Matanat

This will be our last posting about our trip to Tbilisi. While there we made our way to Gori which is the birthplace of Stalin. The pictures are of the only statue of Stalin left in the former Soviet Socialist Republics. When the Russians came into Georgia a year ago, they guarded the statue and museum. In the museum Denney is standing next to Stalin’s uniform, and there is a photo of his office furniture. His childhood home was very modest – 1 room with the original but restored furniture. The family’s landlord lived in the other room of the house, and Stalin’s father repaired shoes in a space below the house.
When we toured the museum, the guide was informative, but bland. The people of Gori are proud that their city was the birthplace of a historical figure, but not proud of some of the things Stalin did. The most interesting and moving story that our guide shared was about Stalin’s oldest son by his first wife. During the war Stalin’s son was captured while serving on the front line. Hitler offered to trade Stalin’s son for concessions. However, Stalin is reported to have replied that all the soldiers were his sons. What would he tell the fathers of all the other soldiers if he treated his son any differently than any other soldier. Hitler had the son executed.

Linda’s school counterpart Matanat invited us to her home this past week for dinner. Matanat (like most unmarried women in Azerbaijan) lives with her extended family – mother, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece. She is a very small woman with olive skin and dark eyes and hair. Their house has a separate building for the kitchen, an outdoor toilet and the main part of the house has the bedrooms and living room. There was an air conditioner in the living room. Matanat’s brother works different shifts and often has to sleep during the days. The mother and sister-in-law do all the cooking, housework, etc. Matanat and the brother have jobs to support the family. The mother handles all the money in the family. We had a wonderful meal with chicken and mutton, several salads, compote (a homemade punch), homemade bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, and later outside we had hot tea, cake and watermelon. This would have been an expensive meal for this family. Matanat’s mother became very concerned for us when we had to quickly find an apartment and move out of our host family’s home. Matanat told Denney that she thinks often about me this summer when we are not in school and don’t see each other daily. She said I am like a sister to her. Together we teach, have tea, go shopping and have gone to an education conference in Baku. While in Baku for the conference, we had lunch with her sister-in-law and older sister who live in Baku. We stayed in a hotel for two nights during the conference. That was the first time Matanat had ever stayed in a hotel. I will demonstrate new teaching techniques and she has been very open to then trying the new methods in her classes. Matanat has taught for 24 years and would like to apply for a program to come to the U.S. for 6 weeks to teach with an English teacher. I hope to help her fill out the application. Matanat will explain cultural events and religious holidays to me. She will then ask and I will tell her about American culture and Christianity. We come from very different backgrounds but have become good friends and enjoy being with each other.

Next week celebrating birthdays.