Blogs from Shilda, Eastern Georgia, Georgia, Asia

Georgia, the adventures continue in Shilda Mik and Aaron's village is in the far east almost on thr Russian border but it was a very nice drive through more beautiful countryside and the mini bus which was our metrushka was almost empty as it was mid-week (weekends are apparently packed! Sometimes even with chickens for busmates). Georgians seem to take pride in their roads and most areas had well planned tree lined arbours throughout most of the drive east, it was almost romantic seeing huge old trees holding eachothers branches across the passageway of the roads. When we arrived I was quite the spectacle with my giant backpack walking all the way through town. We almost immediately met a tiny old lady who funnily enough spoke English - M &A said they had not met anyone ... read more

No bunny rabbits, hot cross buns or chocolate eggs this year ...instead we celebrated Easter in the Georgian spirit. Like everything else in Georgia, Easter is celebrated in a uniquely Georgian way. When explaining to our family, teachers and classes how Easter is celebrated in Australia the conversation almost always ended in strange looks. A bunny rabbit, chocolate eggs, egg hunts; I guess it does all sound a bit ridiculous. The festivities kicked off on Thursday with Chiakokonoba. Families gathered wood in the street, started fires and jumped over it (or through it) three times. According to the legend, this action purifies the soul of evil spirit. Our village really got into the celebrations with fires being lit down the main street and through the winding passages. We all took turns at running through the fire ... read more

As the snow continues to recede more baby animals in our family’s flock have been born. On the weekend Aaron and I decided to go along with our younger host brother and father to herd the sheep and saw a very different Shilda than the snow covered land that has proceeded in the previous months. This weekend I truly appreciated the beauty of Shilda, with the endless vineyards and mountain backdrop it really is breathtaking. We started the day by walking with our host brother an hour toward where the flock would be located when we saw our father driving past. He proceeded to stop, pick us up, drive us all the way home, pick up his cigarettes and then drive us back to the herd. We were obviously confused, but as we are far too ... read more

What a week it has been.. We attended Supra after supra ...drank and ate...drank and ate. We toasted to the gods, children, women, family, and peace..Have put on a least 20Kg..And Aaron‘s kidney is surely crying. We slaughtered a pig which we ate for the rest of the week (breakfast, lunch, second lunch and dinner). Aaron had to take part in this along with the other males of the house hold mean while I sat in our house horrified at the pigs screams. Every part of the pig was eaten including the tongue and intestines which I did eat, they were not delicious! Our family hosted the New Years supra so there was a lot of food preparation happening in our household which I really enjoyed (see pictures below). Our week ended with New Years. Georgians ... read more

A question we seem to be asking ourselves a lot lately. Every day we think we know the plan or have a vague idea of what is in front of us and then bam, one of the family members will say its time to go and we are off herding sheep or going for a walk to the villiage ending in cha cha at some random persons (to us anyway) house. Today we departed our house thinking we were going to a church service, instead we visited the villiage of Gremi and its royal citadel and the Church of the Archangels, as well as a Khaketian museum. Our family insisted we have a tour guide to take us around the palace at their expence without our input. It was very interesting seeing how they use to ... read more