6 years ago
0

Thanksgiving 2018: Let’s just go to Plan F

by Rawan / Guest

For this Thanksgiving edition, I’ve asked my friend and fellow PCV Phil to write a guest blog post. Enjoy his post and my pictures to accompany his writing 🙂 – Rawan

Let me tell you about PC Georgia G16 Extension to the Next Dimension Friendsgiving 2018 Rach’ Out with your Crotch Out, our snowy northbound excursion! Do you want to hear about our marshutka struggling up a craggy mountainside? Battening down the hatches against the frosty weather with a village host as we share the latest news, cooking local fowl and transplanting our American holiday customs into the far-flung and hoary Caucuses?

Couldn’t find a place to do it.

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All the G16 Extended (3rd Year) Peace Corps Volunteers, from left to right: Ainsley, Justin, Phil, Susan, and Rawan

Winter excursion season usually starts December 8th when the skiing opens, but we can’t help it. Our schedule is what it is. We tried booking three different places through Airbnb in Oni, Nikortsminda, and, forgoing Racha altogether, Bakuriani to the south. In all three instances we learned a day after booking that the host either wasn’t checking their email, had booked another guest without taking down their posting, or hadn’t gotten their pad functional yet, sincerest-apologies-come back-next-week.

Booking.com found us an apartment in the center of Bakuriani, and then the evening before we were due there our man called to say that there was no water at his digs. “That gonna be a problem?”

Like Jonah in the belly of the whale, we can take a hint. So, we stayed put in Rawan and Justin’s home and cooked a Thanksgiving spread so lavish it shames us. Orange chicken; mashed potatoes; pumpkin gnocchi; butternut squash soup; stuffing; glazed carrots; gravy; and brownies.

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Croutons, Butternut Squash Soup, Mashed Potatoes, Justin’s Orange Chicken, Gravy, Glazed Carrots, Pumpkin Gnocchi, two sets of Brownies, Stuffing, Apple Crumble, and Rice!

Thanksgiving is a good time to put aside this jocular self-pity and acknowledge that we as Americans and Peace Corps Volunteers have oodles to be thankful for. I’m sure if our stateside countrymen knew what a blast the Peace Corps is, they’d run – not walk – to sign up, leaving their front doors open and the kettle still on.

Every day we get to partner with those Georgians who are doing the essential work of developing their country and its institutions. All the while we upload into our consciousness several lifetimes’ worth of lessons, inspiration and formative experience that we shall not fully grasp and appreciate until years down the road.

Georgia is a fascinating country with rare natural beauty and extremely likable people. We are fortunate to work and live in such a place, and that we have this time to explore it together.

For explore we did, albeit in shorter range than intended. After sleeping off the chow, Saturday we ventured a short way uphill to see the historical double-act of Motsameta and Gelati Monasteries.

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Crashing a wedding (or five) at Motsameta!

Motsameta sits atop a cliff jutting out over a gorge, dropping on three sides, with a fine view of the Tskaltsitela River below. The church contains a shrine to the bones of two 8th century Georgian martyrs, the brothers Davit and Konstantin Mkheidze, local dukes who were tortured and executed by Muslim invaders for refusing to convert. There were several weddings in progress when we visited, and while we waited to enter the chapel where the ceremonies were underway and the holy relics housed, we played with the monks’ well, into which visitors had thrown coins despite an injunction not to do so.

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Gelati

Gelati was less crowded and under construction. It was founded in 1106 by David IV, known by the epithet Aghmashenebeli – “The Builder”. He is a heroic figure in Georgian medieval history, under whose reign Georgia came to dominate the Caucasus. He is buried at this site under a gate stripped as a prize from the city of Ganja in Azerbaijan by David’s son Demetrius.

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Courtyard of Gelati

We capped off the evening at the old PCV-standby Praha, to show our eastern companion some damn fine bean-bread. It is a testament to the excellence and quality-depth of our post that even when Plans A-through-D disintegrate, E, F, G, and H satisfy. Count your blessings and Happy Thanksgiving!

6 years ago
0

Five Things that I do in Georgia but not in the United ...

by Rawan / Her

This blog post provides some macro examples of how different my daily life, the simple nuances, is in Georgia…

I have always recommended people to travel. Better yet, I actually think living in a country outside of your own is even a better personal growth experiment. Living outside your own country gives you a sense of another way to live life.

Here are just 5 examples of things that I do in Georgia that I do not do in the United States. These 10 examples provide you with a lens on how my life is truly different than my former life in the United States. Examples are no particular order.

  1.  Making small talk with my neighbors when using the bathroom

    As mentioned in this blog post, my bathroom is actually outside. Would you like to venture a guess? My neighbor’s bathroom is also outside. Like many people, the first thing I do in the morning is walk to use the bathroom. Sometimes, I will see my neighbors doing the same thing early in the morning. Both of us are in pajamas and have messy hair, but we will nod in acknowledgment to each other. Other times, in the middle of the day, my neighbor might stop me for a small chat regarding the bills or the animals in our yard.

    My dad (the real one, not my host dad) loves this fact about my Georgian home. Each time I talk with him on Skype or Facebook Messenger, he asks me about my bathroom. He finds it hilarious that I have a separate key to lock up my bathroom door and another key for the main part of the house.

    Me and my Dad
    I was talking with my dad via Facebook Messanger a few days ago and sure enough, he asked me about the bathroom

  2. Brushing my teeth in the Kitchen

    Given that the bathroom is outside, Justin and I have found that brushing our teeth in the kitchen is much easier. First, there is not a single storage cabinet or a drawer in our bathroom. There is one, very unstable shelf in the bathroom. There is nothing of importance on that shelf. My shampoo, conditioner, and shaving cream are located on top of the washing machine in the bathroom. Thus, it would be difficult to store our toothbrush in a clean, stable, and dry place in the bathroom.

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    Brushing my teeth in my kitchen. Don’t worry, my kitchen sink is constantly kept scrubbed and cleaned since both food and toothpaste goes down that sink.

     

    Secondly, winters can be very harsh in Georgia. To avoid going outside completely, brushing our teeth in the kitchen is much easier because it is warmer. Funny enough though, we do not put our toothbrushes in the kitchen. The floor is not straight, either due to improper engineering or the constant termites. Therefore, we put our toothbrushes on a steady dresser in the bedroom. This is all because I like my electric toothbrush standing up. I do not like the bristles of the toothbrush to touch unsanitary surfaces. If I were to put it in the kitchen, the toothbrush would constantly fall over because the floor is not straight.

  3. Paying rent in cash and without a lease

    I have an image that anyone who pays their rent in cash without a lease in the United States is probably up to no good. They may be smugglers, drug dealers, or engaging in other illicit activity. I thank Hollywood for this savory imagery. In Georgia, if you pay your rent in cash, you are ordinary. You are also ordinary if there is no lease.

    When we searched for an apartment nearly two years ago, we agreed with our landlord that we would pay on the first day of each month. I remember asking about some sort of lease and I got a weird glance. We had a Georgian friend of ours help with the intricate translations and she even said it was not necessary.

    When the end of the month rolls by, Justin or I give our landlord, Levani, a call. He will stop by and pick up the cash and then leaves. Sometimes, I will give him the cash at the end of Mass at our local church. Funny enough, most of the times, we do not even pay him on the first. Because we do it in person, sometimes the both of us are not available on the first day of the month. So we might pay a few days late or a few days early. It is a somewhat flexible schedule.

  4. Not showering every day

    This should not be surprising given that showering is an uncomfortable experience in most Georgian homes. The whole process is generally an hour, even though the actual bathing/scrubbing is about 7 minutes (shampooing and shaving legs included). Excluding the summer months, it takes a while to heat the room. It takes a while to figure out the right water temperature. Thirdly, the most time-consuming aspect is mopping and drying the bathroom after the shower.

    If we had reliable water flow and stable temperature, I would be tempted to shower more often. Secondly, if there was an actual shower “room” instead of just a shower head hanging in the middle of the room, then mopping all the walls and floor would not be necessary. The process would be much quicker.

    Do not worry or fret because we still clean ourselves on the non-shower days. Baby wipes are one of the greatest inventions in modern history. We have no babies in our apartment, but there is always a packet of 120 wipes lying around the apartment. Justin and I have been experimenting with different fragrances. At this point, we really detest the regular baby wipe smell. We bought the “blue ocean” recently, which does not smell like the ocean, but it does smell nice.

  5. Reheating Food without a Microwave

    During my time in Georgia, I think I have seen less than a dozen microwaves in over two years. There was not a single microwave in my entire village during PST (to the best of my knowledge). My host family at my site does not have a microwave. My apartment now does not have a microwave.

    Surprisingly, my office at World Vision does have a microwave. Yet, even at work, I reheat any leftovers on the stove. The microwave at work is very weak and lame. It might take 7 minutes to reheat a small plate. It does not heat the food evenly and I have to keep on mixing the food to distribute the heat. I realized that the effort is not worth it because heating the food on the stove is more efficient with time and more effective with heat distribution.

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    My ineffective office microwave. It takes five minutes to microwave anything to get the food to lukewarm temperature.

     

    Ironically, stores at my site will sell microwave popcorn packets. I have tried to find popcorn kernels and they are difficult to find. Yet, microwave popcorn packets are easy and available. I’ve come to realize that people simply rip the packet open and pop the popcorn over the stove.

In conclusion, do not take the simple things in life for granted. Something that you could use every day is simply just not available elsewhere. Stay tuned for part 2..