Luckily, the 4th of July fell during our PST.
Peace Corps Georgia staff has a tradition of helping the volunteers throw a
huge party on the 4th to not only allow us to celebrate one of our
most meaningful holidays, but to also allow the exchange of cultures between
Americans and Georgians. We had a small committee (which I was a part of) to
organize location, games, food, and schedule of the day. I have to mention our
training manager, Tengo because if it weren’t for him, there would be no event
at all. He helped the committee the whole way through, plus carried out all of
the decisions we made.
Each volunteer was allowed to bring two family members… well
each volunteer was allotted two seats on a PC marshutka to offer their family
members. Really, each volunteer probably brought at least 3 people each.
Shalva, Elene, and Andria came from my family (my host mom, Marina, and sister,
Lela were out of town).
Elene, Andria, and Shalva
Cutest baby in Kvishkheti!
The committee got to go to the event’s site in Surami a
couple of hours beforehand to help set up, mainly blowing up a bunch of
balloons and laying out food. The best part about this was riding in Tengo’s
private PC car. I’m so used to rickety marshutka’s and old taxis that simply
riding in a brand new car with the radio blasting was enough to make me feel
like I was home. Pretty good way to start a day celebrating my home.
At the event itself there were a bunch of games for kids and
American style food (there were even veggie burgers!!!) The games included tug
of war, bobbing for peaches, a peach eating contest, water balloon toss, and a
cake walk for moms and bebias (cake walk actually got really heated- mainly a
lot of pushing and arguing over who was at the cake-winning spot when the music
stopped). Tug of war was a huge success. We did a tournament style competition
between the clusters. Everyone, Georgians and Americans alike, got really into
it. Plus it’s a game that Georgians haven’t seen before (outside of our annual
event, that is). The water balloon toss was also a hit… giving water balloons to
kids usually is. There were two rounds, and the first round another volunteer,
Aaron and I actually won! Just representing the good ol’ U.S. of A.
Kvishkheti's tug of war team
Peach eating contest
Our country director, Maura, cutting the amazing cake we had!
Where some of the cake ended up... (Tengo's face)
Children of Kvishkheti
Left to Right: Saba, Giorgi, Bachana, Anano, Dachi, Ani, Cintsia, Mari, Ana, and Luca
Even though I was in a different country, this was one if
not the best 4th of July I’ve ever had. There’s something more
fulfilling about sharing your culture with others rather than just celebrating
like usual.
Melissa, Caiti, Eric, and I (to my left is my water balloon partner)
No comments:
Post a Comment