Gaumarjos, Gogoebis!

Georgia celebrates this wonderful holiday, as I realize many other countries besides the USA celebrate, of International Women’s Day. The fact that is is less than a week after Georgian Mother’s day doesn’t put a damper on any of the celebrations, either. School is cancelled for a public holiday, and my host mother and grandmother prepared a HUGE and delicious meal for ourselves and our female neighbors who came to visit. The special dish of the evening was Atchma (Adjaruli Khachipurri) which is a special kind of that wonderful cheese-bread I keep talking about. I took a video of my host gradmother/mother making it, since it was so impressive. It involves rolling and stretching six layers of dough, dropping them in boiling water to temper them, and then laying them out on top of each other with layers of cheese in between. Then you cover it in melted butter (of course!) and bake it. Man, do I love food.

Speaking of food, my host mother made a beautiful cake, supplied us with her homemade fruit liqueur, plenty of freshly baked bread and beautiful salads (…and some boiled pork fat, but I usually ignore that mart of any meal). This is, if I may point out, a drinking culture, especially on special occasions such as this. My host mother had me drink with her in a linked-arm fashion that is symbolic of great friendship, so that was cool. After many toasts to all the female relations and friends we could think of (including multiple toasts made by Georgians to my sister and mother in France and the USA, Hey guys!) my neighbor made a very nice toast to me, saying that “We love you, Sarah. Yes, we had Tatiana before you, and we all loved her too, but you are so different --- you are really like a Georgian.” I told her this was a great compliment, as I love Georgian people so much, and from there we drank our glasses of homemade liqueur to the bottom (as is the custom here when someone makes a toast). I also found that my Georgian neighbor ladies are very much lightweights --- Even compared to yours truly, who falls asleep after a second glass of wine.

So, Cheers to all my ladies out there --- you know who you are. I love you all!

Sarah