Distractions, Part 2

With SELF camp done, I started the long trek across the country back to Akhalkalaki.  If you try to go directly from Kobuleti or Batumi to Akhalkalaki, it involves at least three bus changes (actually, there is a direct bus, but the driver seems to only go when the spirit moves him, so it's not especially reliable).  However, I think even the most serendipitous traveler couldn't find a way to make all those connections on schedule and do the trip in a day.  Knowing that it'd be a tough slog to make all my buses, I decided to break the trip up, first stopping in Kutaisi for one last visit.  

I arrived and headed straight to happy hour.  One of the great PCVs in Kutaisi, Tami (with whom I stayed while visiting), has an adult English conversation group that meets three times a week.  To make things more interesting and attract more native English speakers for her students to meet with, she holds one of those meetings at a bar or outdoor cafe.  It's a fantastic idea, really--the students (all adults) get to practice English in a real-live setting, with lots of English speakers around (all are required to sit Georgian-American-Georgian-American); it's a way of sharing a bit of American culture, by explaining what happy hour is and why Americans go out for happy hours; and it's a great way for the other PCVs and Americans (or other native English speakers) in Kutaisi to get a little bit of that feeling of normality, of home, speaking English and drinking a beer.  After a week at SELF camp, I certainly was pretty happy with the arrangement.

Tami and another PCV stationed just outside of Kutaisi, Josh, had planned a weekend adventure, and I was invited to tag along.  We spent Saturday traveling around to monasteries and churches that were pretty inspiring and inspired, to say the least.  First was the women's Mghvimevi monastery (just try to say that one time) in Chiatura, about an hour and a half from Kutaisi.  

Mghvimevi from the street below

The view of Chiatura from out front of the monastery

Inside the cave part of the monastery

It was nice and cool inside the cave church

Inside the stone church there were a lot of really well preserved frescos from centuries ago

A ceiling fresco

You know it's a good, serious monastery because they have skulls on display

We walked from the monastery back into the center of Chiatura and had some lunch at an outdoor cafe near the river.  Chiatura was a major manganese mining town, and some production is still ongoing.  The look of things on the outskirts of town reminded me a little of Granville.  After lunch, we headed out for more monasteries.  First up was the Katshis Monastery.

Katshis Monastery--it was a pretty unique shape for a monastery in Georgia

Statue outside the 11th century Katshis Monastery (notice the wine kvevri in the background; I guess this monastery isn't entirely atypical for Georgia)

 Our last stop on the monastery tour was the Katshis Pillar.  I'll let you look at the pictures, rather than explaining it.  I'll just say that going to the church would really be a test of your faith.

Katshis Pillar

Me and Tami, with Katshis Pillar in the background

Closer up picture of the pillar

Wanna get up to the church?  Go ahead--climb this metal ladder!  (Only men are allowed to go up, or I totally would have. Totally.)

Another view of the pillar

On Sunday, we spent some time resting and relaxing, and I met up with a bunch of other PCVs in Kutaisi to take pictures of them exercising (more on that later).  Given how hot it was in Kutaisi, sitting in a park, eating ice cream and drinking cold coffee was a great way to spend the day.  Monday I was planning to head back closer to site, stopping in Akhaltsikhe.  I was persuaded to take a side trip for one more Kutaisi adventure in a cave called Prometheus.  Josh, the PCV who went with me and Tami to Chiatura, works at the Prometheus Cave, and told me he could give me a private tour on Monday, when the site is closed.  I couldn't say no to that, so I headed off to Tskaltubo, a small suburb of Kutaisi that had been a big Soviet spa resort town.  Josh knows a lot about caves (he worked as a geologic hydrologist or something like that in America), and kept saying that Prometheus was world class.  He said it would be a shame to leave Georgia without seeing it, so I decided to risk not catching a direct marshrutka in order to see it.  It was incredible.  Look on below.

Headed down to the cave entrance

An incredible Karst cave

Seeing caves like this helps me really imagine how dinosaurs existed

In addition to being really freaking cool to look at, it was nice and cool in temperature in the cave, too

Pretty sci-fi, huh?

I loved this--on emerging from the cave after nearly 2 hours (it's a huge freaking cave), blinded by the sun, we come out to see the big "National Parks of Georgia" signs, right next to a bunch of cows.  There are cows in every single national park in Georgia.  Even the caves. (Well, next to the caves).

And, in typical Georgian fashion, things somehow worked out.  The walk from the bus station in Tskaltubo to Prometheus cave is about 4 miles, and it was hot and I had my backpack.  Josh usually can flag a ride or catch a bus, but on that Monday, there were no takers, so we just walked, stopping to pick blackberries or plums from trees and bushes that grew over the fences every now and again.  Just before arriving at the bus station, a car stopped to give us a ride.  It was already after 1pm (the scheduled time of my bus departure), but we were grateful for a lift and to get out of the sun.  The car was actually headed into Kutaisi to the bus station, so they gave us a ride all the way there.  Even though I arrived at 1:35pm (a full 35 minutes past scheduled departure time, mind you), my direct bus to Akhaltsikhe was still sitting there.  And, praise the lords or serendipity, it was right next to an ice cream vendor.  10 points to Georgia, for letting me see an amazing cave of wonders, pick fresh fruit on the walk back, catch a ride with some friendly Kutaisians, make it back in time to take a direct bus, AND still have time for an ice cream (actually, I ate 2).  Win.

Distractions, Part 1

Right after Sam left Georgia, I headed off to the west coast of the country for one final visit.  I spent the weekend watching the clouds over the Black Sea (there were some wicked storms), sitting on the rocky beach, running along the boulevard, and talking with friends.  It was a good way to distract myself from Sam's absence.  I needed the distraction because I really, really have been missing him.

This isn't our first time apart.  Heck, we spent our first several years together in long-distance mode.  But these past two years have been like make-up time for all the goodbyes and waiting and apartness.  I think the closeness of everything for married couples in Peace Corps means that we all come close to driving each other crazy during our first weeks and months.  From our Pre-Service Training, when we had 4 hours of language class together daily (try learning three new languages with a loved one in a super-intense class with only 3 other members) to all of the time spent trying to avoid the cold winters (we watched all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and maybe a few other pop culture gems), we really weren't able to get away from one another for long during these 27 months.  If you make it through the crazy-driving moments, though, I think PC service is a time when a couple can become closer than ever.  Thankfully, that's what happened with me and Sam.  Our time in Georgia was made even happier, even that much better, even that much more cherished because we got to spend it together.  

I know, awwwwww.  Right? 

So in planning for Sam to head off a month before me, I wanted to make sure that I had my initial minutes and hours and days occupied with something big, something that would keep me occupied.  The thought of saying goodbye to Sam when we'd barely been a foot apart from each other for months was tougher to deal with than I expected.  So it may be due to some temporary insanity that  I agreed to be a counselor for SELF Camp in Kobuleti.  

Stormy skies over the Black Sea

The view of Batumi from the top floor of the Radisson Blu in Batumi

Other side view of Batumi (looking out at the Sheraton and the sea)

Usually Georgia fares pretty well on the mis-translation scale, but "Technical Stuff" was just too good to pass up (in Georgian it actually says "Technical Staff")

Last summer I helped out the the GLOW camp, and I also like the SELF camp acronym, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) was a camp for teenaged girls to teach leadership, social responsibility, health, and self-esteem.  It had some fitness components (we exercised every morning and discussed healthy diet and exercise), but was mostly focused on group work sessions and short lectures.  SELF (Self-Esteem and Leadership through Fitness) dealt with many of the same issues, but worked towards reaching the ends through sports.  We taught basketball, soccer, kickball, volleyball, frisbee, yoga, running and did a whole host of exercise sessions daily, lightly interspersed with a few short lectures here and there (scheduled for any times when it looked like everyone was going to keel over from exhaustion).  Both camps were incredible--I remain amazed by all of my fellow PCVs.  

The SELF camp had 40 campers, ages 13-16, 4 junior counselors (17 years old), 4 counselors (20 years old), and 3 PCVs to keep things in order (me, Amy and Emily). 

I'll let those numbers sink in for just a minute.  40.  Ages 13-16. 

I'm really not sure how we survived and held things together, but it worked out.  Come the last day of camp, we had weeping girls, sad to say goodbye to their newly made friends, so I count that as a huge sign of success (ah, yes, crying children=success).  The other success of the camp was that it helped time stay full and me stay busy and I didn't have a chance to get all mopey and missing Sam.  Mission accomplished!  Below are some pictures from the camp.

Girls participating in a "Human Pictures" team-building game.  We gave each group a word (elephant, khachapuri, SELF, mountain) and had them make the word as a picture with their bodies.  This group spelled out SELF (can you see it?)

Kickball rules were really hard to grasp at first (when you can't just say "it's like baseball, only you kick the ball, it's a lot harder to explain), but once they got it, the girls really enjoyed it

Running relays by the Black Sea

I taught some basic basketball skills outside before we headed to the gym to play

Amy led some very popular yoga sessions

And of course we had a dance party on the second-to-last night

I climbed up to the second floor to try to capture some of the shrieking excitedness of the dance party

On the day after the dance party, I was surprised that the girls were able to stay awake for the lecture

Some warm-up drills before the basketball game

Sunset over the Black Sea on the last night of camp

Just so you can fully appreciate the numbers.  Look at all those teenaged girls. 

Sam says goodbye to Georgia (for now)

Sam said his final goodbyes to Georgia on June 15, and took off for his next adventures.  It was tough saying goodbye (for him, for me, and for all the people who have made this experience so rich and wonderful for us).  My own turn to say goodbye will come soon enough.  But even though it is really difficult to face leaving, both Sam and I really do believe that we'll be back here in Georgia again before too long.  We hope and plan to come back, whenever the stars align to give us enough free time and money to make it.

Here are some of the things we did in our last few days together here in Georgia, and many of the reasons we have already started planning our next trip back.

Goodbye, Kortaneti!

Sam, signing Akaki's bolo zari (last bell) shirt

Sam with Akaki, in the aforementioned shirt

Sam and Zurab

Me and Maia

Me, Maia and Zurab toasting at lunch

The roses in bloom in Kortaneti

Tamila making khinkali

Goodbye, Borjomi!

Borjomi Park

A waterfall in Borjomi Park

Some pretty flowers on our hike in Borjomi National Park

Me on our hike in the national park

The view looking up as we hiked

The view looking out as we hiked

The Green Monastery outside of Borjomi

Relics in the Green Monastery

Flowers planted outside the monastery

Stream on the way to the Green Monastery

Paintings inside the Green Monastery

Goodbye, Akhalkalaki!

Farewell lunch with Sergei and Shushan

Farewell dinner with our host family (from left, Akop, Amalka, Emilia, Shaen, Armine, Lilit, Sam and me)

Mt. Abul shrouded in clouds

Sam with his bag (and Lilit showing how she was going to ride with Sam when he left)

The view from the road on the way to Tbilisi

Goodbye, Tbilisi!

Looking down on the city one last time from the fortress

 Sam in the fortress

Sam saying hello to the bees kept outside the church inside the fortress

Goodbye cookout for PCVs at the American Ambassador's house

Sam and Christopher at the Ambassador's cookout

Ambassador Bass, Sam, me and PC Georgia Country Director Rick

Goodbye, Sam!

Sam on his last time in the Peace Corps office, with the Snickers bar that he was given on his first day in Georgia on April 28, 2010.  Yes, he kept it the whole time.  No, he did not eat it (call it the nagging wife effect or the it-was-already-1.5-years-expired effect).  In the end, he decided to preserve his health so he can come back to Georgia again and again.