Blogs from Tbilisi District, Georgia, Asia - page 9

Geo: 41.72, 44.79Monday, my last day in Armenia, and quite uneventful. Gregor had two monasteries for me to see en route to Tbilisi. Both big monastery complexes close to each other, Sanahin which means older than the other and Haghpat which means the one with the big wall, all very unoriginal - to get to the first one we had to drive through a Soviet era housing estate of crumbling apartment blocks. One odd thing I haven't mentioned is the gas pipes, I know I know, what can be interesting about them! Well all our gas pipes are underground, the ones in Armenia, and Georgia it seems, were underground but they had problems with leaks and explosions so they moved them all above ground and painted them yellow. So there is this warren of yellow pipes ... read more

Gareja... read more

I get myself up pretty early on Monday and manage to get the Metro by myself for the first time, so I’m feeling pretty smug. I take a marshrutka to Zugdidi but, as usual, things happen that are outside my control and beyond my comprehension. At Senaki I’m told to get off the marshrutka and to get on another one, where we sit and wait for a while. I once again realise that if a Georgian guy wants your phone number there’s really nothing you can do about it. Saying no makes no difference. Saying you’re married makes no difference. If that guy wants your number, he’s going to get it. Eventually we drive to Zugdidi and by the time we get there it’s just me and two guys on the bus. We arrive just in ... read more

Tuesday’s a fairly standard day at school. We go to drink coffee after my first lesson and I’m fed cakes and pears in syrup and apple jam. I’m feeling quite ill by the end of it. I’m actually slightly concerned about my last couple of weeks at home cos I can see the quantities of food and opportunities to eat increasing on a daily basis. Things also seem to be getting more and more lax at school as the holidays approach. We sit in the kitchen for about ten minutes into the next lesson. The general attitude seems to be that someone else will be taking care of it. I’m supposed to give the sixth graders their extra lesson after school but only two of them turn up so Eka and I decide it’s probably not ... read more

Our week of orientation is coming to a close, we are both exhasted yet excited to begin our time in Gerogia outside the four walls of this Hotel. I don't know whether we have decribed the hotel before, it is a huge ex soviet hotel with very dim lights and resembles something from a horror flick. .Mikaela and I got the news two days ago that we have been placed with a host family together meaning that we will not have to rent an appartment which was a relief to us as we wanted to see Georgian culture from the inside. We have been placed in a small village named Shilda near the region centre of Kvaveli in the Kakheti region in East Gerogia. Our region is known as the wine capital of Georgia. Our family ... read more