Motsameta, Akhaltsikhe, Vardzia and One Crazy Supra

Sorry folks! It has been awhile since I last updated my blog. I can assure you there is no good reason. Just that everytime I got around to sitting down and writing, I was suddenly struck with the overpowering urge to eat candy and watch movies in my bed instead.  Since a decent amount of interesting things have happened in the past 3 weeks, I will only talk about the 4 highlights.

1. Motsameta Monastery.
On one of my routine saturday visits to Kutaisi, I was convinced into heading to the Motsameta Monastery with Chase and Tom. It was Tom's second to last weekend in Georgia and he wanted to get out and do something cultural.  We met up behind the theater, where the Marshuktas were parked, and in typical Kutaisian fashion, purchased a jug of beer for our trip.  Our driver let us off near the turn off and we walked down the road to Motsameta for about 20 mins. Along the way we stopped to take pictures of the gorgeous views and the not-so-ancient grain tower.  The monastery is still in use today and the monks yelled at me, because I accidentally tried to enter in my jeans. Because everyone knows pants are the devil. I wrapped one of the provided shawls around my waist and we searched around.  The same monk asked Chase to take his earrings off and even so helpfully offered to cut out Chase's cartilage piercing. We all laughed... and ran off as quickly as possible. Inside the church there was a wedding, so we popped our heads in and watched for awhile.  My first Georgian wedding! After playing with some cute cats and having a photoshoot, we finished our beer and decided to walk back into Kutaisi along the train tracks. Best decision ever. The tracks overlooked the mountains and there was a great view, especially when the sun started to set. Beautiful!

2. Akhaltsikhe
Kenny, one of the ETAs in Georgia, lives in Akhaltsikhe, which is near the Turkish border (and by near, I literally mean 11 miles away). Because all the ETAs (all four of us) had to meet the boss man for a meeting in Akhaltsikhe on Thursday, we arrived early to hang out with Kenny and meet his friends and family. On Thursday, before our meeting, Kenny took us to the school where he teaches. Together, all four of us got to teach the 8th grade. It was a fun class. We introduced ourselves with 2 truths and a lie and we played "I have never"... (a spinoff of the more inappropriate game "Never have I ever").  My group was hilarious, with phrases like "I have never killed a man." Ummm, good for you?  Friday we visited the castle.  Which has been renovated so it has lost most of its ancient feel, for instance the presence of a hotel and spa in the middle of the courtyard. Nevertheless it was beautiful!  We returned later that night, all four of us, to use the spa. We got cloths to wrap around ourselves and we had 2 hours in the spa room, which included many saunas with various levels of heat and steam, a jacuzzi, and foot pool, and something we dubbed "the bucket."  A large bucket filled with water hanging on the ceiling. There was a rope attached and pulling the rope dropped the water from the bucket onto the person below. Shawn convinced me the water was warm, so I stood under the bucket and then Shawn pulled the rope....it was freezing. I screamed so loud and tried to run away in such a hurry I almost lost my wrap. Thanks a lot. It was a good three days in Akhaltsikhe/ "Kennytown."

3. Vardzia
On Saturday morning, the four of us met up next to marshukta stand in Akhaltsikhe to prepare to head to Vardzia, about an hour away. Vardzia is the ancient cave city, with numerous caves and a church literally built into the side of rock cliff. The drive there, itself, was absolutely stunning, with the mountains looming on either side of the road. At Vardzia, we climbed up the path to the city and then explored through the caves and the various little paths and tunnels that connected them. There was a beautiful view there and well if you had to be a monk, you might as well be a monk in Vardzia! The monastery is still active, with parts of the cave city roped off. You could see some of the monks, dressed in black, wandering through this area. And if you were lucky, like Shawn, you got up close and personal with one (they exchanged an awkward garmajoba).  Seeing the city only took a few hours, and we all ate lunch in the car on the way back.  If you can call it lunch really, earlier we had gone to smartys, the crown jewel of all Georgian supermarkets, and bought food for the trip.  I ate mostly cookies :D That night we all hung out in Kenny's house, watching funny youtube videos.  If you want to be scared out of your mind but also want to laugh hysterically then watch this comedic genius.  Pizza burning  Unfortunately, we couldn't get this out of our heads for the rest of the night...and the next morning.

4.  One Crazy Supra
On Monday, I was invited to a supra at a school in a nearby village of Abasha by my Georgian friend Davit. He is an English teacher there and they were putting on a musical performance and then having a supra afterwards.  My host father, who is chief of the Ministry of Education and Science in Abasha, was also invited. Davit had texted me saying that he would come back from school to Abasha to pick me up. He knows my Georgian is terrible and he was afraid that I could not make it there on my own. Whaaat? I told him that was so unnecessary and that I could make it just fine. After some friendly arguing, I insisted that he could not come to pick me up. He agreed. Later, after class on my way to the taxi stand in the center of town to head to the supra, a young boy of about 16 comes up to me.  He said "Hello Destinee," and handed me a folded note. I'm like hmmmmm okay I'll bite. Intrigued, I opened and read the letter. This is what it said, in exact words:

Hi Destiiiiiii!!!!

I could not come to you, as you said, so I have send my student Levani (he is my teacher's son). He will bring you to me.

Davit.

I didn't know whether to be super pissed that he didn't think I would make it alone or cry because it was so adorable. This poor boy was so nervous too. Together, we got a taxi and rode into the village of Sepeiti. At the school, I met all of Davit's teachers and the director of the school. They welcomed me warmly. They all think Davit and I are in love. This isn't anything new though, the entire town of Abasha thinks this and probably the neighboring towns as well. Whatever! Davit wouldn't be a bad person to be in love with, at least it keeps all the creepers away from me, for the most part anyways and it satisfies my teachers, who are worried about my singleness. Anyways the musical performance was adorable. All the kids sang and a few teachers too. Davit has a great voice! There were even some American songs, whoohoo! Then the supra. Wine, lots of wine, and delicious food. All the teachers were super excited to get to meet me and I got a position of honor, right next to Merabi, near the head of the table. After a few/a lot of glasses of wine, most of the female teachers had left and it was just me and 10 or so big burly drunk Georgian men. It was hilarious. As the wine flowed, their lips got looser and looser and soon there were sing-alongs and dancing.  The director stood up and made a 15 minute toast to me (Davit translated) and it was the sweetest thing ever. It was all about how I was making a difference in the lives of the students and how they were so happy that I was a nice and respectful girl. They thanked my parents for raising me to be so lovely. Awwww, I was tearing up.  Then Merabi, my host dad, gave a similar 15 minute speech to me, and following suit every man at the table, stood up and toasted to me, saying the loveliest things about me. And I had just met most of them! After awhile, everyone got a little too drunk and the supra winded down.  Merabi, who had not been drinking, was pretty much the designated driver for almost everyone who was going back to Abasha. And that was hilarious also. How many drunk Georgians can you fit in the backseat of a car? Answer: As many as need a ride. I can't wait to throw a supra for my mom and my sister, when they arrive at the end of December!

Okay, sorry I had to leave out so much of my interesting day to day experience, but I had not written in so long and I wanted to catch you up on just the highlights. If I had included every weird/ hilarious event that happens at my school, and there is sure to be at least one every day, this post would have been too long.

Akhaltsikhe castle

Akhlatsikhe castle

Vardzia caves

Halloween and Shawn's visit

October 31st... Halloween!! It was officially my second Halloween abroad (in 2011, I spent Halloween in Barcelona, Spain).  On thursdays, I don't teach first period, so I was invited during this time to the 9th grade Halloween party.  Nino, my co-teacher/ best friend, came with me, as her daughter Veronika is in this class.  The children were very excited to have me there and they had all brought face paints! They spent the first period running around painting things on each other's faces and I spent most of the time avoiding being painted on. Veronika made me paint my name inside a pink heart on her cheek, which of course made all the other students jealous. So a lengthy process of painting everyone's faces ensued. Everyone wanted "I love Destinee," even the boys, which I thought was cute!  Lots of pictures were taken during these shenanigans, but not on my camera and they have yet to appear online! Later when the period ended, all the 9th graders showed off their new looks to the whole school. Everyone was intrigued. I was then invited to a small supra after classes ended for the day by the 9th grade class. Yayy my first high school party in 4 years!  We met up at a small cafe later that day around 3 to feast and drink. We ate pizza and Kachapuri and Kinkhali and to my surprise, drank beer. One of the 9th grade boys made himself the head of the table and so was in charge of making the toasts. We toasted to Halloween, America, friendship, etc. It was a pretty cute experience. After the beer and food had run out, Meri (my host sister, also in 9th grade) and I walked home together. She had styled her hair specially for Halloween; it was BIG and crimped and separated into two low pigtails and she still wore her face paint from earlier. The people watching us pass by must have thought we were crazy... there goes the American and her weird looking host sister.

Later that weekend on Saturday, I travelled into Kutaisi for the night.  Anne and Lady, two members of Peace Corps, had arranged a large gathering of peace corps and TLG members for a party.  We spent the afternoon playing an intense game of assassins where we all ran around the city with "missions" to complete and people to "kill."  I only killed one person, but I was the last person, besides the winner, to remain in the game! Apparently, she couldn't find me. Later in the evening, we met up at the Lions Club, a University owned space, and had a party. There was food, beer, chacha, vodka, music... everything. And there were also some great costumes. I didn't have a costume, mostly because I couldn't be bothered with finding one so last minute. Greta and Kenny, two other Fulbright ETAs, also met up with us for this Halloween shindig. There was a lot of drinking, dancing, gossiping, the usual. I felt like I had never left college.... what happens in the Lions Club stays in the Lions Club. But really... nothing too exciting. After the party ended, around 2 am, Chase, Shawn, Laurel, Melissa and I all retired to Tom's apartment nearby. Here we drank more beer and harmonized to the Rent soundtrack.... a little bit of Disney too. Magical. Around 5 am, Chase and I returned to his house, where Greta was also staying, but she had retired much earlier in the night.  Sunday afternoon, after sleeping in quite late, I met up with Tom (a Peace Corps member also in Abasha) and we took a marshukta together back into Abasha.

The following weekend, Shawn came to visit Abasha. Saturday morning I met him on the road (like a scene from a movie, both of us walking towards each other-- minus the dramatic embrace) and we walked to my host family's house. Along the way, I showed him the overly aggressive pig that lives nearby, and the cows and horses (all my neighbors- as Shawn puts it).  My host family met Shawn and I introduced him to little Giorgi and of course the infamous cat, "cat." After, we took a tour of Abasha. I showed him my school and the small park in the center of town. Then we caught a marshutka and headed to the neighboring, and much bigger, town of Senaki. In Senaki, we visited the bazaar, or outdoor market. Next I took Shawn to a restaurant which makes great Kinkhali! The kinkhali in Abasha is awful! At this restaurant is where the magic happened. We met a ridiculously HUGE man, he just looked like he could crack a walnut with his back and strangle someone in his bicep. And he was also a very drunk man, although he told us that he "didn't drink." Lies. We danced with him, and listened to his stories about being in the military and how he got his pinky shot off by a sniper. He was just way too hilarious. After eating lots of food and drinking three beers, one of which was free (thank you Mr. Biceps) we came back to Abasha and went bar hopping! Haha. I took Shawn to a bar where I frequent with my Georgian friend Davit. The little old lady who works there thinks Davit and I are in love and she loves us. So of course we decided it would be hilarious to go to this bar and shock this poor old women...well, she was not happy to see Shawn. After drinking and gossiping for about an hour we headed off to the Cafe Oasis, in the center of town. Here, we ordered another beer and got back to gossiping. Just two old ladies gabbing away, we were. Around 8 pm, Shawn and I saw a wedding party and decided to follow them. Here we actually ran into my friend Davit, and I was glad they got to meet each other. I sent Shawn off on a Marshukta back to Kutaisi and set off for my house. Along the way home, a car blasting techno music stopped and a young man tried to engage me in conversation. He followed me in the car for about 1/4 of a mile before he finally stopped the car and got out, frustrated by my lack of interest. After sizing him up, he was about 5'3'', skinny, and wearing a leather jacket 3 times too big for him, I introduced myself, his name was Nika, and I let him walk me the rest of the way home. Mostly because it was less creepy than him slowly driving next to me the whole way. Today on my way home from school, guess who drives by? My creepy friend Nika. Because it was raining and he looked even more pathetic in the daylight, I let him drive me home. Hope we're not married now. 

There is going to be another big festival in Abahsa next Monday for Saint George. So, I will hopefully have a post up about that soon!

Also I saw a MASSIVE roach today in the kitchen.... not okay. 

Borjomi/Bakuriani

So, it has been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post so I thought I would update you guys today.

Last weekend, I went out on Saturday night with some friends in Abasha. We drank and ate kinkhali and Lasha and Davit attempted to teach me some traditional Georgian dance, which the other restaurant goers found amusing. I was terrible.

Sunday, it rained all day. Not much to report there.

Last week at school was hectic as usual. My school is a madhouse and all the teachers are crazy. I love it!! A traveling peddler, selling clothes from a duffle bag, came into the teachers lounge last tuesday and the teachers all went on a crazy shopping spree. Clothes were flying off left and right and I perhaps saw a little more of them then I wanted to see (note: these are all 45-65 year old women). In an attempt to try and force me to take my shirt off so I could try on a sweater, my belly button ring was revealed, which of course caused a scene. Everyone wanted to see it, (popular to contrary belief: they loved it and kept telling me it was beautiful!) and they wanted to know if I had anything else pierced. Where else would I have a piercing that you couldn't see? Hmmmm not anywhere that I'd like a piercing. I thought it best to not show them the tattoo I also have on my hip. That may be pushing their traditional boundaries.  On Wednesday, Nino told me that she liked my body and insisted that I write up a diet plan for her. I was simultaneously flattered and shocked. Lord knows, no one has ever asked me to write up a diet plan before.  Not sure how this will go because I don't see a lot of vegetables in Abasha. Tomatoes are fairly common, but most other vegetables, like carrots, you only get in a soup. And I have not yet seen anyone exercising. There isn't a gym in Abasha so I try and go running as much as I can and everytime I do I always get weird looks from the Georgians. This coming week, my kids, grades 8-12, are participating in a spelling competition with school number 1 and a few of the surrounding village schools. I spent a good part of last week going over the words and repeating them with my students. Just today I had our final study session and they can spell all the words!! I am so proud of them for working so hard, I hope they all win!

This past weekend I stayed in Kutaisi again. Greta, an ETA living in Keda, came up and we all spent friday night with the Kutaisian ex pat community at their weekly happy hour. We took a gondola up to the top of a hill, a sort of amusement park, and drank beers overlooking the city. Chase guided us to a sketchy dark back alley in the amusement park where we saw an actual bear in a cage. Of course this was super sad because it was a tiny cage and he was pretty much just chilling there. But, it was also a little unnerving because there wasn't much in the way of a safety net. If you wanted to you could stick your hand right in there or the bear could reach out and paw you. And of course, I didn't trust the rusty Soviet era cage for a second. Then we had a delicious dinner, where all 20 of us legitimately tried to squeeze in at one table. The night ended at the Turkish Coffee House, where a few of us smoked some sheesha and sat on the floor surrounded my persian style pillows. You would think in a country relatively close to Iran and bordering Turkey that Hookah would be a little more of a normalcy. But alas, there was one hookah at this coffee house and one flavor. It is my new mission to find the best Hookah bar in Georgia.

Saturday, Greta, Shawn and I took a marshukta out to Borjomi, where they have a natural spring and where a lot of Georgia's mineral water comes from, and met up with Kenny, another ETA, and his ex pat friends in the area.  All six of us took a marshutka from Borjomi to Bakuriani, a small town in the mountains, famous for its beautiful ski resort. We were under the impression that we would be able to ride horses here, but since the town was not yet in season (it is still too warm for snow) there were no horses. Pretty sad, but it was a beautiful place with gorgeous views of the mountains. Hopefully when it snows, we can make another trip out there to go skiing. Pictures of this adventure are to come soon! After another delicious dinner in Borjomi, we parted ways and Shawn, Greta and I headed back to Kutaisi for the night.  Saturday night, Greta and I, who were staying at Chase's house in Kutaisi, played a pretty intense game of "Risk." Risk is essentially a board game where you are given armies and your task is to take over the world. Tom, an ex pat living nearby Chase, joined us in our quest for world domination. Chase beasted on all of us, by the end of the game he had dominated every single country on the board EXCEPT for Afghanistan, where I had amassed an army and defended unrelentingly until the end.

Sunday was the Georgian presidential election!! Here are a few good sites if you want to check it out.
nytimes
BBCNews
aljazeera

Next Saturday, I will head back into Kutaisi again for the night (I know right? enough already) for an ex pat Halloween party! Yay! I love Halloween. I will write a blog post about how that goes!

Supra!

First off I need to start this blog post off by thanking the weather Gods. It has been hot and sunny all week here with plans to continue on like this all week. I'll take it! Now this weekend I decided to stay in Abasha with my fellow village folk and it turned out to be a great time!

Saturday, Daryl and I met up in Abasha and took a marshukta to the neighboring towns (yes actual towns- as in more than one road) of Senaki and Samtredia. In Senaki, which was only about 20 mins away, we had a delicious lunch at a restaurant that Daryl recommended. Great kinkhali! Then we meandered around for a bit before catching a marshukta heading back east through Abasha to Samtredia, a town 20 minutes away on the other side of Abasha.  I somehow managed to get Daryl to tell me his whole love life story without revealing anything of my own. Great success!! It seems like almost every foreigner I meet has a Georgian hubby in some way or another, I think maybe it's time I also jumped on that bandwagon. Hahaha. In Samtredia, we visited the bazar, a giant Georgian outdoor marketplace. I didn't need to buy anything, but it was fun to see all the shops out. It seriously looked like something straight out of slumdog millionaire-- with all the shop stands set up next to each other with tin roofs and little passageways between them all. You could get lost in the bazar, it is like a small maze of fruits and shoes and clothes and trinkets. While walking one of these small passageways a pigeon got stuck on Daryl's foot and he (there is no other way to say this) literally kicked the pigeon in the face, sending it flying off. I laughed so hard... I guess you had to be there.

Sunday I spent lounging around the house hanging with my host siblings. Meri and I watched music videos on the TV and I painted my nails. I went for a 3 mile run later in the afternoon. I have found the perfect running path. It is so beautiful, I would stop and take pictures but unfortunately if I stop while running there is no chance in hell I will start back up again. I don't see a lot of people here running or exercising for that matter. Abasha doesn't have a fitness center, Nino, my colleague, tells me that (and I quote) "we are too lazy for that." I don't know how they do it though because all the young people here are in great physical condition, especially considering the amount of starches consumed on a daily diet. Sunday night I met up with Davit, my Georgian friend, best friend really since we hang out pretty much every day. A few of his friends were leaving for the Georgian army, shipping off to Afghanistan, and so we went out in a goodbye celebration. There were four guys, but I can only remember one name: Lasha. They were all super nice and we toasted over and over again to health and happiness. Needless to say we all got pretty drunk. We stayed out feasting and drinking until really late and then Davit and I saw them off on their train to Tbilisi-- I wish them a safe voyage and a safe return home!

Monday, was a holiday so we had school off! Yay. Lord knows I needed it, the vodka consumed at Sunday night's goodbye celebration had gone straight to my head. I spent a fair amount of the day in my bed watching Gladiator, which is the best film ever. As a Classics major I can't agree that all historical facts portrayed were accurate... in fact that everything portrayed was accurate. But, I will let that slide because Russell Crowe looks great in a suit of armor. Anyways, Monday night I was invited to my first supra!!

A supra is like a Georgian feast/party and DANG can Georgians party.  Along with my host parents and my school director, Jilda, we drove to a small village just outside of Abasha.  I thought Abasha was country but this village was real country.  It was absolutely beautiful. We arrived right after the sun had gone down and the sky was all different colors and the mountains were looming in the distance. The hosts of this supra had an amazing yard with a great view. In the yard was a large tent with beautiful lights dangling from the ceiling. Under the tent were four long tables, set up beautifully with china and cake plates and fruit platters and napkins specially folded into interesting shapes. There was a bonfire just outside of the tent and a DJ booth. The whole set up looked magical. Then we feasted. The food, I swear there were at least 13 courses. There was so much food being brought out constantly that at times there were full plates of food stacked on top of other full plates of food-- sometimes four or five plates high. There was meat, at least 4 different kinds, kabob, porridge, kachapuri, kinkhali, bread, eggplant, various sauces, pig liver and intestines (no thank you very much), fried egg rolls, etc. SO yummy. The supra was in honor of the host's son returning home from war in Afghanistan. All of his friends were there and they toasted to him over and over again. In Georgian fashion, the men all got wasted and began dancing traditional Georgian dance. Everyone else clapped along and continued to feast. My school director was sitting right next to me and she kept trying to refill my wine glass-- and it was a school night!! Oh Georgia. Late night after the wine jugs had been refilled a number of times, the music turned to American club music and Georgians danced to Gangnam style and Danza Kuduro, it was hilarious.  By 10:30 I was totally knocked out-- just super tired and super full. But the Georgians weren't even slowing down.  It was so embarrassing, here my 55 year old school director was not only out drinking me but also out lasting me at the party. Shameful and I call myself a college grad. Thankfully my host parents brought little Giorgi and when he fell asleep we left the party. We said goodbye to the hosts, which of course turned into me kissing and hugging almost half the guests (oh it was a BIG party there were at least 45- 50 people there).  The best part of the whole night, however, was after my 15 course meal at the supra my host family came home and tried to feed me. So typical.  I am looking forward to going to many many more Supra's in the future!!

Please excuse my lack of pictures! I forgot to bring my camera to both my visit to Senaki and Samtredia and to the supra.

Weekend Shenanigans

So, last friday I ventured out into the world again leaving my small town behind for the big city, Tbilisi. I met Shawn in Kutaisi and after using "the nicest bathrooms in Georgia" at the McDonalds, together we took a marshukta into Tbilisi. It wasn't the most comfortable 4 hour ride ever, with teeny little seats and wide eyed children. This one girl, maybe around 7 years old, spent a good chunk of the way leaning over her seat with her face about 8 inches away from my face, just staring blankly into my eyes. Her parents thought this was totally normal. I thought it was creepy as hell. Anyways upon arriving, Shawn and I took a cab into the city and met up with Nathan (we were crashing at Nathan's ridiculously amazing apartment with an equally ridiculously amazing view) and Greta, who had arrived earlier from Keda. The four of us went out for dinner at a restaurant which apparently didn't serve almost anything they actually had on their menu.

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to meet up with our Georgian friend Tengo and his friends from the university to head to Martkopi Monastery. We had our own private marshukta and driver and all ten or so of us headed out to the monastery. On the way we had fun teaching the Georgians American tongue twisters "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" This one being the most popular and they did a good job with it! Along the way we stopped about a hundred times to pick up vegetables, meat, goods to make burgers with and of course lots of vodka. The monastery was beautiful! Inside we met a monk who lived there and he (with translation of course) spoke to us about the power of love and I lit a candle for my dad. The monastery was located at the top of a mountain so the view was incredible! We hiked up a steep hill to get the best view of the monastery below us. Stunning. But it was so cold and windy up there that I would have sold my soul for a pair of gloves. When the weather become unbearable we headed back down the mountain and searched for a good place to picnic. The driver helped us make a fire, and we all sat around it warming our hands. Except I got a little too excited and burned a hole through my shoes. awesome. After warming our hands up we feasted! The boys cooked the meat over the fire on spits and we made burgers and roasted kachapuri. Then we broke out the vodka and the toasts began. After we were all only slightly inebriated we played some games. A georgian game called "He or she does...." In which one person closes there eyes and the rest of us in the circle point to someone. Then the person with their eyes shut says he or she does... and then names something ridiculous. The person who was chosen then has to do the thing demanded of them. We had a few stripteases, lick the ground, dance on the table, dance for the marshukta driver, etc. It got pretty interesting. Don't worry, I got photos of it all, videos even! We spent a good part of the day feasting and drinking and playing games. When it started to get dark we got back in our marshukta and had a sing- along on the ride back into Tbilisi. 

Sunday wasn't particularly interesting, Shawn, Greta and I prepared to head back to our respective cities. Shawn and I did run into a fellow expat, Laurel, on our marshukta ride home which was fun. The 4 hour ride back was the usual-- the van reaching ungodly speeds and making whiplashing stops. Gotta love it.

Monday, I prepared for just a normal day at school. Which it turned out wasn't written in the cards. It was teacher appreciation day so after my first two classes at 11:30 the teachers gathered in the lounge for a feast. There was meat, eggplant, bread, jam, tomatoes, fruit, and of course lots of wine. Giorgi, the single math teacher, kept trying to sneakily refill my glass and I was like hey Giorgi, you know I can see you right? After every sip I took from the cup he was waiting to fill it to the top. We toasted again and again and after the lunch break my teachers insisted that I skip class and stay to drink with Giorgi. Matchmakers at it again. So by 4th period I was seriously bombed and Giorgi and I were actually bonding. Then at around 3 o'clock, presidential candidate, Giorgi Margevelashvili, came to Abasha to give a speech in the park. It was packed with Georgians, in fact I don't think I've seen this many people in Abasha ever. I had no idea what he was saying but the people seemed to like him.  An old lady in the crowd grabbed me and hugged me close, caught up in the excitement of the speech. Here I met up with my new Georgian friend, Davit, and after we went to the cafe and ordered food and shocker-- more vodka! I spent the rest of the evening with him drinking and eating kinkhali! Of course everyone in town thinks we are "sweathearts" which pleases all my teachers who are still so concerned with my single status. In Georgia, I should already be married and have popped out a few kids by now.....yikes!   It was super dark out by the time I walked home and I forgot my flashlight so I walked right by my house and after about two miles I was like wtf, where am I? Finally after about 8 different frantic phone calls with my english teacher I made it home safely. Anyways the moral of the story is: always bring a flashlight! Because when it gets dark here it gets DARK and I was bumping into rocks, fences, cows, etc. I've got the bruises on my knee as a constant reminder.

Today wasn't nearly as exciting, which was fine by me. The past four days held enough excitement (and booze) to last a lifetime... or at least until Friday. On Friday, Daryl, an expat from a neighboring village, is coming to Abasha and we're gonna check out the one sketchy little disco bar that Abasha has to offer. But that's a different blog post.

The crew

View of the Monastery

My Weekend in Kutaisi

Friday afternoon I was successfully able to get away from my small town life here in Abasha and visit my new friends in Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city.  

From the town center of Abasha I flagged down a Marshuka, which I can only describe as looking similar to either a "60's style shaggin' wagon" or a "rape van" filled with individual seats and smelling like cigarettes and body odor. The ride was only about an hour long and the sights along the way were breathtaking and hilarious.  The silent panic and simultaneous laughter at cows standing in the middle of the highway and an old babushka chasing down a stray dog who was holding onto his stolen goods in his mouth and running for dear life, can only be rivaled by the view of the mountains-- with the thin layer of white snow atop the highest peaks visible. Stunning. Once arriving in Kutaisi, I was immediately overwhelmed by-- everything. Unlike Abasha, Kutaisi has traffic, noise, and well...people.   After using the nicest bathroom in all of Georgia at the McDonalds, I took a bus into the center of town and met Chase at an outdoor park. Next stop, American Corners. Abasha doesn't have one, so I wanted to see what it was all about. At American Corners I met Anne, a peace corps volunteer, who was giving a presentation to some Georgian students on Hispanic Heritage Month. Then I dropped off my things at Chase's host family's house, where I was staying for the weekend, and we headed to happy hour! On Friday nights the expat community in Kutaisi, including a fair amount of cool Georgians, meet up for drinks and dinner. I got to crash this event and meet lots of new and interesting people. We drank some wine, played a few rounds of "fingers"--a drinking game, ate some kinkhali and some meat- frankly in the shape of a turd. Then a small group of us decided to check out a Hookah bar nearby. I can't say it was the best Hookah bar ever, there was only one flavor and the Hookah wasn't properly set up, but nevertheless a good time was had by all. We met a small homeless puppy, in Georgia they are everywhere, with with Chase had some sort of cosmic bond with. Despite my love for animals and my nerdy obsession with animal planet, I couldn't bring myself to hold it because I knew it would be covered in fleas. Eww.  

Saturday morning, I volunteered with Chase and a fellow Fulbrighter in the area, Shawn, with the FLEX program. FLEX  Basically I just helped administer the test and make sure no one was cheating.  Lots of kids came out, about 300, to take the exam and I was happy that I had a chance to be a part of it.  After the FLEX program, the three of us were invited to the The Lion's Club- Lion's Club- to help give a presentation.  During the exercise that followed the presentation, my team, consisting of 3 Georgian girls from the University, created a NGO named Green City and devised a budget for it. I was glad to see young people take such a genuine interest in community service work. At Bates I was a member of the National Bonner Program, doing about 80 hours a semester of community work with the local ESL program and I 100% support any program that gets young people involved with serving their communities. After the presentation, the three of us went back to Chase's house where Shawn and I did a thorough investigation of Chase's laptop-- nothing too interesting unfortunately, except for a hidden file named "boobs map"-- and began drinking wine! By 8 we were successfully inebriated and we stocked up on cookies and cheap Georgian vodka and headed to Tom's "swanky" apartment (an expat working with a finance company). Here we met up with another expat working with TLG, Laurel, and the five of us got to know each other over more than a few glasses of alcoholic drinks (well I can't speak for everyone, because I was definitely the drunkest betch at the party), but from what I do remember, Kutaisi has a very interesting and fun group of expats- and Georgians-- who I can hope to consider close friends :)

Sunday I spent most of the day in Chase's host family's house. I have decided to dedicate an entire paragraph specifically to this family- because that's how awesome they were. Chase's host sister, Nini, speaks very good English and we chatted more than a few times about our favorite American TV shows and our favorite hot actors. Upon hearing that I also watched the TV show Teen Wolf (guess this embarrassing secret is out of the bag) she made me a power point of pictures of hot guys from the show being hot. She was adorable. I didn't have too much interaction with Giorgi, Chase's host brother, except for when I completely misunderstood what was happening and moved all my things and set up shop in his bedroom. Oops. Chase's host mother, Irma, also my host mother's name, didn't speak any English but she was super nice and when I was on my way out she refused to let me leave without making me a giant delicious dinner- which I didn't refuse. The host father is a big drinker (like all men in Georgia) and he had me up Sunday morning, meeting the neighbors, drinking wine, smoking cigarettes, and picking grapes with the whole neighborhood. Meeting this absolutely ridiculous family was by far one of the best highlights of my trip.

Arriving back into Abasha late Sunday afternoon was pretty comforting. The hustle and bustle of Kutaisi and the overwhelming excitement of making new friends was more than enough for one weekend. And my host family was glad to see me! Little Giorgi, who was sitting on the steps, ran down to greet me at the gate, even the cat was nice to me (probably because I'm the only one that sneaks her food). Yes, Abasha I love you, but I hope to be back in Kutaisi again very soon.  

View of Kutaisi from the bridge

The American Corners

The kids waiting to take the FLEX test

Festival of Abasha

Last saturday was the village festival. It was everything that one expects from a Georgian celebration. There was a church service, music, dancing, tables and tables of food, lots of wine, and lots of Georgian men immediately ready to fill your empty glass. I'll start with the church service. My colleague, Nino, took me inside the church where a service was being held. It was beautiful inside, with lots of brightly colored icons on the walls.  It was unlike any service I have been to. It was incredibly small and everyone was standing, sometimes pushing rather fiercely I might add, and everyone was talking. Friends were embracing and having conversations while others sang in the corner and still more lit candles and just observed. Nino forced me to take pictures of everything, pointing and saying "take picture now" and "now from this angle, it would be better." I think I even have a picture of the bathrooms. After the service was the music and dancing. Getting to the front row of this small concert was seriously worse than being at a Jay Z concert. Georgian moms with cameras have the strangest ability to finagle their way through the smallest of spaces. I stood at the very front in the beginning and somehow ended up near the back after only 5 minutes. Those of you who know me know that I am super competitive and not easily pushed aside. So I did what I would do at any other concert, I showed them I meant business! -- I finally made it to the 4th row, fair enough. The dances were beautiful. The Georgian people are so proud of their traditions and everyone was clapping and smiling and of course the moms were waving their cameras. Next, we feast! By far my favorite part of the festival was the socializing and drinking and feasting that came afterwords. Long tables filled with food: meat (seriously a goat that still had its head but it stomach had been carved out and filled with apples), bread, cheese, fruit, eggplant (which was amazing), cakes and WINE. Yes, wine. Drinking sometimes from long horns and sometimes from bowls and sometimes from cups, not even sure which cup was mine at times as there were so many. After a toast you are required to drink back your whole glass and of course, in Georgian fashion, there were about a hundred toasts.  When the whole village had become inebriated, including myself, there was lots of hugging and cheek kissing (sometimes you went in for the cheek kiss and they moved last minute for a real kiss...oops) and I was even fed some grapes-- yes they actually insisted on putting the grapes into my mouth. The whole thing was less sexual than I'm making it sound I promise... but not by much. Anyways here I met another foreigner working in a nearby village. He is from Canada (ay?) and his name is Daryl. Only a few miles away, I suspect we will be hanging out a lot. Chase, a fellow Fulbrighter, living in Kutaisi, also met me there. The three of us were a pretty damn awesome bunch.

Daily life resumed after the Saturday spectacular. My new Georgian friend, Davit, texted me on Sunday to make sure I was alive. His actual text read "How are you feeling morning you drank so much yesterday :)" Frankly, I am not amused. I just got out of 4 years of college....in MAINE, if there's one thing I can do its drink. I happily let Davit know that I was feeling great.  The rain continued all of Sunday and Monday unfortunately and although I am happy to have my super durable waterproof rain jacket, it is no match for the monsoons of Abasha. Note to self: get large umbrella.  My classes have started to become a familiarized routine. Although the kids are amazing and the teachers try their best it is not always easy. Children almost never do their homework and teachers follow lesson from lesson from what I can only describe as a hilariously bad British textbook. Half of the time I don't know what's going on because everyone is speaking Georgian and another quarter of the time I don't even understand the English directions. But alas, everything is tolerable when the class is over and the teachers usher me into the lounge and make me coffee and feed me cake and tell me I'm pretty. Yes, this will work nicely for me.

Fun facts:
Sneakers in England are called trainers, sweaters are called jumpers and to "turn over" means to change the channel on the TV.

Georgian feast

Goat with no stomach

Inside of Georgian Orthodox church

Traditional Georgian dance