Georgian, this professor joined France for love of its culture

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In the corridors of Saint-Exupéry high school of Glazed (Ille-et-Vilaine), her colleagues affectionately nickname her “Mako”.

Maka Moseshvili, as it is written on her identity card, found a position as an English teacher there, two years after her arrival in France, from Georgiawhere she was already teaching Tbilisi University.

A logical continuation for someone who was very involved in intercultural activities, and who therefore decided to join “her second country of heart”, to finally settle in Vitré, where she lives with her husband Sébastien.

“I grew up with Baudelaire”

“France has always attracted me enormously, particularly cinema and French songs. My grandfather gave me a love of this country, confides the 32-year-old young woman. I grew up with The Albatross by Baudelaire. I really liked Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Pierre Richard. French cinema of the 20th century is recognized worldwide. And there is also Dalida, Joe Dassin, Charles Aznavour…”

His youth was forged in resourcefulness. There wasn't always electricity in the home, so we read Zola by the light of the oil lamp. We laughed a lot.

Mako still laughs when the rare outages disrupt the daily lives of those close to him.

“I’m very zen. If I can't do what I have to do, well I'll do it later, she smiles. In Georgia, we have already overcome great difficultiesso the little ones don't do anything to me. In France, people have never experienced the worst. »

“Dreams of life and travel”

In almost perfect French in which some traces of a Caucasian accent remain, she recounts her arrival and her disenchantment.

With a master's degree, she enjoyed a rather comfortable situation in Georgia. In France, we had to start everything from scratch.

“French is a very difficult language. The path was not easy, she remembers. But today, I am very happy to work with the students. I am happy to be able to share with them what I have learned from my travels to 17 countries. When you are an English teacher, you have the opportunity to introduce themes in a fairly fun way. »

Particularly that of freedom. In his Georgian youth, Maka Moseshvili experienced war with Russia and “those dreams of life and travel” that she thought she saw disappear.

“My heart is in Georgia”

For several weeks, she has sadly observed the situation becoming tense between the people, the majority of whom are demanding a rapprochement with the European Union, and the pro-Russian government. Demonstrations are now daily, in support of Paris-born president Salomé Zourabichvili, who fiercely opposes the government.

“Right now, I can say my heart is in Georgia. I sleep very poorly, three or four hours each night maximum. It's difficult to leave the spirit of revolt about what's happening at the door. In front of the students, we have to talk about peace, it’s important, says the teacher. But I also don't want to talk to them about too negative things, especially since they don't know much about Georgia. »

Mako strives to be positive, hopes that there will be better days, far from the interference of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin.

The young English teacher will perhaps return to Georgia: “My husband is here, my family is there. It's very difficult to make a choice between my two loves. »

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