Gamarjoba (Hello)!
My name is Yasmine Rayyis (pronounced ‘Yi-us-meen’). I am 22 years old, and I will soon be traveling to the country of Georgia! While you might know the state of Georgia in the U.S.A., I am going to be in a little country between Russia and Turkey, right by the Black Sea. Have you heard of it before?
I was born and went to college in California, where I studied Linguistics and Global Studies. Before that, I was living in the capital city of China: Beijing. I grew up in Beijing and lived there for 12 years. I loved visiting the many museums and historical buildings and studying Mandarin Chinese.
This love of foreign languages pushed me to study linguistics in university. The language we speak seems normal and easy to us, but it could be fascinating for someone who didn’t grow up around it! For example, in Georgian, they use the word mama when they mean "dad" and deda when they mean "mom." The language also has a beautiful and ancient alphabet. For example, the word for "hello" is written like გამარჯობა!
I am so excited to share my journey with you and learn more about Georgia together!
