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.