Hello, beautiful people! I’m
writing this article, because my coordinator Nana is begging me for almost 4
days to write it, and I, keeping a real Georgian spirit, am being late with
this task. As Georgians say: “Wherever you go, you have to wear the native
hat”, or something along those lines.
The real reason I’m being lazy with it is that, since the last time I wrote
something about my EVS(or rather ESC) experience, a lot has happened,
internally and externally, and I really cannot express enough emphasis on the A
LOT part. I really don’t know where to start.
Anyway,
here we go.
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| Racha |
Summer
has gone by really fast. I took part in many scout centre and GYE projects,
helped them with logistics stuff as well as organizing activities etc. Most of
my summer time I just spent with my Georgian pals, skating, doing nothing and
just basically enjoying my time. Shout-out to Patrick! I must say, that I have
progressed quite a lot in the wonderful hobby of board on four wheels, proud of
myself, yo. Did some travelling as well, have seen most of the country, but
there still is enormous amount to explore and see. The worst part about summer
and also reason to travel around and away from Rustavi was the heat. Never in
my life have I experienced these degrees above 0 of Celsius scale. Let me tell
you- it was HOT. Basically the entire city was dead till about 6 to 7 o’clock
in the evening, when the sun is finally going down and you can actually go out
of your house without burning to death and grasping for breath. I’m a little
over exaggerating here, but still. One thing I didn’t do during the heat, that
was actually on my bucket list, while being here, was frying and egg on a rock
out in the sun and taking a video of it. Oh well, I fried my skin at least.
Hundreds
of different cheap fruits, watermelon every day, heat, travelling and
skateboarding- there you go, TL;DR, summer in one sentence.
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| Adventures in Racha |
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| Racha, Shovi |
September,
October, November. The GYE season starts. Actually a couple of seasons start. One of which involve a lot of wonderful and tasty medicinal plants being finally available for use in salads etc. You know what I mean? Hehe. New season, new realizations, starting it full power and still going.
I’m really happy to finally see new people coming to the office and actually
attending the clubs, events and activities organized by the volunteers. It
feels like you are actually doing what you’re doing for someone and something.
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| GYE office memes |
In the end of September a friend of mine- Saba invited me to the countryside of
Kakheti region for the traditional Rtveli. It’s a grape harvest. And let me
tell you it’s much more enjoyable than potato harvest in Latvia. You work all
day, pick grapes, yell: “VEDRA!!” so someone brings you an empty bucket and you
continue until the field of grapes is empty. There’s not just one field though,
so the whole event happens for a couple of days, for some grape farmers it
might even last for a couple of weeks, I assume. And, of course, at the end of
it all, the traditional Supra (Georgian dinner).
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| Drying Churchkhela, Kakheti |
There
were a couple of things I noticed during this supra. First of all, it wasn’t
like the Supras during projects etc. This was super-ultra-mega traditional and
I was the only foreigner at the table to consume and absorb all of the amazing
table culture goodness that Georgians have to offer. Oh, lucky me! Thank you,
Saba. For example, Supra goes as supra goes, eating, drinking ONLY with toasts and
ONLY wine etc. etc. And at one point of it all, I look at the table and realize-
there are only men at the table. Only men- smoking, drinking, eating, talking
and having a great time. Women, on the other hand, have their own little supra
in the kitchen and don’t even seem to mind that they are not sitting at the
table with everyone else; they are having fun separately from men, talking
about and doing their own things. I don’t know about the toasts though, but I
assume they also drink with toasts, although much less than men. No one is
upset, no one is even thinking about raising the topic of gender equality or
some other bull crap, everything is how it is supposed to be, everything is
traditional and everyone is happy. There. Think about that.
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| Jungles of Birtvisi |
Other
than that, I have learned the language quite a lot. I can understand and catch
the topic pretty fast. I can read and write a little bit. The problem for me is
actually speaking. I don’t have nearly enough vocabulary to fully express
myself, but for simple communication- no problem. The language actually has some similarities
with Latvian. They also have words that don’t really translate into English,
one of these words is a swear, that translates perfectly into Latvian from
Georgian, but doesn’t sound as good in English. I wish I could share this
expression, but I guess you will have to ask me personally, since this article
is kid-friendly.
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| Black sea, Batumi |
There
are tons of experiences I have missed in these lines, since I have to finish
this article due midnight and some of the experiences I can’t really talk about
in an article like this, but they are well embed in my memory and will forever
stay there.
For
now, I will admit, that I am kind of ready to go home to Liepaja. A simple talk
with a close person of mine made me realize a lot of harsh truths about myself
and the life I am living. The Midterm meeting also encouraged some planning and
reflection.
I have, more or less, a plan for
what I want to do and achieve back home and being here, away from the place I
really belong and come from, just makes me more eager to so. I am though; endlessly
thankful and happy for all of this experience as whole, since it has had a huge
impact on my perspective, my views, values and life in general.
Peace!
Martins ‘chuks’ Piebalgs
