Magaria!!

I have now fully experienced a Georgian wedding.  I say fully because by the end of the night I was completely immersed in Georgian culture.  To start, Georgian ceremonies are incredibly casual in certain respects and to be honest, quite boring.  This may be a biased opinion since I have only attended one thus far but from what I gather from other volunteers, ceremonies are pretty standard.  We arrived to the church about 10 minutes  before the bridal party did and we were the first ones there.  There are no chairs set up or even available.  I don’t believe during regular church services they sit either, but that is just a guess seeing as how I saw no sign of chairs/chair storage anywhere at all.  It seems to me church is more of a coming and going occasion, you don’t necessarily just sit and listen for a whole service.  

Just waiting for our ride to the church

Tsiltelkhevi's church

Isn't she beautiful?!!!

You could hear the bridal party approaching from a-ways away because, if you by chance ever visit Georgia, you are very likely to hear horns blasting constantly as 3 to 10+ cars race down the street and that you’ll know is a wedding party.  The bride and groom then walked into the church, up to the front section while the priest? (I’m not sure what Georgian Orthodox leaders are called) finished his preparations and began the marriage.  While he read from a book with the bride and groom just behind him the rest of the guests just behind them came and went from the church.  It dragged on for quite some time and then finally that was it.  Now came the fun part.  We all headed to the reception where there was approximately 150-200 guests I would say.  Granted at the ceremony itself I probably only saw about 30 or so people.  There was a large amount of food laid out as you can see by the pictures I took, although this is mostly standard supra (feast) I’d say.  The bride and groom took their places at the front of the reception hall and everyone else just found a chair where they could and dug in.  Food kept coming over the course of the night, it was ridiculous.  Practically every Georgian dish that I have been exposed to thus far was present that night.  Everyone was eating and the men in particular were drinking.  

The feast at the start

An awesome eggplant dish that I love here.

Smiling in photos - still not big here.

Post feast

My host dad Valeri and host mom Iza

Another TLGer was at the wedding as well

As you can probably guess this was after quite a lot of wine was consumed.

The Tamada (toaster) giving Judith a big hug post a toast to the 2 American girls

Dancing queen

My aunt Nino and her daughter Lizi

A men's toast to deceased relatives I believe??  Took place in the middle of the dance floor randomly so I was a bit confused.

The music was incredibly/ridiculously loud and for awhile there was only eating and...then began the Georgian dancing, which is great fun to watch.  Georgian men really get into it, impressively so, and the girls have this pretty way in which they flutter around the room.  In Georgian dance men and women don’t touch, they sort of follow after each other in a way almost giving it an appearance of the man desperately trying to impress the woman with his elaborate steps, while the she is simply content to move about in a somewhat coy manner.  Dances were intervened by very long winded toasts from one gentleman in particular with a microphone and then more dancing took place.  As the night progressed the dancing went from just one girl and one boy dancing traditional Georgian dance to the more common freestyle dancing you see at American weddings.  It took me awhile to warm up to joining the dance floor, having nothing to drink and all certainly didn’t help, but finally I gave in and decided to embrace the time at hand.  Plus I could tell Tiko really wanted to dance but wouldn’t go without me; I very well couldn’t keep her from having her fun after all =).  By 10 o’clock the dancing was in full swing mixed with the occasional long winded toast, slower couples dances, and traditional dances.  I hate to say it because my mom begged and pleaded with me not to get a Georgian boyfriend while I was here, but I may have gained one last night....I just didn’t mean to, you just never know how these things work here in Georgia.  The groom’s brother, whom I’d met before since he’s a neighbor of ours apparently decided that from a certain point on I was only going to dance with him.  It was actually pretty entertaining to have other guys dance with me only to have Giorgi interrupt them shortly thereafter. 
I know I’ve said this before but I absolutely adore my host family.  Despite the fact that I rarely get to see Valeri, my host dad, when I do I’m more often than not I’m in constant fits of laughter.  He had plenty to drink that night no doubt, which is also pretty clear in the pictures, and so the whole night he was not only the dancing king, but my protector/matchmaker.  At one point he shot an imaginary shotgun at Giorgi and his persistent manner while other times I’d see him giving me inquisitive thumbs up regarding whatever boy I was dancing with at that particular moment.  Needless to say I laughed a lot that night.

My trip to Batumi last weekend was great as well.  Batumi’s a really lovely city on the Black Sea and while I know some people weren’t so impressed with how quiet it is at this time of year, I can definitely appreciate it.  Folly’s the same way in the winter and I think it’s refreshing to be there during the off season.  We spent a lot of time just walking around exploring the different streets and the walkway along the water.  I definitely look forward to going back and visiting again at some point and also when it starts to pick up again in spring/summer I’ll be sure to make some trips back that way.

Firsts in Georgia

These past few weeks I’ve experienced some firsts since being in Georgia.  Of course these are nothing like my massage story I’m afraid, memorable yes, but in different ways.  I suppose, when I really reflect, most everything here has been a first at one point or another.  My first bout of food poisoning has now come and gone.  Now there’s a story you’re sure to want full details divulged =) -- I will never look at a Georgian kebab the same.  In fact I really hope I never have to lay eyes on one...or smell one...or the be in the same general vicinity as one ever again; millennia could go by and you will never hear me say the words “I am craving a Georgian kebab”.  Even now I shudder as the mental image pops in my head.  For a few days I sustained myself on the slightest bit of bread and cheese.  I started to feel better and decided I was healed so I indulged in a full meal, only to realize I wasn’t quite the fast healer I had initially suspected I was.  I got to experience a 2 1/2 hour marshutka ride home with that food poisoning roiling around in my stomach, which made the overall experience all the more pleasant.  Moving on --- I had pancakes for the first time a few days ago, have not seen them since entering the country.  A cruel twist of fate as they were introduced during my bout’s remission so I couldn’t fully indulge like I wanted to, but given my excitement at their introduction I’ll go ahead and guess my host mom will offer them to me again another time. 
I went on a trip alone to Tbilisi to stay with a family friend who made me promise I’d come visit on that particular weekend.  Jenna wasn’t able to come along sadly, but I spent some quality time with Google Translate, and Jonny (the family friend) I suppose.  I say this because, in reality, our communication was mostly limited to our mutual friend Google acting as a translator.  I also spent a lot of time alone at his house while he was where I have absolutely no clue, but that meant Jon Stewart and I could get in those dates we were so far behind on, which was fabulous of course.  I spent the second night of the trip at a distant relation’s house while that he was away in Italy.  I got to sleep in a queen size bed all to myself for the first time.  And by this I don’t mean I’ve slept in other queen size beds with other people (bow-chicka-bow---no), but that I haven’t slept in anything other than a twin size bed since arriving in the country.  Jenna and I’s sleepover parties entail a lot of close cuddling in those twin size beds, memories to last a lifetime no doubt.  Jonny took me to visit Jvari Monastery, a really old church up on a big hill near Tbilisi in Mtskheta.  We had planned a trip to Sighnaghi deemed “the love city” but unfortunately that Saturday was so rainy that Jvari was the only stop we made.  Jenna’s boyfriend is visiting next weekend so we’ve made tentative plans to visit Sighnaghi then.  Unfortunately, to my utter despair, Jenna isn’t extending her contract here for the next semester which means beginning in January I’ll be on my own so to speak.  I still have other friends here from our orientation group and now I have Jonny in Tbilisi, which is a bonus definitely, having an actual Georgian friend, but as I was explaining to Tiko the other week I just need one girlfriend and it appears I will fall short in that category once Jenna is gone.  No matter, I suppose I’ll have to make do with all the men in my life hahaha =).  

Looking down at the town of Mtskheta near Tbilisi

Jvari Monastery

My text from my host brother Givi, love it

Last weekend was my first time in the city Zugdidi.  Overall a nice city, although nothing amazing in my opinion.  I met up with Jamie and Robert, along with another Robert who lives there.  We ended up staying at his host family’s house which was a great surprise and therein lies my next first.  I got locked inside a bathroom.  Come to think of it though, I’ve already been locked in my own bathroom by a 2-year old so that would make it the second bathroom I’ve been locked into.  I stand corrected.  This bathroom however didn’t provide the back window escape route.  There’s something not quite right going on when a person is locked not once but twice in a bathroom in the span of only a few short weeks don’t you think?  At least the second time I got the impression this wasn’t the first time it happened to someone.  In the morning I headed to the bathroom early planning to wash my face, brush my teeth etc.  So this door to the bathroom is like a freaking jail cell door.  It’s made of this intense heavy steel with a sliding lock.  On the inside however there’s no handle for the sliding lock, you just have to push really hard on the slab of steel to close the door at all or it will just continue swinging open.  I should also mention the two slabs of steel for locking the door are not the same on the inside and outside.  When I initially tried to close the door I couldn’t, I kept pushing on the slab until it finally budged and slid over, although a bit forcefully.  Well no matter, I thought.  So there I am only to realize the sink I needed is on the other side of the door, all that’s in the bathroom is a toilet and shower.  I turned the handle to use the shower faucet only to realize there’s no water... super.  I started to hear someone moving around the house and suddenly it became very apparent the water’s been turned on so that took care of that.  I went to open the door only to realize I couldn’t move it AT ALL.  I grabbed a comb, tried to use my toothbrush handle to get any kind of grip on it and nothing.  I knew Robert’s host brother could hear me struggling on the other side of the door but I didn’t bother saying anything since he can’t speak English anyways.  We both kept trying for a few minutes and at this point I knew both brothers were now in on the effort.  I heard a noise coming from the tiny window and saw one of them sliding me a big knife hoping that would work.  My efforts were all in vain of course, but thanks be to God, after a few minutes one of them is able to make the slab move over and I was free at last!  I keep thinking what would’ve happened had I gotten up in the middle of the night to use the toilet or something and I can say with quite a bit of confidence that my 8 minute episode could’ve easily translated to me sleeping on the bathroom floor for hours waiting for someone to wake up.  Look at that, a silver lining after all.

Dadianis' Palace in Zugdidi

I gave my 9th graders their first test on Wednesday.  I love the dismay and anguish on their faces the morning I said that that test that I had been telling them about that would be today for the past 3 weeks was actually going to be today.  I made it pretty difficult on purpose, although I really had hope for them, or at least some of them.  The level of difficulty however was made very clear when my co-teacher asked to see it and her eyes about popped out of her head, one sheet of paper, front AND back, fill in the blank type questions -- God-forbid.  Tests here are almost non-existent and when they do make an appearance they become group-work mostly and are in no way challenging in my opinion.  The way I see it, now my students know how my tests are going to be so they better get their butts in gear if they want to do well on them and get to see the positive results of actually making an effort in my class.  It’s hard not to get discouraged in this teaching environment, but the way I see it the year is still young, I still have a lot of time ahead of me.
Jenna and I cooked for the first time last week.  It was a great night and it felt so good to be in the kitchen making a meal.  I didn’t realize how much I had missed that.  We decided to try our version of enchilada soup with homemade tortillas.  The soup turned out surprisingly good I thought, and it seemed that most of her family enjoyed it as well.  We did throw in a some spice, naturally, and so I think the kids didn’t take to it as much as the parents.  Our tortillas also turned out really well too given that overall we basically winged the recipe.

Cooking the homemade tortillas

Enchilada-esque soup

The other day I got to be on a marshutka for an hour despite the trip usually only taking 10 minutes.  There’s a first I’ll certainly never repeat again.  The marshutka (mini-bus) from my village to Baghdati runs right by my house disappearing further down the road into deeper Tsitelkhevi I guess before it makes it’s way out via an alternative route and then to Baghdati.  I needed to have internet to send my winter flight request info to TLG so my family let me know as the marshutka was approaching our house.  I usually catch it down the hill in front of a store because from that starting point it’s only about a 10 minute drive.  I hopped on and found a lot of my students onboard already.  They were trying to tell me something about the time of the marshutka.  They eventually wrote 4:10 on it and at the time it was 3:20 or so.  I said I understood thinking I’d get to see more of my village this way at least and it probably would end up leaving for Baghdati sooner than 4:10, most likely, 3:45 or so.  Well we were done driving around at 3:45, but then ended up parking the thing near a shop for the next 25 minutes until the next run started.  I spent that time alone, on the marshutka, playing my lame cell phone games for the first time.  I was treated to a chocolate bar by a nice gentleman who probably pitied me to be honest, and then we finally started on our way again.  So that’s how my usual 10 minute ride turned into an hour long one.  One exciting first I got from that though (not counting the free chocolate bar from a stranger) was one of the students tried to call my host brother hoping he could explain to me about the time for the next marshutka and for the most part I understood her half of the whole conversation.  So at least I am picking up a decent amount of Georgian at this point.  I’ve also mastered my first really difficult Georgian word (which there are a lot of by the way), it means difficult and in English letters it’s spelled: skhvadaskhvagvari, fitting don’t you think?

We have an entire trees worth of wood cut up in our front yard and it doesn't appear to be moving anytime soon

Neighbor's kitten I adopted for about 10 minutes one night

Churchela - a traditional Georgian food

Now I’m in Batumi for the first time and getting to see the water for the first time since leaving Folly.  I do miss the ocean, the sound of it, the smell of it, the sand between my toes, or all over me for that matter after a good beach volleyball session, but no matter, for now I am just enjoying what I’ve been given - a fun weekend with friends in a beautiful place.