Giorgoba and Thanksgiving

So it hasn’t been that long since I last wrote. Which is good for you and me. It means I don’t have nearly as long of a novel to write and that I probably won’t forget anything. Tuesday was pretty uneventful. I went to school so that I could stay warm and not be lonely at home.  I don’t have any lessons during the school day but I do have English club after school. I don’t (AKA I’m not allowed to) teach grades 7-9 at my school so this is how I am making sure they are given some basic English skills. Even if they can only say hello, my name is and goodbye I think it is well worth my time. I teach them a little bit of everything. Some basic conversation and some basic vocabulary so they can talk about things they like and don’t like. I really enjoy it because although it takes place at school I give the students a little bit of freedom to be silly and loud. My favorite lesson was last week when we covered animals and I made them make the noise of the animal that I said. They were nervous and embarrassed but when they realized that everyone would have to do it they dropped the “I’m too cool for this” attitude and had some fun with it. I did have to go home eventually and of course there was some corn just waiting for me to throw it into the corncrib. I was tired and sore but I figured the only way to overcome sore muscles would be to use them. It was a pretty good idea if I do say so myself. I slept like a rock that night.

The next day was Giorgoba or St. George’s Day. There was no school and I probably wasn’t going to do anything productive so I decided to go to church. Most churches in Georgia are Georgian Orthodox. There is the occasional Catholic Church but those wouldn’t be in the village.  One of the 8^th graders at my school walked with me. I would have gotten lost if she hadn’t. The church is in a separate village about 3km away. The weather was uncooperative and the road was slippery. On the way to church I almost ate it several times but somehow I managed to keep my balance. The church is on top of a hill (like most churches in Georgia) and it is small. This particular church is also very new and this coming Sunday will be the first Sunday worship service. The service is almost entirely chanted or sung with minor parts being spoken. I would understand the occasional word but for the most part I stood there for three hours just listening. Sometimes the singing would put me on the edge of tears because there is something awe inspiring about the way they sing. Traditional Georgian music has seven voices. You know the usual soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Well somehow they come up with an extra three voices. It sounds really amazing. Anyways back to church. They said a lot of prayers. Some people came up for a blessing. This was interesting too because the priest lifted his stole and put the person’s head underneath it. He mumbled something and them tapped the sign of the cross on the back of their head several times (probably three). After that they said some more prayers, sang some more and people started to come up for communion. The children went first. Before taking part in the bread and wine, which was taken at the side of the church, they walked up to the priest and took a spoonful of something out of a gold cup. The acolytes made sure that none of this stuff spilled onto the floor and once everyone was done the priest licked the spoon clean. I still don’t know what it was. I will look it up eventually. After a short sermon about St. George we were dismissed. 

Upon leaving the church it started to rain. It was already cold and the rain wasn’t helping. The roads were already wet and muddy and became more wet and muddy. About half way home I slipped on some muddy rocks in the road and my knee hit the ground. I got lots of mud on me and I didn’t realize it until I got home but I also put a large hole in my tights and skinned my knee pretty badly. Good thing I hadn’t done that on the way to church or I would have been a real sight to see. I already stick out because everyone knows that I'm the foreigner, now lets just think about the foreigner with the rip in her tights and blood running down her leg...yeah I'm really happy that didn't happen before church.  I got home cleaned my leg and went back to chucking corn. Yep there was still more to go. I even had to climb up into the corncrib to move it around so that when I threw it in there it wouldn’t come tumbling back out at me. After all of that I still had English tutoring. The most memorable part about that had to be sending my tutee into a giggle fit over dog noises. I still haven’t quite figured out what was so funny but it made lessons interesting. We were discussing the word bark so I explained that in English a dog goes woof woof, in Spanish they go jau jau (pronounced waow waow) and in Georgian they go something like omf omf. I personally think the Georgian one sounds the most ridiculous and giggle worthy.

Thursday was a bittersweet day for me. It was Thanksgiving back home and I knew I could look forward to talking to my family later that day but I couldn’t look forward to a delicious meal of turkey and sweet potatoes and stuffing and cornbread and all of the other goodies I would be missing out on. In the past few months I’ve come to be thankful for many things and a lot of them are just simple modern day conveniences, like shower curtains. But many other things like the wonderful family and friends that I have are definitely not so simple. They are all very special to me and I know that I wouldn’t be where I am right now if it wasn’t for them. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Friday was fairly boring. I went to school, I came home briefly and then walked over to Kenneth’s family’s house with my computer in hand. I was going there so that they could talk to him on the phone and see how he was doing. I tried the previous day but their Internet wasn’t working so well and we couldn’t connect. We ended up waking him up but I know that his family over here was happy to talk to him so I’m sure it was worth it. I came home to a slow and boring night at home. I finished my second book for the week last night. I sometimes forget how much I enjoy reading a good book. That’s probably why I end up reading them so quickly. I try to put it down so that I have something to do the next day but that never works. Oops. This is why I’ve been downloading new books onto my ipod whenever I find some free Wi-Fi.

Today (Saturday) has been pretty boring. I slept in late. I was supposed to go to a wedding in Batumi but I could never get any clear directions on how I was supposed to get there or whom I would go with so I didn’t go. Instead I stayed at home and cracked (and ate) hazelnuts and watched television and wrote this lovely blog. The weather is cold and gloomy. I’m not saying it was good I didn’t go outside but it was nicer to stay inside and do practically nothing.

Tomorrow I’m going to Kutaisi with my host mom. I think it must be someone’s birthday because she made a bundt cake. On a side note, teaching her to say bundt reminded me a lot of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I don’t really know what’s going on. I have a feeling I will definitely find out tomorrow when we arrive in Kutaisi.

November updates

A lot has happened since my field trip with the 8^th graders from Kenneth’s school. I will try to sum it up. Not too much happens during the week around here so I’ll go ahead and skip to my weekend. On Friday afternoon we called our taxi friend and had him take us to Ozurgeti. We met up with Riley at his house and met his host family. There was supposed to be a Polish party happening with our new Polish friends but one of them was very sick so instead Kenneth, Riley, Harriet and I went bar hoping in the city. There really isn’t too much of a nightlife scene but we made our own fun. The first place we went to was the classy restaurant that we have been to for the birthday parties. We shared a jug of wine and some khachapuri before heading to the next place. It’s a little more of a local place that had booths with swinging doors. Felt like a tiny private old west saloon. We didn’t stay there for too long. When we arrived at the next place we found our local friends. Rezo, Zura, and some of their friends invited us to join them. We sat around and listened to them sing drunkenly in Georgian and English. It was a lot of fun. We were out very late but eventually we made our way back to Riley’s house to get some sleep.

We woke up to bad weather. It was hailing outside and it almost looked like snow. Covered everything in white. The day’s plan was to have Riley come back to the village with us. We invited Harriet to come too. We eventually left the house and met up with our Polish friends. We went with them to the bazaar where I had to buy myself a new umbrella because my old one died a terrible death by wind, rain and hail. We also went to the grocery store and Riley made friends with the Shroma (sliced meat sandwich) guy outside of the store. He is a Georgian who lived in Greece for 17 years and taught English while he was there. He is now an English teacher and sandwich stand man in Ozurgeti. He was a really nice guy who we had a nice conversation with and this automatically led him to bring out some vodka so we could all take shots with him. Very interesting and I think that would only happen in Georgia. We left the store and the sandwich stand to go back to our friends’ apartment where they made us some mulled wine. We called the taxi from there and headed back to the village with Riley and Harriet. After a quick tour around Kenneth’s house we were sat down for a supra to honor our guests. As usual there was lots of food and toasting. Kenneth was the toastmaster for a while and then we just started going around the table and making up toasts as we went. I think that after a while things just kept repeating. It was getting late and Harriet and I were thinking about heading to my house but then we were informed that our usual designated driver (Kenneth’s host brother) wasn’t going to be going anywhere because he drank too much wine. So against the typical rules of the village two girls were going to stay at a boy’s house. OH NO! I was shocked when that happened. Things are very traditional here. But we stayed up late listened to some music and just hung out in general and eventually we went to sleep. It was nice not having to rush home before the party was over. The next morning we bummed around Kenneth’s house for a while. Then we walked to my house where my host mother was excited to see some new faces. I gave everyone a tour of my house and I guess I hadn’t realized how nice it was until I got everyone’s comments. We had a little bit to eat and then we started the walk to Supsa so that Harriet and Riley could catch the train back to Ozurgeti. We gave ourselves plenty of time to walk just in case a car didn’t pick us up. It was a beautiful day for a walk, which was fortunate for us because that would have made village life seem terrible if the weather had been terrible.

We made it to Supsa with no problems and plenty of time to spare. We stopped at our favorite shop for a drink and we asked the woman who runs the shop if she happened to know the English teacher in Supsa. I had heard a rumor that there was another foreigner nearby so it couldn’t hurt to ask. She said she did know of him because he is her neighbor. After a few phone calls we found out that he wasn’t around today so we wouldn’t be able to meet him. When the time came we put Riley and Harriet on the train and while were there we were introduced to the host father, Elguja, of our mystery English teacher. We found out his name is Mike and he is from Wales. Elguja is something like a city official. We went to the host father’s office and drank some beer and ate some wafers. He was very excited to meet us and wished very much that Mike was around so we could meet him too. He gave us his number and took down our numbers. Elguja walked with us to the road and helped us a hitch a ride back to the village. Maybe one of these days we’ll get to meet Mike.

My next adventure happened on Tuesday when I went to school with Kenneth in Gulian. I had nothing better to do because I did not have lessons at my school. It is a school that is much smaller than mine. There are maybe 30 kids in 8 grades. It is quite cozy. There was the usual snacks and coffee and very friendly conversation. The English teacher seems to know English very well but he is very quiet so I have a hard time understanding him. I did understand that I was invited to his wedding on the 26^th. His dad, the school director, wrote the date on the back of my hand so I couldn’t forget. I don’t know how I’ll get there but I was invited. After class was over we sat around and Kenneth played chess with the math teacher. I watched. At some point the director went to get a bottle of wine for us to share. He was thrilled to have a guest at his school. We finished the bottle and it was time for us to leave because Kenneth and I were going to Lanchkhuti to pick up a package for me. There was a bus that goes right past the school so that made it easy for us. Lucky for us a woman who was also going to Lanchkhuti offered to walk with us to the post office. I don’t think we would have found it without her help. I was happy to get my package from my mom. Peanut butter, nutella and warm socks, what more could a girl ask for.  We also stopped by the educational resource center to grab some paper so we could have our students do some projects out of their books. On our way back to the bus stop we run into Elguja. Strange after just meeting him the other day but then again our region is a small place so running into people you know should never surprise you.

Thursday the 17^th was my host mother’s birthday. If I hadn’t let it slip that I knew about it I’m not sure she would have told me. The night before she was busy making a lot of food. I guess if you are going to have people over you still have to cook even if it is your birthday. We had some family members come over and Kenneth was invited to come too. Just like any party there was lots of food and toasting. On a birthday all of the toasts revolve around the birthday person. It was interesting. Aniko (my host mom) didn’t seem to sit down at all for a moment. She was busy playing with her grandchildren, which I guess is a great present for a grandma. I don’t know how she felt about the birthday. She didn’t seem to want it but she had all of these people over anyways.

On Friday after school I got a call from Kenneth saying that he got final confirmation that we would be flying home on Sunday. He had been waiting for about a week for that to be confirmed and of course they wait until the last minute. He didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to his kids but luckily he will be coming back in January so it won’t be the last time he gets to see them. It was also fortunate that there was a supra at his school to remember the 40^th day after a teachers’ husband died. Kenneth was at least able to say goodbye to his teachers. I was invited to come to the school as well. It was good for both of us. I made plans with the English teacher to continue to hold English club on Mondays for the students and Thursdays for the teachers. After that we walked to the house of the English teacher in Gulian so that Kenneth could tell him he was leaving sooner than expected. We left there and then went back to Kenneth’s house so that he could pack. He would have to leave the next day in order to make his early Sunday flight. I decided that I would go with him to the airport but luckily I didn’t have to pack anything except a toothbrush in my bag. We finally got that done and I went home. We made plans to ride with Kenneth’s host father to Supsa where we would catch a bus.

Saturday morning came and we ended up going to Poti to catch the bus from there. It was a slow and tight ride to Tbilisi and from Kenneth’s side it was even a little smelly. When we arrived in Tbilisi we called our friend Clement, we had met him on our trip to Yerevan. We met up with Clement and his friend (and fellow French teacher) Lola and we took Kenneth’s suitcase to their apartment and then we went out for food. We decided to make it a French night in consideration of our company and we had crepes for dinner.  I quite enjoyed having something other than the typical Georgian food. Don’t get me wrong I like Georgian food but sometimes you just want something different. We got drinks at a different French café and then we went back to the apartment to rest for a few hours before going to the airport. We wrote a small thank you note and left their apartment at 3AM. Kenneth checked his bags after waiting for a few minutes for the counter to open and then we had some food. Airport food is overpriced and overrated everywhere, just in case you were wondering. I saw him through to the area for passport control and then we said goodbye. I cried of course but then again I cry about everything. I knew that at that point I still had 1.5 hours until the train would leave the airport to go back to the city so I sat down and waited. I called Kenneth and got some last minute important numbers from him and even took down a note from him to his students. I cat napped for a bit in the airport until it was time for me to leave. I got on the train and I expected the conductor to come around and collect our 50 cents for the ride but that never happened so I got a free ride back into the city. This would begin my first journey alone in Georgia. I made it to the train station and tried to get a train ticket home but they were sold out. It would have been cheaper and more comfortable but there is always the marshutka option. I took the metro to the bus station and hopped onto the first one I could find back home. It was an uneventful and quick trip. I slept through most of it because I didn’t sleep much the night before. I got to Supsa and walked back to the village. I was home by 3:30PM. I forced myself to stay up until 9 and then I went to bed.

I called Kenneth in the morning(his midnight) and he was in Florida safe and sound. I went to school and had an uneventful day. After school I didn’t go to Kenneth’s school for English club because a teacher there called me to say there weren’t any students today. So I went home. Remember all that corn we had at my house? Well it’s still here. It is all shucked. Guess what the next step is? Corn chucking. There is a house thing on stilts in the yard and all of the corn on the porch has to go into the tall house. So I spent 3 hours today chucking corn into said house. There is snow forecasted for Thursday and now my host mother wants to get all the corn in there before then. I think we have something like 2 tons of corn. I don’t know if it will happen. I have a feeling I will be sore tomorrow but I have some more things to add to my village resume. Expert corn shucker and chucker.

I’m not going to be home for Thanksgiving but I have lots of things to be thankful for so I won’t have any trouble remembering to give thanks on that day.

Sorry for the delay. I’ll try and keep on top of it in the future. In other news my flight home is for the 22^nd of December and I fly back to Georgia on January 14^th. I’m excited to come home but sad to leave here. I have one month left until I come home. I also have a birthday in that time. Who knows what will happen for that. Until next time, stay safe and say a prayer for me.           

Birthday party and a field trip

Sorry for the delay but a lack of power at school for about a week put a halt to my typing time. I know I can always type at home but I’m usually tired and on my days when I don’t have any lessons it is easy to just go sit in the computer room and type away (when there is power that is).

Last you heard I had acquired a large amount of corn and well the corn shucking got old very quickly. I did about three hours worth the day after we got our massive pile and then my host mom told me to go inside because she could see I was tired. The pile didn’t seem to get any smaller and the next day we got even more corn. Yep. More corn. I was not happy but I’ve been excused for a few days because I’ve been getting home later than usual and it is getting cold outside.

My Friday was quite nice. After school Kenneth and I started our hike to Supsa with the plan to catch the train to Ozurgeti. We were walking very quickly because it was possible that we might miss the train if it came on time. Fortunately for us some teenagers in a car picked us up but soon after I could have sworn we were going to die. Joy riding on village roads is terrifying; there is no joy in it. Makes me question my hitch hiking ways in the village but we made it where we wanted to go with plenty of time to spare so I was slightly (just a tiny bit, but mostly because I was still alive) thankful to our driver. We arrived at the station to be told the ticket booth was out of order and that we could get tickets in Ureki (next train station and town over). Then in my broken Georgian I asked if it was possible to purchase tickets on the train. He said yes it was possible. So we waited for the train.

The train came and we asked the conductor if we could purchase tickets. She said it wasn’t possible but then asked us where we were going. We told her and she told us to get on and go sit. At first I was convinced we would have to give someone some money at some point but after our two-hour journey (lots of stopping and waiting) we got off the train in Ozurgeti without paying a cent. Somehow we managed a free train ride. I think it might have had something to do with being unable to communicate effectively but I’m okay with that. We then met up with our friend Riley and met two new friends, Kuba (from Poland) and Steven (from Virginia), before heading to the restaurant to celebrate Ruth Anne’s birthday. While there we met two Peace Corps volunteers who had just been having dinner with the ambassador. The ambassador was in town to open a new US aid office in Ozurgeti. We just missed seeing him. We had been here before to celebrate Clare’s birthday about a month ago so we knew what would go down. Lots of food and lots of wine, more wine and even giant cups of wine. There was dancing and music and lots of good conversation in English. Most of the conversation revolved around teaching or bits of culture. After leaving the restaurant we headed to Kuba’s apartment where we met his friend Agata (she is also from Poland). They are here as a European Service Volunteers (or something like that) and they do different things in the community to promote education as fun and to help Georgians learn a little about Poland. I wish I had gotten more information from them about their program but unfortunately I didn’t. We just listened to more music, played some games and had an all around good time. After staying up very late people started to leave. Kuba and Agata offered to let us stay on their spare beds and then offered us food in the middle of the night. I’ve never met so many hospitable people in my life as I have run into while I’ve been in Georgia and they haven’t all been Georgians. Agata also wouldn’t let us go to bed without us promising that we would wake her in the morning when we left. Kenneth and I had to be up early to head back to the village to go on a field trip (excursion) with his 8^th graders. It turned out to be a great night and I hope to be seeing all of my friends again soon. Many of them will not be returning in January and I know I will miss them dearly.

I slept like a rock but 7AM still came way too early. We bumbled our way around the apartment in the dark because the power was out (oh if I had a dollar for every time the power went out), said goodbye to Agata and made our way to the front of the train station where we knew we would be able to find a taxi. In our luck the first one we found knew where our village was, spoke a little English and only wanted to charge us 20 lari ($13) to get back to our village. We had heard horror stories that it might cost 50 lari so we were more than pleased with this price. After a nice ride and jotting down the taxi driver’s name and number we were waiting in front of the school for the students to arrive. Just after 9AM(almost on time) we had packed 25 people into a marshutka and headed towards Kutaisi. I know that I nodded off several times during the drive but I didn’t care. It was going to be a long day and catnaps would be required. Our first stop for the day was the Prometheus Caves.

This cave was pretty amazing. It is probably the tallest cave I’ve ever been in, definitely did not have to worry about hitting my head in this one. It was beautiful and surprisingly tourist friendly. I can’t find anything about it in my guide book and there are very few resources online. I wish I could remember all of the facts but one that sticks out to me was that one of the halls we walked through was 30 meters high. It was a 1 km hike through the caves and it included lots of stairs. I don’t think I’ve even had to take so many stairs while inside of a cave. Here are some pictures for you but I can’t claim them as my own. I found them online.

Next stop after the Prometheus caves was Sataplia. Sataplia means the place where honey is but I’ll explain that more in a bit. It is a nature park that has caves and dinosaur footprints. Yep that’s right, dinosaur footprints that are just sitting on top of some rocks. They have built a covered area and walkway over them so you don’t disrupt them. It was still pretty cool to see it. Some parts of the park are like a bad Disney. You walk into the cave and there is cheesy music and the lights keep changing colors. Even with all of that this cave was less impressive than the Prometheus Cave. The best part is walking around the park. There is a lot of natural beauty and there are some cool stories to go with it. There are some cliffs with small holes in them and bees live in those holes and from those holes you can gather honey. I thought that was pretty cool. There is a great view of Kutaisi and the surrounding area from the very top of the park. There is a glass floor in a u-shape so you can walk out over the edge of the cliff. Moderately terrifying but Georgia seems to have a love for glass floors so I’ve gotten a little bit more used to them. After Sataplia we made our way to Gelati. On the way we stopped at a house where we set up tables and all of the kids started pulling food and drinks out of their bags. I was quite hungry and hadn’t realized that we were carrying a feast around in our bus with us. It was very different from the food situation on an American field trip. After we finished eating the bus driver cranked the music and all of the kids started dancing in the road. Kenneth and I were required to participate even if we didn’t want to.

Gelati is an impressive cathedral and former monastery complex about 10km from Kutaisi. King Davit built it in the 12^th century. The frescoes inside the cathedral were beautiful but it was getting dark when we arrived and I know it must be even more impressive during the day. Just outside of the cathedral you can find King Davit’s tomb. While I was visiting Gelati I bought a bracelet that has my name written in Georgian letters on it. I like the way my name looks in Georgian. ლესლი. Yep it’s pretty cool. I was sad that we were only able to spend a few minutes there but it was worth it. Next stop was Motsameta. Motsameta is another old church/monastery near Kutaisi.

It was very dark when we arrived but from what Kenneth told me (he went there with his host family in September) the views are amazing. Georgians have a particular knack for placing their churches on top of hills that have spectacular views. When you visit this church there is a cool and interesting tradition that you must take part in. After walking into the church you go to your right and there is a side altar raised on a platform. You are supposed to make a wish, cross yourself and then crawl underneath the altar. You do this three times and then your wish will be granted. The bones of two monks who were killed in an Arab massacre in the 8^th century are in this altar. I don’t remember exactly what happened to make them so special but I’m sure I can look that up somewhere. After spending some more time in the church we made our way back to the bus where more dancing in the road ensued. I don’t understand their love of this but it made the night interesting. I was very tired because of a lack of sleep the night before but the students didn’t care they just wanted me to dance. Eventually we piled back into the bus and made our way back to the village. After a long two days I was quite happy to make it back to my bed and go to sleep.

Tbilisi, no Kazbegi, well it's both.

I last left you as I was heading to Kenneth’s house to enjoy some fresh pork kebabs. It was a lot of fun watching the meat cook and hanging out with Kenneth’s family and playing a couple of rounds of darts (which I lost terribly). I ate way too much food and I wasn’t sure I would make it home but I did and I definitely slept very well that night. Not too much happened over the next few days. I continued to go to after school English Club at Kenneth’s school and I started English Club for the older students at my school too. They are gradually introducing English and at my school if you are above grade 6 you don’t have any English classes. I think that isn’t very fair for them so I now meet with them once a week to go over some conversational English. The basics such as; what’s your name, where are you from, when is your birthday, how old are you, how many siblings do you have? There are all the basic questions that I have been asked one billion times since my arrival in Georgia. I figure it is only fair that they are also able to answer them.

Boys working with the kebabs

On Friday afternoon Kenneth and I made our way to Tbilisi for the Halloween weekend. The plan was to go to Mtskheta on Saturday morning, the Jazz Festival on Saturday evening to see Larry Coryell Trio and then later go to one of the hostels around town to enjoy some candy, pumpkin carving and drinks. Well as usual in Georgia things never go according to plan, fortunately for me I’m learning how to deal with it. On our way to Tbilisi I get a message from the person we were going to stay with saying that she had to go out of town for the weekend for an emergency and that she is very sorry for the short notice. This is when plan B kicks in. Kenneth suggests we go to the McDonalds for dinner and use their free Wi-Fi to find a place to stay. So there we go. For the first time in all of my travels I go into a McDonalds abroad and actually eat the food. It wasn’t as good as  I was hoping for but they did have free internet so I guess it makes up for it. We found a hostel (Nest Hostel) that was offering a deal to teachers in our program for Halloween weekend. Half-price hostel stay with free internet and as much tea and coffee as you can drink. So that is when where we ended up. Upon arrival we are given beds and then shots of vodka. Welcome to Georgia. We stayed up very late and once again our plans were foiled. We made two new friends who were in Georgia on vacation from Lithuania. Their plan for Saturday was to go to Kazbegi(city with a cool church that you hike up to next to the tallest mountain in Georgia).

            Kenneth and I decided to go to Kazbegi. The weather would soon not be favorable for visiting Kazbegi and at this point neither of us knew if we would get another chance to see it. Kenneth and I put on all the clothing we brought with us to Tbilisi. After barely sleeping the four of us (Ruta, Gabriele, Kenneth and I) left the hostel shortly after 8AM to catch a 9AM marshutka to Kazbegi. The trip takes about 3 hours and it will be pretty cold where we are going. On the way we had to drive through a giant herd of sheep and goats and cows. I’ve never seen that many all squished together like that before.

SHEEP!!!

 We also got our first glimpse of snow that we could touch if we wanted to. There was plenty where that came from. We made a short pit stop to grab a bite to eat and use the toilets. In that time Kenneth almost bought a large fuzzy hat made from sheep wool. I took a picture but I couldn’t stop laughing about it for about five minutes.

Fuzzy sheep hat

After another hour of bumpy roads we finally arrived in Kazbegi (now known as Stepantsminda but nobody calls it that). We got out of the bus and were greeted by many locals eager to drive us up the mountain to the church but we had decided that we would prefer to walk. We were also greeted by a very excitable young dog that we later named Shavi(it means black in Georgian). The first order of business was to get to a pharmacy to grab some anti-motion sickness meds for Gabriele. She wasn’t feeling too well after the bus ride. So we all went in to warm up and bit and when we came out our little dog friend was still waiting for us. We began our trek up the mountain. I had read somewhere that it would take about an hour and a half to get there. We were offered even more rides as we started to walk but we were determined to not accept them. We wound our way up through a small village and asked directions several times before finding the obvious path to the top. Most of the way we were walking along the road and there were many switchbacks. Probably against better judgment we took a couple of shortcuts through the trees to the next part of the road rather than walking around the corner. It was an adventure. At one point Kenneth decided he would take one of these shortcuts and the rest of us would just meet him around the bend. Too bad there wasn’t a switchback at that point. We (the girls) followed the road and kept hoping the road would turn at some point. But it didn’t. Kenneth eventually had to climb back down and then take the road. At this point we were very far ahead of him and told him we would just wait for him at the top. I was very happy to have had a phone on that trip and even happier that they still worked at the top of the mountain. Our little dog friend continued to accompany us to the top. He would run ahead a bit and the run back to us or wait for us to get closer.

The church(yeah that's far)

As we got closer to the top it got colder and there was more snow but it wasn’t snowing. I made a snowball and threw it at a tree. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced snow in October but there is a first time for everything and in Georgia I’m sure I will experience many more firsts. We finally turned a corner and we could see the church. At last! Although we were determined to not take a car up to the top there were moments when we all regretted that decision. The view from the top was amazing. It was a bit windy but that was expected. Kenneth also finally joined us and we had our lunch of bananas and bread and water. We hadn’t really planned too well in advance for a climb up a mountain but at least we had some food.

Shavi and the church in the snow

We trudged across some mud and snow and made our way to the church. We went inside but before we could do that the girls had to put on skirts. They were provided for us on a bench outside. It was a very small and quiet church. There were lots of candles and icons. I could feel the sacredness of the space and I didn’t want to ruin the peaceful silence, not even with a sniffle. It was a journey that was worth taking. Unfortunately what goes up must also come down. We were trying to guess how many of us would fall on the ice on our way down. I ended up being the only one. Just a step and a slip and BOOM, my butt was in the snow. Fortunately I recovered quickly and didn’t get too wet. But I will say that my leg hurt a bit the next day.

 Mt. Kazbek

New friends

We made our way down the mountain and just before we got back to town our little dog friend left us for a lady dog who wanted nothing to do with him. We found a restaurant to eat some hot food. I had the most delicious bowl of chicken soup I’ve had in a long time. I don’t know if it was because it was hot or if I was that hungry or if it really was that delicious but I really enjoyed it. Our bus back to Tbilisi was just outside of the restaurant and while we were waiting for it to leave Shavi the dog found us again. He tried to get on the bus to come home with us and if it was had been possible we would have taken him in a heartbeat. Unfortunately we had to leave him there but hopefully he will accompany more travelers up to the church in the future and they will enjoy his company as much as we did. It was a quick ride back to the city, probably because I fell asleep for part of it. We made our way back to the hostel and things were just starting to pick up for the Halloween party. Many of our fellow teachers had also shown up in the time that we were gone. It was good to see a lot of them again. There was lots of music (even some Disney songs) and drinking and food and an all around good time. I was really tired so I went to sleep around 1AM but after barely sleeping the night before I feel like that was acceptable even if there was a Halloween party.

It just wouldn't be Halloween without jack-o-lanterns

The next morning, Sunday, we were awake around 10 and Kenneth, Ruta, Gabrilele and I went out in search of the market where we could buy some Georgian gifts. The Lithuanian girls were leaving the next day to go back home and needed gifts for their families. I also was looking but I didn’t find anything that I really had to have or that someone I knew really needed to have as well. But it was really interesting trying to bargain in Georgian and they all got excited when they noticed I knew more than just how much does this cost, and a few numbers. Even strangers were calling me kai gogo (good girl). After some shopping we made our way to a little café that was serving tomato soup and croissants and other familiar foods. It was a bit expensive by Georgian standards but it was comforting and delicious. We then said goodbye to our Lithuanian friends and made our way back to the hostel.

It was in those next 15 minutes that I made the decision to stay in Georgia for a second semester and to complete an entire year as an English teacher. I had made a list of pros and cons and there weren’t that many cons. I am also reasonably adjusted and happy here. I do miss people from back home but I will get to see them during my holiday break. Upon arrival at the hostel I pulled out my computer and sent my contract extension request to the legal department. I also sent my flight requests and I have requested to fly back around the 21^st of December but my flight could be + 3 days from there. School doesn’t end until the 23^rd so I didn’t want to leave my students for a very long time without me. When I have my actual dates I will be at home I will let all of you know. Thank you so much for supporting me in this adventure and I can’t wait to see you when I get back home. Please continue to pray for me as I need it even more in the next two months. I don’t want to say that I’m homesick but I do miss many people from back home so waiting until the end of December could be very difficult.

I have told my teachers and my host family and some of my students that I will be returning in January. They are all very excited to have me. Plans for this coming weekend include a school excursion with the 8^th graders at Kenneth’s school. On Saturday morning we will be going somewhere near Kutaisi. The details are a bit fuzzy at the moment. Should be fun. Also last night about one ton of corn arrived at my house. I will be busy shucking corn for the next few days.