At Long Last we are in Georgia

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We departed Townsville at 5:50am Saturday 3rd of December, having not slept much the night before due to nerves and excitement. That plus 47 hours of travel time to get to Georgia equals some fairly shifty writing, the word tired does not cut it.

When we arrived at Townsville Airport we were surprised by Nell and Ian, Aarons aunty and uncle who has driven from Mackay to see us off. My boss and his daughter Ashlyn who I taught this year also surpised us to say goodbye - this was really special and meant alot, thank you! After lots of tears we were off! We flew into Brisbane and spent some time with my mum and brother before heading to Cairns and then onto Hong Kong (yes we know, what the hell!).

Whilst in Hong Kong we faced the toothpaste saga - Aaron said he had packed the toothpaste and he thought I had packed the toothpaste, the result = really bad breath and fury teeth with still 24 hours to travel - we did after much frustration find toothpaste ! ADDIT (Aaron) Mikaela unhappy with me at this point, walked off in search of toothpast leaving me with all the bags. She returned 40 minutes later sat down and refused to talk about it. So I decided to go for a walk and 10 minutes later we had tootpaste and weird chinese lollies at hand.

After Hong Kong we travled to Istanbul where we had an 8.5 hour lay over, the airport was lacking in comfortable chairs or lounges which made for a frustrating time. We did enjoy some turkish ravioli and turkish ice cream, which were delicious - see picutures below. Aaron got his first 20 minutes of sleep at this point on a cafe table.

We arrived In Georgia after a slight delay at 7:00pm, we were welcomed by a TLG (Teach and Learn with Georgia) representaive who was really nice. We also met Alex another Australian who is part of our group, we are the only TLG members to arrive at this point. When we got to our hotel which is really nice and where we will be staying for our first week in Georgia for orientation. We were shown to the hotel restaurant where a feast was prepared for only the three of us (see pictures below), including the famous Georgian cheese bread

Khachapuri.

As it was nighttime and the hotel was basically emtpy Aaron mentioned that it seemed like a scene from the shinning, which was an accurate call minus 4 year old possessed twins cycling down the hallway singing in harmony with knives in hand. Having not seen the movie myself I have missed the relevance of what Aaron wanted me to type in the previous sentence, it sounds like a stupid movie to me.

We have now had warm showers and are getting ready for some well needed sleep.



　



　



　

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Photos

Brisbane Airport
Josh Crying

Istanbul Airport
Miki chatting up the Turkish icecream kid

Townsville Airport
Aarons Family

Tbilisi
Dining Room

Townsville Airport
Aarons aunty and uncle

Brisbane Airport
Farewell

Istanbul Airport
Turkish Ravioli

Flight From Turkey
Miki eating Turkey in Turkey

Tbilisi
Alex and Miki

Tbilisi
Khachapuri

Comments

[Leone]

Keep the humour up - makes for interesting reading & puts a smile on my dial love & miss you both... Writing this in car whilst on barge back 2 island .. Last night tonight .. Look forward to your next blog

[Dave and Marnee]

Wohoo!
Hey guys, love the blog and pics! Looks like things are off to a good start. Keep the blog posts coming. We wish we were as savvy and could put a facebook link! Have fun! Do it! xxx

[karen dedenczuk]

hi from a Tasmanian!
Hi Miki, I met your Mum yesterday on a bus in Hobart! I was a bit cheeky and overheard her conversation to a fellow traveller. Hence, your connection given by your Mum. I have been interested for some time to work overseas but this idea has only recently been given "wheels". My son is an electrician now in Currumbin, Qld and expresses a desire to learn more of our Polish/Ukranian heritage and history. So, we may go overseas for a short time together next year (between his jobs) or if not, I would like to work away from Australia for six months. The last year, I have been living in Kuranda (Far North Qld) where I won an Indigenous Lighthouse grant to work with the young people at the local school to record their elders stories. This film was successfully launched in September. To relax I went up to the Aboriginal Laura Dance festival and onto Cape York where I shot some film and set it to poetry I write. Anyway, these are my interests as well as bushwalking. I am a primary-trained school teacher, so can you tell me (when you have time!) or link me to the site that gives me more details on the program. I also have a background in Journalism, so hopefully that won't go against me!! Thanks a lot, Karen Dedenczuk Ph 0409 134 713.