Hello, My Faithful
Readers
January 6th,
2018
Volume 2, Number 01
Happy New Year!
I had hoped to close 2017 out with a blog at the end
of December; however, (and I make no excuses) I just didn’t do it. Spending the
holidays here in Tbilisi was so disappointing. As you may remember, my trip to
Turkey was cancelled due to all VISAS being cancelled for US passport holders.
I tried a couple of other options for travel; but, nothing felt right – so I
decided to just stay put. I’ve always traveled over the holidays; so, this was
really my first time in Georgia was the holidays. Well, I surely didn’t miss
anything by leaving Georgia to travel in previous years.
So, what did I do…honestly, not a whole heck of a
lot. I found out that they turn the water off more often as many people are
away over the holidays. In addition, there was a water main break in my street
which added additional days of joy without water.
Here in Georgia they (2) Christmas Holidays (12.25
and 1.7) and (2) New Years (1/1 and 1/14).
I did some exploring here in Tbilisi; areas that
I’ve never been to. The cheapest way to do this is to just get on a bus and
ride it to the end of the route.
Gldani is outside of Tbilisi – about a 90 minute bus
ride. The link below is just 47 seconds which mainly show the amusement park
for children; however, you can see many of the apartment buildings in the area.
It is a HUGH area and there are SO MANY apartment buildings. Some are in good
shape; however, others are from the Russian times and honestly it gives me
pause looking at them. There is one bus (#51) from Tbilisi center to Gldani and
the bus is packed with people. At the end of the route there is a grocery
store; really nothing more than that and more apartment buildings. There is
another bus (#99) that takes you further into Gldani. I cannot imagine riding
this bus (90) minutes each way if I had to come into Tbilisi to work.
The stores and merchandise is exactly the same as
you find in any other village or city here in Georgia. There is not a lot, if
any, variety.
The second adventure was on the #88 bus up to
Nutsubidze Plateau. Again, it was a long ride (75 minutes) and that was without
traffic. There was not much to see; but we were climbing up the mountain almost
the entire time. Many, many people use this bus and once again it is the ONLY
bus going into this area.
The area had multitude of apartment buildings. Some
were new but most were the old Russian apartments. I wonder sometimes how
people live in them. The outside looks like it was ready to collapse. Again,
not much at the end of the line; but, I was again sure glad that I didn’t have
to travel back and forth to this area for work on a daily basis.
I went to a Chamber Music concert at the
Conservatory. This was a real treat to listen to such professionalism. I
reserved front row seat in the main theater and enjoyed every minute of it.
I also went to see the Nutcracker at the Tbilisi
Opera House. All the tickets were sold out before Christmas; so, I will
celebrate the Nutcracker in the Georgian Christmas Tradition on 1/5/18. The
production was nice; great costumes and of course the music is outstanding;
however, (there always seems to be a “However” here in Georgia…the audience
members leave me shaking my head.
The play is geared to children, or the child in all
of us; so the audience was filled with wonderfully dressed up children of all
ages. Children need to be taught how to behave; and many of the adults here are
failing at being role models. Adults during the performance talking just as if
the play was not happening; phones ringing and being answered all are distractions
that the adults seem to take as just business as usual here.
The aisle that allows access to the part of the
theater that I was sitting in was blocked by children who wanted to be close to
the rail (I was on the 1st tier). Their parents, as well as the
theater attendants, brought it chairs from the corridor so that they could sit;
however, with so many people (adults and children) sitting where they should
not have been – myself and others in my section could not see the stage. I
asked them to move as we could not see and wow, the black looks I got (this
from the country of hospitality). The adults did move; but, the children were
left to block the view. I did stay for the performance as it has been years
since I’ve heard the music; but, all of this sure took some of the enjoyment
away.
So, onto better things…today marks “Day 188” of
meditation. I have continued the practice; but, I don’t feel it is necessary to
announce it as the beginning of the blog. More and more the practice has become
a part of my routine; but, I must say that some days are easier than others.
One consideration is the time factor to give (1) hour to meditation on a daily
basis requires some thought and planning
and the second is that depending on what I am dealing with at times it
is just hard to be with myself without the distractions of life.
Dear, My Faithful Readers…I know this is really not
exciting stuff; but, like I said being here in Tbilisi over the holidays was
anything but exciting. Maybe, just maybe I am starting to really fall into a
daily routine here in Eastern Europe?
So, let us talk about the Holidays…..The American
Christmas (12/25) is just that; The American Christmas. Everything was open
here in Tbilisi. It was just another day here in Georgia. Some friends planned
a fancy dinner (group of ex-pats); but I declined. I did that for Thanksgiving
and it was OK; so, spent the time reading and watching videos.
New Year celebration here in Tbilisi was different
in that the people themselves put on a fireworks display. The display was
dangerous as all get out as people buy fireworks on the street and then shoot
them off wherever they can. I watched from my terrace (indoors) as across the
horizon as far as I could see fireworks were going off for about 40 minutes. I
watched as my neighbors in the high rise building next door shot fireworks out
of the windows and I heard gun fire (this is very common here). I hear that many ER visits
happen; especially with children as they probably don’t know how to handle the
rocket; but, like most crime here you won’t hear much of anything about the
people hurt.
Fireworks are expensive; 15 Gel for each rocket. Now
is US dollars that is not a lot of money; however, when you factor in that most
people buy at least (5) rockets at a time – then you are talking real money.
This is in light of the fact that in this country most of what you hear is that
people are so poor. Salaries are low; so a purchase of (5) rockets could be 25%
of their monthly salary. I’ve included a photo of an outdoor stand in the heart
of Tbilisi that sells Rockets.
I also wanted to share another Georgian tradition:
Chichilaki (Link Below)
Chichilaki is the Georgian
version of the Christmas tree that was an inseparable part of New Year and
Christmas centuries ago in Georgia.
This item scared the beejesus (freaky) out of me.
It’s the first time I’ve seen this item and in such quantity. They are lined up
near the fireworks/rockets on the street for sale and I am told that every
house in Georgia has one. It always amazes me how superstitious the Georgian
people are – as this is a MUST have for a variety of reasons.
Another fact that I was not aware of (as I am
usually not here during the holidays) is that just about everything is closed,
of course, on January 1st; however, in addition everything is closed
on the second day of the New Year; January 2nd. The holiday is called “Bedoba” and it means
January 2nd is “a day of luck”. According to tradition what happens
on Bedoba happens the whole next year, so cheerful mood is advised.
Once again, superstition is over the top here. Most
people, if they can, take the entire week off between New Years and Christmas
and go and visit people they have not seen during the year.
So, what did I do on Bedoba….I didn’t realize
everything was closed so I tried to do a couple of errands; things I didn’t want
to do when the rockets were blasting. My January 2nd was peaceful
and filled with great conversation and books. So, I don’t have anything to
worry about J
A couple more things about New Year tradition before
I close the blog. Some friends invited me to their home for the traditional New
Year Dinner. The center piece is called Satsivi
A turkey dish fried in
peanut oil which is very tasty and a traditional New Year’s main dish. With
this dish and all of the the other foods laid out on this holiday, you will be
stuffed instead of the turkey.
The family spent a lot
of time and money preparing this meal; however, it was just not to my liking. I
did try a little and it was OK (nothing I would go out of my way for). There
were lots of other foods; potato salad; of course bread and cheese, wine,
eggplant, walnut sauce..etc., etc.
I was so appreciative of
the invitation and had to smile at their love of jazz and Eric Clapton music….playing
in the background while we ate and talked.
So, Christmas is
tomorrow (1/7) and next Sunday, (1/14) is OLD NEW YEAR – celebration of the New
Year on the old Gregorian calendar – so, here we go again. Many Georgians feel
it is just too much having (2) of each holiday; but, it does not appear that
anything will change anytime soon. I think the 1/19 is also a holiday - Orthodox Epiphany (most places are closed).
Ok, so finally something
not holiday based….Peace Corps has a possible new Director. Please correct me
if I am wrong; but awhile back was there some noise about Trump closing the
Peace Corps (at least restricting its funding?) And, now he is nominating Jody
Olsen as its Director.
So much of the current
happenings in the world is so dire; that, one could lose sleep if you bought
into what is published. I am not saying its fake; but, so much mis-information
is placed out in the world – that if you wait long enough something happens
that turns about what was previously published (like the example I gave).
The link below talks
about the nomination. I am informed she is a social worker (or was). Don’t know
what that means for the Peace Corps; as really don’t remember or know what the
backgrounds are on former Directors. My affiliation and support of the PC goes
very deep; so just wanted to include this milestone.
I invited a group of women to a Salon on December 30th.
I had promised some women that I would have a gathering so they could see my
new apartment and decided to couple that invitation with a Salon Topic. We
spoke about “The Silence Breakers” – a hot topic in the US at the moment.
It was a great afternoon. I had the event catered by
a local restaurant (just had to go pick up what I ordered) and we drank wine,
ate good food and talked about this timely topic. I so miss having these types
of discussions here in Georgia. The group liked it also and talked about
scheduling more Salon’s….so, we shall see.
I will close for now and just say how lucky I am to
have this GREAT apartment. The heater situation is not great; but, I compensate
and dress warm. The weather has been so mild here that it has not been a
hardship.
I’ve made some decisions that I will share in the
next blog. These decisions will change my trajectory here in Georgia beginning
in May, 2018. I am still working out some details so to put my plan in place;
so, more in future blogs.
Happy Holidays and the Best to you, My Faithful
Readers, for the New Year (2018)
Catherine Lawrence – 1/6/18
Flags from countries I have visited...not yet completed!
No comments:
Post a Comment