The Day I Started as an Official PCV

We swore in on Friday and then started at our organizations on Monday. I was so lucky in my assignment – the organization For Better Future. My counterpart is Nana – an incredibly active and tenderhearted woman who is involved with basically anything that happens here in Tserovani. She’s also a bit of a foodie, speaks English well, and has even been to Utah. (Which is incredible, because most Georgians just give me blank look when I say I’m from Utah.) There’s also Eka, who just graduated college and she’ll be helping with our social enterprises. One of them is an enamel jewelry making business. We have three full time artisans (Matsi, Tiko, and Tako) who make beautiful rings, pendants, earrings, and cufflinks. It’s so cool to watch them work. Our other enterprise is a café here in the settlement. It’s brand new and just getting started, so I’m excited to help with the progress there. We also have other projects with other settlements. We have the Bookmobile, which is an American Corner library that rotates around the four settlements in the area. Another project that is starting this fall is for youth civics clubs. I’ll write about each project specifically in their own blog post, because they deserve their own.

The organization is busy and full of amazing people. I’m so excited to be working here and I know it will be an amazing experience. Two years is going to fly by!

The day we swore...in

They day finally came. We had passed our language exams, proved ourselves capable in our technical trainings, and cramped our hands filling out paperwork. We were officially ready to become official Peace Corps Volunteers. The day started early with leaving our PST Host Families. It was an emotional moment. It was hard to say goodbye to these wonderful people who had introduced us to Georgia and been patient enough to take care of us until we had mastered simple phrases like “I need to go to the bathroom” and “I really can’t eat any more of your delicious food.” But luckily we can still go back and visit while we’re here.

As a G15 group, we traveled together to Tbilisi, loaded with anticipation and all of our physical belongings. We got all dressed up and after a rehearsal, welcomed the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, old host families, new host families, and future counterparts for our swearing-in ceremony.

In a small choir, I sang the Georgian and American National Anthems. We definitely did better on the American one, but they still applauded us for effort on the Georgian one. There were speeches and cameras and pomp and circumstance. It was a very special moment as our names were read, then the Ambassador had us raise our right hands and swear-in as official Volunteers.

After a reception and cake, we all headed our separate ways to start what we came here to do. As our group has said at every big milestone, “it just got real”.  Congrats and good luck to all my fellow G15s!

The day we partied like it was 1777

July rolled around and that means hot weather and American Independence Day. We may be in the good ol’ US of A, but we are a sizeable group of Americans, so of course we’re going to find a way to party. Luckily it was a Saturday, so PC gave us a break from Saturday classes and told us to bring our host families to a barbeque. It’s not 4^th of July without hamburgers and hotdogs.

The party had been in the works for about a month, and it was quite the event. It really felt like home for a while.  There was watermelon, potato salad, and we (the Ruisi cluster) even tried to make a cherry pie. (It turned out alright, but it was quite the ordeal. Basically I didn’t know where to get some of the ingredients or a pie tin, but we made it work, not without a frantic call home to my mom.  One day I’ll be able to cook properly without her. Not yet though.)

There was face painting and tug of war and all sorts of shenanigans. I’m glad we got to bring our host families, it was fun to host them for a while and be able to share our culture, since they have been so giving of theirs.

Happy Birthday, America! 

The day like all the others

Even if it is seemingly uneventful, I want to document a normal day of PST.  It may not be exciting or grand, but it’s this slice of life in the sopeli that gives the truest taste of Georgian living.

I wake up in the morning feeling like P.Diddy. JK. I’m sorry I made a Ke$ha reference circa 2010. I only feel like P Diddy if when he wakes up he has to psych himself up to walk to the outhouse first thing. And then he gets ready and goes to school in the neighbor’s marshutka with all the other neighbor children and Fellow Trainee Kyle.

The mornings pass in a blur of poorly pronounced Georgian and fierce competitions for the colorful paper stars that will determine one of us superior.  Maybe I should explain what “us” is: we call ourselves the Ruisi Cluster. We do so because the Peace Corps called us that and we do everything as they say. We are six brave Americans on a quest to advance world peace and friendship. We have assembled from all parts of the continental United States and Guam. JK. I wish one of us was from Guam. I’ve never actually met anyone from there.

I tried to sneak a picture. Obviously I wasn't that sneaky.

Anyway, we study beginner Georgian for four hours a day from our LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator), Maka. Maka is a wonderful Georgian human who not only schools us in all things Georgian, she actually seems to like us. She has more patience and composure than you know. After class, we have lunch together at one of our host family’s houses. This is the real reason any of us wake up in the morning. Georgians know how to host a dinner party, I’ll tell you what.

Just as my tea gets cool enough to drink, Maka gets a suspicious call from an unknown number: “The marshutka has left Tiniskhidi.” We all know what that means. An unmarked van is about to pick us up and deliver us to Kareli. Actually, it usually has a sign that says PST. But they may be agents, because I never seem to be able to drink all my chai, I think they have us bugged or something. The rides to Kareli are shared with the Tiniskhidi cluster, and even though we are all fighting off the post-meal exhaustion, the marshutka is usually full of talking and the occasional outburst of song. Good times are had by all.

In Kareli, we have our Technical Specific trainings.  These are to help us be the best Individual and Organizational development volunteers we can be. We learned about how to plan and implement projects and trainings, as well as other Georgian-organization specific information. We only have 20 IOD volunteers, so we are a close knit little group. It’s good fun.

Basically we are at trainings until the cows come home. Literally. We usually have to share the road with at least the cows, if not other livestock. Makes for some smelly traffic jams. 

About the time we are waiting for the cattle to clear, one of us looks to the others and says: “ნაყინი დღო?” (Ice cream time?), to which the answer is invariably yes. We then convene the “AmerikeliBirzha”, a title we have appropriated from the groups of men that gather in the streets in the evenings. Many times they drink, but we have our ice cream. We all have our vices.

And then we go home to our respective houses. We usually have homework due the next day. If it’s Monday, I’ll watch Georgian X Factor with Nazi and Rezo. Other nights we eat dinner and hang out with the neighbors. Life is good in the sopeli.  

The Day I Made Khinkali

One typical evening in Ruisi, seven o’clock rolled around and my hungry alarms were going off. Luckly it seemed that my host family’s were too, as they looked to each other and asked: “What should we eat tonight?” After some discussion, it was decided that tonight would be our khinkali night.

In the most basic way, khinkali is the Georgian version of dumplings. But that fails to fully describe the beauty. They are delicious little pockets of juicy goodness, complete with a little dough knob that serves as both a handle and a way to number your conquests. Behold:

The process of making khinkali is not for the faint of heart. First you have to make the filling. Typically, this is  a mix of ground meat and various spices: we used fresh cilantro, coriander, peppers, and of course, salt.

Then you have to make the dough and work it till it’s though enough to hold in its tasty contents. The dough is then rolled out into Fruit Roll-Up sized circles

Next you get to put it all together. A heaping spoonful of meat mixture goes into one dough circle, and then you fold. The folding is a work of art. The best of the khinkali makers can get 18+ folds on one khinkali. I am not a professional, but I’m good enough to make sure that all the filling doesn’t get out. I’ve got my priorities. Nino and Nazi even taught me a fancy way to make them look like fish. It’s adorable and delicious!

After you’ve made a heaping pile of khinkalis, you’re ready to boil.

And in 7-9 minutes, they’re done! That is, 7-9 minutes in the water. At this point it had been nearly three hours and we were all starving. But luckily it was time to eat ourselves silly. The act of eating khinkali is one of the best parts. It’s so fun. You get a whole pile placed on the table, they get covered in pepper, and then it’s a frenzy.

At least, it’s a very organized frenzy, because there are some very specific rules about how you eat khinkali:

·         No forks allowed. You grab that khinkali by the nob and nom nomnom, but

·         Don’t drop any of the juice. It would be an offense to the cook. You take a bite, and then sip it like a gentleman/woman. (You can choose if you want pinkies out, that’s flexible.)

·         Don’t slurp it. This isn’t 7/11. (Can someone please send me a Slurpee though? That sounds amazing right now.)

·         Don’t eat the nobs. They’re not usually cooked all the way through, plus you want to pile them up and prove you can eat more than Giorgi over there.

There you go, now you and I are both khinkali experts! See you at the next supra!

The day I tasted the future

We have our placements! It's very exciting. This whole time we have been in the dark as to where we will live and work for the next two years. For IOD volunteers, this is especially nervewracking, because we didn't know what kind of organization we would be working at. The process of finding out was really fun, because they had us all line up around a makeshift map of Georgia, and we took turns reading each other's location.  Nerves were high, but I think everyone is excited about their placements.

They didn't leave us any time to think too much about our new homes, because the next day we were whisked away to a conference to meet our new supervisors. To our delight, this conference was held at a great hotel in the tourist haven of Borjomi. (A little like the Park City of Georgia, if Park City was famous for its naturally carbonated, cure-all mineral water.) This hotel would have been nice under any standards, but especially for those of us living in villages with limited niceties, this was Shangri-la.  Of course we all took advantage of the showers and toilets (that not only were Western and flushed, they even had a phone setup right next to it. True swagger.), Logan naturally found free spa services.  We enjoyed ourselves in the sauna, yet again.

The view from our room in Borjomi

The conference had a different point, which was to get to know our supervisors.  We had a few sessions over a couple days, and then all of us took off to the far reaches of Georgia to visit our sites. Oh yeah, I should probably say my site. I'm headed to Tserovani, a settlement for Internally Displaced Persons, established in 2008 after the war in South Ossetia.  More about the settlement in a different post.

I will be working with an organization named For Better Future. This organization is located in Tserovani and is run by the formidable Nana. My first impression of her was stellar, and everything I learned in the following days followed suit. She is so busy with many projects. She's basically the voice for Tserovani. Our organization has two enterprises, a mobile American Corner (Bookmobile! I was transported back to my youth), and even more projects ranging from youth civic clubs to economic development in and around Tserovani.

I am so excited to work with this organization. I am so lucky to have been chosen for this post.  I got to meet the G13 volunteer who is leaving, and seeing her love for the work she's done made me want to throw my whole self into the work, and I know we'll keep up the good work.

I also met my host family, and they are awesome. I know I'm being brief about all my descriptions, but it really was such a whirlwind of new things and people, it's hard to be specific about anything. That and I'll dedicate posts to each thing when I know more and have pictures. Until then, some brief highlights:

• One of my new co-workers, Matsi, had a birthday while I was there. I was invited to the birthday dinner, and the night ended with her playing her guitar and the whole table singing along to the songs. It was a perfect summer evening.  
• Mstkheta, the historic old capital of Georgia, is only minutes away from Tserovani, so Nana took me to go see some sights. It was a blur of churches and khinkali, but I really enjoyed it. There will be another G15 there, so I will have plenty of time to explore and visit. 

The view from our walk in Mstkheta

All in all, I got a taste of the next two years, and it was sweet. I am feeling so relieved and excited about what I will be doing and who I will be with.  PST has been fun, but I'm ready for the next step.

The day we hung out around New Castle

In Georgian, it’s ახალსითკე “Akhalsitke”, but it translates literally to New Castle, and that was fun to say.

This weekend, Peace Corps let us break free again, in a very controlled way, to see more of what Georgia has to offer. A small group of us chose Akhalsitke, slightly influenced by the fact that our LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator, aka Teacher/Mentor/Assigned Friend) Maka is from that city. It’s south west of where we are training, so onto another marshutka we went. Claire and I did have a spot of trouble actually getting one, and a lot of the apple sellers got invested as we tried to flag one down for an hour, but we finally got one and met up with the rest of the group.

There are G14 and G13 volunteers there, so we called them up and hung out with them for the night. Luckily we hadn’t planned on sightseeing during the evening, because the weather would not have permitted that. There was lightning and hail galore. So instead we got junk food and talked the stormy night away.   It may not sound like much, but it was a really fun evening. Plus it’s fun to get to know the other volunteers.

The next day was an ideal touristy day. Our guesthouse provided a monstrous breakfast and we each took a long, hot shower. (Yes, you’ll probably hear about each time I get a proper shower. It’s a notable event and can turn a frown upside down.) The weather had cleared up and the sun shone on our walk to the “New Castle”, the central feature of Akhalsitke town.

First, we stopped to pay our respects to our favorite King/Queen, Tamar.  She was a no-apologies, rocking queen that they called King. I’m a fan. I’ll need to do a whole blog post just on her. Then it was on to the castle.  Even though the castle itself is relatively new (which is still hundreds of years old, but Georgian history is incredibly long), they also had renovated the castle a few years ago. So it really felt like a new castle.

I guess some of the Georgians refer to it as “Georgian Disneyland”, since it’s so new and touristy, but we didn’t care. It was actually kind of fun to see the castle as it would have been while it was being used. The most interesting part though, was the dissonant architecture. There were the oldest, medieval looking walls, then a church in the center based off the Hagia Sophia, and other miscellaneous influences. They didn’t bother trying to make it all match, and as a result, made a very interesting, beautiful, and unique place.


I am enjoying getting to know all of these awesome places in Georgia. Every little area has such treasures to behold; it’s hard to believe that such a little country can have so much to see and do!