazement as students pulled out glass cups and dishes,
silverware, pots of chicken, bags of cucumbers, bottles of limonati, and
plates of cake. The leftovers were eventually gathered up, the trash
was discarded, and the students made their way back to the marshutka.
Upon reaching the zoo at last, we bought our tickets and herded our
group of 21 toward the porcupines, wolves, and wild dogs. I don’t know
what the plan was, or if there was one to begin with, but students
quickly dispersed without a meeting time, rendezvous point, or time
limit. We were able to keep them together until we reached the middle of
the zoo, which houses the amusement rides and carnival games. After
twenty minutes of spinning rides, ice cream stands, toys for siblings,
and cotton candy sticks, we began collecting all the students again.
However, they had not all stayed in the same area, and each teacher went
looking while a group of students waited. Whether we found the original
missing students or not was irrelevant since we came back to an empty
bench where the group was supposed to be. After a few rounds of this
cycling in and out, we were finally able to collect everyone together.
Taking another ice cream and soda break on the corner while an
elephant tried to free its leg from a tire, we continued down the path
to see the zebras, ostriches, yaks, various cranes, and a small
antelope. Walking toward the exit, one student caught a glimpse of the
reptile house, so we piled into the confined area to look at deadly
snakes, weird-shaped fish, and camouflaged lizards. We continued to the
our exit destination but were again deterred when students needed to use
the bathroom, buy a last minute bag of chips, or spend the last 60
tetri of the money their mothers gave them for the excursion. It was the
amusement ride situation all over again; students coming and going and
running toward animals and being sent to find their classmates. After 30
minutes, we managed to gather everyone together. With a teacher leading
the way, one keeping students together in the middle, and one in the
back keeping on an eye on those prone to wander, we were finally able to
leave the zoo.
Thinking he would gain some extra points with the children, the
marshutka driver offered to take everyone to Peace Bridge to wander
around for a while. The students begged my co-teacher, and she
eventually was persuaded to say yes, with a time limit of 30 minutes.
Unfortunately (for our students), she gave in too late and the driver
did not want to turn around. We continued out of Tbilisi, where we
stopped for gas. In Georgia, for those not familiar with the gas system,
we all vacated the marshutka and waited off to the side where we found a
one-stall bathroom, meaning the 2-minute gas stop turned into a
15-minute bathroom break.
Finally on the road again, the students broke into choruses of
Georgian traditional songs and simple English poems and alternated
between Selena Gomez’s Love Song and Maroon 5’s Move’s Like Jagger.
After only 45 minutes on the road and even though they had snacked on
chips, ice cream, and crackers all day, we stopped for dinner at a gas
station with a table. Upon learning that the table was not free, we
piled back into the marshutka, drove a few kilometers more, and stopped
at an abandoned restaurant. Once we had wiped the ants and bugs off the
rusty table, students pulled out their dishes, leftover meat, bread, and
cheese, and bottles of half-full limonati. When we were finished, we
wrapped everything up again, climbed back into the marshutka, and headed
toward the village again, arriving only two hours later than the
original estimate.
Eventually, we will use the pictures of the animals and
English/Georgian text for a student presentation on the excursion. The
younger students are putting together posters of what they saw and the
older students are making books with the animals’ pictures and
descriptions. It was a day where students we able to practice their
conversational English and listening skills. All in all, it was a great
trip.
From this experience, I have learned a few things about Georgian
excursions that will possibly help prepare the next person who attempts
this feat.
- Eating is a top priority.
- Students will bring backpacks and various other forms of carriers;
they contain food, silverware, dishes, and drinks for the impromptu
supras.
- Rather than in response to a need, preventative bathroom breaks will happen, and they will happen frequently.
- Children will call their parents at every milestone they reach. If
they don’t, parents will call their children to see that they’ve reached
the next milestone.
- Although I couldn’t bring myself to do it, “99 Bottles of Beer on
the Wall” may just be the time killer, English-teaching song that your
group needs. Granted, you’re in Georgia, so it may be better to turn it
into “99 Bottles of Wine on the Wall.”
- The over-achieving students of the group will bring notebooks and
pens in case there is something educational to be had from the trip;
they will quickly realize the extra baggage is unnecessary and ask you
to carry it in your over-sized, black, Georgian purse.
- It’s assumed that students will eventually come back to the group if they get separated; however, in reality, they won’t.
- Parents will give their children money for snacks and entertainment;
students know they will have to give the excess back when the get home,
so factor in time at the end for them to spend their spare change.
- Students want to buy their siblings a souvenir. Whether it is a
plastic sword, handcuffs and police baton set, small doll, or bottle of
bubbles, they will not come home empty-handed.
- Upon arriving home two hours late, my family expressed their
surprise at being home before dark; my family explained that if parents
come on the excursion, the group will not come back until 9pm. If
parents are not on the trip, students will be home by 6pm or 7pm so that
parents do not worry.
