Castles and Cave Monasteries

I awoke this Saturday morning cozy under my covers, all too aware of how cold it was in my bedroom despite a (lousy) electric heater standing in the center of it. After finally gaining the courage to get up and get dressed, I slipped on my glasses and walked to the window.  It was snowing! No wonder why it was so cold. My host brother promises me that if we get enough snow, he will engage me in a snowball fight whether I like it or not.

A snowy Keda!

Last week, the Fulbright ETA's were called to meet with the State Department's regional education director (of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) visiting from Kiev who oversees the Fulbright program and all other government sponsored education programs in the small city of Akhaltsikhe. It just so happens that one of the Fulbright ETA's, Kenny, lives in Akhaltsikhe and so we all decided that this meeting would provide the perfect excuse for a mini-vacation!

On Wednesday, I set off from Keda on the real circuitous route to get to Akhaltsikhe by going via Batumi and Kutaisi. There is a road that goes from Batumi directly to Akhaltsikhe, for Keda is situated along this road, but past the village of Khulo thirty miles east of me, the road disintegrates and becomes one of the most dangerous in Georgia. What Google Maps says would only take three hours is really at least a nine hour mountain pass trek at best with a jeep. I was not about to do that at this stage of November.  So, six hours, three marshrutkas, and a taxi later, I arrived in Akhaltsikhe.

A picture of myself at Rabati Castle.

Thursday was gray, gloomy, and cold - the perfect day for a meeting! First, though, the four of us taught Kenny's 8th grade class with such activities as "two truths and a lie" and "I have never" (much like "never have I ever" just more appropriate). With four teachers plus Kenny's counterpart - class went swimmingly! If only all our classes were that easy. After class, the four of us headed to Akhaltsikhe's American Corner (a small library of English-language materials and the like that are situated in many foreign cities) for the meeting. There was nothing too exciting to report there...the usual things were discussed. I did learn that the Foreign Service Officers Test might be offered in Tbilisi in February, so that is something in which I may take part, after all, I like having a plan and it has been a lifelong dream to be in the Foreign Service. Why not?

Friday morning started off foggy and cold but would later turn sunny and warm. After Destinee and I grabbed breakfast at Smarty's, a grocery store chain that is the finest in all of Georgia and most reminiscent of any I have seen in America, we met up with Shawn. The three of us headed to Rabati Castle, which had recently been renovated with shops and a spa in the center, losing its ancient splendor. Nonetheless, it was still beautiful and fun to explore. Destinee and I gushed over some of the Middle Eastern architecture there and over the prospect of visiting Turkey (and maybe Jordan) over winter break. Afterwards, we met up with Kenny and climbed to the top of a hill just as the sun was beginning to set.  The views were stunning!

In the evening, the four of us went to the Rabati spa in the castle for two hours. We experienced several different steam rooms of varying temperature, a pebble foot bath, a lukewarm jacuzzi, and much more! It was equally gratifying and delightful to feel so warm and so clean. It was also a blessing because when I got back to the hotel, I decided to wash my hair.  That shower ended up being one of the worst I have ever taken...no water pressure, the temperature was either scalding or freezing, and the spout would not stay on the wall. Needless to say, the shower was quick and filled with periodic expletives.

I think this may have been a mosque at one time. Inside Rabati Castle in Akhaltsikhe.

Inside the mosque.

The Georgian flag.

Beautiful Middle Eastern architecture.

The castle really does look like the Western concept of a castle.

Rabati Castle

View of the surrounding mountains in Akhaltsikhe.

Saturday was much like Friday, warm and sunny, perfect for visiting Vardzia Cave Monastery! I have now been to three of Georgia's top cave-city attractions (the others being Davit Gareja and Uplistsikhe in 2012) and while all beautiful and special in their own right, Vardzia was by far the most elaborate. Vardzia was built into the cliff face/slopes of Erusheti Mountain along the Mtkvari River (which also runs through Tbilisi) in south central Georgia about an hour outside of Akhaltsikhe. The Church of the Dormition, built in the center of this grand structure, is still active and just as with Davit Gareja, there are still monks who reside in the caves.  The sections where they lived were roped off from tourists.  Soviet-era excavations and research determined that people had been living in Vardzia since the Bronze Age (somewhere between 3600 - 12OO BC) and records state that it was largely abandoned during the Ottoman takeover in the Sixteenth Century. Today, the Georgian government is working hard to try and have Vardzia declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  As for Kenny, Destinee, Shawn, and I - we had a grand old time exploring the various rooms and caves and tunnels that made up the site.

Vardzia!

Frescoes at the Church of the Dormition

Vardzia featured some of the most questionable stairs I have seen
in Georgia. They were uneven and weaved haphazardly through
dark tunnels with no lights!

Stairway from heaven to earth!

Sunday it was time to head back to Keda. There is nothing too interesting to report here except for that when I arrived in Batumi, a middle-aged taxi driver followed me for a good ten minutes shouting in Russian: "You and me drink wine! I live alone! No wife!" I swear, I am not good at keeping away the creepers.

This past week, I again started feeling pangs of homesickness. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and this will be my first time I will spend Christmas without my parents.  Thanksgiving here in Georgia was very low-key, I ended up having my students draw "hand turkeys" and write about what they were thankful for. I also explained to them what Thanksgiving was. I shared with them the unfortunate "tradition" of Black Friday and said, much to their amusement, "Only in America could you be thankful one day for all that you have and then the next rush out to buy even more stuff."

That is all I have for now! I am just wrapping up grad school applications and considering where to go for winter break.

Between Kutaisi and Batumi

As usual, I have not updated for awhile and feel as though it is time I should. Life has been busy. There have been classes to teach, lessons to plan, tests to grade, people to visit, sights to see, and graduate school applications to write.

Where to begin? Halloween fell on a Thursday this year and nobody in my school did anything to celebrate because they all thought the holiday fell on the 30th despite me telling them otherwise. They didn't do anything on the 30th either, that I could tell. However, on Thursday, we had debate club where talented students (and lovers of English) from Keda and surrounding villages come to practice their spoken English - which is actually pretty good. Afterwards, I met up with a couple Peace Corps Volunteers and headed to Keda's only cafe for our weekly rendezvous. I am pretty sure the three of us are what keeps that cafe going; we have never seen anyone else there.

Friday, I headed to Kutaisi for the second weekend in a row to attend a Halloween party that was being thrown by some Peace Corps volunteers.  I ended up crashing Chase's place (he is a BOREN Fellow), and we were both sleeping in Saturday morning after having been out late the night before. What finally got both us on the move, or at least me, was Destinee showing up unexpectedly Saturday morning (needless to say, Chase and I both kind of startled her because she didn't know I was going to be there and Chase was supposed to be in Tbilisi). The two of us met up with Shawn and we went to a Chinese lunch at some sketchy compound in a hotel that had no guests. This was all designed by the same Peace Corps Volunteers who designed a giant game of Assassin, which I did not really participate in, and the party to come that evening. After lunch, several of us strolled the city, had dinner, and then went to the party. What can be said about the party other than it was like a typical college/undergrad party where there was drinking and dancing and drinking and dancing.  Sunday, I slept in for far longer than I normally do but I will not apologize for it.

Kutaisi Theater

Here I am striking a pose in Lover's Park in Kutaisi.

Central Kutaisi.

Last week, on Wednesday, Keda had Kedaloba, a festival celebrating the local traditions and foods of the region. There was plenty of food, wine, dancing, and singing! It was a gorgeous November day in the upper 60s/low 70s, sunny, and pleasant. The weather has been so nice lately and I will take whatever I can get for as long as I can, because come winter, I suspect a perpetual chill will set in. I am a northern girl, I should be used to it. While at the festival, I ran into two volunteers from the Teach and Learn with Georgia program and after the festival, we decided we would have a late lunch at the cafe. Before we could get out of the park, however, we were stopped by a host of Georgian men who immediately gave us their phone numbers, told us we should be guests in their homes, and that they would give us tours of various sights in Adjara. This kind of thing seems to happen a lot. They were happy I was able to speak Russian with them and strangely hounded one of the TLGer's for not knowing Russian (his Georgian is better than mine, though)! Anyway, one of the men kept speaking to me in a blend of Russian and French despite me telling him at least five times that I do not speak French. An interesting side note is that I have been living in Georgia now for about two months and still barely know a lick of the language (I have mastered the alphabet), but the sounds and the looks of it have become less foreign to me. I more or less "recognize" it now, kind of like Spanish, I suppose...there is a certain familiarity that I have with it.

I was going to post a video, but it isn't working...technology is killing me today. Here are pictures instead. You will be able to watch the video if you follow this link: Kedaloba 2013

Wonderful fruit.

Traditional Georgian dancing.

Terrific spreads.

I've been told to include more pictures of myself on this blog so here I am at Kedaloba!

This past weekend I, along with my host mother and brother, journeyed to Batumi. The intention of their visit, I am really not quite sure, but we stayed at my host uncle's apartment. Saturday morning I spent Skyping with a friend whom I had not spoken to in awhile. In the afternoon, after my host mother returned from an appointment (she had insisted I wait for her), she told me she had no time to show me around Batumi so I ventured out by myself.  Camera in hand, I took pictures, of course. I spent much of that outing exploring the giant waterfront park that is one of Batumi's claims to fame. I caught a whiff of the Black Sea, bought a shirt with Russian cupolas and martroshka dolls on it (because I am not obsessed), and looked out at the sea.  It was interesting - the Black Sea was always this place I had heard about and to finally see it was and is special. Despite the weather being warm, it was slightly overcast and there was a certain strange air to Batumi, as if the city's energy had been drawn into a pair of lungs, waiting to be expelled.

Batumi

Central Batumi. Classical architecture meets Soviet meets modern!

The Black Sea.

The Black Sea and the mountains of Adjara.

Now it is Thursday and I just finished up debate club and the expat get-together. So there you have it - short and sweet.

Note these Georgian men in traditional costume!