Advertisement
Published: November 21st 2011
At school on Friday I am reliably informed by several teachers that Vardzia is actually about 200km from Kutaisi, so I guess Google maps was telling porkies. As usual when I turn up to school with my overnight bag everyone wants to know where I’m going and, as usual, I have to tell them I’m not entirely sure. I grab a taxi into town and get on a marshrutka to Kutaisi. Ara tells me he will be getting into Kutaisi at around 4pm and I say I will be there at about the same time and that I will meet him in the Brewery. He asks me to wait for him in McDonalds when the marshrutkas stop because he wants to use the toilets (the other volunteers have this real thing about the toilets in McDonalds, don’t ask me why.) I tell him I think this is something he can probably do by himself but agree to wait for him anyway. I’m running a little late so I text him at 4.25pm to tell him I’m nearly there. He’s still in Terjola. From now on, whatever the circumstances, I am adding two hours onto whatever time Ara tells me to meet him. Actually he says, ‘We’re still in Terjola,’ which means he’s now with Ally which means they really will be hours. It takes those guys forever to do anything. I sit in the Brewery and have a happy little party for one. I order food and wine and sit reading my book until Jarrett arrives, bringing his usual cheery disposition with him. At one point a whole load of police cards and ambulances arrive at the river bank so I assume there’s been some sort of accident or suicide attempt. I make friends with a little Georgian girl and we stand on the balcony watching the excitement down below. At around 7.30pm (so only three and a half hours late) Ara and Ally show up. Someone says there are some other TLGers upstairs in the restaurant so I pop up to say hello and one of them turns out to be one of the girls we briefly met in Mestia. The first thing she says to me is, ‘I didn’t know you were going to be here.’ Well why on earth would you, you fucking moron? Honestly, some people. Anyway, we have some more food and more drinks and then go to meet some other volunteers who are in Kutaisi for the weekend. We buy some drinks from a local shop and then make our way up about a thousand steps to this massive church (that I really must learn the name of) that sits above the city. We climb right up onto the wall that surrounds it and we have to negotiate where we’re going by torchlight. Looking back now it was incredibly dangerous and a really stupid thing to do, but it was kind of worth it. From the top of this wall are some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. The city is absolutely stunning at night and there’s a 360 degree panoramic view from where we were sitting. Eventually we run out of booze and decide to make our way back to the city. Which is where it all starts going a bit pear shaped. Now, I only really know the details of my own injuries but I’m pretty sure that one of the Canadian girls actually fell off the wall (she showed me her legs later and she was covered in scratches.) Ara was walking with a cane the next morning after a trip to hospital. Me? I fell down a hole. Now, this might not sound that bad but my god it was painful. I blame Ally (for most things actually) because he buggered off ahead of me with the torch. I was walking along and all of a sudden there just wasn’t solid ground under me anymore. Luckily for me by arse is big enough that I lodged in the hole. If I were skinnier or the hole were a few inches wider I would have gone all the way to the bottom, a rather terrifying prospect. I honestly think I was in shock for a while afterwards. Plus obviously I was furious with Ally for leaving me (naturally I’m not going to take responsibility myself for drunkenly blundering around on a wall in the dark). Anyway, I skinned my knees pretty badly and seriously bruised my coccyx (which is still painful two weeks later). The only entertaining part about it was the sight of my left arse cheek the following day. It is a kaleidoscope of colours – brown, blue, grey, yellow and purple. I’ve never seen anything like it. So, obviously after this experience I needed to strong drink. We managed to have split up from the others so Ally, Jarrett and I ended up in a slot club drinking whisky, which gave me the opportunity to go to the toilet to inspect my injuries. In the end we called the others and they tell us to come to the Imperial. We think this is a club so we jump in a cab but when we get there it turns out to be a rather swanky hotel where the others are having dinner in the dining room. If they told me how they ended up there I’ve forgotten but they were eating with a couple of Georgian guys, both of whom had studied in London and spoke fantastic English. Everybody else leaves to go back to their hotel at about midnight. Ally, Jarrett and I stay and I put on my best puppy dog eyes and ask the guys if they know of anywhere we can sleep, thinking they might know of a homestay or someone’s floor we can sleep on. This results in us being presented, as a gift, with two hotel rooms. I don’t know if this guy owned the hotel or knew the owner or what. I just know I love this place. After we were shown to our rooms we went downstairs and carried on drinking with them (paying our dues, as it were). I have no idea what time I went to bed, but Ally left first and Jarrett told me he went up at about 3am so it was some time after that. I absolutely love the luxury of a nice hotel room and I could have stayed there forever. I just wish I had been sober enough to fully appreciate it!
I was, I admit, still drunk the following morning and I fell head over heels in love with Kutaisi. Since my first visit I’ve been fond of the city but today it was like everything was tinged with sunshine. People on the street were actually nice to me when I asked for directions (an unknown phenomenon where I live) and the town just looked beautiful in the sunshine. I was almost singing in the street. I find Ally and Jarrett and locate a nice bar underneath the bridge that runs parallel to where the Brewery is. This one is actually on the river, as opposed to above it, so it’s even nicer to sit in when the sun’s shining. Given how much I drank the night before, the fact that I’m still a bit drunk, and in fear of my impending hangover, I decide the only sensible course of action is to drink more. So I order a beer and some ice cream and I couldn’t be happier. Until the YMCA comes on the stereo that is. Ally and I dance like idiots but, oddly enough, no one else joins in. I get a call from Ara and try to give him directions to where we are but he asks me to come and find him. He’s over by the Brewery so I figure I’ll bump into him half way but it’s not until I actually get to the Brewery that I see him and realise why he wasn’t made it too far. He’s hobbling along with a cane. I know I shouldn’t laugh but he looks fucking hilarious. Apparently he fell over the night before and was in so much pain that he had to go to hospital that morning. Then when he came out of hospital the police spotted him and made him go and file a police report, which is kind of weird. They said everybody has to do it, Georgians and foreigners, but it’s not like he was mugged or in a traffic accident or anything, he just drunkenly fell over. Anyway, Jarrett and Ara don’t want to eat in the bar we’re in so we wander off down the road in search of somewhere else. Ally and I pop into a pharmacy to pick up some pain killers and when we come out we’ve somehow managed to lose them. Don’t ask me how since I’ve seen dead things move faster than Ara but we can’t find them anywhere so Ally and I decide to go to find a nearby cave that the guys in the tourist information centre had told him about. Unfortunately we find out the cave closes at 4pm and it’s now 3pm so we give up and make our way back to McDonalds to meet the others. We’re all heading to Jane’s for the evening and she’s come into Kutaisi to do some shopping and accompany everyone back to hers. We also meet Wolf, Angel (this is starting to sound like the cast of an X-Men movie), Andrew and Liam. Ara decides to stay behind in Kutaisi for another night. We take a marshrutka back towards Terjola. It’s the first time I’ve done this journey during daylight and the scenery is stunning. Jane’s place is huge and we have our ‘supra’ in this massive, almost completely bare, concrete floored ground floor room. It’s kind of a weird set-up. Jane has a massive bedroom upstairs with her own private sitting room attached. Below that is this cavern with a little bedroom coming off where I think the grandparents sleep. Then there’s a whole other house next door where the kitchen and living room are. She’s pretty lucky with her living arrangements, accept that her toilet is a Turkish one at the end of the garden and there’s no bathroom. Still, she has a bedpan in her room and when she wants to wash her Deda heats water for her on the stove. I try to work out if the bedpan is better or worse than climbing out of your bedroom window in the middle of the night. I think I’ll opt for the nocturnal escape attempts personally. We eat and drink and chat and it’s all very lovely. Liam decides he wants to go back into Kutaisi and drags Ally and Wolf off with him. The rest of us settle in Jane’s sitting room to watch a movie on her laptop. It’s nice cos it kind of reminds me of a weekend back home – out drinking on the Friday and then curled up in front of the TV on the Sat. Jane’s Deda has laid out lots of thick mattresses on the floor and there’s a fold out bed in the sitting room. Jarrett just wants to go to sleep so Jane puts him in her bed, Andrew takes the fold out bed and Jane, Angel and I are on the mattresses on the floor. Everyone’s happy, we’re still complying by the rules of Georgia, and I fall asleep ten minutes into the film. At around midnight, Ally and Wolf come back. Turns out they had gate crashed a random wedding in Terjola and then Liam had gone back to Kutaisi and they had decided to return to Jane’s. I am absolutely fuming. Because of them and the strict cultural rules in Georgia, they can’t just bed down with us and go to sleep. So all the girls have to get up, kick Jarrett out of Jane’s bed and go and sleep, three to a bed, in Jane’s room so that the boys can sleep in the sitting room. Now anyone who knows me knows that I do not take kindly to being woken up. Ally and Wolf are officially in my bad books. At least for the next five minutes until I fall asleep again.
We wake up pretty early the next morning and chill at Jane’s for a time. The others more or less straight away cos they want to get back to sightseeing in Kutaisi but I’m in no rush. Jane goes to help her family make wine while Ally takes a nap and I watch a movie on her laptop. Every now and then Jane’s Deda will pop in to bring me a pillow or something, which is quite sweet but I think she’s secretly checking up on us to make sure we’re in separate rooms. I really can’t emphasise enough how strict most Georgians are about this, which is another reason I can’t have Ara, Ally, Jarrett, Wolf or any of the other guys to stay, cos there’s nowhere for them to sleep accept my room. Today is the deadline for telling TLG when we want our flights booked after our contracts end and where to so I call the lady who’s in charge of flights and ask for an extension. I explain that I have my interview with Korea the following morning and I can’t really know where I’m going until I get the result of that so she told me to send her the most likely flight details and she would put me on the unconfirmed list. I go downstairs and sit in the garden with Jane and her family who are peeling fruit in the garden to be dried in the sun. Jane’s Deda asks me if I had an operation on my nose because it’s ‘lamazi’ (beautiful)?! If there’s one thing I’ve never been complimented on before it’s my nose! I had kind of wanted to get back to mine at a decent time on Sunday but my coat it still at Ara’s house and it seems stupid to come all the way to Terjola and not pick it up, particularly since it’s starting to get pretty cold, but obviously we’re on Ara time. He says he’ll be back at 11.30am, and at 1pm I’m still waiting. Now it’s not so much a case of getting back at a decent time as worrying I won’t make it back in time for the last marshrutka. Eventually I get tired of waiting and decide I’ll get a cab to Ara’s and just pick it up myself. No one’s there but he tells me the door will be open so we say our goodbyes to Jane and her family and take our leave. I have to get a cab there but I’m short of cash so this means Ally and I have to walk into Terjola to find a cash machine. The walk’s lovely in the sunshine and by the time we get there Ara has actually made it back to town so we say goodbye to Ally and get a cab back to Ara’s place where I am finally reunited with my precious jacket. Ara then asks the taxi driver to take me to the motorway which is apparently where I will be able to catch a marshrutka to Zugdidi but when we get there the driver says something to me in Georgian and points down the road. I shrug and he carries on driving. About five minutes later we arrive at a bus station and he asks around and finds me a bus to Zugdidi. I buy a ticket (by which I mean give some money to the driver) and a hot Khachapuri from the café where the nice man behind the counter asks me in Georgian if I’m a teacher and I reply in Georgian that yes I am and ten minutes later I’m on my way. This has to be one of the easiest, most pleasant journeys I’ve undertaken in Georgia. I’m sitting at the back and one Georgian guy even asks if I mind if he smokes (not at all). I was worried I would miss the last bus back home but I actually arrive in Zugdidi with nearly two hours to kill so I go to the internet café and submit my flight form requesting a flight to Korea (with a gentle reminder that it’s not yet confirmed). I keep getting pestered by this Georgian guy who somehow (don’t ask me how, I look so Georgian) hit on the fact I was English and keeps asking me to give him English lessons. I try telling him that it’s too difficult for me to get into Zugdidi. Then he says, ‘I want you to teach me English, you are very good,’ to which my response is, ‘How do you know? I could be a terrible English teacher.’ In the end it’s easier to simply leave.
I had a nice weekend but it’s always a treat to come home again. I’m promptly ushered into the kitchen where I’m stuffed full of homemade food and wine. Eka tells me it’s a traditional Georgian dish, basically meat and nuts in a rich sauce and shows me how it’s supposed to be eaten with mashed corn and cheese (the meat and sauce goes on the plate and you take forkfuls of corn from a separate plate and dip it in the sauce), We drink more of the wine that was given to me by the teacher at school and also fruit juice which has tiny plums in the bottom which you then scoop out and eat with a spoon. There’s also a sugary nut paste that’s eaten either on its own or with bread. Basically, everything’s yummy. Then I take a shower and I’m not sure what they’ve done to the water heater while I was away but it’s piping hot for the first time since I got here. I love it. I settle down in my usual chair to read and Gala notices that I’m reading by the light on my phone (it really is dark in our house in the evenings) so Gala screws in another bulb for me and I feel thoroughly looked after. In my absence my host uncle has carved a jack o’lantern for Halloween. I think I mentioned when I first arrived that Halloween was one of my favourite nights of the year and that I was sad that I was going to miss it. He actually did a really good job. Everyone seems really interested in Halloween so I show them a trailer for Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas on the computer. I really want to find a DVD of it in Georgian but I think this may be asking too much! The kids really want to do something for Halloween but it’s a bit late now and it’s not easy as it doesn’t exist in Georgia – I wish I’d thought about it earlier as I’m sure we could have made decorations and costumes from something. If anyone reading this is coming out in time for Halloween next year be sure to bring some stuff with you! I go to bed feeling completely content.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.113s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0842s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
