IT workshop

Last Friday “Youth Association Droni” organised a workshop called “IT tools for your organisation”. Achiko and I were lucky enough to join. After our usual marsjroetka ride we arrived in Tbilisi. It wasn't that easy to find the Droni office. Actually Achiko and I think that finding the Droni office is maybe harder than making a website ;-)

Thanks to Kris, the IT master of Droni and also an EVS volunteer, we were able to take a small look into the world of IT. He showed us how to use Wordpress for making a website. Not only did he showed us how to make a website but he also showed use how to use several Google tools. One day is not enough to make us IT professionals, but I think Achiko and I'll be able to make a website for GYE now. So keep an eye on this blog, before you know it we'll have a website up and running!




Special thanks:I want to thank Kris for his time and support during the workshop, Monika for taking the photos and Michele for the orange.

More information about “Youth Assosiation Droni”, go to droni.org (a Wordpress site :-) 

Tijs in Rustavi

"Tijs do you want to come to a rugby match this Saturday in Tbilisi? Georgia vs Portugal?". "Of course", I said - knowing that I had no idea about the rules of the game...

My name is Tijs Boorsma and I'm from the Netherlands, also known as Holland. A country where we don't play rugby :-) (or at least only a small minority of us do). And I've now been in Georgia for 1 week, as part of my EVS with Georgian Youth for Europe (GYE). I'll be staying for five months in total, in Rustavi.
In the Netherlands I work as a volunteer for DBYn NL in Rijswijk, which is right next to The Hague. Like GYE our organisation is also involved in long and short term EVS projects. And this is how I heard of GYE.
In the summer of 2011 and 2012, GYE sent two volunteers to our summer project, “Vakantiebos”. And we are currently hosting a Georgian volunteer for his long term EVS.
Based on these volunteers' stories and the connection with GYE, I decided I wanted to do my EVS in Georgia. And here I am!

If you want to know more about our EVS projects you can contact gye.yia@gmail.com

So last Saturday I went to my first Rugby match. My friend (and mentor) Achiko picked me up in Rustavi and we went by marsjroetka (a kind of mini bus) to Tbilisi. Before we entered the stadium Achiko had to buy something that look like black peanuts. The match wasn't sold out so we bought a ticket in the stadium for 5 lari. In the stadium we met with Salo, she is one of the permanent staff members in GYE.

The match started with the national anthem from boths teams. And as I expected nobody was singing with the Portugees, I couldn't see any Portugees suporters. Of course almost the whole stadium sung when they played the Geogian national anthem.

Even before the match started I knew what the black peanuts where... Everybody (!?!?) is eating them and they are called “Semichka”. And they weren't peanuts but sunflower seeds. They open them with the teeth and spit the shell on the floor and eat the bit inside. It needs some practice before you realise how to open them....

Luckily a friend of Salo knew the rules so she could explain them to me. After five minutes Georgia was already leading 7-0. Finally Georgia won 25-12. Do I like rugby now?? Mmmmmm, it is interesting - alot of big muscley men running after a ball that looks like an egg who can shoot at the goal (two long posts) out of nothing. No, I don't think rugby is my sport. I prefer football. But the most important thing is that we had a lot of fun.

More about me:

My name is Tijs Boorsma I'm 30 years old (20-07-1982) and I live in The Hague. I was born in Arnhem, my parents are still living there. I have one sister who lives in Amsterdam.
I studied automotive engineering and was working as a fire engine designer. In my free time I like to go by bike and go around with my friends. I'm also a big football supporter. I support Vitesse Arnhem. Some of you might know this club, Guram Kashia and Valeri Qazaishvili are playing for it?
If you want to know more about me, the Netherlands or Vitesse. Just send me a mail and I'll reply as soon as possibletijsboorsma@gmail.com

ნახვამდის
Tijs 

have you ever tried climbing mountain in platform shoes?

Cooking Club Spy

An evil spy infiltrated in the last cooking club documenting all the activities as the young and brave (and unsuspecting) volunteers and local Georgians tried to find a common ground for such powerful nations as the French, the Portuguese and the British.

At first the spy wanted to use the collected photos to report this dangerous activity to the alien king NoBros who is of the colour of socks that are given to you as a Christmas gift and is president of the club "Intergalactic Puppy Haters". He despises and fears all kinds of friendly dillydallying and such nonsense as peace and mutual understanding. NoBros had planned to take over the Earth on Saturday (because on Fridays he is visiting his granny) so he sent the evil spy to document the greatest threat to his power. 

However, the love and joy the evil spy experienced in cooking club turned him (just like the overwhelming goodness of Smurfs turned Smurfette) and he decided to spread this tasty message of companionship because it is the only way to prevent NoBros usurpation.

Here you can see the photos: Also below you will find RECIPES.

 Sangria
3l wine
1l Sprite
4 apples
3-4 oranges
1 cinnamon stick
brown sugar

All the ingredients should be mixed and put in a fridge with lots of ice for 1 - 1,5 hours.

British Flapjack
6 tbsp Golden Syrup or corn syrup
200g unsalted butter
330g oatmeal porridge


Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Butter a form of 9"x 13"/23cm x 33cm Swiss roll tin and line the base with
baking parchment. Place the syrup and butter into a large saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted into the syrup and stir well. Make sure you add all the golden syrup, sometimes it is hard to get it exact and more is always better than less if you want your flapjack gooey but not falling apart.

Put the oats into a roomy baking bowl, add a pinch of salt then pour over the butter and syrup mixture and stir to coat the oats. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly to fill the tin making sure the surface is even.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven while the flapjack is still slightly soft, it will harden once cool. Place the tin on a wire cooling rack and cut the flapjack into squares and leave in the tin until completely cold.

The flapjack can be well stored in an airtight tin.

French Quiche
250g flour
30 g butter
salt
5 spoons of water

Mix the flour, softened butter and water as needed for a smooth, non-sticky dough. Make a dough ball, wrapp it in foil and let rest for at least 120 minutes in the refrigerator. 

Lightly roll up 1/2cm, prepare pancake thickness layer and place in a greased mold (pie or cake), bevel the edges. Stab the dough with a fork. Put chopped bacon pieces on top of it (can be brown) and cover with cheese. Whisk the cream and eggs, add a pinch of ground nutmeg and pour into mold.  

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about three quarters of an hour. You can use everything that you have in your fridge - vegetables such as tomato and onion or eggplant, or just spinach with egg.

Alilo

On 7th January we joined the Alilo Christmas procession in Tbilisi from the Rose Square to Sameba Cathedral. “Alilo” is a Georgian traditional Christmas song that now refers to the practice of walking from home to home singing and collecting donations for the less fortunate that has nowadays transformed into a massive street celebration where people gather in several spots of the city and move along the streets to the cathedral. 

As we guessed, it metaphorically stands for the shepherds who heard the heavenly angel choirs (in our case impersonated by a nice white Mitsubishi with speakers on top and several people dressed in church clothing) and went to visit new-born Jesus and bring him gifts (in this case, donations - as Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” which also means that what we do for the least of these, we do for him). 

 

The angelic Mitsubishi was followed by four boys dressed as shepherds and carts pulled by some bulls who behaved in a very dignified and respectable manner as if recently graduated from Young Gentlemen Biblical Scene Acting Academy. Several priests made sure that we inhale the divine presence instead of exhaust fumes and others generously poured holy water over the heads of the crowd purifying us from our sins. 

 

Changing scope from a local, private visitations to a mass procession certainly reaches the goal of creating an impression of societal unity and peaceful revolution, exchanging intimacy for grandeur which is appropriate, considering the culture of collectivity. I observed various impressions among the general public from light nonchalance to being deeply touched on the verge of tears.