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 8th 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 12th 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 8th 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.
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