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!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
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.
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
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