Problem Yok (No Problem)!

Here's a nice day-by-day outline of my Turkey, just in case you're tired of reading about Georgia. Hope you enjoyed the call to prayer in the last post (I didn't take it for the visual, but the audio --- just fyi).


Day 1: Monday morning we left from Batumi to the border crossing at Sarpi (Thank goodness I just happened to save a $20 bill in my wallet, because I needed it for my visa). From there we made our way to Trabzon with no maps, no plan, and an incorrect phone number for the place we were staying. I only know a few words in Turkish, but with them we were able to find directions to the place we were staying. Cut to us completely exhausted and sweaty from climbing endless hills, ordering Turkish pizza (lahmacun), and passing out before 10pm. We were woken up early by the call to prayer which sounds five times a day from every mosque in the city --- B-E-A-utiful.

Day 2: Still map-less, we decided to explore the city on foot. We asked passers-by what direction the center was in, and each one told us to take a mini-bus (dolmush) but we hoofed it instead. It was about 4 kilometers away, but at the time it was fun! The city is practically made of hills, so we got lots of exercise as well as some awesome views of the city. We met a shopkeeper who spoke Russian and invited us to sit for tea --- This is when I noticed that there are men carrying tea-trays all over the city, going to and from shops and restaurants delivering cups of Turkish tea. From the market we got directions to the Hagia Sophia (not the big one in Istanbul, but the baby one modeled after the big one in Istanbul) and walked all the way there as well (What’s another few kilometers?). We made it home before it started to rain too much, and I got an impromptu percussion lesson from our host… I’m not very good at it (Surprise!)

Day 3: Field trips. We reserved this day to explore some sites outside of the city of Trabzon. First we hit Sumela, which is a beautiful ancient monastery tucked into the side of a mountain. We got a ride most of the way up, but then hiked back down ourselves (my legs are still refusing to forgive me for that one). We also found a nice waterfall, so we followed that up as far as it was climbable and had a nice sit. We met a Turkish couple touring the Black Sea coast, and they offered to take us with them to Uzungol, a natural lake in a mountain valley. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like a good lake. Water, shore, rocks, all that jazz. It’s the best place in Turkey, everyone should go (wink, wink) …Actually, we spent about ten minutes there, laughed a lot, skipped some rocks, and then decided to head back. We had a nice car ride, though, joking about how exciting Uzungol is.

Day 4: Tired from the day before, we slept in and decided to take it easy. After a brunch of Turkish kebap and ayran (a salty yogurt drink) we made it to the view-point of Trabzon called Boztepe. We drank tea from Samover, which is a giant silver hot-water heater with a place to put a small pot of very concentrated tea. We drank tea and enjoyed the view, did some more walking through the city and the market, and sat on the beach. P.S. I saw a Dolphin in the wild for the first time in my life, I’m pretty sure I screamed. It was awesome. That night we had what our host calls R&B: Raki Balik. Raki is the Turkish national drink: Anise flavored alcohol that turns white when you mix it with water. Balik means fish, which we got fresh from the sea-side fish market and then grilled over hot coals on the balcony. Throw in some Turkish music, that drum that I can’t play, and a few more Turks and you get a pretty good party. We sang a LOT --- Turkish people love singing as much as I love listening to them sing.

Day 5: Although we planned on leaving early, we were pretty beat and slept in again. I made American breakfast (eggs, toast, hashbrowns and ketchup) and we sat around for a while before heading back to Batumi. A successful trip, some new stamps in my passport, and minimal sunburn.

…AND my travel-buddy and I didn’t even strangle each other.

Back in Georgia now, Happy Orthodox Easter!

Love,
Sarah

Georgian Foods I Love:

For those of you who are interested, here is the food post, as promised!

1. Lobio ლობიო: Just means “beans,” but the dish is a delicious combination of all kinds of beans, onions, and spices that is delicious on bread, especially with pickles and cheese.
2. Lobiani ლობიანი – a giant, flat croissant filled with with lobio, mmmmm.
3. Khachapurri ხაჩაპური – Round, flat bread filled with a very salty Georgian cheese (maybe the best thing I’ve eaten EVER)
4. Pelamushi ფელამუში– The Georgian take on Jello – made from mashed grapes and some kind of cereal into a paste that stiffens to jello-jiggler likeness, albeit lilac-colored and opaque. Topped with crushed walnuts, omg yum…
5. Churchkhella ჭურჩხელა(sp?) – Nuts (hazelnuts or walnuts usually) on a string, dipped in the pelamushi fruit paste and then dried to fruit-leather consistency. It looks like a bumpy candle, but is actually a giant fruit-snack with nuts in the middle.
6. Khenkali ხენკალი --- A boiled dumpling the size of your fist with a doughy stem so that you can eat it with your hands. Filled with meat and spices, which create a delicious broth inside the dumpling that you are supposed to drink before it spills onto your plate. Cover them in pepper, and leave the ends on your plate to keep count of how many you’ve managed to eat. It usually turns into a contest --- my record is eight.
7. Nadughi ნადუღი --- I’m not positive on what this is in English, but I think it might be “whey,” like, from the Little Miss Muffet rhyme where she eats her curds and whey. When my host grandmother makes cheese, I think this I the leftover deliciousness that I put on bread and eat with my morning tea.
8. Quince Kompot --- What on earth is a quince? I have no idea, but it’s delicious and my host mom makes fruit-juice out of it with whole quinces in the bottom of your mug to eat as you please.

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

Questions for Americans

It’s been three weeks, and I’ve met quite a few new people since my arrival in the village. Most of them are incredibly generous and welcoming, even though I’m not the greatest company since I can’t speak much Georgian. However, I always enjoy their company -- and their food, I’m not gonna lie. Except for the severed pig’s head that my host grandmother once shoved in my face (while opening the mouth like a puppet and making squealing sounds) the food is awesome.

But I talk about food enough as it is --- This particular post is inspired by the informal interview I always get when meeting new people, while we wait for the food to hit the table. I always get the same questions: “You’re from America? What city? What state?” (puzzled faces --- Austin Minnesota is unfamiliar) “…ok, you’re a good girl. How old are you? 22? You’re so young! Do you like Georgia? Georgian food? Good girl. Are you married? No? Do you want a Georgian husband? We’ll find you a Georgian husband. You’re a good girl, a very good girl.”

Aside from that, when people in my village find out that I speak Russian they usually make an awkward attempt at translating some simple Georgian into broken Russian, which is either barely understandable or completely incomprehensible. Luckily the simple Georgian is easy for me, since I’ve been asked the same questions so many times I have them memorized.

Other notable questions: “What is your profession?” (Which I never know how to answer... Am I a teacher?) “Have you ever been to Miami?” (Because apparently everyone wants to go there) “How much do you get paid?” (Which is awkward, because I make more than twice the amount that my co-teachers make) and, my personal favorite, “Have you ever met Lady Gaga?” (Which more than one person has asked me, in connection with the statement “Lady Gaga is a man”).


More news later, most likely about all the free time I have and the silly things I find to spend it on. Georgia is great.

Love,
Sarah

Observations

Just a few things I've taken note of so far while living in the Village:

Drinking out of Cups: In every house (and in all the classrooms at school) there is a tray somewhere holding a jug of water and a few glasses. At my house, for example, there are two glasses on the tray although I live with a family of 5. We never wash these cups. Germs? Whatever.

Хлеб --- всему голова: Bread is a staple of every meal here in the village. It’s not as if you take a piece of bread to nibble on with your main dish, it’s more like “Here’s your meal of bread, supplemented by cheese, and maybe a few different things to dip it in. We seriously go through about three loaves of bread a day. On the upside, my bebia (host grandmother) makes it from scratch and bakes it in the woodstove --- and it is DELICIOUS.

Lenin-y Fresh: Our family keeps a spare copy of Lenin’s memoirs in the door of the outhouse. At first I thought it was for light reading, but the other day we ran out of toilet paper and I realized that everyone just tears the pages out when need be (or, you know, whenever you’re feeling particularly sassy).

Keep it real, Georgia.

Sarah

Kutaisi Weekend and Sunday Church

Sunday February 12th

This weekend I made it to Kutaisi, the old Capital in Western Georgia, to meet up with some other TLG friends. There was some confusion in the process… My English-speaking neighbor had told me that my host mother would accompany me to Samtredia (the city near our village) to explain how to get on the marshutka (mini-bus) to Kutaisi. In retrospect, this wouldn’t have worked well anyway since my host mother doesn’t speak English or Russian, but in the confusion we established that I would go with my English-speaking neighbor instead. I was half an hour late at this point, but I finally got on my minibus to Kutaisi. Of course, it broke down half-way and we all had to get out and wait for another minibus, but I made it to Kutaisi in one piece and met all my friends at (where else?) McDonalds. From there we explored the city on foot.




Kutaisi is a BEAUTIFUL city with a giant blue-green river running through the center and market stalls everywhere you turn. We wandered around the city for the day, but the best part was when we went back to our hostel --- the home of an elderly Georgian couple who treated us to lots of homemade wine, cha-cha (moonshine), Lobio (beans), lots of fresh greens and salads, homemade cheese, yogurt and jam, and just about anything else you can think of that is Georgian and Delicious. They spoke great Russian so we talked all evening, I translated all of the toasts to our health and our families, our youth and our beauty, etc. We went through all the Georgian drinking traditions, including Kh’antsi (drinking out of horns, like from bulls and rams). The man of the house is crazy talented when it comes to drinking, toasting, and dancing.


Today I went to Church with my host mom, which was a great (although very cold) experience. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to go again and start to understand more of what is happening, but as it is we mostly just stand around and everyone does their own thing --- reading prayers, lighting candles, singing along with the cantors, or walking back and forth to different icons to kiss them and pray. Cool stuff. Can’t take pictures, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

Until next time!
Sarah

There are 9 cows in my Village

Yesterday I arrived in Nabak’evi, a beautiful village just out of Samtredia in Imereti, Georgia. I met my Host “Mother” at the hotel in Tbilisi and we took a 3 hour Marshutka (Van) ride to Western Georgia. She is ADORABLE and she doesn’t speak English OR Russian, which means I spend a lot of time brushing up on my Georgian. I am getting a Georgian-English dictionary tomorrow, which will help a lot…


I live in an average Georgian Family --- Grandparents, parents, and a 6-year-old host brother who is literally the cutest, funniest kid I have ever met. His name is Koka, he loves to dance and sing, and he helps me learn Georgian. Today we practiced counting to Ten, had a photoshoot with my camera, and watched Bruce Willis on TV. Looooove this kid.


If there’s one thing that I’m concerned about, it’s that I have eaten almost nothing besides Khachipurri (cheesy-bread) since I got here… I’ve also had bulki (sweet bread), noodles with butter and sugar, pakhlava (like baklava, but thicker and chocolatey), Pelamushi (wine jello), potato-rice-mayonnaise salad, fried chicken, and lots of tea with lemon (kumquat???) in it. A lot of sweets, fats, and carbs --- but at least with the citrus I might avoid scurvy!

Going on a walk to see the village tomorrow, will bring back pictures (although my internet is really terrible, so you might have to wait to get them. Sorry!)

Loooove,
Sarah

p.s. --- School just got cancelled for the whole week because it snowed this morning. What to do now? More news later!

Ex-pats, Russian, and Cheesy Bread.

Hello all! Guess what I've been doing for the past week? ...Living in TBILISI! Actually, I've been living in a hotel in Tbilisi, sitting through a lot of orientation meetings and learning as much Georgian Language as possible. BUT I've managed to make it out during our evenings off and have had the following memorable experiences:

1. Meeting up with an American friend of a relation living in the city, going out for a brief tour and a lovely dinner of Georgian food: Khinkali (Giant hand-held dumplings), Pkhali (spinach and walnut paté), and Khachipurri (Cheesy bread with an egg cracked on top)!


2. Speaking Russian! I knew that Georgia's second language was Russian during the Soviet Union, but I wasn't sure how my speaking Russian would be received... Our orientation made me feel as though my Russian might be useless here, but then I tried it out on some folks in the city. A woman at a cigarette counter, a taxi driver named Artur who gave us clementines and his phone number in case we wanted a taxi tour of the city, and some clerks and hotel staff who seem to have a good control over the language even though they are younger. The taxi driver was my favorite, he was sassy as I'll get out.


3. Placement! I just found out (literally, just now) where I'll be living and what my host family stuation. So, I'll be in a village in Imereti region (midwestern Georgia) where they have the best khachipurri (the cheesy bread, remember? YEAH). My family description says "Private house with Mother and Father, daughter and two children. Outdoor toilet, bathroom inside, no internet." I'm hoping that the outdoor toilet is a Turkish toilet. They're better for you, I swear. Ergonomic poops.


So, now that I know I won't have internet for a while, I'll try to write another post before I leave the hotel on Monday. Otherwise, this might be the last one for a while.... I'll try to figure something out. Peace, friends!

Love,
Sarah