A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to have Jessie come visit me. I have often found Peace Corps life hard here because of two things, my friends back home who know me well can't really understand waht this experience is like as hard as they may try, but my friends here who know this experience don't know me like my friends back home. So to have Jessie come and make the effort to see what life was like here (though she says it was selfishly motivated, I don't care!) meant a hell of a lot to me (plus she brought me beer!!!) , and here are her following insights about her trip:
Guest blog by Jessie!!!
Guest blog by Jessie!!!
When Kelsey told me a year and a half ago that her Peace Corps assignment was Georgia, I was thrilled. I knew that she would be a phenomenal asset to the program and looked forward to hearing about all the adventures that would unfold throughout her two years in living as an integrated member of an international community. But, much more selfishly, I was excited to visit her. Having a friend in Peace Corps offers a tourist like me the unique experience of being able to travel to a less developed region of the world while having the benefits of traveling companion, translator, and guide all rolled into the same person.
As the logistical details of my visit slowly fell into place over the course of this spring, I began to research the country and peruse my Lonely Planet guidebook to learn some of the history and attractions that Georgia has to offer. In retrospect, the attractions, as amazing as they were, were only the icing on the cake of my experience. The best and most memorable parts were what happened between our destinations—the food, the travel, and most of all, the time with Kelsey! For the benefit of future visitors, I’ve put together my own “guidance” on visiting a Peace Corps volunteer in Georgia.
What to Pack
Remarkably, I managed to fit everything I needed for the week into my carry-on bag. However, I still checked a second bag, this one nearly tipping the scale at 39 pounds. I filled it with what Kelsey referred to as “Peace Corps volunteer survival needs:” Ritz crackers, ranch dressing and alfredo mix packets, sunscreen, Blue Moon, and more.
Lugging that unwieldy treasure chest of a rolly bag around the uneven streets of Tbilisi put into perspective the simple American pleasures that simply aren’t available in Georgia. I had to travel 29 hours and thousands of miles to deliver the comfort foods it took me a brief afternoon in the Denver King Soopers buy. And the biggest suitcase in the world couldn’t bring Kelsey what volunteers seem to miss most: a fresh salads and sandwiches
Where to Go
Kelsey and I covered some serious ground over the course of a week, making her village the launch pad for excursions to the northern, eastern, and southwestern portions of the country. After a night of birthday revelry and delicious Georgian food with the Peace Corps folks in Tbilisi, Kelsey and I took a 3hr mashrutka ride to our first destination, the beautiful mountain town of Kazbegi. I learned very quickly that Georgians have a penchant for building churches on top of hills, and Kazbegi showcases that union of spiritual and physical high place as well as anywhere in the country. The Tsminda Sameba church perches about 5km uphill from the town, and even it is dwarfed by Mt Kazbek, the 16,512ft giant that remained hidden behind the clouds for nearly our entire stay.
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| Kazbegi, Tsminda Sameba, and Mt Kazbek |
Kelsey and I walked those 5 kilometers to Tsminda Sameba in the rain, joined by literally hundreds of Georgians who chose to spend their Day of Love in the same way. Despite their impractical footware and preference for steep, slippery “shortcuts” over the main road, they still beat us to the top. (Georgians make trails go straight up the mountain…no matter how impractical the route may be)
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| Kelsey and I in front of Kazbegi’s Tsminda Sameba |
Next, we traveled to Kelsey’s two homes in Georgia, the first in her current village near Apeni in eastern Georgia, and the second in her training village in Kortaneti, near the center of the country. One of the best things about having a Peace Corps volunteer as a travel companion is that I got to catch a brief glimpse of what it’s like to actually live in Georgia, something most tourists don’t have the opportunity to see. Kelsey’s host families were incredibly welcoming, feeding me homemade meals, wine, and even chacha, the Georgian equivalent of vodka. Relaxing in the villages was a true highlight for me. We enjoyed Spanish soap operas (dubbed in Georgian), received a dance lesson from some of Kelsey’s students (we proffered the Macarena and Electric Slide in return), and spent one morning watching ferule chickens fight over scraps of bread.
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| Casa de Kelsita (in Apeni) |
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| Freshly distilled chacha in Kortaneti |
From Kortaneti the next weekend, we took a day-trip to Vardzia, a 13-floor cave city built into a cliff almost at the almost at the Turkish border. Fighting both claustrophobia and vertigo, we wandered through the caves, marveling that we were allowed to walk almost without restriction all over an 12th century archeological gold mine.
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| Vardzia |
For the remainder of the day, we explored the tight streets and ornate buildings of Old Town Tbilisi. On my last day, we bought a bag of the last of this year’s cherry harvest and took it to Ananuri, another perfectly situated church on the Zhinvali Reservoir. We spent a relaxing morning exploring the fortress and then sat by the edge of the reservoir. It was one of my favorite places of the entire trip, and a perfect end to my time in Georgia.
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| Christopher, Kelsey, and me in front of Ananuri |
How to Get There
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| Marshrutkas: Georgian travel mode of choice? |
In total, we spent over 24 hours on mashrutkas during the time I was in Georgia. Despite their lack of air-conditioning and the often erratic behavior of their drivers, I appreciated mashrutkas because I saw most of Georgia through their windows. The Georgian Military Highway between Tblisi and Kazbegi afforded stunning views of the Caucasus mountains as well as beautiful green fields full of wild flowers. That drive may have been topped only by our taxi ride to Vardzia, which took us through a cliff-lined river valley that (surprisingly) reminded me of the southwestern U.S.
Kelsey hit the nail on the head in her blog post detailing the myriad and colorful meanings of the Georgian honk. I would only add the following two instructions:
If you approach a herd of cows crossing the road, honk your horn to encourage said cows to move to the sidewalk/shoulder/ditch.
If, however, you are a cow, maintain your current speed and direction regardless of honking because you are the only thing in Georgia to which a mashrutka driver will yield.
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| Georgian roadblocks |
What to Say
The Georgian language, both written and spoken, is unique, full of squiggles and strange k sounds and lots of consonants written in sequence. To my stubbornly American ear, it is incomprehensible. Thank goodness, I had Kelsey, who spoke both Georgian and Russian for the two of us, while I stretched the Georgian words for “hello” (gamarjoba) and “thank you” (madloba) to their absolute limit. I was so proud of her as she carried on long conversations with random marshrutka drivers and passengers who were astonished to hear a blonde American woman speaking village Georgian!
At the end of the week, I didn’t want to leave. I can’t thank Kelsey enough for hosting my visit to a new (for me) region of the world and to see, even briefly, what her life is like there. The best part was getting to spend a much-needed week with one of my favorite people in the world!
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