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

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Tijs