yes, well, its gross--there's not much more i can say about it. i aim to dig around now as your skepticism promotes some questions about the pgm's integrity and a few possible a-holes benefitting from western generosity. i would very much hope that isn't the case. i don't see how a country in a territory for a bad rap with--well, the list is long--would enforce the status quo with a few bucks. it just doesn't seem reasonable somehow.

hopefully i won't encounter abusive language for saying so, but this is definitely a volunteer gig, whether it sucks or not (or whether they're up front or stealing stipends or not). it definitely seems like a thing that is only worth it to those who are single and have the option of having major time off in life as well as a savings account...and there are better places to visit in that position...one could teach at a private school for a few hours a week and make as much (i once did this but it wasn't my favorite gig by far, even though i generally like children), and i'm pretty sure that, with diligent research, a respectable family would host an english student for free (although this would be hard to find, but possible i imagine, maybe through a university). a decent studio in the center-ish is about 200 gel a month. and the bills are separate. a nice, normal apt in the center/center-ish is about 600 gel. should you ever decide to have a candle light adventure (as the power often goes out), maybe you could check out jobs.ge. i don't recall ever having found anything there myself, but if institutions such as the british council ever have a gig, then it would be much more worth it. on said website i spied a cultural exchange pgm and some lecturing (professorship) positions and one from PTG (i worked there before for 800usd--fulltime--a month, not the worst job and not the best, but they never took my money, an no, i'm not recruiting, the city is really just very small). for the fun of it, i'd recommend istanbul if you've never been there. craigslist is a good start for that one (and its easy to leave a shitty situation and enter a better one) what a blast!

thanks for being polite about it and i'll be careful about the 't-word' to be sure silver boy. anywho, i totally get why people should deter people from many of these places...in regards to georgia, i had some super shitty experiences there but only shared the generalizations as a very fair word of warning to females; crappy ppl and crappy institutions are, well, crappy and they should be called out for it, i just don't like when negative generalizations are made toward a group of people that sort of attack them in a way that might make people miss out on expanding their horizons and meeting some decent folks.