I have been out and about in Georgia traveling these past two weekends. I figured I would share some photos with you about my adventures!
Rkoni Church
Landscape near Tbilisi while visiting some churches & monasteries
Kvatakhevi Monastery
Weekend in Sighnaghi: Kakheti Region
Sighnaghi Landscape
Rest & Relaxation: These were the two keys to the past couple of weeks. As a result of Easter, we have recently had some longer vacation weekends and shorter school weeks. I decided to stay in the country during vacation in order to experience what Easter was like here in Georgia. It is said to be the biggest holiday of the year. Much like in America, every family celebrates the holiday in their own special way, but there are some standard traditions. (Quick Disclaimer: I am sure there are plenty more traditions practiced here during Easter, however I am only going to mention the ones that I experienced)
Let’s begin! The Friday before Easter, I spent most of the day with my host mom, Teniko, cooking food in preparation for Saturday and Sunday. We made Khatchapuri, multiple salads, and some cakes. On this Friday we also dyed eggs. Tradition #1 –This is not quite like the egg dy-athon we have in America. All the eggs we dyed were red in honor of what they call “Red Friday”…..or the day that Jesus was nailed to the cross. The eggs usually get displayed in a red dish with grass growing in the middle as a sign of new birth. On Saturday we went to the village Gordi. This is where my host dad, Merabi’s parents live. It is about 45 minutes from Khoni and it is up in the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful and great for hiking! On Saturday we visited and prepared the graves of lost relatives in Gordi. Tradition #2 — Usually the family gravesites are completely gated off with a wait high fence, from the rest of the graves in the cemetery. By preparing the graves, we swept the enclosed area and placed flowers to get ready for Sunday. Cue Sunday…Easter….or as they say in Georgia “Qriste Agsdgaa” Tradition #3—“Qriste Agsdgaa” (I have decided this is pretty much one of the hardest things to say for non-native speakers……I usually have a couple back-of-the-throat coughing episodes as I try to say it) Roughly translated this phrase means “Christ has Risen”. This is how they say hello to everyone they see on Easter rather than saying “Gamarjoba.” The response to someone saying “Qriste Agsdgaa” to you is to say “Jeshmaritad” (significantly easier to pronounce than the first part). I haven’t fully figured out the translation to the response. We had a supra with the family in Gordi on Easter. Tradition #4– Most families have large supras or as I mentioned in a previous blog “celebrations” revolving around food. This is a big deal on Easter because many people fast before Easter. Fasting in the Georgian Orthodox tradition means that you don’t eat any meat or animal by-products……..basically you live a vegan lifestyle for about 40 days. The term for this is “Sanmakhvo”. With most of the country being Georgian Orthodox, it is very easy to eat this way. Many restaurants and markets label their food “Sanmakhvo” so you know for sure that you can eat these items. Then after the supra the family went back to the gravesites that had been prepared the day before to roll the eggs. Tradition #5– Families go to the gravesites of their relatives and roll the red eggs on the ground across the graves. According to my host sister Ana, this is how the families say “Happy Easter” to their lost relatives. It is a happy event that usually involves bringing food and drink to the cemetery. Later on that afternoon I played some football (European style: and by that I mean soccer) with the kids in the family. In the process, I slipped and fell jostling my wrist….Side Note: Mom and Dad…I might be coming home this summer in a full body cast at this rate. First it was my ankle and now it is my wrist. I don’t think I have gotten this injured in a long time. My wrist is still a little sore but has been improving. Now back to the story. I came back to Khoni on Sunday evening. I spent the last two days of vacation relaxing. Then it was back to school for Wednesday through Friday.
This past week was pretty comparable to the previous weeks. My days are usually pretty short as I am only teaching about 15-20 hours per week. This leaves me with a lot of free time to hang out with kids in town, play sports and just get to know people. I had a funny moment the other day. I was sitting in the park and a girl about twelve years old (not from my school) approached me with a couple of her friends. I was expecting them to start talking with me in English. This is what most of the kids in town do. They all seem to know that I am a foreigner and they get excited to use their English skills. There are numerous public schools in town so many of these kids I have never met. This girl and her two friends apparently missed the mass memo sent around town that I was one of the foreigners. She said, “Gamarjoba” and I responded by saying “Hello” in English. She suddenly lost the smile and smacked her hand to her forehead while saying “O Deda” in the realization that I did not speak Kartuli. Side Note: “O Deda” is a phrase that is pretty common around here. “Deda” (pronounced Day-da) means “Mother” but when said as “O Deda” it usually means something similar to “Oh my gosh”. I couldn’t help but smile at this girl as she then tried to dig into the depths of her memory and dust of that English knowledge. She ended up resorting to Kartuli and I understood that she was looking for a couple of tetri (Lari are the bills and tetri are the coins) to buy some ice cream. Sadly I could not help her out with that as I did not have my wallet on me but I definitely got my share of amusement out of the whole ordeal.
This past weekend, I made the trek out the coast with my friends Kayla and Tamara. We went to Bat’umi. Bat’umi is a large city in the Adjara region of the country that borders the Black Sea. We spent most of our two days walking around and just taking in the sites. We had wonderful weather and so we spent some time at the beach and did a little rock skipping. We also rode a Ferris wheel that is located right in the bay so we got great views of the sea and the city. That pretty much brings all of you wonderful folks up to today. This coming Wednesday I plan to head into Kutaisi for an event called “Kutaisoba”, which is a celebration of the city. There will be all sorts of activities going on throughout the city. I am looking forward to that! We shall see what this weekend brings.
Final Note: I should also say that during these last couple of weeks I have officially signed another contract with TLG! We only sign six month contracts and then are given the option to extend for another six months and so on should we desire. I have signed for another six months! One nice thing is that with school being out of session for the summer, TLG offers all the volunteers extending their contracts, roundtrip airfare to come home for a visit. As a result I will be coming back to America for the month of July. I am looking forward to some exciting reunions!
Here’s to being willing to extend yourself beyond the familiar, in an effort to grow into a better, stronger version of you.
Gaumarjos!
Maggie
Here in Georgia, a common way to transport larger items is by securing them to the roof of your car. Over the past few months, I have made mental notes of the most interesting things I have seen strapped to roofs of cars. I feel it is high time I share these observations……..so here goes…..
Top 5 Things I Have Witnessed Strapped to the Roofs of Cars
‘LONG OVERDUE’ …..This should be the actual title of this blog post. I have come to realize that it has been about 3 weeks since I have posted anything. Shame on me! In the past couple of weeks many things have happened. In an effort to catch you up to speed and NOT be long winded (this is truly my specialty – shall you ever desire a story that leaves no detail out — look no further), I shall summarize via one sentence descriptions followed by one word emotional responses in bold to said events. 
I think that pretty much catches us up to the present. I have intentions to post some pictures to help give a frame to the stories above. I don’t have a lot on the books for this weekend as I still have my ankle wrapped and am trying to let it heal. Bring on the cane!!!
Next weekend is Easter here for the Georgian Orthodox tradition so I it will be a shortened week for school and I hope to spend time with my family. It will be interesting to see how this culture celebrates the holiday. I plan to give a full report back to all of you!
I am hoping to have some fun and exciting stories to come as there is never a dull moment here in Georgia!
Here’s to starting every day with a smile and leaving oneself open to accepting good things in life!
Gaumarjos!
Cheers
I have been reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as of late and it has inspired me to give all of you wonderful readers a pop quiz…….this time I intend to test your deductive reasoning skills. At the end of my last blog post I said that I had tentative plans to head to Armenia this past weekend to see Yerevan, the capital…..
Did I end up going?
If you guessed B (based on the weather being so unpredictable), you are correct! The trip to Armenia was a bust. After checking and re-checking the weather we made the last minute decision against going to Yerevan. The weather was looking to be very cold and a little too untrustworthy. The high in Yerevan was only supposed to be -9 Celsius which is about 15 degrees when converted over to Fahrenheit. We found it best to wait about a month or two when it will most certainly be warmer.
In lieu of going to Yerevan I decided to hang with my family on Thursday (everyone in the country had school off because it was Women’s Day) and then head into T’bilisi for a day. A couple of my friends and I took the midnight train to T’bilisi on Friday…….yes that is right folks I took a midnight train in Georgia….I tip my hat to Gladys Knight and the Pips for that inspiration! We left at 12:30 a.m. from Kutaisi (it was snowing ……..weird…please insert sarcastic intonation here……) and got into T’bilisi on Saturday around 7 a.m. I have never taken a train with sleeper cars before, but it was definitely a memory for the books.
From beginning to end this trip to T’bilisi never ceased to be interesting. It started when we were in the train station in Kutaisi buying our tickets. We were informed that there were three open beds available (whew-crisis averted)….but that two of the beds were located in one room and the other bed was in another separate room (what?!?-crisis NOT averted). With three of us looking to travel to T’bilisi, it is safe to say none of us really wanted to be in that other room with three strangers. We were determined not to let this information derail (get it!) our plans for T’bilisi, so we decided that two of us would share a bed. We ended up with the two top bunks. Because I was the tallest of the three I got one of the beds to myself (I was content with that logic). Tamara and Kayla decided they were okay sharing the other bed (bless their hearts). Let me say this, if you ever take a night train, I suggest you refrain from the top bunk unless you really like the sensation that you are flying! I knew there had to be a reason why they attached a handle to the wall beside my bed! SERIOUSLY! Being on the top bunk means you feel every bump, turn and lurch. I felt the handle on the wall didn’t offer me the reassurance I was looking for. I think I got about three hours of sleep. The other three were spent wide-eyed for fear of falling off the bed. Aside from being sleep deprived it was a very interesting way to travel. I would do it again, however not by myself.
We made it into T’bilisi Saturday morning and went on with our merry day. The weather turned out to be wonderful. It was sunny and about 55 degrees all day. We had the opportunity to meet up with some other TLG volunteers who were stationed in and around T’bilisi. We also got the chance to hike up to Narikala fortress/cathedral that resides on the side of a hill overlooking the city. The cityscape views from up there were amazing. Indulge in my love of photography: CHECK We also got to step inside the cathedral. It was absolutely beautiful. There were paintings covering every inch of the wall space. This past Saturday was a day of remembrance in the Georgian Orthodox religion, so there was a service going on that we got to watch and listen. The music was absolutely breathtaking. There were only four women singing acapella but their harmonies were unreal. The songs paired with the acoustics made this an absolutely incredible experience. I hope to be able to sit in on more of these church services as we near Easter holiday.
We rounded out the day by taking the night train back into Kutaisi. When we got back to Kutaisi it was a full blown blizzard (weird). We ended up having to walk around the city for a while in the snow and wind because marshutkas don’t run that early and taxis are few and far between at six in the morning…..who knew….(a little better planning next time: NOTED) Eventually we found a taxi and made it safely back to Khoni, where we spent the rest of Sunday recovering from the immense amount of exercise we received from walking around T’bilisi.
This week so far has been pretty normal with the exception of Wednesday. I was informed that my co-teacher was taking a half day and would like me to teach grade 3 by myself. In that moment, all I could think of were the two other occasions where I had taught grades 1 and 5 by myself as a result of my other co-teacher being sick. Let’s just say these previous lessons were not incredibly productive as my English-Georgian translation skills aren’t quite worthy of authoring a dictionary yet. Needless to say, the kids did not understand most of what I was saying (even with my stellar mime skills at work). Because of this, I was a little worried for my grade 3 lesson. I just figured I would go in there armed with plenty of activities that didn’t require a lot of explanation. When I got into the classroom the homeroom teacher kindly decided to stay and help the kids stay calm and in their seats. This made all the difference in the world. I was so grateful because with some assistance in translation, the kids were really excited to participate and I started teaching some new concepts all while playing games to increase retention. The class went really well and I walked away completely affirmed! Teach a successful class to non-native English speakers: CHECK.
With regard to this weekend, there aren’t a lot of activities on the books. I plan to stay around Khoni/Kutaisi. There are quite a few of my fellow volunteers that are traveling to T’bilisi for St. Patrick’s Day, however after spending last weekend in T’bilsi I decided I wanted a different experience. I hope to make it into Kutaisi on Saturday (the weather is SUPPOSE to be good) and get out and see Gelati Monastery which, I have been told, is absolutely beautiful and a must-see in Kutaisi. I am excited to check that off my list. Pictures to follow!
Quick side note: I have now realized that I signed off my last blog posts by saying “here’s to…” I never really gave an explanation as to why. Well here goes…..the abridged version. The Georgian culture is big on having celebrations called supras. They usually involve eating way too much food, drinking a lot of wine and simply enjoying the company of one another. These supras are pretty traditional in that there is usually a tamada or toastmaster who creates toasts and cheers to get everyone involved. They also help initiate conversations at the table. Once a toast is made everyone raises their wine glass and says “Gaumarjos” which roughly translated means cheers! In an effort to incorporate some of this culture into my blog posts I have now decided to end every post with a toast (loving the rhyme).
Here’s to good weather and fond memories!
Gaumarjos!
Maggie
…….And here I thought I had it all figured out…..with the weather that is. A couple of days ago I received an email from my mom saying that my hometown was hit with around 2 feet of snow overnight. My response to this was sympathetic with just a hint of “nana nana boo boo”. I made the horrible mistake of mentioning (for the sake of enviableness) that here in Khoni , we really only get a couple of inches at a time and it usually melts within a day or two.
Well that will teach me…….
We are currently on day three of constant snowfall (pause for laughter of ironic situation). Well “constant snowfall” might be a poor choice of words. It hasn’t necessarily been constant, but it sure feels like it. Today alone, we had a nice grab bag of weather conditions. We started with a light snowfall, followed by a brief five to ten minutes of clear skies and sun. After that Mother Nature decided to rain on my parade (get it!). The rain was followed by pellet like snow and ended with a showstopper – massive snowflakes and hurricane force winds. At least the change ups were keeping things interesting. The rapidly changing conditions gave me a brief moment of feeling like I was back in the states where (at least in Minnesota) the phrase goes “if you don’t like the weather now just wait five minutes.” Now, temperatures are just warm enough to melt some of the snow, however I have decided that just makes it worse. Instead of shuffling through snow, I am now sloshing through slush (how is that for alliterations). Keep in mind the roads here are a little rough around the edges. Let’s just say you could lose your car in some of the pot holes around town. This makes walking in the slush/snow even more precarious as you never know what you are going to experience.
If only the phrase “watch out for that first step, it’s a doozy” from Groundhog Day would have the same connotation and translation in Kartuli.
Outside of the weather (which I love to joke about), life in Georgia has been treating me very well. I am progressing quite nicely on my kartuli (Georgian language). My family takes turns at being my kartulis mast’avelabeli (Georgian language teacher). I am amazed at what I have been able to learn and pick up in a month and a half. I am able to understand more of the conversations around me and I am giving fewer “deer in the headlights” looks when people are talking to me…..which is a serious improvement from the first week or two. Everyone is very supportive of my learning process and more than willing to assist me. All my fellow Khonians….or would it be Khonites…..?????…………..anyway, they have been some of the best cheerleaders. All I have to do is utter a word or two in kartuli and the other teachers at school basically think I am fluent! I get a lot of pats on the back, kisses on the cheek and “k’ai gogo” (good girl). They get a huge kick out of any foreigner speaking their language. In the beginning it is a little intimidating to attempt to speak kartuli, because more often than not they begin to laugh. It took a bit to realize they are not laughing at your speaking skills (or lack thereof), but rather are laughing because they are so happy you are actually trying. They realize Georgia is a small country and not many people outside of their country are able to speak kartuli. So when a foreigner comes in and makes an effort, it brings a smile to their face and joy to their eyes. It has also forced me to loosen up (I usually end up laughing with the locals at my efforts) and just attempt to speak rather than being afraid of making a mistake. In the end we are laughing and learning together! I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My next big trip is coming up this weekend. I have tentative plans to travel to Armenia for a visit to the capital, Yerevan, with some other TLG volunteers. I say maybe because it depends on the weather and we all now know what I have learned about that topic (please reference beginning of blog post). If the weather pans out, it should be a fun trip. If the weather turns ugly I will have to put this trip on the back-burner until the weather gets warmer… and perhaps a little more predictable. haha
In this last month and a half, Georgia has been anything but predictable, but I have found that to be the beauty of it. We learned at orientation that the Georgian culture does not place a strong emphasis on making plans. Georgia has a rather lengthy war ravaged past where uncertainty was commonplace. Because of this, the emphasis was and is placed more on taking advantage of the present moment rather than on making plans to make plans. You can’t plan life as they like to say. As a self-described planning and list-making extraordinaire, this attitude took some getting used to (especially when it comes to lesson planning and timeliness). However, the general sentiment is pretty insightful. I am slowly incorporating aspects of this attitude into my own life. It is balancing me out quite nicely! Here’s to living in the present and looking to the future.
Gaumarjos!
Cheers
Maggie
My host sister Ana and I (she hates getting her photo taken)
Assisting in the making of khatchapuri for the supra
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! This is not a holiday celebrated here in Georgia, however everyone still seems to be aware of it. My host dad insisted that he did not like this holiday. As he sees it, every day should be a day to celebrate love. ….well said Merabi, well said!
In lieu of more photos (wordpress is pretty determined to only allow me four photos at a time-for which I have no patience) I have decided to do a little more writing. Life in Khoni has been absolutely wonderful. We are tucked away in between the mountains so we never really get a lot of snow. When we do it usually melts within a couple of days. After living 26 years in the Midwest this aspect has been a true blessing. Most of my time is spent either at school or hanging out with my family at home. I am usually located somewhere within a 3 foot radius of some heat source. This concept lends itself to either the kitchen stove or the living room fireplace.
A week ago, I traveled to the city of Zugdidi to visit some of my TLG orientation friends. I got a chance to see the city, meet some other expats and just hang out. It was a treat to hang around people that speak English and not have to desperately grasp at straws for what people are saying to me. I embrace the challenge of learning a new language, but it is nice after two weeks of struggling to be able to actually speak fluently. This past week was a little strange as we only had two days of school. It was snowing on Wednesday. I was in the middle of my first class when the headmaster came in and told everyone that they had the rest of the day off as a result of the snow. She also told everyone that we had Thursday and Friday off from school as well (supposedly there was to be a big storm). She ended her announcement by saying that if it was too snowy on Monday, we should just not come to school…….yeah ….I think it safe to say I can log this memory under the “Only in Georgia” category. Now, it did snow pretty hard on Wednesday (but by Midwestern standards hardly worth cancelling school over) and the rest of the weekend was wonderful, with most of the snow now melted. To take advantage of the long weekend, a couple of us from Khoni decided to go into Kutaisi. Kutaisi is the second largest city in the country and only a mere twenty-five minute marshutka ride from Khoni. We again hung out with some TLG people stationed in that city. Friday evening was particularly enjoyable. There were about 15 of us attempting to find this particular restaurant we had read about in a guidebook, but couldn’t seem to locate. As a result, we just walked into the closest restaurant we could find. When we walked in there was a table of guys in the right hand corner and then a family on the other side. It was a pretty small restaurant. Most of the cooking and order taking was done by 2-3 people. We started out just hanging at our table but then the Georgian music kicked in and before we knew it all of us were dancing (our best attempt at traditional Georgian dancing) in the restaurant with everyone. Everyone wanted pictures with us. It was unbelievably fun and everyone felt like family. Then on Saturday, we had a “supra” party at my house with my host family. They wanted me to invite my friends, so we had about 20 TLG volunteers in our house. I helped my host mom, Teniko, cook and serve the food. Everyone had a wonderful time. Host a successful supra: CHECK. On Sunday, I went to the gym (sporto sk’ola) in town and played basketball with one of the other TLG volunteers stationed in Khoni, and some of the locals. It was so great to see the looks on these guys’ faces, because I am a woman playing basketball. Georgia has rather traditional values and gender roles, so you don’t necessarily see a lot of women playing sports . Needless to say, they were impressed when I could actually shoot the ball and make a basket…..incredibly entertaining for me. That pretty much brings me up to today and the warm 50 degree weather. Loving the sunshine! Hope you all have a wonderful day.
Till next time…
Gaumarjos!
Gathering in the lobby of Bazaleti Hotel waiting to meet our families
More photos arriving in the next couple of days!
I have an insatiable urge to travel the world and see what I can find! Join me as I navigate life's crazy adventures.
