Kobuleti by way of Tbilisi

I haven't been on here for a few weeks. Things have been crazy and I've been all over the place. With all the travel I haven't had my computer with me and not having a computer makes it hard to blog. With that here are some of the high lights from the last few weeks.

We hosted a leadership conference for the school presidents in the Poti schools. We had 4 PCVs come as well as 2 Flex students. Flex is a program where students go to America for a year to study in high school. Lots of the PC camps use old flex students to help with translation and teaching. Our two were both amazing and a lot of fun. Everyone came in the night before and stayed in Poti. Here is a photo my neighbor took of the group having dinner at my house. The next week was IST (in service training) in Borjomi. It was the first time all the G15s were together again. It feels like forever since July when we were all together in Tbilisi together for the last time. We had language classes and culture sessions. The hotel we were at is really nice, the spa is the best part. I know what your thinking, but IST isn't all spa trips and nice hotels. That's just the fun part to write about. There was a lot of learning and trying to figure out Georgian. Also a lot of eating. 

After IST I went into Tbilisi for a meeting and then a magical trip to a KFC. I don't go o KFC much in the states, but it was amazing here. There is something about American fast food. It could be that it taste the same everywhere, or that it brings back memories of home, or that it is something I can't have at site so it's special. That weekend was packed with adventures. I went to see three different friends at their sites. The first was Tserovani. I did a whole post about being in Tserovani this summer so I'm not going to write more here. The second was Mtskheta. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia. It has all the charm of a little European country with all the culture and food of Georgia. It is about 12 miles north of Tbilisi. They have a few churches and other things to see. The last site was Shaumiani for a friends birthday. It is on the South East part of Georgia. Our friend lives in one of the IDP settlements. It is such a different place from Poti. The landscape, people, food, everything. It was fun to see what other PCVs experiences have been like and the kind of lives they are living here in Georgia. Other high lights from the weekend include: staying the night at my host families near Gori, seeing Hunger Games in theater, eating at Pipes Burgers, and live music at an Irish pub. 

Monday morning I got up very early and headed back to Poti. Once back home, I got ready and went right to Batumi for a work event with the Believe Foundation. It was an art show held at the Radisson Blu. The event was full of art and great food. After the group went out for some Mexican potatoes and khachapuri. The night ended with me asleep in the front of a taxi on our way back to Poti because I had been traveling for 8 days and just needed to sleep at that point. 

The next week (last week) was Thanksgiving. Because there are so many PCVs in country we can't all get together. So we had small Thanksgivings all over the country. I was with a group of about 24 PCVs in Kobuleti, a beach town just South of Poti. We stayed in a house on the beach and had a great Thanksgiving weekend filled with Pie and potatoes. We even found cheddar cheese at a store in Batumi for the potatoes. The weather was amazing, it was up to 71 degrees on Saturday. Me and Melody took that time to go for a little swim in the Black Sea. It was cold but really fun. We ended the night with a fire on the beach. So there you have it. My last twoish weeks in a nutshell. They were full of great people and fun times.  

Halloween

Halloween is one of the holidays that is harder to celebrate overseas because it is so American. Unlike Christmas or Easter there is no Georgian version of Halloween. So I had to get my Peace Corps goal #2 on and share Halloween. (Goal #2 is to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served). We* kicked the party off with our American Club. The kids were very excited about it as were we. We made them bob for apples, eat food off a string, and do a cake walk. We ended the party with watching the old Disney movie Ichabod. My grandmother owns the old vinyl record of the soundtrack for this movie. I always think of her when I hear the songs. It was a nice reminder of home. Anyway the kids had brought so much candy and cakes. A good time was had by all. After the party I carved pumpkins with my host sister at home. I tried an owl I saw on Pinterest. I'm not going to lie, "I saw it on Pinterest" is something I say way to much. It turned out ok.
I love dressing up, a lot, but this year I just couldn't get a good idea. For the American club I went as Miss Scarlet from the board game clue*. I love this game, but it turns out no one here has played it. I had a hard time picking what to be for the Halloween party in Kutaisi. I ended up going as a flower garden. it was kind of a lame costume, but easy to pull off. A group of us stayed with our friend who is living in Kutaisi. Her apartment is amazing and she has made it so homey. It's like a little bit of America here in Georgia. On Saturday night we all went out to a restaurant we had rented for the night. We had a great dinner and danced our little hearts out. The restaurant has big windows and I am sure that people thought we were crazy as they walked by, but we didn't really care.
The next day I had to be home in time for a work event, so I got on the 1:00 home. The meeting went well and then it was off to my next activity, my first Georgian wedding. I had so much fun eating and dancing with my host family's family. It turns out the best way to find a spot at a Georgian wedding is to find the table with the best looking cake a sit at it. I like cake so this system works really well for me.

I'm sure this photo was taken when a great song was on, like yeah by usher. 

I put a little bit of effort into this get up. 

I am not good at this game, also we didn't have doughnuts. These are much harder to eat.

*not the mouse in my pocket, but the other PCVs living in Poti.
* this was really just me in a red dress and make up.

Batumi for 3

I have found myself in Batumi the last two weekends. The first time I went with some of our friends in Poti. We went to the Botanical Gardens just outside of the city. If you come to see me at any point in my service I will take you here. It was amazing. They have 21 different sections of gardens including East Asia, Rose Garden, Bamboo Plantation, and North American park. Each section had so much to explore and see. It was 8 gel to get in and 3 gel to take a little bus through the park. We just walked the whole thing. By the end we were all tired and ready to head into town to get some khachapuri. We were in Batumi so we went for some Adjarian khachapuri. This is the khachapuri where the dough is formed like a open boat and then a raw egg and butter is put on top of the hot cheese. It's a Georgian must for anyone. After the food we walked around a little and headed home. Here is a photo of my friends after we were interviewed about the park for the news. This happened in the North American section and everyone was very happy I was an American in the North American area of the park. 

This weekend I went down to meet up with some PCVs to spend Saturday night in Batumi. We had a great time just hanging out and enjoying the city. It has been cold and rainy for days, but when I go there on Saturday the weather was perfect. We were able to walk along the Black Sea, check out some great statues, eat some amazing food, and just do a little shopping. We found the Ikea basket, I'm not 100% sure if it was a real Ikea but everything was from Ikea. I loved it. I didn't take my camera, but my friend Jill got some great photos of me you can enjoy below. The drink is non-alcoholic, when our waiter found out I didn't want alcohol he really wanted me to try this. So much that he just brought it to me and then made me pay for it. It was really amazing tasting and I would drink it again. We also go cheese cake at that restaurant. It was a win all around for everyone involved. The trip home was a little crazy because we had to detour from the main road to a back dirt road. It was a very Peace Corps moment for me in that old van speeding down a tight dirt road.   

Black Sea

It has turned cold here in Georgia. Some places already have snow, but here in Poti we just have rain. The best part of a rain storms is watching the sea the next day. The Black Sea is calm most of the time, but after a storm there are some really amazing waves.  I got some nice photos down by the water one day and thought I would share them with you here. The first location is a beach by my house and the second is down by the port at sunset the same day. I've learned a lot about the Black Sea this last week, so I want to give you some information to go with these photos.

 At around the depth of 200 m life is impossible in the Black Sea because the oxygen levels are to low. 

 The Black Sea receives more fresh water then it evaporates. 

 The Mediterranean Sea is the source of salt water to the Black Sea. 

 The Black Sea does not have a tide.

 The ancient Greeks called it "Euxeinos Pontos" 

The 6 countries that border the Black Sea are: Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria.

I hope you have enjoyed today's lesson on the Black Sea.

A Few Stories

Sorry I haven't been on here for so long. I've been everywhere the last few weeks and haven't really found a minute to really sit down and think about everything that has happened. Lucky for you I have lots of photos and they help me remember my stories.

Story 1. Randi cooks Mexican food. 

I love tacos. I love them so much. I have told my host family about my love of tacos a few, ok many, times. One Sunday morning my host mother looked at me and asked if I would like to make some. I said yes. We don't have tortillas here, so I made my own. This was my first try, but I think they turned out really well. I have some taco seasoning from home so the chicken tasted really good. That night we made milkshakes with cookies in them. I enjoy cooking and like to make American food for my family here. It is hard sometimes to find the exact items you need so we do the best we can. I didn't know this before that night, but you can buy ice cream here in a big plastic bag and it's not bad at all. 

Story 2. Batumi is a weird place. 

I got involved with a secondary project the last part of this summer. One of the PCRVs organizations was putting on three different Run for the Cure events around Georgia. The first was in Batumi on a Tuesday. I went in by myself and had some time to look around before and after the event. There are lots of statues in Batumi, to many one might say. But the one that I really liked was the statue of Medea and the golden fleece. I liked Medea when I "read" the play in my history of theater class at BYU. I didn't know then that one day I would live in the place part of her story takes place in. Reading her story here again makes me think of her very differently. For those of you who might not know much about her, she is a boss. She is the first wife of Jason and is the only reason he and his group of bros (Argonauts) didn't die. She is a enchantress who helps Jason with his tasks to get the golden fleece and then cuts up her brother and uses him a shark bait (side note there are no sharks in the Black Sea) so the Argonauts can get away from her father. Like I was saying Medea is a boss. Jason then abandons her for the daughter of a king. She goes a little crazy at this point and kills some people (maybe her kids). Anyway, I like her and so does Georgia. 

Story 3. Logan kicks a little kid.

The next story takes place at the next run for the cure event in Kutaisi. A large group of G15's came to help at the event and show their support. The event went well and lots of people came. They had free mammograms for women and different info for everyone. A group of pcvs wanted to take a jump photo at one point. It was going ok, but like all jump photos we had to take a lot to get the right one. It finally happened, we thought. As I look at the photo I see that one of the kids had come up to the group and found himself on the wrong end of a foot. This photo hasn't been seen before, so enjoy.

My counterparts and I working on our amazing poster.
 Poti for the win.

Story 4. Hotel dance party.
I was at a conference for three days last week. It was amazing. I was there with two of my counterparts. We stayed in a nice hotel and enjoyed some really great classes. There was also so really good food. The first night I enjoyed the pool and spa area with some of my friends. The second night the hotel had some live music at one of the bars for us. It was so much fun and we all started to sign along. It was one of the pcvs birthdays and the band played a song just for her. When they had played their last song we all went crazy yelling for more. They said they would play another, but we had to dance. And dance we did. It was a great end to a really good night. Even the pc staff go into it. The next night we played games that the staff brought for us. All in all it was a great three days. Also the hotel had English tv including vh1. So much vh1.
Story 5. Tbilisi
After the conference I went to Tbilisi for the last of the race for the cure events. It was a real race on Sunday morning. I slept over at one of the pcvs places on Friday night and then we went into old Tbilisi to stay with everyone else Saturday night. It was a good time had by all. It was my first time being a tourist in the city and I really liked it. It feels like a mix of old Europe, Soviet, and modern. The three different designs can be found right next to each other all over the city. We went to a restaurant that makes American style hamburgers with cheese and bacon. Yes, I did say bacon. They were amazing. We then found our way to some live music and danced it out. The race the next morning was at a place called Turtle Lake. It is a nice lake with restaurants and other activities around it. I didn't run because I was taking photos, but I did get to do a little of the walk. Here is a photo of our group getting ready to walk.            

Tserovani for the Weekend

Two weeks ago I was able to go to Tserovani for the weekend to be with some of my friends. We had a great time cooking Mexican food, watching movies, talking in English, and just being with each other. But the highlight of the weekend was making our own enamel jewelry.  First you need a little background about Tserovani. It is a IDP settlement made for the people displaced by the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. It doesn't sound like the kind of place you would go to make jewelry, but an amazing local NGO  called "For Better Future" has a class on Saturdays to teach people. You can also buy jewelry already made by their artist. They make some really amazing things. They also run a great little cafe in the settlement. Here is a link to their Facebook page. 

So here is how you make your own enamel jewelry. 

Step One:

Pick out what you want to make. When we came in they had all the options laid out for us. The different kinds of jewelry each have their own price. I love earrings so I picked out a pair I liked the looks off. Then comes the hard part. You get to design the inside. A tip is to keep in mind that it's harder then it looks to fold the metal and that you are new at this. On the plus side the artist are there to help you and can really do almost anything. I knew I wanted to do something in blue/green/purple and that had something to do with Georgia. I was looking in some books they had there and saw a pic of St. George and the Dragon. Georgia is really into St. George, so I went for it. I drew out  "dragon like" wings and went to work. The problem with earrings is that they should look kind of the same. My first one turned out really well, the next not so much. This is where the help of the artist came in handy. After you design them and get the silver shape in, they go into the kiln. That thing is about 700 degrees. This keeps everything in place for the next step. 

Step Two:

You have to pick the exact colors you want. After picking and finding your colors you are ready to "paint". The colors are wet sand that they heat in the kiln to turn into glass. You repeat this process three times. Every layer of sand adds color to the last. You have to be careful not to layer colors that will not melt well together. I wanted mine to be more like a water color, so I layered different blues, greens, and purples. 

Step Three:

Eat lunch. This is an important part of the day. They bring lunch in from the cafe. That day we had khachapuri and lobiani. The cafe does a great job and tastes amazing. 

Step Four: 

Your part of the process is over at this point. They will add one more layer of clear, then file it down. It then goes to a silver smith who does his magic and in about a week you can pick it up.    

It was really amazing to learn a little about this art form. It really is a living part of the history of Georgia. So if you ever find yourself here looking for a truly special cultural experiences, get yourself to Tserovani and make something of your own.

Kutaisi +

I have stories to tell you all, but I'm not having a hard time finding words tonight as I watch Russian TV with my host sister. This weekend I went to Kutaisi with a group of PCVs. On the first day we went to Martvili Canyon to swim. The water is so cold, but with how hot is has been it felt amazing. It's a funny place, you get off the bus and all you see is dirt and rocks. You have to hike down into the canyon where everything is green and fresh. It's even cooler down there. The water is so clean you can watch the fish swim.
The one thing you can always count on when PCVs get together is food. We eat so much it's crazy. I don't know if it's because so many of us live in villages and can't go out much or if it's just a easy thing to do as we talk, but there it is. When your in a big city the go to place is McDondalds. It is so good here. I'm not a big McDondalds person in the states, but I eat it every single time I come across it here. I eat there twice this weekend. It was amazing and I don't even feel bad about it. Enjoy the photo of my food. You can see that it looks just like it does at home. We went to some really good restaurants this weekend other then McDondalds, and eat some great Georgian food. I got a milk shake at one of the restaurants and it was not a milk shake at all. That was a bit of a let down.  
 Sunday we went to Prometheus Caves. They are really amazing. I had no idea how cool they really were going to be. The lighting is perfect for seeing the caves and they play some music as you go. There is a river with boats on inside the cave, but the boats weren't working so we didn't get to ride.

Sunday Thoughts

Hi,
It feels like it's time to write again. Life is good here. One exciting thing that happened this week was the X Factor concert held in Poti. That's right, the stars of X Factor Georgia came to Poti. Some of us PCVs that love X Factor Georgia. One reason being that lots of the songs are in English and another being that it's just amazing. The concert like a festival, with booths and food vendors all over the park. We even found some cotton candy.
I'm working on my Georgian, and even started to go to tutoring twice a week. I don't know if I will ever be good at it, but I'm hopping to be able to talk to people more then I can now. I have also started an English Club with the other PCVs in Poti. It is twice a week for anyone who wants to come. We just started it, but we want to share some of America's culture and some English skills. Don't worry, I will not be teaching the grammar part of this class.
Some other PCVs came to visit Poti this weekend. We went out to Pizza and saw the beach. There is a special bond shared with other American's, and a even bigger one shared with other PCVs. I think it comes from the shared experience of being so far from home and everything you are use to. You learn two languages in the Peace Corps. One is the language of your country the other is the language of the Peace Corps. There are words I use everyday now that I never used at home, and they love the acronyms.  Words like integrate pop up in my inner monologue all the time.

A frog on the lake by my office

There are times when something happens and I think, "boom pow integrated". This normally happens when I do something right that I failed at the first few weeks here. One example is riding the marshrutka to work. If the driver doesn't know you and the bus if full you are not getting on. They just keep driving and don't care that you are running late and need to get somewhere. The first week here that happened to me. I ended up walking to the station and getting on one there. The first time the marsh stopped for me, with standing room only I felt so cool. It's something that happens to the people that live here all the time, but for me it was a special moment. It meant I was a little more apart of the community the I was yesterday.
In other news I have some photos of our garden. Some of you have asked what it looks like, and now you can see.

Their just chilling on a hot summer day

Summer in Poti

This last week I helped with a clean up of a city park near the National Park office building. It was fun to work with the kids and other community members as we cleaned up the park and after someone played the guitar and others sang. What is really nice for me about this clean up is that this park is where I go for my daily walk at lunch time. It park stayed clean all week and I enjoyed sitting by the lake and watching the frogs. 

Another exciting thing happening is the European Youth Olympic Festival happening in Tbilisi. I am not going to make it into Tbilisi to watch any of it live, but I've enjoyed watching it on TV a little. Those of you who have ever talked to me for more then 15 minutes know I love the Olympics a lot. So I'm really excited that these games are being held in Georgia. As of right now Georgia has 5 medals. Italy is winning with 11. Yes I do look at it as winning, That's the American in me.   

I went to an outdoor concert this week at the city center. It was really cool. They had clowns passing out candy, 20 foot tall women singing, a marching band dressed in all silver, and a firework show. The band that played was really good. My host family and co-workers were really excited that they were coming to Poti. I had never heard of them before, but it turns out they are very popular here. In wasn't like outdoor concerts in the states where everyone tries to get to the front by pushing, everyone just watched and enjoyed their own space. This made it possible for me to make it to the front for a little bit. After the show I made one of my co-workers come up with me to get a photo with the lead singer. At one point I pushed her in his way so she could meet him. It was really very magical. 

It was one of my host sister's birthday this week and we had a party at the pizza place here in town. I liked the pizza. They do a thin crust here and less cheese then we do at home, but it was still good. It was a great night and everyone had a lot of fun. The restaurant over looks the port and you can watch the cranes working as you eat. I really like living so close to the Sea.

 

Poti Party

I'm now 26 years old. It was a good birthday weekend. One of the other PCVs here in Poti also had a birthday last week, so a friend of ours came for the weekend. It was like being a camp having someone to talk to late into the night. At work on Friday we went out on the lake and had a supra. You haven't partied until you have had a real Georgian Supra. There was so much food and everyone had a great time. The lake at the National Park is so amazing. There are so many birds and everything on the shore is green. If any of you come to visit I will take you out there to enjoy for yourself, or to save on travel cost I am working on a website at work you can look at. Saturday three of us went to the black sea and spent the day swimming, sitting in the sun, and sliding down a large inflatable slide. That thing would not show up on an American beach I'm sure of it. So much fun, so unsafe. And I know you all want to know if I put on sunscreen, the answer is yes I did. Four times. Still a little sun-burnt but not as bad as I am most of the time. The next day my host family had a small party for me with cake and Georgian firework candles. Enjoy the photos and remember there an't no party like a Poti Party!