Gori - Stalin and fortresses

We have Thursday - Monday off for the Easter holiday, so today we decided to venture into Gori, the nearest city to all of our clusters.

However, the first step was figuring out how to take a marshutka (bus) Marshutkas are the basic form of public transportation in Georgia. Luckily, after waiting only a few minutes at the bus stop, we saw a bus labeled გორი (Gori). We were on our way! And for only 60 tetri (about 27 cents!). Attached is a picture of a typical marshutka to give you an idea of what they look like:

typical marshutka

Upon arrival in Gori, we disembarked into a bazari (market) full of fruit, vegetables, live chickens, and even a few brains in tupperwares! After exploring there for a while, we walked up the hill to the fortress that looms over Gori. According to Wikipedia, 

"The fortress first appears in the 13th century records but archaeological evidence shows that the area had already been fortified in the last centuries BC. The fortress controlled major strategic and economic routes and accommodated a large garrison. In the 16th century the Ottomans captured it to overawe Tbilisi, and then it continually changed hands between the Turks, the Georgians, and the Persians. The citadel acquired the present-day form under the Georgian kings Rostom of Kartli in the 1630s and Erekle II in 1774. After the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801, the fortress was garrisoned by a Russian grenadier battalion, but its importance gradually declined and the fortifications went defunct."

It was definitely worth the hike it took to get up there! The fortress has incredible views of Gori and the surrounding mountains. On a clear day, you could see to Russian territory (but today it was unfortunately cloudy). There was even a deep pit that we speculated was either a well or a pit to put prisoners in (or maybe Peace Corps Volunteers who misbehave!). There was also an ADORABLE dog that lived up there that wanted to play with us the entire time we were up there. Here are some pictures of our visit.

Gori fortress

Gori fortress

There were beautiful wildflowers growing all over the hillside below the fortress:

wildflowers

 I have noticed this stone pattern (the one around the doorway) all over in Karaleti.

Gori fortress

The view of Gori from the fortress

Gori fortress

at the Gori fortress

Down the hill from the fortress was a really cool circle of statues. From what we could tell, they depicted some sort of Georgian warriors. They were very impressive and imposing.

Georgian warriors

Georgian warriors

Susan striking a pose

Georgian warrior + church

After this, we made our way to the Stalin museum. Stalin (real name Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili) was born in Gori, Georgia on December 18, 1878. His house that he lived in for the first 4 years of his life is preserved in a museum in Gori (His parents rented a single room in the house).

The hammer and sickle above Stalin's house 

Stalin's house

The man himself 

Accompanying the house is a museum of relics from Stalin's life. They ranged from gifts to Stalin from Mao, to paintings of Stalin from "the people" of Soviet Union, to Stalin's favorite cigarettes, to the stones from the site of one of Stalin's sons deaths, to Stalin's personal railway carriage (complete with a bathtub and toilet!), to Stalin's death mask (CREEPY). It was definitely a site to see. Apparently, the museum has become somewhat a site of controversy especially following the 2008 invasion of Georgia by Russia, but it remains...

The sign was in Russian but one of my fellow volunteers is Russian and said that this is basically a map of Stalin's escapes

The museum had a collection of Soviet postcards starring Stalin. My favorite was the one below with the strange wooden towers:

Stalin and "the people"

Lastly, I had a staring contest with a (poorly done) bust of FDR (thanks to Konstantin for the photo!):

staring down FDR

Karaleti

This morning I got up bright and early at 7:00. After a delicious breakfast of puri (Georgian bread), jam, cheese, and tea, the kids wanted to show me around the village. We walked to the school to which my cluster will be observing classes - Karaleti 1. Since it is the weekend, we got let in by the security guard. Not sure what the kids told him to get us in, but we had free reign.  Here is a picture of the school:

Karaleti 1 School

Past the city center, there is a ruin on a hill that I am told is the "Queen's house". Since Georgia does not have a queen, I don't exactly understand the backstory, but it has a great view of the village and Caucuses:

The Queen's house

The view from the hill (and a cow)

Then we stopped by the church to see it (we didn't actually go to the service - luckily Mari knew that I was an ignorant foreigner and brought me scarves to cover my head and legs with. In Georgian Orthodox, this is the dress code.

On the way back, we stopped to get the "best puri (bread) in town". And they were right - it was delicious, warm, and fresh out of the oven. Here is a picture so you get the idea of how good it is:

puri

One of the most shocking things I have seen so far is the remnants of the destruction from the 2008 war with Russia. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, and Karaleti sustained heavy attacks. We saw a house on my street that was completely gutted by a fire from the war, and the library in the center was also destroyed, and now stands abandoned. I asked my host brother and sister if they were here during the war, and they said that they went to Tbilisi, but their grandparents and father had stayed behind. I had not realized the extent of the damage that still existed.

In the afternoon, I was roped into a game of volleyball with my host brother and sister, and several of their friends. My host mom and her friend even joined in for a bit. We played with an old soccer ball and a piece of twine tied across to form a net. Activities that are purely physical are much easier to communicate across the language barrier with!

Lastly, I accompanied my host sister to her English lesson - her teacher wanted to greet me. I had delicious cake and hazelnuts and coffee and had a great time observing her tutoring style. I hope to see more of her in the future!

Tomorrow is the first day of training for real - I will leave to walk to school at 8:30 am (about a 30 minute walk from my house)! We have training all day in language and culture and skills development.

Till next time!

Meeting My Host Family!

Today was the day we finally left the hotel outside of Tbilisi and went to our host family sites around Gori. The announcement of our clusters (the small group we will be studying with) and our sites was very exciting. When the names for the clusters were announced, everyone cheered! I ended up being placed in Karaleti, a small village outside of Gori. We actually have 2 clusters in different areas of the village, which will be nice for getting together and doing activities or just to speak English!

Karaleti, my new village, is very far north, and is actually fairly close to the separatist-controlled region of South Ossetia, which separate from Georgia during the 2008 invasion by Russia. There is a 5km buffer zone around the border with South Ossetia, and we are not allowed to travel within that buffer zone. Apparently, there are Russian checkpoints in the area of the border and if you unwittingly stumble upon them, you are in big trouble. So, we have been given careful instructions not to go to anywhere in the buffer zone.

Karaleti, and the border with South Ossetia in the dotted line. As you can see, we are pretty close.

Apart from this, the village is beautiful! It is in a valley surrounded by the Caucus mountains, which
I can see from the road in front of my house! Every family has an orchard and/or a vineyard, and it is very peaceful (apart from the dogs!).

When we arrived in the village, we were immediately surrounded by our host families. They were peering in the bus to catch a glimpse of us! The way we found out who each other was was our name was called, then the name of our new host mom. My host family is:

Kakha (mama / მამა - host dad)
Eliso (deda / დედა - host mom)
Luka (dzma / ძმა / host brother - 15 years old)
Mari (da / და / host sister - 13 years old)
Host grandmother (bebia / ბებია)
Host grandfather (babua / ბაბუა)

They were immediately welcoming and when I got to their house, Eliso made a delicious dinner of salad, some sort of vegetable fritter, bread, cheese, and jam. We sat around, trying to communicate with my limited Georgian phrases, which mainly consist of "hello", "thank you", "yes", "no", and a few random words. It was difficult, but definitely motivated me to learn more Georgian!

After this, Eliso took me around to meet the next door neighbors, and then the kids got home. They were shy at first, but eventually we bonded over a funny moment: eating sunflower seeds. I was struggling to get them out of the shell, while they were all cracking the shell and eating them at lightning speed. Many laughs were had.

As the sun was setting, Luka and Mari, my host brother and sister, took me for a walk down the road. They love teaching me Georgian words for EVERYTHING.

After this, we went home and sat around the wood stove, and Mari got on their computer and showed me her facebook and about every page of some Russian online shopping store of clothes, shoes, and electronics.

All in all, a good first day!

Welcome to Georgia

After months of waiting, I have finally arrived in Georgia! I will be here for the next 27 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Right now, I am going through pre-service training (PST), which is 3 months of language classes, cultural classes, and safety & security training. My primary project will be teaching English in a yet-to-be-determined village (we receive our site assignments at the end of training).

The cool thing about Peace Corps Georgia is that it is part of the Let Girls Learn program, a collaboration between Peace Corps and the White House to improve girls access to education and work with communities to promote gender equality. Georgia was part of the pilot group of countries with this program. This year, it expanded to include over 30 more countries! In Georgia, every volunteer, no matter what sector they work in, works in some capacity with gender equality. I am particularly excited about GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) - a summer camp for girls that focuses on leadership and empowerment!

Here is a link in case you want to learn more about this awesome program:
http://letgirlslearn.peacecorps.gov/


Here is a picture of my whole training group from staging in Philadelphia. We are 58 in total - 13 IOD Volunteers and 45 Education Volunteers:

G-16!

When we arrived in the airport in Tbilisi, the Peace Corps Georgia staff, Deputy US Ambassador, and some current Peace Corps Volunteers were waiting to meet us. We even made it onto the Georgian news:
http://rustavi2.com/en/news/44782


We are staying at a hotel located about 45 minutes outside of Tbilisi in a village called Tskaneti for orientation. We are only here temporarily -- on Saturday we will move to villages around Gori (about an hour away) where we will stay with host families for the rest of our training. Tskaneti is beautiful -- surrounded by mountains and greenery. Here is a picture I took from or hotel window:

The view of Tskaneti and surrounding villages from our hotel

Unfortunately, we are not really allowed to explore the area (we haven't gotten our safety and security briefing and they don't want to be responsible for wandering volunteers). We did take a short walk around the hotel yesterday though, and made a stray dog friend who followed us the whole time. We named him Buster.

When we get to our training sites around Gori, we will be able to explore more! I am definitely excited for that! Georgia from what I have seen so far is a beautiful country!

Ok, I have to go and get my Rabies vaccine (required for all volunteers, unfortunately). Till next time!