Village life, batumi, and trabzon

Ok, it's been a while since I've checked in so I'd figure that I'd let everyone know that I haven't fallen off the side of a mountain.  After the long bus ride to my village I was met by an excited Georgian family and their neighbors (one of which speaks English and acted as a translator).  My host family consists of my host dad, mother, grandmother, and sons (27 and 28).  They do not speak English so I will be picking up Kartuli rather quickly.  Village life is slow to say the least, and I fill my time by reading books and going on walks.  As school has not started yet I have all day to do very little, and my host family does not allow me to do simple tasks.

The house and farm that we are living on is interesting to say the least.  There is one building for the kitchen and dining area, the bedrooms are in another building, and the outhouse is at the very back of the yard (my host family conveniently ties their bull next to it at night so you may be in for a surprise when going to the bathroom).  All sort of foods are grown on the farm and it appears that almost everything that we eat is grown on the farm.  Our food consists of mostly bread, cheese, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  The scenery is very beautiful and I enjoy looking up at the mountainside.  Never less it is slow and I grew a little stir crazy.

A few other tlg volunteers decided to go to batumi in southern Georgia on the black sea coast.  Even getting there was an adventure.  My Monday morning marstruka ride out of the village was absolutely packed.  I must have hit rush hour because we fit 32people in a bus that had 14 seats.  After getting to batumi we spent a 2days sitting on the beach and visiting the botanical garden.  It w a nice city but extremely touristy (mostly Turkish).  Four people, myself included that we would like to go to Turkey because we were so close to the border.  We departed the next morning for the first bus to Trabzon.

It was absolutely pouring in the morning and Lindsay, Caroline, John, and I searched the bus station for a bus to turkey.  Finally after we were told by one Georgian man that there were none there we saw a bus on the side of the road with trabzon in the window.  By now we were soaked to the bone, my backpack had broken and was tied shut with belts and it's own clips, had no plans in turkey but were determined to go.  We bought tickets and rode to the boarder where there was yet another adventure.

Three of us did not have visas to enter turkey.  We we're escorted to a small office where we were told to pay for the visas in Turkish Lyra.  Us being the brilliant planners that we were only had Georgian lari.  Luckily we were able to find a man with Turkish money and were able to trade it for the Georgian currency that we had.  The man in the room stuck a visa in each of our passports and we we're escorted to where the passports were stamped.  The person escorting us around knocked on the door where a guard took our passports inside and stamped them without looking at any of us or our credentials.  Finally we had all our paperwork in order with a little hustle and money to grease the axels.  From there the bus ride to Trabzon was smooth sailing.

We have spend the past two days in Trabzon seeing the city and surrounding areas.  It is a very urban city with lots of streets of shops that seem to be overflowing with merchandise.  Anything from markets to restaurants to clothing stores can be found easily, and I have enjoyed walking around looking at the people and the things that they were shopping for.  This city seems very crowded and it is a chore to walk through the streets, but it is worth pushing through people.  Today the group went to the Sumela monastrary.  It was built on the side of a cliff at about 2000 feet above sea level.  The buildings were carved into the side of the mountain and offered a spectacular view.  The misting rain seemed to add to the aura of the place.  Sumela monastrary was defiantly a major tourist attraction but also worth dealing with all the people.

Tomorrow we return to georgia and back to our respective villages.  It was a nice break but I'm sure that my host family is wondering about my well being.  School starts in another two weeks so soon I will have something to do.  Until then I will be back to having no Internet and off the grid.

First day... lost already

It took over 36 hours of traveling but I have finally made it to Tbilisi.  The JFK to Warsaw flight was nice and comfortable because the nice ticketing agent granted my request for an exit row.  Never less I did not sleep much on the flight.  That was saved for my 13 hour layover in Poland.  Poland's weather was torrential downpour and freezing cold so I decided that my time was better spent resting up for the next leg of the journey rather than battling the elements.  I guess that I will just have to go back another time for a proper visit.  The overnight flight from Warsaw to Tbilisi was quicker and I managed to sleep on part of it.  We were finally arrived and checked into our hotel by around 5:00 am.

 After a much needed nap Brian (my temporary roommate), Elizabeth and I chose to venture into the old city (our hotel is in a suburb).  We were directed to just turn right and we would run into the oldest part of town.  Somewhere all three of us missed something in the translation.  After an hour of walking  we were no where near the old town and moving in the wrong direction.  Luckily two nice Georgians stopped us and asked us what we were looking for.  When they heard how lost we were they told us sit down we will take you.  The three of us piled into the back seat of a tiny European car and whizzed through the city.  Elene (one of the Georgians) told us that we need to meet her cousin who had spent 13 years living in the United States.  Without prior warning we were invited into their home where we were offered coffee, ice cream, beer, and to listen to a Backstreet Boys CD.  It was truly an introduction to the open nature and hospitality of Georgian culture.  They walked us Americans around the old city and pointed out the landmarks and the history behind them.  When we finally parted they gave us their phone numbers with the instructions "if you ever need anything in Tbilisi give us a call". 

I had a great first day and orientation training starts tomorrow.  So for the next week I will be busy with Georgian teaching, language, and culture classes.  I'm sure that there are only more adventures to come. 

Let the Journey Begin

After weeks of anticipation the adventure is about to begin.  Currently I am sitting in the Cleveland airport waiting for my flight to arrive so that I can embark on my way to Tbilisi.  Everything is packed up into one checked bag that American Airlines let go through even though it was slightly over weight and my two carry on bags.  I should be able to last a year out of the number of clothes that I packed.  This seems to be a perfect time to open the Georgian language book and try to learn something other than the alphabet.  My phones left at home and soon most of my easy contact with home will be via the net or snail mail (almost like I'm traveling back in time as well as across the world).  If there is internet I will try my best to check in when I arrive abroad.

Getting started

Hey everyone,
I made this blog so that it would be easier to keep in touch with people while I'm in Georgia (provided I have internet access).  Right now its t-minus 5 days until I fly through Warsaw on my way to Tbilisi.  I am excited to say the least.  Tune in and I will keep stories of my adventures flowing as they happen.

Chris