The first adventure was Bookmobile Camp. The Bookmobile is one of our projects at my organization, but it doesn't operate during the summer. But they planned a camp with kids from all four settlements where it operates. The camp was in a campground above a town called Juta, one of the highest continuously populated villages in Europe. Basically it was hours on a dirt road from anywhere, but beyond beautiful. The camp was so much fun. We had sessions on different life skills, plenty of games, hiking, and I led a morning yoga class every day. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth millions, so watch the fun video they made of the camp, even if it is in Georgian:
The next weekend, a bunch of volunteers met up in Kutaisi (the second largest town in Georgia) because it had been almost a month since a lot of us had seen each other and obviously we were having some separation anxiety. There was of course, the required copious amounts of talking, eating, and adventuring. One of the volunteers lives near Kutaisi and showed us the incredible Martvili Canyon. Parts of it reminded me a lot of the slot canyons in Southern Utah, but the water was clear blue and surrounded by green instead of desert. It was the perfect summer day of swimming and fun.
Kutaisi wasn't done with us yet. The next day, to escape the heat (did I mention it was high 90s and humid?) we went to Prometheus Caves. I was expecting it to be cool, but I was very impressed. The cave system was much larger than I expected and it had awesome formations. One huge difference I noticed between Georgia and the States was that in the US, we usually try to put the smallest amount of things in the cave to minimize impact. But in Georgia, they carved out the path and light it up like a Christmas tree, and I have to say, I liked the Georgian way better. (Side note, they called it the Prometheus Cave, because there's a rumor that maybe the Prometheus myth happened here. Or it was the place he got condemned to after he stole the fire? Something like that. I was too distracted by the pretty stalactites and stalagmites.
The next weekend the party was at my house! Literally. Some PCVs had signed up to do an enamel jewelry making workshop at my organization. Naturally, that couldn't be all we did, so they slept over the night before and after. They did an awesome job at making the jewelry and then we celebrated by making fajitas and watching a movie with a borrowed projector. It was almost like a movie theater! (Funny story, we shared the fajitas with my host sisters and they did not like them at all. But they were good sports and much prefer fried rice.) Tserovani might not be as happenin' as Kutaisi, but we know how to bring the party.
Thanks to Logan's dental filling falling out of his head, the next weekend was an adventure too! He had to get it fixed in Tbilisi, we took the opportunity to explore the city. I hadn't really been there on more than business, so it was great to be a tourist for the day. We utilized as many forms of transportation as we could, including cable car, metro, taxi, funicular, and foot. (The last one counts because we put in like 16 miles that day. We checked on Logan's phone pedometer.) We explored the old fortress, Mother Georgia (a huge metal statue that looks over the city), the largest and newest church in Tbilisi, and a flea market in a park. That market was so much fun; I felt like I had been transported back to the Soviet Era. We spent almost the whole time trying to find the right Hammer and Sickle pin for Logan to buy and I got an awesome new necklace. I'll definitely go back - there was so much cool stuff! Another highlight was when we were up on the hill overlooking the city (by this time it was night), we took a ride in the Ferris Wheel, and fireworks started going off while we were in there! We had the best seat in the house. It was awesome!
By the time the month ended, even though it was so fun, I was ready to quote Green Day and say: "Wake me up when September ends." But it's my birthmonth, so it's my favorite. Plus, the rest of Georgia was ready to get back to work too.
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