Blog, April 26, 2015
Hello my Faithful Readers:
I have posted four photographs at the end of the blog. The first is a photograph is me and my host brother way back in May 2014 in Osiarui. The second is the IDP camp (Koda) that I have written about in the blog. The photo was taken from the balcony of my friends apartment. The third is me at another friends apartment in Vake, Tbilisi - Georgia. More details within the blog and the final photo is of me on the porch recently here in Sagarejo.
April is a hard month here in Sagarejo, Georgia. It
seems that April 1st is the magical date that is supposed to change
winter into spring. April 1st marks the date when the fire wood is
gone and any extra money provided to the host families to offset heating costs
is suspended (so using the electric space heater is something that you want to
do sparingly if at all). However, Mother Nature does not know that it is
suppose to change from winter to spring on April 1st ; and, that the
temperatures should be mild enough so that fire wood and heat are no longer
needed.
All winter I have stayed somewhat warm. I’ve been cold
at times but not nearly as cold as I’ve been recently here in April. It has
been raining for days-days-days and with the rain comes that raw cold that just
goes into your bones. The pechi is still operating but not with fire wood. It
has a gas insert that allows for some warmth; but not as good as with the fire
wood.
I was under the covers thinking one evening that I
was hungry, dirty and cold and this was how I was going to go to sleep. I
thought about this and wondered how I was going to live in this state for the
next four days as that is when I would be able to travel to Tbilisi for food,
shower and heat. When, to my surprise I realized that the school was closed for
an additional day due to the holiday and that I could travel into Tbilisi to
take care of my needs. Wow, you want to talk about a “New York Minute” – that
is when everything can change. I came home clean, well fed and warm as during
my travels the sun cooperated and finally came out after hiding for five days.
I don’t know if this is a trick or not; but, I am
told in May the “snakes” come out in Sagarejo. Is someone pulling my leg? I don’t know if
this is true or not; but I will let you know that next time I blog. I have no
idea what kinds of snakes and if this is true where the snakes have been all
this time (maybe hiding underground). I hope this was a joke! As if the dogs
and the cars were not enough to scare me!
So, today is the end of April. On April 26th
was my “one year anniversary” of arriving in Georgia. At times
I feel like I have been here five years. It has been an amazing year filled
with joys, hardships, lessons learned; new friends and everything in-between.
The volunteers say that the 1st year goes very slow; but, the second
year flies by. So, we shall see.
One of my friends here in the Peace Corps recently
celebrated a Birthday. Her post here in Georgia is “Koda, Georgia”. Koda is an IDP camp (Internally Displaced
Persons). So, I recently went to my first IDP camp to help her celebrate. The
site is about 40 minutes from Tbilisi and of course travel is via marsh. My
friend works with community administration to foster development to the folks
who were forced to leave their homes and relocate. The above links will provide
some information; however, I could not find any links for Koda specifically.
There are approximately 150,000 IDP’s in Georgia. I
don’t know exactly how many IDP’s are situated in Koda; but, based on the
number of apartment buildings I would estimate there are about 5,000 (maybe?).
Koda is a former Russian military base that was
transformed into living quarters for the relocation. The apartment buildings,
and there are many, are not that bad. They have newly installed windows; gas
heat (not pechi); electric and most of all neighbors who just blew me away with
the warm and loving reception we PC volunteers received. The neighbors brought
food and presents and this from folks who really don’t have a heck of a lot.
Water is a luxury. It is only available at certain times of the day; so, you
better pay attention or you will miss your opportunity.
The camp is mostly mud….walking around is a
challenge. They have lots of gardens; live stock (cows, chickens, pigs and of
course DOGS). Laundry is hung outside everywhere and I could see that these
folks were making improvements (building storage units) for food and cars. The
community makes and sells all kinds of things; for example, furniture, knitted
hats, etc. They have a sewing room where people are taught to sew and also a
beauty school where hair cutting is taught. They are trying, after so many
years of being displaced, to re-make their lives as many think that they will
never go home again. They will spend their lives displaced. I cannot imagine
how that would feel. However, since (I was told) that when relocation was
organized the government tried to group folks who had been from the displaced
locations together; there was already a sense of community, shared experience,
as they moved into Koda.
It was only, for me, an overnight trip but I felt as
much a part of this community as I could have in that short time. I would like to go back and learn more and I
also realized that my struggles here in Sagarejo are, of course, challenging
but in comparison to what I observed in Koda – I can’t complain.
Over the Georgian Easter Holiday the Tbilisi metro
was FREE! I think that is just terrific for the transit system to do that. Of
course, I didn’t get into Tbilisi over the holiday as I have not really been
traveling much due to my parasite. And speaking of my parasite; I am told that
I am completely free. Yipee; however, the doctors tell me that it will still be
sometime before I can return to normal (whatever that means). It seems that
some healing needs to take place; but, I must tell you that things are a little
better. One of the other considerations was the fact that my system seems to
have too much iron in it and that also causes issues. So the PC will fix me up
with vitamins more in line with what I need.
As a result of all this I have had blood work done
and other “stuff” (don’t want to mention); but, I am told that all the results
came back positive, even stellar! So, I guess the weight loss (now 67 pounds)
has had a positive effective on my body. I have been so well taken care of.
People have said that when you are in the PC you will have the best medical
care that you will probably ever get!
When I went for the blood work I was escorted by a member of the PC
security staff. He drove me over to the medical office and navigated the
sign-in procedure for me. He then drove me back to the PC office. It was truly
effortless.
I have finally been connected with “World Wise
Schools” in the United States. I have been connected with a 6th
grade teacher in Jamesville DeWitt
Middle School, in DeWitt. It is a suburb of Syracuse, NY. The
school is grades 5 - 8 and has about 950 students. My teacher has 24 kids
in her ELA class and that is the class that would correspond with me or with
some of your students.
The below links are
for the school and the Peace Corps site that talks about the World Wise Schools
project.
We have been communicating via email and the
students have lots of questions for me. There are lots of possibilities for
lessons plans; Celsius VS Fahrenheit, The language of Georgia – history and
alphabet, the geography of Georgia…lots and lots of idea. I think at some point
we will skype. I am very glad I signed on to do this project.
1.
What's the climate like? (or How's the weather?)
2.
How many kids go to Sagarejo #2? We have about 950 students here.
3.
Is it hard to get up and down the mountain?
4.
How many other schools are there?
5.
Please tell us how to say the name of the town (phonetically).
6.
What is the official language of Georgia?
I recently spent a weekend in Tbilisi recently with
a friend who is former PCV and ex-pat who decided to live in Georgia after she
completed her PC service. It was an amazing weekend as her apartment is in
“Vake” which is a section within Tbilisi. I have been toying with the idea of
relocating in Georgia (retiring) after I complete; but it is far away (July
2016). We spent the time walking all around the neighborhood just so I could
get a feel for the area. It so reminds me of NYC (the So-Ho) area. It is an
interesting neighborhood. There are tons of apartment buildings, shops,
restaurants and a park. There is great transportation and I was on many, many
auto-buses so I could see how I could get around. The bus cost, now hold onto
your hat – 50Tetri, which is about 20cents in US currency for a ride. And, if
you make a transfer to another bus or metro within 90 minutes there is no cost.
The marsh system is a little different, but it is also very inexpensive.
My friend lives in a walk-up apartment building.
Most of the apartments are walk-ups. She lives on the 3rd floor; so
that in and of itself is a great exercise program. Her place is small; one
bedroom, a nice size living room, small kitchen and bathroom but it is really
perfect. The location is awesome and she walks everywhere she needs to go. She
has a little terrace that she can have plants and hang laundry. It is all
really very affordable as the apartments come equipped with all the furniture
and pots/pans, dishes, etc. So, no big investment is needed.
We met other folks for dinner at a really wonderful
Italian restaurant (I was in heaven). We had REAL coffee…and REAL butter (and
toast) for breakfast before we went exploring. The weather cooperated as it
didn’t rain and it was truly a wonderful spring day to tour the sites. This
adventure showed me that my thinking about relocating here is completely
do-able. The ex-pats who live here have given me so much information in order
to figure out how to do it. I don’t need to invent the wheel and I have an
already built in community of people who have truly welcomed me in the fold. I
will keep you posted as this will be an on-going conversation. The below link will provide information on
the area. “Vake” is directly below
“Saburtalo” which is where the Peace Corps Office is.
On another note, my obtaining an apartment here in
Sagarejo will probably not happen. There are just not enough apartments and
they are all rented. It seems that someone will have to move out so that I
could move in. I have had a couple of nibbles but conditions would just not be
suitable; e.g., I would be afraid due to people drinking around the building or
I would need to take transportation to get to school. Maybe it is just not that important as I
really do love living where I do on the mountain. So, we shall see how this
unfolds.
My host family is in high gear planting corn, beans,
tomatoes, onions….and the list goes on and on. However, I was so surprised when
I learned how potatoes are grown. Now, I am a potato lover “კარტოფილის
= kartopilis” in Georgian. I eat potatoes almost every day. They are boiled,
fried, baked (on the pechi); they are in soups and salads as well as boiled in
beef and pork dishes. I think they are even in desert pastry. Potatoes are
everywhere. So, when my host father brought home a 50 pound bag (I think it was
that size but there were LOTS of potatoes) and he started to bury them back in
the garden I thought he was out of his mind. I thought “why buy the potatoes
and bury them?” So, I was asking questions as I am not a farm gal. It seems,
once I had the internet to educate me, that this is the way you grow potatoes.
There are many utube videos, I’ve listed one to give
you the skinny on this. My host father planted the potato whole; however, many
videos say that you should cut them because of the eyes. This is a whole new
world for me. I knew potatoes grew in the ground; but, I thought maybe there
were seeds planted or something. Very interesting - J
The other day as I was coming down from my room I
saw the most amazing thing….it was a cow! Wow, this cow was humongous! I wanted to go get my camera
but I knew I would be too late to get a picture. Reason being is that my host
grandmother was heading towards the cow with a BIG stick. I wanted to see what
she was going to do. Well, she threw the stick at the cow and he/she (cow)
moved away from our house. I can imagine if the cow got into the garden it
would eat whatever has been planted so far….but, I stayed clear of the cow as
if it ran into you I am sure you could really get hurt. This was a first for
me. I’ve seen horses, donkeys, chickens, ducks, of course dogs and cats; but,
this was my first cow here on the mountain!
And the saga
continues as the next day there were two bulls heading into our garden. Again,
WOW! I was just flabbergasted. Neighbors came out with sticks to push them back
to where they came from (that is another neighbor’s house). I even felt
confident enough to walk with the folks to push the bulls back. They were both
so black and mean looking. I don’t think I have ever seen a bull that close.
I was a little taken
back recently when, during the school day, I watched as a couple of the boys
were playing with toy guns. I have not seen toy guns in decades; in fact, I
don’t even know if they are sold in the USA any longer? But, the children
were playing with black
handguns and for me it was a frozen moment. The children were running around
shooting each other and making the noises that guns make. They were hiding the
guns in their clothing and ducking behind furniture as they were shooting each
other.
This was unexpected
and for some reason I thought why this was happening?
I remember growing up
playing with handguns and machine-guns in the same way that these children were
playing; however, things have changed since I was a kid. Maybe this has been
happening all along; however, it is only now that I’ve noticed it?
I will close for now
as I begin my 2nd year here in Georgia. Actually, my 2nd
year does not officially start until July as that is when I finished training
(July 2014) and became a full PC
volunteer (not a trainee). But, who is counting (HA). I can now see how “green”
I was coming into service. I don’t feel that all of the “green” is gone; but I
can certainly see how much I have grown in this experience.
All the Best, My Faithful
Readers
Catherine Lawrence,
G14
Peace Corps
Volunteer/Georgia
The
contents of this blog are mine personally and do not reflect any position of
the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.
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