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Tom and I have been spending alot of time hanging out with our sitemates lately as we realize that we only have so much time left to enjoy living "Friends" style with some of the coolest people we know. Here we are throwing it down at Johanna's while cooking Thai food.

One of the things we've learned from people about going back to America, is that the overabundance of consumer choices can be paralyzing. There has been no end to the anecdotes from people returning after 2 years (or visiting for the first time in the case of Georgian friends) and being driven into a stupor, even tears, at the prospect of trying to choose a product from a shelf with so very many different choices. It seems a strange phenomenon, but really, if you want coffee in Georgia, you usually have 2 brands in the local store. During my service, I've seen a doubling and even quadrupling of the choices available for most items. It still doesn't come close to the number of options an American has. The idea of a whole shelf, or whole aisle devoted to coffee seems absolutely bizarre at this point. Ok, it seems bizarrely wonderful as I adore good coffee, but the idea of a whole shelf of different of styles of paper napkins seems bizarrely stupid. Who needs to choose from 10 different kinds of napkins. Couldn't the time and brain energy spent comparing the price, thickness, color and style be better spent some other way. Do we really need more than 2 options (big or small)? On the other hand, it's strawberry season right now in Georgia. This means that a whole section of the outdoor market is devoted to strawberry, cherry, and other berry vendors. Instead of walking into a store and selecting some strawberries from the produce section, we get to wander up and down rows of different berries tasting and inspecting until we find the best. The berries come from small patches all over Georgia, and each has it's own size, shape, and flavor. Having to drive somewhere just to try a second type of strawberry makes me really wonder how well I'll adapt to life back home. Actually, I can't remember if they even let you taste the produce before you buy it in America. I can't imagine paying for some fruit I haven't personally sampled for quality. Lucky for us, we'll be getting back to Ohio in a good season for fruits and vegetables. And in case your wondering, 2.2 pounds of the most delicious, juicy, sweet, flavorful strawberries you've ever tasted costs about $1.60.

The last few weeks have been uncharacteristically silly. It's probably the weather or the pending return home but the threshold for what we find amusing has veered beyond cheesy and nose dived into absolutely lame. We moved into a new apartment for our last few months to get the experience of living on our own here. All of the sudden I found myself unintentionally using cliches. I fixed up the kitchen which required 'waiting for the paint to dry' before we could do much else. Then, bought a small natural gas tank and burner and without realizing it, told Amy, 'Now we are cooking with gas'. So, apologies in advanced for the following...

..getting our ducks in a row in Batumi's park.

..caption not needed

..just some slightly cute translation nuances. Don't even try to trade stock here!

Our libraries website is hosting the pictures from fellow volunteer Annie's latest project in Georgia. Check out the images from her Photo Exhibit.

Near Kutaisi (about 6km away) is a really cool cave. We went on a hike there a few weeks ago with some other volunteers. It was cool, but the electricity was out so the lights they had strung inside didn't work. Amy was the only one smart enough to have brought a small flashlight, so we could see the cave about 2 square feet at a time. It just added to the intrigue. We were taking pictures with a flash and had little idea what we were looking at until the pictures were on the computer.

Adjacent to the cave is the site of some fossilized dinosaur footprints. I thought it was pretty cool that they actually look like you would think dinosaur footprints should look like, not much imagination needed. There is a whole mess of them too.

For the last 10 months or so, I've been working with my counterparts to build a library at my youth center. We now have over 700 titles, mostly in Georgian, and I'm quite proud of it. In addition to having some of the best new literature around, we have a state-of-the-art system for cataloging and tracking books, and to my knowledge, the first online book catalog in Georgia. www.newkutaisi.com

(on the left of the page, click on the link that translates the site to English) I'm most proud of the fact that every single step of the way, from writing the project, applying for funds, cataloging the books, and even designing and building the website, my counterparts have learned the proccess and are maintaining the project. The library (though small) would seem pretty normal to an American. The shelves are well organized, we have titles in most genres, and subscriptions to popular periodicals. The books even have barcodes and we have a scanner (thanks Mike!) to check them out. So, that there is a library that would seem pretty normal to an American in Kutaisi is kind of a big deal. :) Some of our funding came from the Peace Corps Partnership Program If your ever looking for a place to donate a few bucks and want to be sure it's used well, click on that link. It connects you directly to projects Peace Corps Volunteers are working on all over the world. There is no more direct way I know for you to help build communities in the developing world and to be able to really evaluate EXACTLY what your contribution is funding... For the nerdier of my blog readers, I'm also proud the library is completely open source. This was also quite an accomplishment as software piracy is the overwhelming norm here. We use (and love) ubuntu linux, open source library software, and an open source cms for the website.

It's really strange to type this, but our two years of service will be over this summer. Right now we are planning on being in America in August.

(ok, actually there is still a lot of the above scene even with the new trash bins, but there are fewer)

The pictures below are of my school. The picture of the wood stove ("petchi" in Russian and common use) was used in most classrooms last year. Petchis are warm, as fire tends to be, but present certain hazards. On two occasions last year, I was in classrooms which had to be evacuated. Once due to an actual fire and once due to trouble with smoke in the room. I won't recount the number of holes burned into pants from standing too close, or minor burns to students' hands while tending to the petchi. This year, we have radiators!!! They don't heat up to quite the level of an open flame in the classroom, but I've yet to hear of one incident of burning, maiming or smoke inhalation. There is other trouble with the new system though. In order for them to work, the water, electricity and gas must all be working concurrently. We have heat about 80% of the time. Everyone agrees that it's much better to have the heaters, and I agree. It does present some interesting secondary cultural challenges though. People are used to dressing for the weather here. I've often joked with my friends about the 7 layer PCV (versus the lusted after 7 layer burrito I so crave from that fantastical wonderland fast food joint I haven't seen for 20 months, but, I digress). So with central heating, folks get hot. When folks get hot, they sweat. When folks sweat, it tends to get smelly. And when folks get smelly, Georgians open a window. Change takes time.

Our washing machine arrived in the summer. It was hooked up and ready to use in the fall. I continued to hand-wash many things for several weeks after that. It's true, I'm not sure if the machine gets things quite as clean as I can personally hand scrubbing everything. The biggest difference this has made in our house is for my Host Mom, Sopo. She was responsible for washing all the clothes for three people, plus all the sheets in the house. Now, she just throws it in and then gets it out again in another hour.