Written April 28th:
Today my cluster (Melissa, Caitlin, Ian, Eric, Von, and
myself) walked around Kvishkheti to get a better idea of the area, where
everyone lives and use what we learned for the inter-cluster map drawing
competition (which we will inevitably win)—WE DID WIN… obvs. We walked all
around town, stopped by the markets, went down by our river, skipped some
stones, and then hiked up a small mountain. There are four markets. They are
all the same size (no larger than a Circle K) and all sell the exact same
thing, but we already have our favorite where we are quickly becoming regulars.
There is a cultural center where children take dancing classes, and I’m
assuming events are held there as well. We crossed my first suspension
footbridge (but then a car crossed it so I guess it was just my first super
tiny suspension bridge). We walked through a pasture of cute, happy cows – the
cows here are a lot smaller and more diverse than the ones in America.
Georgians raise cows the right way, without the cramped spaces and hormones and
corn. The hike was a steep but rewarding one. The top point we reached is
called three stones (Sami Qva) due to the large three stones (more like
boulders) stacked on one another. From there we could see all of Kvishkheti as well
as Khashuri in the distance. We also saw the church (the girls only from the
outside since you must wear a dress and scarf on your head when going inside),
a run down building called the Writer’s House, known to inspire good writing I
suppose, and some sort of museum. Our Georgian guides (Caitlin’s host-uncle and
little host-brother, Giorgi, also known as Godzilla) were very kind and
helpful, but there were language barriers from time to time so I don’t really
know what the museum was for, or even if it was certainly a museum…
Written Today:
Last weekend was the Georgian Orthodox Easter. Here it is a
bigger deal than our Christmas. There was tons of cooking, eating, and
drinking. A couple of traditions:
- They
grow a small plot of wheat grass in a bowl to symbolize re-birth. They use this
grass as a bed for…
- The
eggs they only dye red to symbolize Christ’s blood and also rebirth?
- When
you greet someone during the Easter weekend, instead of saying “Hello” you say
“Christi asgahd” (Christ has risen) and receive a “Chesmavidad” (spelling is so
wrong, but it means ‘indeed’).
- There
is also a tradition where two people each take one of the boiled, red eggs and
hit them together. Whoever’s egg cracks loses and has to give their egg to the
winner
- There
are two types of Easter bread: pasca (a drier, less delicious version of
Panatone) and nazuki- a mildly sweet bread with raisins. Nazuki is my favorite
of the two, but I pretty much only enjoy it dipped in my coffee (which all the
Georgians think is super weird). I better get used to it though since my host
mother and sister baked TWENTY loaves of it!
- Last,
but certainly not least, there are the supras (feasts). The biggest one I went
to was 20 people, with a full table of food and wine. One guy got so drunk he
fell asleep in the bathroom and then again at the table.
We are heavily warned of drinking (especially the females)
while here in Georgia. For the men it’s a matter of being pressured into
over-drinking and for women it is a good way to earn a bad reputation in your
community – even if you only drink occasionally. Luckily, my family and
community in general don’t seem to be as strict as others. Within my family it
is perfectly normal to drink wine at dinner and occasionally have a little more
fun.
My family is extremely warm and welcoming to me. Marina
always makes sure I’m taken care of, Lela always hangs out with me, helps me
with some translating, and tells me how much she enjoys my company, and Jumberi
refers to me as his “lamazi kargi gogo amerikeli” beautiful, good-girl
American. When faced with challenging language lessons, technical training, and
communication barriers on a daily, hourly, moment-by-moment basis, it’s very
comforting to know you are loved.
Today I fell on the gravel road while running. It’s becoming
somewhat of a tradition; every time I live in a foreign country I have to trip while
running and fall onto rocks, I still have my battle wounds from Buenos Aires.
Today I purchased an internet modem which I don’t really
plan on using until I get to my permanent site, mainly because of cost, but
also because I do have occasional internet access. The great thing about it is
we get 48 hours of free internet! So I’ve been indulging in that for a bit. The
nice thing is that I don’t seem to miss it during the days since I have so much
to do, but I’m not going to lie, it’s been pretty sweet having it today.
Tomorrow we get to meet the teachers (counterparts) we will
be working with during PST. We will teach with them in English classes in
Kvishkheti as test runs before we are sent out into other parts of Georgia to
teach. Tomorrow we also get to do a cluster exchange where we visit other
people’s PST sites. I’m headed to Osiauri. Don’t really know what to expect,
but I’m excited to see a new part of the area.
Now I have to see if I can drag myself away from the
internet long enough to do my language homework…
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