This week was Mother's day here in Georgia. It is a midweek holiday that you get off school and work. I enjoyed my day off by watching tv in bed, reading a book, hanging out with my host sisters, and making cookies. They were peanut butter, and yes, they were amazing. This coming week there is another holiday here, international women's day. We also get the day off of work. So I want to take sometime to think about the mothers in my life. Not just my own mom and grandma, both are amazing and I love them so much, but all the women who have helped me along my way. I don't want to list, because I'm sure I would leave someone out and I would hate to do that. There have been so many over the years. From women at church who took the time to teach, to co-workers who were both friends and mentors, roommates and friends who helped keep me going. My relationships with these women have shaped who I am, and will keep doing so for the rest of my life. So to them I would like to say thank you. Thank you for helping, loving, working, and sharing your light with the world. Thank you for everything you have done for me and everyone around you.
Stories:
I was able to meet the German ambassador to Georgia last month. She came to the national park. We gave her a small presentation on the park and answered some of her questions. I have met the US ambassador (see next story), so it was really fun to meet one from someplace else. She told us about some of the national parks in Germany. I love how national parks can bring people together. That all over the world there are places you can go to see nature and meet new people.
A few weeks ago now the Batumi American Corner had a reopening after they redesigned it. American Corners are partnerships between the Public Affairs section of the United States Embassies and host institutions (read libraries here in Georgia). Most have collections of English books and movies. They have free internet for anyone to use and programming for the general public. A small group of PCVs from the area came for the event. We were able to meet the US ambassador and his family. After the event we went to a place called Batumi Pizza for dinner. Batumi Pizza is owned by a family that lived in America for sometime and makes the best pizza in the area. I really love it. Here is a photo of the group at the American Corner. Note how good we look with our Peace Corps pins.
I went to another camp in Bakuriani. This camp was an all girls camp about leadership and fitness. There were 4 PCVs at this camp and we did the fitness activities for the girls. It was to warm for snow, but to cold to really melt everything away. So it was a mix of mud and ice outside. This is the worst mix for most, if not all, sports. So most of the activities were inside. We did a lot of dancing. Like a lot. The girls were split into teams and each PCV had their own team. My girls were great and I had a lot of fun hanging out with them for the week.
The weather has turned nice. Spring is here. We went for a walk to the beach the other day and I got really excited for summer. It is still a little to cold to swim, but soon I'll be back to spending as much free time as possible in the Black Sea. Here is a photo of the water right before the sun started to set.
I have started teaching some photography classes. The first one was at a friends site. I had 20 teens/young adults in the class. Teaching is something I have gotten a lot better at in the PC. I feel a lot better about standing in front of a class full of people then I ever did in the states. This class went well and ended in a 20 minute photo walk around the office. After the walk each student shared one shot from that day. Here is my shot. We are starting a class at the national park as well. I'm teaching it every two weeks for the next few months. Yesterday was our first class. We went over the history and development of photography and walked around the office park area. Next time I want to talk them out into the woods and see what they come up with. After the photography class I went to Batumi for a Believe meeting. I didn't really understand much of what was happening during the training, but everyone really liked it and said nice things about it. So I think it was a winner.
