The Making of Churchkhela

gamarjoba everyone!

I currently find myself sitting in a Tbilisi hostel with really fast internet, so I thought I would update you all on a cool tradition I was able to witness the other day back in my village!  

Right now, Georgian families are in the midst of the grape picking and wine production season like I briefly discussed in my last post.  I started talking about the national snack of Georgia, “Churchkhela” and last week my family made a batch of it.  I think the basic ingredients are just grape juice, some flour and some sugar, and then you heat that for a while until it thickens up, stirring occasionally.  Since this is Georgia, we warmed it over a fire and stirred it with a big wooden stick, so it was a little rustic, but that's all part of the Georgian experience isn’t it?  Here’s a few photos from the churchkhela making process:

This is the rustic setup we used to make the churchkhela.  This is the mixture of the grape juice, flour and sugar.

This is Tamila's mother, my host bebia (grandmother in Georgian) came into the village for the day to make churchkhela.  And she looked good in Maize and Blue the entire time!

You dip the string of nuts into the grape concoction and then covered it using a spoon.

You then pull the string out and you have churchkhela!

My host bebia looking over the string of nuts before dunking them in and then my neighbor  Maia  is hanging the churchkhela to dry.

The completed batch!

I haven't tried any of this batch of churchkhela yet, but I'm sure it's pretty darn good.  More Georgian traditions to come as fall continues!

Miss you all back home!
Kelsey

Grapes, Grapes, Grapes: Wine Season Begins

gamarjoba!

Another cool thing happened this week!  On my day off Wednesday I helped Tamila and my neighbors Nino and Maia pick some grapes from our grape vines in the backyard!  September and October mean wine-making time in Georgia and since Georgia considers themselves the birthplace of wine, it’s a BIG DEAL.  And, since I'm living in the Kakheti region which is world famous for its wine and wineries, it's an even BIGGER DEAL.  Later in the day about ten people came over to finish all of the picking and they’ve started to put all of the grapes into a big churn thing that squishes the grapes, stems, pits etc.  They'll remove all of the other stuff later, but I don’t really know anything about the wine-making process yet.  

And then last night Tamila, Nino and Maia boiled grape juice and separated it so that some of the juice went into canning jars to drink later and the other half will be used for the national snack of Georgia “Churchkhela.”  This is a string of nuts covered in thickened grape juice.  I’ve already been told I’m coming back to the U.S. with a big supply of this so I’ll be able to share it all with you soon enough! (I think it’s safe to say I’m coming back with a lot of Georgian food and wine J)  I’m hoping to post some more photos as the wine season progresses but here’s a few from the other day:

Just one row of my family's grapes, there's 6 or 7 total I think.

Churchkhela and I on the way up to Kazbegi.  There were five women selling this at the pitstop we stopped at.   It's pretty good, but a little sweet.  The color depends on the grapes you use, so it can even be made with red grapes and is darker in color (and apparently better).

gaumarjos!

Kelsey

ABCs & 123s: An Introduction to a Georgian Education

gamarjoba everyone!

I’ve just finished my first official week co-teaching in my village’s small school!!  I’m exhausted from the week and think I’m on the verge of experiencing my first cold in Georgia as I sit here sniffling and coughing.  I’ve been thinking about this blog post all week and I’ve been making mental notes of things I wanted to tell you all about because there are many things to share both good and…interesting to say the least.  I’m fortunate to say that I only work three days a week and have Wednesdays and Fridays off.  My school splits their day in half where the 1st grade and grades 6-12 come in the morning and the rest of the kids come in at 2pm when the others leave; so my days are long and filled with back-to-back classes, but I’m pretty happy with my schedule overall.  I’m co-teaching alongside Nino in the 1^st and 6^th grade classes and working with Margo in the 2^nd-5^th and 7^th grade classes (TLG places volunteers in 1^st-6^th grades but since I have nothing else to do besides sit and drink coffee in the teacher’s room during the 7^th grade classes, I’ve offered to help her out.  This is also the class that my host brother Luka is in.).

My School!  We have about 200 students total.  There are 10 classrooms (hence the need to split the day to fit the kids) and it's not really big at all.  Also, that's my host brother Luka in the corner!  And, those are two of my students: Tamuna is in the red shirt and Mari is in the yellow.

The first day of classes definitely proved to be a little bit of a culture shock to say the least.  We began the day with a little gathering on the front lawn where I think some awards were handed out to several good students but seeing as I can’t understand much of what is being said around me, I have no idea.  After that classes began and with it being the first day and all there wasn’t much of a plan for what would happen in each class, so Nino, Margo and I just walked into each class and basically winged it from there.  The kids are all really cute (especially the first graders, oh my gosh!) but definitely have an unknown source of energy hidden somewhere that makes them loud, rambunctious and crazy; they’re definitely a lot to handle, especially when I can’t speak their language and my co-teacher is trying her hardest to control them using Georgian.  Ultimately we didn’t do much in any of the classes that day because neither the teachers nor the students had any books so there was a lot of reviewing the alphabet, numbers, pronouns and other random English concepts.  There’s a definite disparity in terms of knowledge of English within each class which was interesting to note even on the first day.  By the end of the day, I was pretty overwhelmed since so much of what I experienced was different from how I was educated in the United States.

The next two days of school were better since Margo, Nino and a few kids had brought in books so we could adapt some activities from those.  This week I mostly just observed the teaching and learning that was going on, but I did get to lead a few activities including playing an adapted version of BINGO with a few classes on the blackboard.  This coming week I’ll be able to do more things in the classroom now I’ve become more accustomed to how things are run here and will be able to insert more interesting activities than just reciting the alphabet five times as a class.  Although Nino and Margo have varying degrees of English knowledge and fluency, they are still young and not set in the past Soviet ways of teaching and seem really eager to hear all of the ideas I have swirling around my brain that don’t necessarily follow the textbook like they are used to.

Here’s a small smattering of some of the most interesting observations thus far:

No, Lady Gaga hasn’t come to the village, it’s actually just me: Since coming to the village a month ago, my local celebrity status has grown as I meet more people or as more people hear about me.  Villages in Georgia don’t need things like Facebook to keep track of the gossip around here, including the comings and goings of an American girl.  Now, that school has started, I think I’m the most popular girl in the school (not to brag or anything).  As far as I know nobody has whipped out a camera to snag a picture of me (I think) but the kids at my school sure do like to stare as I walk down the short halls with my teachers to my next class.  They whisper to each other as I pass and sometimes even smile and say “Hello.”  They wait for me to pass their houses so they can join me on the walk to school each morning even though the only thing we can really say to one another is “Hello!”  And they love just saying “Hello!”  I’ve lost count how many times in a day I say this word to my students!

Cell Phones: Yes, cell phones.  I haven’t touched on the topic of cell phone culture in Georgia yet, but it’s pretty interesting and definitely worth sharing.  I’m almost sure everyone in Georgia has a cell phone whether you are rich or poor.  But the most intriguing things is that the cell phones in Georgia don’t have voicemail.  I’m not sure how this was overlooked or if it has something to do with the cell phone companies here, but it simply doesn’t exist.  So, when the phone rings, it’ll keep ringing until you answer it or the person just hangs up.  It doesn’t matter where a Georgian is, what they are doing or who they are with, they are going to answer their cell phone.  They could be in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of dinner, or you guessed it, in the middle of teaching a class of 2^nd graders and answer the phone if it rings.  And if for whatever reason you don’t pick up the phone the first time, Georgians keep calling back until you do.  My co-teacher’s phone rang the other day in class, and I had to step in to lead whatever activity we were doing while she took a minute to take the call.

Lack of Resources: Unlike the elementary schools in the U.S., in Georgia (and in other countries) kids have to buy their own school books each year.  But, many of the children in the villages come from poorer families so sometimes the sacrifice is made not to purchase school books for the year, or they will use an old book from a previous student where all of the activities are already completed.  As if this isn’t detrimental to teaching enough, the school itself is also a bare-bones building that can’t provide many resources itself other than a blackboard and some desks in each room.  They don’t have an extra supply of paper or pencils to provide for empty-handed students and I’m forever thankful that I brought my own chalk here (I have yet to see any at the school other than what I bring each day).  The lack of resources available at the school will definitely make planning and executing activities a little more difficult, but I’m looking forward to the challenge, especially if I want to eventually teach in an inner city school at some point in my future (a lot of the lack of resources is the same here).

Disparity in levels of English knowledge and comprehension: I’ve already touched on this a little bit, but it’s amazing to me how some kids in the classes will be really good at English and then others can’t remember the alphabet.  And, each year the students have to buy the next level English book regardless of if they actually successfully learned anything the previous year.  For example, the 2^nd grade class bought the level 2 book for this year, but Margo is insisting that we still use the level 1 book since they can't remember much of what they learned last year.  To me, it seems like a waste of money on the part of the families to buy these books when their kids aren’t ready, but the government mandates a new level each year for the students as they progress in school.

Disregard for lazy kids and inclusion of special education children in the mainstream classroom:  One major difficulty I’m foreseeing already is the inclusion of special education children and lower levels of English knowledge in the same classes.  My teachers have already pointed out a few kids in each class that they call “lazy” and who really don’t act like they even want to be in school.  It doesn’t look as though teachers have gone out of their way to make any of these situations better or to help the kids learn on a more individualized basis.  I’m not exactly sure how my teacher and I will work together to make sure everyone learns (because I know I'm not going to just stand there and ignore little "lazy" Giorgi) but it’s definitely different than Special Education programs in the U.S. and the prevalence of tutoring and other means of assistance to help kids who’ve fallen behind in classes.

Soviet techniques of teaching including memorization and copying:  Some of the favorite activities of my teachers include reciting various English concepts aloud or making students write down things from the chalkboard numerous times.  One of the main reasons why native and fluent English speakers were brought into the country was to update the style of teaching English in Georgia.  A lot of the methods which remain were used during the Soviet times and aren’t the best methods of learning a language.  And, it doesn't help that many of the students don't see English as a means of communication  yet but rather English is just a language they are forced to learn in school.  I’m excited to use some techniques that I tried out when I tutored for America Reads and just other creative things I know I’ve done in my many years of schooling to learn various concepts.

“Mas! Mas!”:  Students here love to answer questions posed by the teacher (even if it's incorrect).  They raise their hands and shake it back and forth while shouting “Mas! Mas!”  It’s a shortened form of the Georgian word for teacher “mastsavlebeli” (think must-have-the-belly and you can say it too!).  They then jump out of their seats to answer the question (they must stand when they are answering commands/questions in class).  If it’s one thing that’s cool to see every day in class it is the enthusiasm these kids have for answering questions and getting them right.  I haven’t given out any of the stickers I brought with me, but I think they’ll love those too J

Now, none of the stuff I’ve mentioned here is necessarily surprising to me since I think I scoured every blog and article I could find about the Georgian education system before I came here.  However, it’s definitely crazy to experience it all first-hand and to see how these differences have affected Georgian students throughout their education both in English and other subjects.  The differences between my lifetime of education and the typical Georgian education are pretty stark and really threw me for a loop after experiencing my first week here.  I know that a lot of the craziness can be attributed to the back-to-school madness experienced everywhere during the first week, and I’m anxious to see how next week will turn out.  Many kids will (hopefully) be buying their school books this weekend, and I’ll have some time to reflect on some activities I might want to try out and be ready for school again on Monday.

More stories to come!
Love and miss you all back home!
Kelsey

Picturesque Kazbegi

gamarjoba!

Hey everyone!  The official Georgian school year kicks off tomorrow so I spent the weekend taking one last trip before things start picking up around here.  On Friday I took a marshutka to Tbilisi to meet up with two other English teachers from my orientation.  We ended up spending some time at an English language book shop for a while and one of my secret personal goals was finally accomplished: meeting some University of Michigan alumni while in Georgia!!  I was just sitting there in the coffee shop wearing my alumni shirt and two guys buying coffee asked me if I actually went there and said that they were U of M alumni as well!  They happened to be vacationing in Georgia at the time and it was sweet to know that some fellow Wolverines have been able to experience this country as well!  Needless to say, our brief encounter (I don’t even know what their names are) was awesome and made me proud to be a Wolverine halfway around the world, GO BLUE!

Anyways, on Saturday my friend Shelley and I woke up early to catch the first marshrutka out of Tbilisi because we wanted to visit the northern town of Kazbegi for the day and do some hiking up to this church on top of a small mountain in the nearby village of Gergeti.  The ride was about three hours long and really beautiful (The town is pretty close to the Russian border if you want a distance comparison).  We were surrounded by the Caucasus Mountains the entire time which are spectacular.  Nothing like towering mountains around you to make you feel insignificant and tiny!  We finally made it to the town of Kazbegi (Stepantsminda is the actual name) and started the trek up to the Gergeti Trinity Church.  It took us over an hour, but we cut up the mountain on little short-cut trails we found which made it steeper, but ultimately faster. 

This church is 2170 meters above sea level (about 7120 feet I believe) and is located by the third highest point in the Caucasus Mountains, Mount Kazbek.  The church itself was built in the 14^th century!  How cool is that?!  I literally walked around a 700 year old church like it was nothin’!  Inside the church they had a few altars and lots of religious relics and pictures.  A lot of people were praying and lighting candles and taking in the surroundings of the old church.  The scenery around us was all mountains which should have more snow on them in the coming weeks.  Only Mount Kazbek (which was mainly covered by clouds that day) had snow on the top.  I think I’ll just let these pictures speak for themselves and the beauty I was able to take in for the day: 

This is the town of Kazbegi from our hike up.

I just climbed a mountain!  Gergeti Trinity Church is in the background.  

SO. BEAUTIFUL.

In Georgia, women are typically required to enter churches in skirts/more traditional dress, so they had extra skirts available to wear.  It's also common to cover your head while visiting as well.

Entrance to the church

Mount Kazbek was covered by clouds Saturday but it already had snow on it.

Hiking back down!

We were able to catch one of the last marshrutkas back to Tbilisi and it was a nice day trip even though we were pretty exhausted when it was all said and done (I mean, we did climb a mountain!).  It was great to be able to see one of the more famous Georgian landmarks before I start school; this country is beautiful and I want to be sure that I can see as much as possible in my brief time here!

Officially a teacher starting tomorrow! ahhh!

Lots of Georgian love,

Kelsey

Meet the Co-Teachers

gamarjoba!

In addition to the wedding I went to on Sunday night, I also had another awesome thing happen yesterday that I want to share with you all!  Like the United States, it’s that time of year again for kids in Georgia: back to school time!  I know that everyone back home has already started the school year and is getting back to the daily grind of homework, meetings and study sessions but Georgians don’t start school again until next Monday, September 17^th.  In order to prepare a little more for my upcoming teaching experience I finally met my co-teachers that I’ll be working alongside with for the next four months!

One of the stipulations in my contract with Teach and Learn with Georgia (TLG) is that every new incoming teacher must attend an Introduction Meeting with TLG representatives as well as our school director and our co-teachers.  My meeting was yesterday and my host father Beso drove my two co-teachers, my school director and I to the biggest city near us, Lagodehki (about 25 minutes away and literally on the border with Azerbaijan).  We met three other TLGers (and their co-teachers) who were in my orientation group and who also live in the Lagodehki region.  Our TLG regional representative Irma then gave a presentation about co-teaching, expectations for everyone and a rundown of other bureaucratic things we have to do each month we’re teaching in Georgia.  It was a little repetitive from orientation but it was nice that we got a chance to create a pseudo-lesson plan with our co-teachers using a unit from the textbooks we teach from.  It gave us an opportunity to see how the teachers have been planning lessons and how they think the students should learn English language concepts and vocabulary.  Overall, the meeting helped to take some of the stress away surrounding the whole notion that I have to walk into a new school on Monday and attempt to teach English to Georgian children successfully.

My co-teachers seem really nice though!  I briefly met Margo when she came to visit Tamila a few weeks ago and we talked for a little bit.  I believe she teaches second-sixth grades at my school.  Her knowledge of English isn’t necessarily the best in the limited interactions we’ve had with one another so that was interesting to note and might be an obstacle to overcome while teaching with her this year.  One new educational reform in this country is that Georgian English teachers have the opportunity to take an English proficiency test in order gain a substantial pay increase.  Margo is planning on taking the test in January and has already asked me for help in preparing, which I already told her that I would gladly do.  It’s interesting because teachers in the TLG program make more money than the average English teacher in Georgia (a point on contention for some volunteers and their co-teachers) and I know I will happily help Margo in hopes that she can earn more money and become more fluent in English and a better teacher overall after I leave. 

My other co-teacher is named Nino and she definitely has a better grasp on the English language when compared to Margo.  She is more confident in her use of English and even knew a bit about American culture when we were discussing differences between Georgian and American weddings.  She’s already taken the English proficiency test and teaches the first grade as well as the higher grades (seventh grade and up) at the school.  My school director is named Niera and she is really good friends with Tamila, they talk on the phone a lot from what I can tell.  She only speaks Georgian and talks to me as if I even understand a single word she’s saying.  When I just shrug and smile at her for not understanding she just calls me a good girl and pats my cheek so I think our relationship will be just fine.  Here’s a nice picture of all of us as we drove back to Apeni after our meeting!

My School Director Niera, Me, and my co-teachers Nino and Margo!

Also, check out this other amazing picture I took at the same spot, isn’t Georgia just beautiful?

Caucasus Mountains y'all! (the same ones I can see from my bedroom window)

It finally seems like things will be picking up around here and I honestly can’t wait to get to school on Monday to finally start what I came to do in this country: teach English.  Don't worry, you'll definitely get to hear all about it :)

gaumarjos!

Kelsey

Crossing off the List: A Georgian Wedding!

gamarjoba!

One of my first posts on this blog contained a Bucket List of sorts for my time in Georgia.  One of those was to attend a Georgian wedding or funeral and I’m happy to say that I accomplished getting invited to attend a Georgian wedding this past Sunday (thankfully it wasn’t a funeral, but I’m still here for a few more months, so we’ll have to wait and see if that invite ever comes). Getting invited wasn’t very hard, it was basically my host mother Tamila informing me that I was coming with her, Beso and our neighbor Maia to the celebration.  So, I didn’t technically go to the religious service, but the real fun happens at the supra which occurs afterward anyways. 

A supra (the Georgian word for “table-cloth”) is a feast that is central to Georgian culture.  Depending on the size of the supra, Georgians will erect huge, long tables for numerous guests to sit at while they continually pile plates of food on top of one another and the flow of wine literally never ends (people actually roam around the table refilling pitchers constantly).  I like to think of it as Thanksgiving dinner in terms of the amount of food but supras occur more frequently.  Another important aspect of any supra is the Tamada or the “toast master.”  This is the individual who personally delivers each toast throughout the meal.  They toast to just about anything you can think of: Georgia, God, the motherland, family, parents, children, America etc.  They should be good orators and are thought to be impressive because they can consume a ton of alcohol throughout the supra (without appearing too drunk).  Typically, wine is served in little glasses and it is tradition that men will chug the glass of wine for each toast offered and then refill it for the next one (basically, Georgian men are socially allowed to drink a lot).  Sometimes the men will even bring out drinking horns and fill them with wine and take turns drinking all of it and making toasts that way.

So, my first mini supra basically occurred the night I got to Apeni when Beso toasted his homemade wine to everything and Tamila cooked a bunch of food.  My first official supra was a few weeks ago when Tamila, Beso and I went to celebrate the baptism of a baby (Beso’s godson’s newborn daughter).  That one had about thirty people around a long table and then men were seated at one end and the women at the other.  The men spent a big portion of the meal taking turns drinking from one of two drinking horns passed around and making a bunch of toasts to various things.  The women are in charge of refilling all of the plates of food and the men are in charge of keeping the wine glasses full.  This particular supra definitely displayed the rigid gender roles that are still prevalent in Georgian society.  Also, keep in mind that a supra can last well into the night, so you might imagine it as more of a marathon event of eating, drinking and socializing rather than a sprint.

But this wedding celebration Sunday night could be seen as a supra on steroids.  Once the bride and groom arrived from the ceremony everyone sat down not just on one long table but at about five that completely filled the yard of the house and each ended up being packed with guests sitting shoulder to shoulder.  On each table was two huge loaves of bread, a variety of drinks and at least one wine pitcher placed every three people.  And then, in typical supra style the food was placed on plates, on top of plates, on top of plates; I literally had to lift plates up just to see what else there was to eat.  And my wine glass was never empty, Beso and some random Georgian guy sitting across from me made sure of that.  All I could really say was “gaumarjos!” (cheers) and keep drinking every time a new toast was made by the Tamada!  The food was traditional Georgian with khachapuri, homemade cheese, eggplant with a walnut sauce and meat speared and grilled on these metal stake things (I can never remember the name of this, but it was the first meal my family ever made me). Here are a few pictures that I took:

It rained all day basically, so that's why the blue tarps were up.

A table soon to be full of people and more food!

I tried to give you all a sense of the amount of food there was.  So just imagine this but everywhere on the table.

Music was playing the entire time and after a while everyone got up to start dancing in the traditional Georgian style.  This Youtube video basically gives you a small sense of the kind of dancing I saw at the wedding; a lot of outstretched arms and kicking legs for the most part.  It was actually really cool and entertaining to just watch and hearing some traditional Georgian music is something that I’ve been looking forward too.  They did give America/English a shout out when they played that “Give Me Everything” song by Pitbull and literally everyone went and danced to it, yet I’m pretty sure only me and the Peace Corps volunteer I met there were the only ones who know what the song actual says. 

In the end, this Georgian wedding was quite similar to any wedding we’ve probably attended in the United States and elsewhere.  It was really neat to be able to share this day with the happy couple (who according to Tamila are 22 years old also. Apparently I need to get a move on according to Georgian marriage age standards!).  There were a lot of toasts made to the couple, a lot of food, a lot of pictures and a lot of laughter that filled the yard well into the night.  I might be spending the next four months in the midst of a different culture, but Sunday night definitely reminded me of moments I’ve had back home when someone is married and everyone is just happy to be with family and friends and to celebrate the beginning of something new.  I’m starting to realize just how similar two seemingly different cultures can actually be at the core of it all: love, marriage, family and new beginnings.

One more post today, get excited!

Kelsey

P.S. Beso offered to fully pay for my wedding in Georgia should I ever decide to come back here and get married. I politely declined but it sure was nice of him to offer!

Beautiful Batumi!

gamarjoba!

Hey there again!  I know, I know, it’s been a little more than a week since my last blog post for everyone.  What have I been doing you ask?  Well, this past week I decided to take a break from village life and crossed the country to visit the resort city of Batumi on the Black Sea with some of my fellow English teachers I met during orientation.  Four of us from the same region (Kakheti) travelled to Tbilisi where we planned to catch an overnight train to Batumi.  However, this is Georgia and something we’re all learning is that plans don’t usually fall into place: we went to the train station at about 2pm on Sunday and found out that all of the trains out of Tbilisi to Batumi were full until the next day.  After quickly considering our options, we walked outside to catch one of the numerous marshrutka vans waiting that would gladly take four English speakers across the country for 17 Lari each (this is about 10 USD).  So, we piled into one of these buses (along with a few other people) and set off on the 6+ hour ride to Batumi. 

Now, you must understand that these marshrutka rides aren’t exactly fun.  I might be 5’3’’ but there was little to no leg room even for me and a Georgian marshrutka driver is probably the scariest thing to put in charge of a quickly moving vehicle since they will pass any car (even with oncoming traffic) and swerve across the road if they feel like it.  But, I must say that the scenery around us was beautiful (as we literally went across the country), cars must pass through the mountains that are covered in trees and I can only imagine the colors in fall on them!  And then, we were relieved when we finally spotted the Black Sea from the windows because it meant the journey was almost over.  We stopped occasionally on the way to drop people off and to buy snacks, so we finally made it to Batumi around 8:30pm pretty tired, and anxious to find out hostel.  Some other teachers from our orientation group were already staying at our hostel so it was nice to see them again and to hear about everyone’s host family situation thus far. 

The next morning we woke up and decided to explore the city for a bit.  We first stopped at this really cute café for coffee and yummy pastries and everyone who brought a computer got to use the fastest Wi-Fi internet we’ve used in a few weeks (the small pleasures in life!).  We stopped by the most interesting fountain I’ve seen in a while, where the mermaids represented had water sprouting out of their breasts.  We also found the statue of Medea and the Golden Fleece a few blocks from the sea.  Then we made our way down to the Black Sea beach area which spreads the length of Batumi (and the length of western Georgia for that matter).  We wandered out on the pier before putting our feet in the water.  The water was pretty warm but the entire beach is just filled with rocks.  It was definitely a little different than about 99% of the beaches I’ve ever been too, and it was a lot more uncomfortable to walk on.  I spent some time gathering some rocks (hey, free souvenirs!) and watching the surrounding people enjoy the beach. There are a few fountains around the area (which light up at night and play music) and several sculptures are placed along the seaside.  Some of the most famous landmarks here on the Batumi beach are the Alphabetic Tower and the Ali and Nino statue based on the book by Kurban Said.  It’s really cool because during the day, the two individuals are intertwined but then at night they are both lit up in different colors and separate while moving in slow motion to reconnect with one another.

The fountain with the water shooting out of interesting places.

The rocky Black Sea coast!  

Medea and the Golden Fleece statue.  From Wikipedia, Medea was the wife of Jason (leader of the Argonauts) and he came to ancient Georgia to retrieve the fleece.

Alphabetic Tower

Ali and Nino statue

Batumi is definitely an interesting city because the great majority of its growth has come in the last five years.  There is a certain European feel to the city in terms of the newer architecture we saw along with all of the cobblestone roads and it is continuing to grow judging by the amount of construction that was taking place all over the city.  New hotels and apartment buildings are being built for wealthy Georgians and foreigners and even Donald Trump is supposedly going to lend his name to an upcoming Trump Tower Batumi.  Georgia really wants to join the European Union (EU) and this city definitely shows how much effort they will put into making the nation actually mimic a more European look; it would be awesome to visit the city again in five years to see the progress that’s been made.  One of the cooler buildings they are constructing even has a Ferris wheel built into the side of it!  It wasn’t finished yet so we took a nighttime ride on the big Ferris wheel next to the Black Sea instead. 

Wasn't finished yet :(

There were about eight teachers from my group staying at our hostel during our time there so we tried to do a variety of things so that we could experience Batumi properly.  One night four of us went to a dinner that was supposed to feature a jazz ensemble and quartet playing classical Georgian music but instead we were treated to what seemed like Georgian karaoke featuring singers from the large dinner party in the restaurant (mind you, it was only us four and this huge dinner party/supra of 25ish at the restaurant the entire time).  The music was super loud and mostly prerecorded but I thought the singers were pretty good and as garish as the whole thing sounded it was cool to hear some traditional Georgian singing (which is something that Georgians are known for, someone from almost every family can sing or play these traditional songs).  Like a variety of things we’ve experienced already in Georgia it wasn’t what we were expecting but it was definitely something to talk about later.

The next day my fellow teachers Kathleen, Kelsey and I went to the Batumi Botanical Gardens.  They are located on a hill next to the Black Sea and while we were getting a good leg workout in climbing the many hills I got some awesome pictures and views of the Black Sea!  They had plants from all over the world and it was neat to think that they can all grow successfully in this climate even if they are from places like Nepal or South America.  

One of the views of the Black Sea from the Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Other cool things we did as a group this week included trying to find a Stalin Museum that is apparently in Batumi according to a guidebook we had.  So after wandering through a shopping district that sold mainly things to repair and build houses, we asked a Georgian man where we could possibly find this museum and he lead us to a locked gate with a littered yard in front of a small house.  The only thing that would set this building apart as something associated with Joseph Stalin was a bust situated in the front yard; it was preserved so well that you could still see his famous mustache from the road.  I thought it was really striking that an infamous ruler such as Stalin was still preserved in plain sight for anyone walking by to see, but I suppose he is technically from Georgia and certainly played an important role in the history of former Soviet Union countries.  Since this visit turned out to be a bust (get it?) we went to the Batumi art museum, which while small in size, was cool to see some Georgian artwork.

Joseph Stalin bust, mustache and all.

So in the end Batumi was a great break for us English teachers who, after spending a few weeks in our villages, were craving some different scenery and a chance to speak English fluently with someone who can relate to the experiences we’re having in our villages.  It’s definitely different than a city like Tbilisi but Batumi was able to show us more aspects of Georgia that we are still uncovering as we spend more time in this country.  The people were still nice and hospitable and the food was just as good, but the city was more cosmopolitan than the quaint villages we’re calling home for the next few months.  I’m back in Apeni now, but I’ve definitely got the travelling bug to see more of the beautiful country (except maybe not all by marshrutka) and I although I won’t have as much time to travel once school starts on September 17^th, I’m looking forward to discovering more of Georgia’s beauty and hospitality on the weekends.

More adventures to come!  Gaumarjos! (“Cheers” in Georgian!)

Kelsey