Birthday Party in Gverdzineti!

Last Sunday, I travelled to a nearby village with my host mum for the birthday party of her friend and colleague, Guliko.  It was Guliko's 50th birthday, so it was a big one! (Imagine my surprise at discovering that she did most of the work cooking, preparing, etc. and didn't spend nearly enough time just enjoying the party!  Alas, that's the life of a Georgian woman...especially, I think, in the villages.)

There was a VAST amount of food, as is common for Georgian "supras".  It pretty fascinating how the table is typically set for one of these big dinner parties.  Everyone has small plates in front of them (sometimes two, stacked up, so that you can switch to a clean/new plate sometime during the dinner), and the table is covered with dishes. Empty space is frowned upon. If you ever been to a Korean dinner/res taurant, you have an idea of what I mean.  There is typically no passing of the dishes -- everyone should be able to reach everything from where they are seated.  If, for example, one of the foods being served is eggplant with walnut paste, then there will be as many small dishes of eggplant on the table as necessary for everyone to have easy access.   When the table gets too full, they just stack plates of food on top of each other.  It is very important to give the appearance of abundance; no serving dishes are ever left on the table empty!  They are constantly being re-filled/topped up from the kitchen. The upside is that the table always looks fresh and inviting.  The downside is that the lady (or ladies) of the house never have a chance to rest!

The party was a lot of fun.  There was much vino drinking! (Of course, not by me -- only a little!) In Georgian supras, there is a toastmaster, who constantly makes toasts, and asks others to make toasts.  It is taboo to take ANY drink without first toasting...hence the need for constant toasts by the toastmaster.  For men, the tradition is to "bottoms up" (i.e., drink the whole glass, about the size of a small juice glass) with each toast. Not surprisingly, this leads to a lot of drunkenness at these things.  Fortunately for me, women are able to get away with taking just a sip with each toast.  Still, it's a bit difficult to gauge just HOW much you're drinking, because, just as the food serving dishes are never allowed to get empty, the wine glasses are constantly being topped up.  Here again, the goal is abundance.

Here are some fun pics:

 Before the party... The pitchers are full of house-made wine.  White, in this case.  

 Some of the ladies across the table from me.  They're all related...somehow.   The cream-colored dish near the center-right of the picture is one of my favorites.  It is turkey or chicken in a flavorful sauce made with ground walnuts.  Delish!

 This is my host mom, after she made a toast.  She's drinking out of a special clay bowl for this toast.  And yes, she drank the whole thing!

 This is my spot.  Notice how the plates of food are stacked on top of each other!

 This is the toastmaster, or tamada, at this dinner.  In this particular toast, he's using the ram's horn, which is a traditional Georgian thing.  The idea is that there is no way to drink from the horn without drinking it all, because you can't put it down! (Actually, I found a loophole.  You can always pour what you don't drink from the horn into your glass on the table, although I'm pretty sure that's a very girly and/or UN-Georgian thing to do!)

The birthday girl and her cake, with daughter and granddaughters.

Random Musings from Georgia

Have I mentioned that my host family is great?  I feel sooooo fortunate to have been placed with them.  It's a nice, low-key house (most of the time), and this really suits me.  It's usually just the three of us -- host mum, host sis, & I.  The other two siblings are working in Tbilisi and only come home sometimes.

In our house, there is a lot of the following:

Drinking tea
Drinking coffee
Watching Turkish and/or Indian soaps
Surfing the net
Visitors -- mostly relatives that live in the neighborhood, like Nini, who is six and adorable.  She was a bit afraid of me at first.  To her, I talk funny and usually don't understand what she says...but she has warmed up a bit.  Her older sister, Keti, is adorable, too.  And, Keti is super-smart -- sometimes, you can just tell, you know?  Here is Nini:

There is also a lot of cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, and light/moderate gardening.  We just got a new calf. Her name is Taplo.  She spends the days in a nearby field grazing. My host mom walks her over there every morning and then retrieves her in the evenings.  She is brown and moos a lot.  Here are some pictures of her:

 

One thing about cows here in Georgia:  Many families have one or more of them, and they usually just live in the yard during the night and go to a nearby empty field during the day.  An extremely common sight in the mornings and evenings is a guy walking/driving his cows out to pasture or back home, on the streets.   Fascinatingly, the cows know where they live.  If they get ahead of the "pack", they'll stop at the gate of their home an moo until someone lets them in!  Just like dogs.

We also have three chickens and a rooster.  Here are two of the chickens. I have named these two Henrietta (left) and Mabel (right).  Another day, I'll post a pic of Marge, the other chicken, and Steve, the Rooster.  Steve wakes me up every morning, and then pretty much crows all day long.  (Clarification: These are just my names for the fowl; I don't think my host family would ever consider naming them! Although...they did name Taplo...)

 

It has also become abundantly clear, just now, that we also have MICE.  There is a mostly derelict upstairs in this house, accessible only from the outside (as is common in the standard two-story dwellings here in Georgia).  As I'm sitting here in the living room, I can hear them running about upstairs.  I just told my host sister that we need to get a CAT.  She agreed...alas, probably only in principle, though, because I don't think she actually likes cats.  Obviously, this is because she hasn't met any awesome cats like Finn, Otto, Betty, Zed, Thongs, Nosy, Louis, Herbie, or any of the other spectacular felines I know/have known in my life!  I miss these two, right now, in particular.  Mom -- if you're reading this -- please send recent pics of kitties!

Week Three -- Trip to the Village of Gverdzinetti & the Surrounding Area

My host mother is a bookkeeper for a small, village school outside of our town of Kareli.  Mostly, she works from home, and the school's director/principal brings paperwork to her.  I think he drives back and forth (about a 30-minute ride) everyday anyway.    Well, they really wanted me to visit the school, and they arranged with the PC trainers/bosses that I could take off one afternoon and head out there after language classes. (This week, we had "self-directed planning time" in the afternoons, anyway, so I didn't really miss anything much anyway.)

So, yesterday, host mum & the director picked me up from school and we drove out to Gverdzineti.  The roads were good, then bad, then terrible, then good again, and then terrible.  I don't think there has been much road maintenance since the Soviets left (no $...or...the $ is spent in the cities, leaving the villages to suffer).  But, we drove through gorgeous countryside, basically through a valley filled with various farms and orchards. Despite the light rain, it was a good drive, and it was weirdly comforting to be in a CAR.

This photo was take on a patch of good road.  We had to dodge these cows, which were being transferred from (I assume) the fields back to their master's home for the night.  Every morning, you will see folks driving their cattle from their back yards, where they spend the night, out to the fields to graze during the day. They drive them back home in the afternoons.  During our drive out to Gverdzineti, we also encountered the following animals in the middle of road:

• A donkey (No human around, so not sure where it was headed.)
• Lots of chickens (Most people have chickens, and they have pretty much free roaming rights, and they somehow know how to get home when that's where they want to go.  These are not small-brained Perdue chickens bred for short lives and giant breasts.  These are some smart, heritage chickens!)
• Two geese and their goslings, of the domestic sort
• Dogs -- always lots of dogs.  Side note about dogs in Georgia -- street dogs are EVERYWHERE.  The most common "incident" experienced by PC volunteers, especially the runners/joggers, in Georgia is dog bites.  Everyone keeps dogs as guard dogs, and it's pretty important that (a) you never show fear or look them in the eye and (b) the neighborhood dogs KNOW you.  They hang out in the street. In this picture, you can see one such dog just (far left, white dog) just lounging on the side of the road, without a care in world. Neither the cows nor the car will disturb him.  He seems to have found a nice patch of dry  pavement. Actually, most of the dogs are probably pretty friendly...but there's no way to know which ones are!  And I seriously doubt many (if any) of these dogs are, let's say, vaccinated!

The school was quite large and in very good shape.  (In any case, it was in way better shape than the public school in Kareli where we go for PST language & other classes!)  The amazing thing was that there were only about TEN students in the school (various ages, from maybe about 7 to 13 or 14) and at least as many teachers!  So, about one teacher per student!

Below are some pics of me at the school.  I felt a bit like a celebrity.  They were very excited to meet me.  I don't think they get a lot of foreigners.  All of the students had me sign their notebooks.  So, I signed them with my name in both Georgian & English, and then wrote something like "Nice to meet you" or "Hello".

In this picture, you see me, the English teacher (far left), my host mum (next to me), the school principal, and the kids (7 of them anyway).  The English teacher, Nana, is very sweet.  Thank goodness she was there to help translate! Although, really, she speaks German, and her English is spotty at best.  But, it's better than my Georgian, so we managed.

After meeting with the kids, we went to what I think was the teacher's lounge/office for a little get together with just the teachers & administrators.  Here is the director/principal and the table, set with cake, soda, and khatchapuri (delicious Georgian cheese-bread).  We also had coffee.  And then my host mom got out the (homemade) wine she brought.  She always brings wine!!  :)

 Here is a group picture of me with the various teachers.  There is an English teacher (the aforementioned Nana), a math teacher, a physics teacher, a Georgian teacher, and...some others.  And a school secretary/principal's assistant.  I think I got invited to someone's birthday party in about two weeks.  If host mum goes (and I think she is), I'm going! I'm sure there will be more wine (smile), and perhaps I'll finally experience my first "real" Georgian supra, which is sort of like a ritualistic Georgian dinner party with lots of toasting.

One month in -- A few things I DO miss...

Exactly four weeks ago today, I flew to DC for "Staging" and, shortly thereafter, to Georgia.  It seems like a lifetime ago!

I was thinking today about the things I do sometimes miss, and thought I'd write them down.  Of course, the only things/people I REALLY miss are my family and friends and pets.  But, occasionally, one does have thoughts such as, "xyz would be really nice right now."  So:

peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

privacy

guacamole

iced drinks

reliable internet (ha ha!)

driving

watching Jeopardy with my mom

variety, options, choices (of pretty much everything -- on the other hand, it's usually sort of comforting and, well, easy to have so few choices)

fabric softener, clothes dryers, and dryer sheets

central heating (soon, I'm pretty sure I'll miss central AC!)

grande lattes

That's about it!  And, like I said, these are just passing thoughts. As it turns out, I can live without these things quite comfortably/happily!

More Notes from Kareli

On one hand, I can't believe that we've had two full weeks of PST already (plus a few days). On the other, it feels a bit like we've been here forever!  I've been studying Georgian for ~3 weeks now (including orientation), and it's going well, I think.  At least, I'm generally able to follow what's going on in class!  But, when I get home and try to speak to my host family, or understand what they are trying to tell me, it's pretty frustrating.  We have the same conversation a lot, since my phrases are pretty limited:

Good morning. Today, I go to school in Kareli. Later we go to Gori.
It is cold.  Bad weather.
I like tea.
I love Lamzira's (host mum's) coffee.
This (bread, potatoes, beans, porridge, etc.) is delicious.
Where is Khatia/Giorgi? (host sibs)
Georgia is beautiful.
I miss my family.
Thank you!
Good bye!
Etc.

Random musings...

My Cluster
My PST "cluster" is great, imho.  We had our first real assignment for organizational development training, and I think we did a fine job working together. We visited a youth-based NGO in a nearby town last week called DROA. The organization's mission is to increase civic engagement among local youth. We interviewed several members/board members in order to do a "capacity assessment" of the organization's programming and external relations functions. Then, we had to write up a report on our findings.  For those who have been wondering what exactly I will be doing in my work here -- that's one example!  I will be paired with a Georgian NGO somewhere, and one thing I might do is conduct my own capacity assessment of the organization's various functional systems (HR, External, Governance, Mgt, Programs, etc.), using a profiling tool based on interviews of & probing questions to key organization personnel.  Does that make sense? It's starting to make sense to me.  The idea is to identify areas of need versus strengths, etc.

Besides me, in my cluster are:
A recently retired CPA from Wyoming.  He is brave and hard working, and the PC is lucky to have him.
A retired (I think?) computer programmer from Spokane.  She is sweet and fun and social, and loves to knit.
And, two (funny coincidence!) 30-ish librarians. One is from Pittsburgh, and he is adventurous and funny. He describes himself as prone to calamities.  The other is from Texas but has lived in Hawaii (yay! HI!) most of her adult life.  She is very smart and is definitely the best student in our Georgian class!

This is Nate (the calamitous) and some of his fan club at the school. We have our Georgian classes every morning, six days a week, in a working school. During the breaks, the kids come to visit our room. They are very curious and adorable.  Interestingly, they seem to gravitate toward Nate the most.  Perhaps it's cultural -- he's the guy in the room, and, in Georgia, men (sons, anyway) are more valuable than girls. (Ask me what I think about that!)  The young man in the Nike hat lives near me, and I sometimes see him on my to or from school.  He always says "Hello!"

Our School
When I stop to think about the fact that our school is a working school, I get a bit sad.  The school is really in terrible shape.  The tiles are loose and broken, sometimes there is no electricity in the rooms, many windows don't close, and the bathrooms are horrendous. (Nate calls them "war crimes.")
And it's COLD.  Very cold.  Despite the fact that it is May, it's still pretty cold here in Kareli (highs in the 50s and 60s most days).  There is no heat at the school, so I usually bring a blanket to class!  I can't imagine what it must be like for the students in winter! Maybe they turn on the heat in winter. I hope so.  Here are a picture of one of the hallways -- notice the lack of any cheery decorations or lockers -- and a picture of Kareli from one of the third floor windows of the school.

 

Houses in Kareli
There are a LOT of empty/abandoned homes in Kareli.  Below is a picture of one of them that I think has a particularly melancholy aura.  I see this one on my way to school everyday.  It's leaning and looks like it might fall over at any moment.  My host mum saw this picture and recognized it as one of the homes left by a Jewish family.  Apparently, after the fall of the Soviet Union, LOTS of Georgian Jews emigrated to Israel and left their properties.

The Georgian Countryside:

Beautiful.  Really beautiful.  Of course, it's early spring now, so it's especially nice right now.  Here's a picture I took on a ride between Kareli & Gori.  You can just make out the Greater Caucasus in the background.  

Other Stuff:

This made me laugh -- "Passion Fruits Crispy Apple"

Marshutka Rides:
A VERY common activity for us PC Trainees -- marshutka (mini-van) rides.  Here we are on a trip between Kareli & Gori for either a technical class, field trip, or something.  I think we were actually heading to the Magti Store (like an ATT or Verizon store) to get mobile internet modems.  This fact explains the happy smiles.  After two weeks of minimal or no internet access, you start to feel a bit weird, especially if you're in your 20s!!  (And, the median age of PC Vols is 24, so they're all pretty much youngsters.)

The Beautiful Georgia Countryside:
We arrived at a really nice time in Georgia.  It's spring and stuff is starting to grow.  So far, in the markets, you can find cucumbers, hothouse tomatoes, green onions, and various herbs and lettuces.  Also oranges from Western Georgia (I think) near the Black Sea.

A Few Things I Wish I Had Packed

Yep...in retrospect, these things should have made the cut:

My long raincoat/trench coat
My Italian mokka coffee maker and battery-operated milk frother
A few more non-pajama loung-ey clothes, like a nice pair of yoga pants and/or my black pajama bottoms that I could wear around the house.
More pairs of "long" socks (not so many bootie/footie-style ones)

Also -- I miss my kitties. But, I couldn't pack them.

My PST Host Family

Throughout Pre-Service Training, I will be living with a host family in the town of Kareli.  PST is 11 weeks long.  If I make it through it (of course I will!), I will be officially sworn in as a full-fledged PC volunteer.

Here are some thoughts on my host family:

First, they are GREAT.  Lovely, caring, & kind.  Super-hospitable.  Hospitality is a very important part of Georgian culture, and my host family is no different.  I also feel VERY lucky, because I know how hard it can be to find host families for foreigners!  The PC Georgia staff is amazing -- they were able to identify 58+ host families in an area with a population about the size of Jefferson City! (Imagine that, AFS volunteers!)

I have a host "mom" who is 48, two host sisters (28 & 25) & a host brother (20).  The two younger siblings are mostly only home on the weekends as they are working and studying, respectively, in Tbilisi during the week.  Host mum is a school bookkeeper, and sister Khatia works in a bank.  Sister Nana is a doctor (or some kind of medical professional) at a children's hospital (in Tbilisi) and brother Giorgi is in the police academy.  Nana was actually home for my whole first week, as she was recuperating from a surgery, but she's headed back to work this week.  They are all wonderful.

Some things I have done and/or have so far:

• Lots of tea and coffee.  Host mum Lamzira's coffee is Turkish-style and amazing.
• Lots of salty food (natch!). Also, eaten lots of food of potentially questionable safety, I think. We have no refrigerator. (So far, so good...but I'm pretty sure I'm playing with fire.)
• My room is lovely!  I suspected that I had displaced one of the family members. Indeed, after about a week, I had enough Georgian language skills to confirm that "my" bedroom is usually Khatia's & Nana's bedroom.  Khatia has moved in with her mom for the time being. 

• Hot shower (usually) and indoor western toilet -- yay!!! (I'm very lucky.  Some of trainees in smaller village clusters, mostly Education trainees, don't have this luxury, although most (all?) of us in Kareli do have.)
• Went briefly to a church -- quick stop-in for prayers and candle lighting.  Side note about Georgian Orthodox churches -- no pews.  Everyone stands during the service...which might explain why my host sister prefers a quick stop-by in the "off-hours" and not attending the full-on Sunday service. Here is the small church in Kareli, and my host sister Khatia and I there.

• Hand-washed my clothes! We have no washing machine. It took less time that I thought it might. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure my clothes are exactly thoroughly clean.  More like "clean".
• Meeting LOTS of neighbors and friends/relatives.  Someone stops by every day -- this is totallly normal in Georgian culture -- no need to call ahead!!  One neighbor/relative (niece maybe?) is a local hairdresser; this fact will come in very handy when I need to dye my grey hairs again...
• Today, we had a special Sunday afternoon dinner. Nana's boyfriend Levan and his sister Tiko visited, so all the stops were pulled out for them.  Fancy table, lots of food, and WINE.  Georgians are extremely proud of their wine heritage.  Wine was invented in Georgia, and it seems as though every family has vines and makes their own wine. Today's wine was house-made.  Giorgi drank a lot. The custom for Georgian men is to empty the glass -- bottom's up! -- with each toast. And there are a lot of toasts.  Fortunately, women are allowed to just take sips!

The spread: dumplings, stewed chicken, chicken livers (I skipped those), fruit, wine, bread, cukes, & orange soda.

 Tiko (Levan's sister), Levan, Nana, Giorgi, & Khatia.

 Levan & Nana (sweethearts) & cousin Tamuna.

 Lamzira & Giorgi (aspiring policeman).

Me and Lamzira, host mum! (Weird thing sticking out of my head is a chopstick I was using to keep my hair up.  I didn't realize how ridiculous it looks.)

• My host family has grapes, various veggies, a few cherry trees, and chickens. Here is a view of the "back yard"/vineyard and the chicken coop from my bedroom window.

Georgian Lunch at a "Real" Georgian Restaurant

One of the first really fun things we did together as a group in Georgia was to go to a restaurant and enjoy traditional Georgian foods.

The restaurant was pretty interesting.  It had a main "lodge" surrounded by various smaller cabins in which tables were set up.  Each cabin would hold only one large table, or maybe two at the most.  Most (all?) of the cabins had fireplaces.  Neat place!

In the foreground -- Georgian dumplings, aka "khinkali".  Delish.  Other highlights: cheese bread (khatchapuri), mineral waters, bean bread (lobiani), spinach, eggplant with walnut paste (good!), & roasted meats.

Here is a picture of our whole group at the restaurant (you can see two of the dining cabins in the background!).

First week in Georgia -- Orientation at the Bazaleti Training Center

From Tuesday AM through Saturday, we were all together at an isolated training center in Bazaleti, which I think was only about 30 minutes outside of Tbilisi.  We were all in a bit of a bubble the first few days -- suffering from jet lag (I woke up wide awake at about 2 am the first three mornings!), general nervousness mixed with excitement, and almost no contact with the "real" Georgia.

The weather was cold, but mostly sunny, and there were spectacular views of the Greater Caucasus.  I need to figure out if I can identify Mount Elbrus -- I heard that you can see it from Georgia (although it's technically in Russia).  It's the highest mountain in Europe...assuming you believe that the Caucasus are in Europe!  (I say they are...)




Highlights of the orientation week in Bazaleti:
I was one of a lucky few that had his/her OWN ROOM and OWN BATHROOM.  Basically, they gave out the single rooms based on age, I think.  All of the older volunteers had singles.  Those in their 30s mostly had doubles or triples, and there were a few "dorm-style" rooms with up to six people in them with bathrooms down the hall.  Here is my room:



We had Georgian lessons in groups of about six trainees each morning.  My instructor, Nestan, was very good.  We started learning the alphabet and some basic words/phrases, like "How are you?". "My name is...", etc.  Here is a picture of some of the language instructors, officially, "Language and Cross-Cultural Facilitators", or LCFs.  Nestan is the one with the colorful scarf:

Afternoon sessions were general overviews of things like PC in Georgia, basic safety & security, introductions from the medical staff, visits from the embassy staff and the PC country director, etc.  The days were long but we had nice coffee breaks.  Interesting note: Georgian instant coffee is remarkably good.  (Anyway, it's waaaaay better than, say, Folgers or Maxwell House drip coffee in the US!)

One lowlight from Bazaleti: We all discovered that the food in Georgia is SUPER salty.  Uh oh.  It will be interesting to figure out how to limit my salt intake!  It was amazing to see swollen ankles on ~20-yr old trainees!
That's about it. Everything else is kinda great.


NEXT UP:  Host families!!

On Saturday, we packed up our stuff and headed off to a big lunch together at a restaurant before meeting our host families, who would be hosting us for the next 11 weeks of PST.  The 58 trainees were separated into 10 different "clusters", each living in/around a different village or town in the greater Gori area.  There are six Education clusters -- those folks will eventually be teaching English in Georgian schools -- and four Individual & Organization Development clusters. The IOD folks (lie me) will be working in various NGOs after PST.

We had SOOOOO much luggage, that, even though we had TWO big tour-type buses, we had to also use a cargo truck to get everything to the host family meet-up point in Gori.

In closing....here are some pics of other PC Georgia trainees in my "G15" group:

 

These are two IOD trainees...heading to meet host families.

Ingesting enough salt in one meal for about 10 people...

Ingesting more salt...

And more salt...

And more salt.... (Side note, the lovely lady on the left was a Jordan PC volunteer, but she was evacuated with the rest of PC Jordan earlier this year and was reassigned to Georgia. We are lucky to have her.)

Just hanging around.  The folks drinking juice boxes just had some vaccinations.  The PC didn't have us all get ALL of the shots we needed before arriving in country. They prefer instead to do some things in country, including Hep A, Hep B, and rabies.  Downside -- I can expect to get lots of shots over the next few months, since all of the above require at least two (or more) injections!  Upside -- we get a juice box every time we get a shot. :)

Staging in DC and Travel to Tbilisi

Friday, April 17:

Arrived in DC today for "Staging", and enjoyed one last hour of freedom/independence in my (very nice) hotel room before my roommate arrived and we had to head to our first meeting.

LOTS of really nice, really interesting (seemingly) people. Very diverse group of 58 trainees (new volunteers). Mostly in their 20s, but a good number of 60+ folks and a very few 40-ish folks.  In fact, I think I'm the ONLY one in his/her 40s.

Today, it was just logistics -- mainly instructions for activating and using our government-issued check card (preloaded with cash to get us through Staging and travel to Georgia). Our country desk officer issued stern "business casual only" and "no visible tattoos" and "no piercings" instructions for Staging and Pre-Service Training.   Whine.... Do I really have to remove my simple little, unobtrusive nose stud?  Seems unreasonable.  Oh well.

Saturday and all of Sunday morning were spent in various pre-departure orientation/training sessions.  Lots to think about...and Lots of people to meet. (Those of you who know me well will know that these kind of situations drain my energy a bit -- I always need my "me" time to recharge.)

On Sunday afternoon, we all piled into big buses with VAST quantities of luggage and headed to Dulles for our flights to Tbilisi.  Here are some pics from the travels:

Here are some of us killing time in a nice area of the Munich airport during our EIGHT-HOUR LAYOVER. (Who planned this itinerary?  Was it designed to torture us?)  In any case, I took the opportunity to have a facial at the airport, have a beer, and just lounge.  At least one other volunteer had a massage, and a few were smart enough to figure out how to use the "relaxation spa" for swimming, hot tubs, and showers.

Sunset at the Munich airport.

This is what arrivals in Tbilisi looked like.  After we went through immigration/passport control and got our luggage, we exited to a crowd of cheering Peace Corps Georgia staff members and current volunteers.  Overwhelming and also awesome.  A REAL welcome -- at 3:30 in the morning!!!!!

Next...it was onto buses and straight to the Bazaleti Training Center, just outside of Tbilisi, for the next four days.