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.