The day we celebrated Georgia's Independence

Georgia celebrates its Independence Day on May 26. This isn't necessarily the anniversary of their most recent independence though.  It's technically the day they were independent from Imperial Russia back in 1918.  So it's the second to last time they broke up with Russia.  It's a complicated relationship...

It was a mullet day: business in the front (morning classes) and party in the back (celebrations in downtown Gori).  Even though there was rain in the afternoon, the show carried on. We hung out for hours watching different performances.

Behold for yourself the awesomeness of Georgian Folk Dance:

Kids of all ages performed. You can tell they start from when they are young, because they were totally on point.  

(Just in case you forgot which day this was, my helpful model, Giorgi, here with remind you)

Men are very involved in the dancing and their dances are very powerful, acrobatic, and often include weapons.

Georgia has many diverse regions, and they all take pride in their local costumes, dances, and foods.

 Nazi, me, and Rezo hanging out with the tanks.

The highlight of the evening for everyone was the final act: Kuchas Bitchebi (The Street's Boys). Any comparison you make of them and Backstreet Boys is probably accurate.  They were a hugely popular group in the early 2000s, but reunite sometimes to do concerts. Their songs are everything you want from a boy band and you can't help but dance. If you need some joy in your life, look them up on YouTube. 10/10 Won't Regret It. I've accepted them wholly as my own (we can pretend it's party of my cultural integration, but I probably would have loved them anyway).

Best spur of the moment Tuesday evening I've had in a long time. Georgia knows how to throw a party.  Happy Independence Day, Georgia,

Gaumarjos!

The day we planted literal and figurative seeds

As part of our training for IOD (for those of you playing at home, that's Individual and Organizational Development, the name of Peace Corps Georgia (PCG)'s Community Economic Development (CED) program. I know it seems like you're swimming in alphabet soup, and you pretty much are. Peace Corps abbreviations are the first foreign language they try to teach you.), we planned and implemented a project in our communities. Ruisi's cluster worked with the kids and staff of Ruisi School #3 to beautify the yard of the school by cleaning and planting some flowers in the garden.  (It was the most pressing need we could address with our limited time and budget. One day we'll come back and build a sports stadium, Rezo.)

The day was sunny and the kids were happy to not be studying for finals.  This was their idea for a project and they were excited to make it happen.  In the end, we planted bushes, flowers, seeds, and one palm tree-looking thing.  We volunteers and the students that helped got a chance to develop our project muscles and all the kids at the school now have a more attractive place to spend their breaks.  Win-win-win, as Michael Scott would say.

The day I went to a church and a castle

Sundays are our free days during PST, so I have a feeling I'm going to be making the most of them.  I started off strong this Sunday by waking up early (for me and the Georgians) and going to church with Rezo and Nazi.  Ruisi may be small, but they have a couple different churches.  We went to the one near school, the smaller, "newer" one (which is still hundreds of years old.  They were already started by the time we got there, and the service lasted for two hours.  Sure, I'm used to church being three hours long, but during this service, we stood the entire time.  I won't complain about wooden pews again.
Although I didn't understand most of what was going on (but I did understand a few words here and there, so I guess I'm learning), the service was interesting.  The majority of it was readings and songs from a few different people involved.  There were candles and saints and Rezo rang bells.  There were only about 25 people in attendance, but what really impressed me was the kids that were there. Most of them were there without parents and as young as 5.  I have heard that the Georgian Orthodox Church is having a bit of a comeback with younger generations, and now I believe it. The kids came on their own and were well behaved. Not your average sunbeams.
After church and lunch, I headed in with others from my cluster to explore Gori.  The first stop was the castle that is poised on a hill in the middle of the city.  It is the perfect place for a castle: great views and easy to defend.  Definitely gives new meaning to King of the Hill. The castle is now in ruins a bit, but serves as a park.  Case in point: a group was doing Tae Kwon Do while we were there.
We also found another group of fellow Trainees and hung out with them for the rest of the day.  It was a well-spent day off and a great taste of this corner of Georgia.