August 12, 2009 New Blackboards

The new blackboards finally arrived at #6 school. What a saga these have been! In any event, 18 new boards were delivered and installed.

Keti chats with Aliko

Stacking

Installed!

August 7, 2009 Visiting Valeri's Cows

We, Gill, Mako, Valeri and Bob went on a long, rough and very uncomfortable ride, driven by Valeri's friend in Jeep up to near Gverdikhubani to where Valeri has pasture and some cows.

Village abandoned in the 90s by Ossetians

Meeting the cows

The petchi where all the food is cooked

Gill plays cards with Sopo and Akaki

This lady showed us how the cheese is made

A walk in the fields

The driver, Dato, Gill and Valeri

Akaki and Gill

Bob get's a gift of a hat - a bit small

Valeri, Sopo and Gill

Cutting the hay for the winter with scythes

Lunch

Sopo loved the headlights

Marina, Sopo, Akaki, Mako and Gill

On the return journey, we had a breakdown

Eventually fixed

Svaneti

July 19

Today we, Gill, Amy, Mako and Bob, went to the base of the glacier. It was a long hard walk over rough ground, but it was a wonderful day!

En route

Signs indicated where the limit of the glacier was

in prior years. Global warming has reduced the

size of the glacier steadily over the years.

Our guide

The glacier

Mako at the base, testing the water!

Under an ice shelf

After the walk back - tired but satisfied

A picnic at the guards hut

Returning home

Svaneti

July 18

Today we went for a drive in the surrounding country. Again the roads were very rough and so we were in a large SUV.

En route

Local fauna

This chick was out in the open - perhaps fallen from its nest.

Enjoying the scenery

The local school's entrance

The remains of the river's ice dam

Picking wild strawberries

Svaneti

July 17

The little hotel we stayed at had a tower. Of course we had to climb it.

Mako in the tower

Gill and Mako in the tower

View from the tower

More views

We went to a museum in Mestia. (Mestia has two! This was the original Georgian house used many centuries ago.)

The scene en route

I love these soviet electricity transformers.

They look like creatures from outer space.

They also look extremely dangerous.

Inside the museum.

We met the local representative of the Georgian Women in Business Association.

Svaneti

July 16

On the way to Svaneti.

Gill, Mako and Bob went to Khashuri by marshuka where we cot a second marshutka to Kutaisi with Amy. From Kutaisi we caught a third marshutka to Zugdidi (where Gill broke her foot 18 months ago.) Then we rented a car to take us to Mestia - the heart of Svaneti.

On the way to Svaneti.

Toilet break on the way to Svaneti.

First view of the towers.

Cows

The road was pretty bad between Zugdidi and Mestia.

Amy came to Borjomi and we took her up in the cable car in the water park.

In the water park's Romanov hotel(?)

Later Keto and Vaso came we went for an evening walk in the park some their friends.

Nino and her daughter.

Almost as big as she is!

We went to Sagrejo to help Peace Corps with the G9 TEFL training. Irakli met us and Tengo took us for a tour of the area.

The program at the little theatre put on by the dance school was simply wonderful. Children of all ages danced the dances from all regions of Georgia. They were enthusiastic, skillful and joyous!

Gill posing with one of the dancers after the show.

Another dancer after the show.

!

Today, Valeri's recent purchases of cows arrived to be shipped off to his land on the way to Akhaltsikhe. We hope he'll make a profit when he sells them in November!

Later Teona visited with her mother and daughter, Keti.

Keti tried on the hat Gill made.

Later, Mako and Mike came! Tomorrow we shall all go on a hike to Marina's lake.

April 18, 2009

The night before Easter and the local children get dressed up and go around the houses and beg for eggs; the madder dyed, deep red, boiled eggs that are traditional.

It's a bit like trick or treat, but the treats are eggs. I don't know what the tricks are.

Today was the Breast Cancer Walk and we were both volunteers assigned to the "Sponsors' Group". Our job was to set up their posters/"flags" and ensure that they had all they needed to setup their tables.

Getting organized at the beginning of the day.

Setting up BP's flag.

The t-shirts arrive!

The free mammogram van.

The A Team

The "American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee"(!) flag is installed.

Gill talks to some of the sponsors.

Registration

Setting up the stage

Sandra, the First Lady, arrives. The American ambassador also came, but I didn't get any pictures of him! The ambassador's wife does a lot of work for women's health and spoke at the benefit ballet last Friday

The Gori Women's Chamber Choir. They were good!

Lobio for the volunteers at the end of the day

Breast cancer is a serious problem in Georgia. It is a taboo subject and simply "not talked about". If a woman is diagnosed with it, it is usually in the late stages and so treatment is less successful than if it had been diagnosed earlier. Besides encouraging frequent mammograms and self-examination, an important objective is to make the subject one that can be discussed freely so that women can get support from their families and friends.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

We spent the day in Tbilisi. We had a few tasks to do but went to Rustaveli first to see what the opposition protesters were up to. The answer was nothing. Their "tents" were quiet. A few had some men playing cards or nadi, but, because there was no traffic, it was very, very quiet!

But first we had breakfast in "Entre" - a brief self-indulgence!

The stand where the opposition has its speeches.

Some of the "tents".

They say that the opposition is paying the men to stay here and we have heard sums of up to 50 GEL a day per person. That's good money by Georgian standards.

Rustaveli has sprouted some charming miniature statues recently and here are just a few.

Finally we went to our favorite Georgian restaurant and had dinner with Mako and Mike, who is over from Americato see Mako! Mako's friends Natia and Tatia joined us.

Natia, Tatia, Mako and Mike.

Today we went to Tbilisi to see the ballet being held as a benefit for Breast Cancer Screening for Georgian Women. The house was full and the we enjoyed the ballets tremendously - especially the latter two, Western Symphony and Marguerite and Armand.

My ignorance of ballet was clear when, after just a few minutes, I realized that Marguerite and Armand is the same story as La Traviata, ie. novel La dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. Western Symphony was a lot of fun!

Easter (Orthodox) Saturday midnight

They have waited for the news that the light has miraculously been lit in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and, when the news comes, they process around the church three times carrying the cross. Here they are at the little church in the little park in Borjomi.

The light is distributed throughout the Orthodox world. As I understand it, it is flown in an airplane to Tbilisi (inter alia) and distributed throughout Georgia from there. I asked what used to happen before there were airplanes and no-one seemed to know. There is lots of information on the web: e.g.

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/holyfire.aspx

and this site addresses the fact this miracle is largely unknown in the West - certainly, I knew nothing about it.

Erica and Giga have come over for a week or so. On the day before my birthday we went off to a local restaurant and had dinner.

Giga, Erica, me and Gill

On my birthday, I went to school and the children sang happy birthday for me! After lessons, the teachers had a supra in the staff-room to celebrate my birthday. They supplied the food, and I the booze!

On the day following, Valeri and Marina had a big supra in a new restaurant just outside Borjomi to celebrate my birthday. There were about thirty friends there and the food and drink were really great. As is the norm in such supras, everyone toasted me, wishing me long life and happiness!

Tako and Dmitri gave given me a present.

Giga toasting

Mako toasting

Nino toasting

Teko toasting

Dmitri toasting

Marina toasting

Nino and Keti toasting

Teko rests on Dmitri's shoulder

Mako, Valeri and Erica.

April 4, 2009

Lisa and Mark have come over for a week to see their host-family in Zugdidi and have a brief reunion with the remnants of G7 and the Peace Corps staff. Lisa brought over a whole load of knitting materials for the knitting co-operative Gill hopes to start. We all trotted off to Mark's favorite restaurant in Tbilisi and had a great meal. Both Brians, James, Oliko, Mauricio, Johanna, Danial, Gill and I were there.

Lisa and Mark

Gill and Mark

3/10/2009

We received messages from Peter and Colin saying that Mum had had a stroke. We left for Gosport again as soon as we could.

3/12/2009

We arrived in London and went straight to Gosport. Mum died just a couple of hours before we arrived. Peter had come over from the US arriving before we did and in time to see mum alive, but apparently she was unconscious and did not recognize him.

The next week was taken up with funeral arrangements. The funeral was on the 20th and Peter and I took part in the service - he reading from Corinthians and me describing Mum's life.

3/26/2009

Back in Tbilisi

My last picture of Mum taken three months earlier.

February 16

The children's clothes and books arrived from Genette in London and we have asked Peace Corps to retrieve them from customs for us. Thus turned out to be quite an undertaking and "cost" a lot more than we expected. the customs fees seem to be arbitrary and unpredictable. Finally they were collected and stored at Peace Corps on February 19.

February 27

We met for lunch with four guys from the European Union Monitoring Mission who were interested in the IDP situation in Borjomi. We agreed to take them to Gill's school and the IDP housing in Likani sometime in the near future.

Gill has been sick for two weeks now with some "magari kartuli virusi". She has not been to school, but Marina has been looking after her with some of her many nostrums. Today, it involves painting a grid with iodine on Gill's back and chest. I too have been sick, but not sick enough to warrant that treatment!

March 3

We have had 10 cm of snow, but we are none-the-less, off to Tbilisi today to collect the clothes and books from Peace Corps.

3/9/2009

We met the four guys from the European Union Monitoring Mission again today and, as promised, we took them to Gill's school and the IDP housing in Likani. They were shocked at the conditions in both places and undertook to include these places in their report. We'll see!

After spending Christmas with Mum, we went to Norwich to stay with Sheila and Mike. I had not realized how "nice" a city Norwich is. It has much that is old and charming without being cloying.

Norwich Street

Norwich Cathedral

We had a good time and were about to return on December 31 when we had a call telling us that mum had fallen and broken her hip, so we came back to Gosport. Mum had an operation and seemed to recover well. The doctors are "pleased with her." We delayed our return so that we could be with her for a couple of weeks and things looked good.

We were about to return when Diana fell and (as it transpired) broke her ankle. So we delayed out flight again so that we could help her! While we were in London, it snowed. I cannot remember when I last saw snow in London!

We built a snow-woman.

We finally arrived in Tbilisi (after a third flight rescheduling) on February 12 and got to Borjomi and February 15. We then learned that Aunt M had fallen and broken her wrist. Who's next?

Christmas at Bob's mothers residence. Here we are wearing the usual silly English Christmas hats!

Mum looks a lot older. Still, she is 94.

Today we leave for the UK to spend Christmas with (mostly) Bob's mother and Diana. We expect to be back in time for Orthodox Christmas in early January.

Today, those of us that stayed in Georgia got together tonight for dinner. This will probably be the last time for many of us because some are leaving over the next couple of weeks.

Here are "Tall Brian" and Johanna.

And here are "Small Brian" and Katie.

Soon there will be just Johanna, the two Brians and Gill and me!

December 13, 2008

Today was the last IDP camp day. We arranged an excursion to Tbilisi to first see the outdoor Ethnographic Museum and then Mtsketa. We had to hire two buses to accommodate all the children and some of their parents.

When we got to the museum, we split into two groups for tours.

They were surprisingly attentive!

Inside an old Georgian house with a central

fire and a hole in the roof for smoke.

An ancient "keep out" sign being investigated.

Mtsketa.

View from Mtsketa.

On the way home on the bus.

December 12, 2008

Bob went to an ECO presentation at number 2 school. Number 2 school has two ECO clubs - one Georgian and one English! The latter has two objects - to promote ECO awareness and, of course, to improve the pupils' English!

Crafts made from recycled materials.

Her English was very, very good!

Signatures on a "pledge" to promote ECO awareness.

Signing the pledge.

A "play" at the presentation.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Today we went to Gori to attend the ceremony at Gori University at which scholarships are awarded to some students. These scholarships are financed by a fund set up by Kelly and so she figured prominently in the ceremony.

On the way, cabbages for sale.

Some of the new IDP housing.

Kelly awarding the scholarships.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Another IDP session.

Knitting is very popular - and practical too.

Drawing is also popular.

This time it is the match against #6 School.

The match.

The girls played too.

Team tea.

Team tea.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

In the morning we took Tim Banks, a student in photo-journalism, to see the IDP housing at Likani. He went off to take photos and we chatted with the IDPs.

Gill chatting with IDPs.

Former spa balcony used to dry washing.

Two of our IDP children.

In the afternoon we had another session with the IDP children. The younger ones prepared pictures for the OneWorld Classroom. They love having their pictures taken!

The older children had their volleyball macth against Khashuri. This time the Khashuri IDPs came to Borjomi. Borjomi won one and lost one.

The game.

The fans.

Dmitri refereeing.

Two park police came to watch.

Team tea.

Team tea.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

We had a Sunday session with the IDP to try to get as many sessions as possible into the short time space available.

A message for Gill. Roughly translated it says

"Cheers teacher Julie [sic]"

They like jigsaw puzzles, but they seem to be unfamiliar with them.

Most are not as skillful as western children of the same age.

'Not sure what this lot are up to!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

We went to Tbilisi to celebrate Thanksgiving with some RPCVs. We had a great time and everyone mucked in with the preparation.

Number 2 and number 1 wives preparing

food (with their gin and tonics)

Ruth, Brian, Amy and Gill.

Marina and Tamara, PC doctors, came too.

Katie and Ruth pretend to be odalisques.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

We went to the ambassador's house for a reception. A lot of Peace Corps and ex-Peace Corps folks were invited, so it was good to see people again. Number 2 wife did not attend.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Another day with the IDPs.

Preparing for the day's activities.

Gill took the younger IDPs to a puppet show in the local theatre. Tiko, Dmitri and I took the older ones to Khashuri for the football match against the Khashuri IDPs.

Puppet show audience.

Puppet show audience.

We rented a bus for the Khashuri bash. They just would not sit still! In the end we just gave up.

Dmitri coaching!

The fan club!

One of the matches. We lost both matches:

one 11-1 and the other 4-2.

Team tea!

On the bus back to Borjomi.

Monday, November 24, 2008

We attended a children's concert in Borjomi. It was very "patriotic" with many references to Georgia and freedom and explicit refernces to Russia as the invader. It was very good and Borjomi clearly has a lot of talent. Actually, the preformers were mostly from #1 School, so the talent base was quite small.

Older children.

Younger children.

August 28th: Final preparations have been done today. We had a sort of ceremony to mark the end of our Peace Corps service. We are no longer PCVs, but RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) – except that we have not actually returned. The G8s went from PCTs to PVCs to RPCVs over the course of a couple of days!

Country Director Rick and his wife Dorothy

Tom and Erik

A group of G8s

In the evening we had a goodbye party. Besides the food, we awarded certificates and prizes to the PC staff. The Sargent Shriver award went to Mamuka, who drove many miles to bring PCVs from their sites to Bakuriani when the bombs were falling. He did deserve it, but really all the Georgian staff did too, because they had performed their allotted tasks when they were worried sick about their families.

Staff and their "certificates".

August 29rd: A small group, including Erik, left at 5:00 this morning! We, Gill, Brenden, Carissa, Amy, Ruth and I left at 10:15 and we were very touched as just about all the other PCVs came and waved us off. It was a very emotional moment.

We were driven to Yerevan in Peace Corps cars. We checked in our guest house, got money, arranged flights, repaired to the Armenian/Syrian restaurant we went to last week and had a great meal!

August 30th: We were up at 5:00 this morning because we were told that the only marshutka to Akhaltsike left at 7:00, 8:15, 7:30 and 9:00 according to whom we enquired! and if we wanted to be sure to get a seat, we should get there an hour before departure. However, it left at 9:00 after much trouble with starting the engine. However, that was not the main reason for our late departure. We had simply been misinformed; the intended departure was 8:30. None of the departure times that we had been quoted was 8:30!

It was a reasonable trip to the border – the same crossing that we had come through three weeks earlier. This time we were only about half an hour at the crossing, but there followed the long, hot and very bumpy ride on the Georgian side to Akhaltsike. We arrived at about 2:00 local time, so the journey took about 6 ½ hours. (Georgia does not have a summer time, while Armenia does.)

We had left Carissa and Brenden at Akhatsike. We took the Khashuri marshutka and got off at Borjomi. Amy went on to Khashuri. Marina, Valeri and Chiko welcomed us back - the rest of the family being in Tbilisi.

August 31st: We have started contacting people to let them know we are back and explain what we are hoping to achieve. So far they all sounded very happy that we have returned and perhaps this is a moment when something significant might be achieved. Everyone is saying that these are “bad times”, but I think that they might be persuaded that it can also be a time of hope (and hard work).

It’s raining. Regardless, we have to go to the ATM to determine the state of affairs in our Georgian bank accounts. Let’s hope that the ATMs are working. We never managed to get the online access working, but since the Borjomi telephone lines are down, we would not have been able to access our account data anyway! I hope that the phone lines are working by the time we come back to Georgia in a month, otherwise life will be very tiresome.

August 23rd: Last night we had a dance down by the old swimming pool. It poured with rain and everyone got soaked. There was no dancing. I went as Ruth’s partner and Gill was supposed to be Garrick’s partner, but she waited for him at the dance and he for her at the hotel!

It’s all very strange. We are waiting for some folks to come from Washington to “process” us. In the interim, we’re hanging around here, trying to follow the news – what are the Russians doing (or not doing), phoning (when we can get through) people back home and in Georgia and trying to amuse ourselves to stop going crazy. Meanwhile, Georgians continue to suffer.

Today we took another trip to Yerevan. A group of eight of us went to an Armenian/Syrian restaurant which was very pleasant. The restaurant was air-conditioned – bliss! The city was brutally hot and I think I got dehydrated when afterwards we walked around an antiques/crafts market.

August 25th: Today the regional director came and in the evening all the G8s were sworn in. It was a bit emotional. The G8s had been through all the rigors of training and now were, for the most part, being shipped back to the US, but at least now they are PCVs and not PCTs.

G8s waiting to be sworn in.

CD Rick gives a speech.

Becky & Michael give a speech.

A toast (with water since it is an official Peace Corps event.)

Michael gets his certificate.

G8 PCVs.

Regional Director David gives a speech.

No. 1 wife and no. 2 wife.

Gill and Dan have a chat in the cafe.

August 26th: Medical test, report writing, form filling and countless other tasks occupy us today and in the next couple of days. That’s the official stuff. Many of us are also arranging for fund-raising in the US and UK and organizing our return to Georgia.

It is now settled that some of us will leave the hotel on Friday, August 29th. Others will be staying longer – those who have elected to take the Peace Corps provided ticket to the US. We shall go to Yerevan, stay overnight and then cross the border and travel to Akhalsikhe on Saturday. That is Carissa’s and Brenden’s destination, but Gill and I go on to Borjomi and Amy will go on to Khashuri. Ruth is taking the Tbilisi route to get Marneuli.

August 20th: Today we took a trip to Lake Sevan, which is a huge lake here in Armenia. For this land-locked country, it is significant as a big body of water that gives the impression of being a sea and allows folks to go to the “seaside” to swim and do all the other things that people do at such places.

We went to a nearby water-park to try to relax, cool off and get a dose of skin cancer.

Aida and Toni at the water park.

DJ, Ruth and Kelsey do a left-handed toast to Russia.

Mamuka, Peace Corps driver, makes a new friend.

The monastery at Lake Sevan.

A door at the monastery.

Garrick at the end of the slide.

Tengo at the beginning of the slide.

August 18th. Today we heard that Russia was withdrawing its forces from Georgia and replacing them with “Peace Keepers.” What a joke. They are sending in soldiers to replace soldiers to keep the peace that they destroyed (and are still destroying). I saw a banner on BBC World News to the effect that the Ukraine had stated that it will open up its defense system to other countries in light of Russia’s behavior towards Georgia. I hope that is true, but I’ve heard nothing since. It may only be a symbolic act with little practical effect, but it at least shows that some parts of the world are concerned about what is going on in Georgia.

We have had another meeting to work out how we can get back to Georgia to help recovery when the Russians have left and to discuss whether their departure is necessary for us to return. We will probably go to the US and the UK for a short while to raise money for our activities.

August 19th. In order to keep ourselves sane, we have started a Peace Corps Georgia Olympics. It’s just a bit of fun, but it helps to relieve tension – both because it’s fun and because it’s physical effort. The teams were based in their sites in Georgia.

This is the Samsketi-Javaketi team.

Capture the flag - first round.

The start of a wheel-barrow race.

The start of a three-legged race.

The leap-frog race.

Watching the soccer final.

The soccer final.

Gretchen takes part in the blind-folded SMS competition.

August 16th: Today we all took an excursion into Yerevan. We split into a number of groups according to desired destination. Some went to the national museum, some to the crafts and antiques market and some went to regular stores to do “normal” shopping. We went to the books and documents museum which has some really interesting material. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of time trying to get the local currency. Our Georgian bank cards did not work in the ATMs we encountered and there were problems using our American cards too. We finally found a place where they would take Lari. The sign outside showed a spread against the dollar of just under 1%, against the ruble of just under 2% and against the Lari of just over 20%! The banks would not take Lari, but they were still taking rubles, which was predictable and understandable, but still stuck in the craw. As in prior days, Armenian PCVs looked after us, giving up their time to help us. They were really great.

Mother Armenia. She looks a little less inviting than Mother Georgia.

Arrival in the main square.

Entrance to the books and documents museum.

We now have SIM cards that are supposed to let us call abroad. We have managed to get through to Georgia, but have failed so far to get through to the UK.

Last night, we heard from our Mako that it rained in Borjomi and the forest fires created by the Russians were now out. She said that she and the rest of the family are OK. They have food and seem to be safe, but the Russians seem to be on a binge, so we are still very worried. We were told this morning that they are looting Khashuri. It is hard to fathom what the Russians think can be achieved by all this. Georgia is hardly a country suited to looting. There are a number of rich peoples’ residences in Tbilisi, but 99% of the population of Khashuri is unlikely to have anything worth dragging all the way back to Russia or South Ossetia. Perhaps they are doing it just to “punish” the Georgians. Perhaps the Russian soldiers are simply undisciplined and are the barbarians that Sakashvili says they are.

August 12th: The first full day in the Armenian resort. We had a visit from the American charge-d’affaires in Armenia who was a bit lavish with his praise of us, but otherwise gave a good speech.

We all have great admiration and affection for the Georgians. The host families all express concern for our safety when they are potentially in far greater danger than we. The Georgian staff that are accompanying us, Tengo – training co-ordinator, Teo – language co-ordinator, Tamara – medical officer and Nino – safety and security officer, work hard getting things arranged and managing the whole operation. They do it with efficiency and good humour, but their families, while currently OK, are still in harm’s way. Working for Peace Corps is considered a good job in Georgia, so Peace Corps can choose the best. They certainly chose well with this bunch. The Georgians are simply wonderful. The American staff are great too, but their families are not in danger, so our admiration for, and gratitude to, them are somewhat more muted.

August 13th: Another day in the Armenian resort. The Peace Corp Georgia Country Director came and described the possible outcomes for us. Yesterday, with the signing of the agreement between Russia and Georgia, things looked promising. Today, with Russia’s continuing operations in Georgia (despite the agreement) and after the CD’s description of what might happen in the near future we are less sanguine. It now seems unlikely that we shall return to Georgia any time soon – at least, under the auspices of Peace Corps.

August 14th: Yet another day in the Armenian resort. There is a lot of talk about how we might get involved in the clean-up and rebuilding of Georgia. The TELF folks are a bit at a loss as to suitable mechanisms, but the BSE volunteers have a lot of experience with NGOs and know something about getting funds properly channeled to get things done. All this is fine, but many of us are looking for ways to help in a more hands-on manner. If we get back to Georgia, I do not think that we shall do teaching. We shall try to find tasks more directly related to the reconstruction.

August 15th: Yet another day in the Armenian resort. Things are much like yesterday. Most people are feeling frustrated at the inaction, but do not know what options are available to us. We spoke to Mako. She said that the Russians bombed the Borjomi Gorge and had started fires there. This is part of that National Park and is not in Borjomi itself, but just outside. Although Borjomi itself was not hit, the smoke from the fires was very bad in the town and Mako asked if they could use the masks in our medical kits. Of course, we told her to take anything that might be useful.

We took a trip to a pagan temple nearby. here are some pictures.

We then went on to a local 4th century church. As we usually do when visiting such places, we lit a candle for Ben.

August 11th: We left at 11:45 – 45 minutes late for our drive to Armenia. Peace Corps Armenia has made arrangements for our reception into Armenia. We are told that we will be staying in a resort where the Armenian Olympics team does its training and is supposed to be quite lavish!

Our two buses drove down from Bakuriani to Borjomi where we stopped briefly so that our host-family could give us my computer which I should have taken in the first place. Not content with that, they gave us a big bag of food. Things were so rushed and emotional that we didn’t really think. We should not have taken the food. We were told later that all the Borjomi shops had been cleared out by panic buying, so the family definitely had a greater need than we.

We then drove through Akhalsikhe and closely followed the route we had taken just a few weeks earlier when we went to Vardzia. This time, however, we stayed on the “main” road, went through Nimotsminda and across the border. The crossing took ages. Five volunteers, for various reasons, did not have their passports with them and this may have been the cause of the delay. Or perhaps processing 90 foreigners simply takes that amount of time at this border crossing.

A brief rest stop.

Approaching the border.

The Armenian side of the border.

We then drove for another three hours to the resort. The whole trip took about 13 hours. We arrived at about 1:00 in the morning.

An eye-catching statue at the entrance to the resort where we are staying.

Yet another alphabet.

Members of a mime group adorn statuary in the nearby village, Tzakhkadzor.

August 8th: Today, the separatists in South Oshetia shelled a number of places in Georgia – that’s the Georgian version. There have been provocations for some time now. Explosions in Gori and other incidents have put us on "stand-fast" a number of times recently. Georgian troops entered South Osetia and took a number of villages. Each side claims that the other started it. Georgia claims that Russia is aiding the separatists and Russia denies it. Planes, probably Russian, have bombed Gori, Kareli and Zugdidi. We are probably pretty safe here, but a number of volunteers in other areas have been evacuated to safer places.

We have been put on “stand-fast” again, which means that we cannot leave our site and have to pack essentials ready to leave. We spent most of the day organizing our belongings into (a) what to take with us, (b) what to leave but hope to recover eventually, (c) what to leave for Georgians – host family, schools, etc. and (d) what to toss out if we have to leave.

Erica, Julie and Giga have left to go to Tbilisi, but we know that they have encountered difficulties because Gori is on the main road to Tbilisi and the road is closed to all but small vehicles. Erica has an appointment in the British consulate on Monday in order to get her visa for her year at Kent University. She needs her visa before Giga can get his to be with her.

Now we wait to see what will happen.

August 9th: Things are getting more serious. We were told to get ready to leave. A Peace Corps vehicle was supposed to pick us up at about 11:00. It arrived at about 2:00, but things are a bit chaotic and so the delay was understandable. We are told to take only one bag with just the necessities for a few days. We decide to take Gill’s computer, it being the lighter, and the backup drives for both machines so we will be able to access my data too. Wrong! Gill’s version of Windows is earlier than mine and, as we later discover, cannot read my backups! Thank you, Bill Gates (yet again).

August 10th: First full day at the Hotel Tbilisi in Bakuriani. All the volunteers are here now – all the G7s except those who were already out-of-country, all the trainee G8s and a few G6s who, for various reasons, are still here. Everyone is watching the television trying to find out what is going on in the rest of Georgia. Borjomi and Bakuriani are considered safe because the is nothing of military importance nearby and we are some distance from the current military operations. The phone system is a mess. People are trying to get through to The States to reassure their families there and to various places in Georgia to find out how their host families are managing and to reassure them of our safety. Because of bombing, the biggest problem area seems to be Gori where we had a few volunteers and hence have some host families and, a close second, Zugdidi where another volunteer couple, Lisa and Mark, were stationed. Things are beginning to look bleak.

Peace Corps meeting in Bakuriani.

We have been told that tomorrow at 11:00 we shall go to Armenia by bus.

August 7th: We have just returned from a trip to Oni. This is a place up north not far from the Russian border. We were visiting our fellow volunteer Eric who was running a sports camp for a some of the students in Oni.

Eric - one of the best!

Eric’s dog, Bombura, has just had pups and she is busy with, and tired of, feeding them! Motherhood is getting her down.

The camp was a lot of fun. We played a number of team sports in the local sports ground and cooked ourselves some great dinners in the evening.

On the third day, after an abbreviated camp, we took a vehicle into the mountains. The vehicle was an ex-ambulance and was very, very uncomfortable. You see these vehicles all over the place. They may be uncomfortable, but they seem sturdy and good at dealing with rough roads and countryside - and we had a lot of that.

We stopped at a dilapidated summer resort which was probably quite the place to go in the soviet era. It had a delightful stream running through it and we stopped on the bank to have a late lunch and cool down.

Beside the stream.

Beside the stream.

Beside the stream.

Georgia is littered with derelict buildings, many of which were probably once rather grand - some dating from the Romanov era. This was an example, although this shot does not give a true impression of its state of disrepair. The place was literally falling down. The stairs inside were in quite good shape, but in many places the floors were soft an in a few had completely collapsed. Cows were tethered up in the basement!

However, the view from the top of the building was spectacular.

On the way out of the resort we saw two interesting sights. The first was a caged bear. He/she looked so sorrowful in a very small, dirty cage with only an old tire to play with.

The other was a decaying statue of Stalin. It seemed to summarize everything.

Later we visited a man who was camping in the woods. He was minding his bee hives. It is common here to move hives up into the mountains here in the summer time and move them down again in the fall.

Here he is centrifuging the combs to get the honey out.

Gill takes a walk in the woods.

Later we took a rather scary ride higher up in the mountains. The road was very rough, narrow and right on the edge! However, the views were spectacular.

Our driver, Koba (in red), decided that one of us, Jess , should marry his son and spent most of the time calling her “daughter-in-law”. She (far left) was tolerant of his attention, but not in favor of the idea. When this photo was taken we were just two kilometers from Russia.

At a pit-stop on the way back, we reviewed some of the day’s photographs.

July 20th:

Back in Borjomi, and Erica’s mother, Julie, is now in Georgia and she, Erica and Giga have come to Borjomi. Arrangements for Erica’s and Giga’s wedding are presumably being discussed.

A walk in the park with Erica and Julie.

Preparing for a dip in the park’s natural warm-water pool.

The dip.

Chiko wishes he could dip too.

July 18th – our last day in Istanbul. Diana’s plane was leaving earlier than ours, so she and Gill went to the airport, while Mako and I went to look for presents for her friends and relatives back in Georgia. We succeeded fairly quickly, took a couple of photographs and scurried off to the airport in time to say another good-bye to Diana. A most enjoyable, but very brief, holiday.

On the next day, July 16th, we went to Topkapi. We went to the Harem and then had lunch in the Topkapi restaurant overlooking the Bosporus.

In part of Topkapi.

In another part of Topkapi.

In another part of Topkapi.

Mako (dead center) in the Harem.

In another part of Topkapi.

In another part of Topkapi.

Waiting for food.

Diana’s impression of a Dervish.

Still waiting for food.

Later in the day, we all went to the cistern. It was interesting, but compared to Topkapi (the same price), a bit of a disappointment. Then Diana and Gill went back to the hotel – Diana’s foot was bothering her – and Mako and I went to the Grand Bazaar. Mako is a tough bargainer! She got two pairs of genes at rock-bottom prices. (Sorry.)

In the evening, we took a boat-ride on the Bosporus. Included was dinner and entertainment. Finally, there was dancing and we all had a good time.

July 15th – our first day in Istanbul. There was much confusion because it was decided that Diana’s ankle, which been restricting her activities, should be looked at by a doctor. So Gill and Diana went off to find a doctor and Mako and I went off to the Blue Mosque. The intent was that we would meet up later, co-ordinating by cell-phone. Unfortunately, we had a spectacular thunder storm and Mako and I, who had seen the mosque and had gone off for an ice cream, sheltered from the storm. Consequently, we couldn’t get to the Blue Mosque in time before Diana and Gill, who had texted us from the Blue Mosque, having failed to find a suitable doctor and having seen the mosque for themselves, decided to park themselves in a restaurant nearby. All would have been well had it not been for the fact that text messages to Diana were taking hours to get through. Their being routed via the UK was assumed to be responsible for this, but that doesn’t explain why messages from Diana were received promptly. Of course, Mako and I did not know this at the time, and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t responding to our messages. She got one message the next day!

Mako and the Blue Mosque.

Anyway, we eventually met up outside the Hagia Sophia. We took a guide whose English was so poor that none of us could understand him.

Inside the Hagia Sophia.

Later, in a restaurant, a cat befriended Mako, who loves dogs but is somewhat leery of cats.

Diana eventually relieved Mako of her new friend.

In the evening, we went to see some “whirling Dervishes” who performed in the waiting room of the Istanbul railway station (!?)

The station was one of the terminals of the Orient Express.

July 14th: We began the trip to Turkey; a taxi to Khashuri and then the train to Batumi where we spent the night. We had an interesting Chinese meal where the Peking duck was not what we were expecting - don’t ask - but the restaurant did have electric swans! The next day, we took a taxi to Sarpi at the border, walked across the border, took a taxi to Hopa and then two buses to Trabazon. After a meal and some heel cooling in Trabazon, we caught the plane to Istanbul.

It was really a joy to be with Mako (who is always a pleasure to be with, but had never been outside Georgia or flown in an aeroplane before). She was excited but poised and apprehensive but thrilled. She was a delight.

The farewell photograph.

Waiting for the train to Batumi.

Chinese restaurant menu in Chinese, Georgian and Russian.

Waiting for Peking Duck.

Outside the restaurant with electric swans. Georgians love lights.

In a Trabazon restaurant.

In a Trabazon restaurant.

In a Trabazon restaurant.

Two passengers waiting at Trabazon airpoer.

The start of Mako’s maiden flight. Gill, as usual, is trying to break her ankle.

July 12th was when we took off for Vardzia. Vardzia is a very large cave city "built" in the twelfth century.

A castle en route.

Mako with the castle en route.

There is a smaller cave city, Uplitsike, near Gori which is older, but Vardzia is very much larger (about 400 rooms). It was once significantly larger, but an earthquake in the thirteenth century destroyed much of it and the Turks sacked what was left when they defeated the Georgians in 1551.

A view of Vardzia from across the valley.

Gill in Vardzia.

Gill and Mako in Vardzia.

Another view from inside.

Gill and Mako with the marshutka driver, his wife and daughter.

On the way back, we stopped at the Green Monastery. It’s a curious place with nothing in particular that’s colored green. As in many other places in Georgia, they are restoring or replacing the murals that were defaced or destroyed by the communists and/or the Turks.

The Green Monastery has some new murals.

Waiting to drive home.

July 11th: We took Diana to Gori, birth-place of Stalin, the local lad who went out into the world to make a name for himself.

And so, if it’s Gori, it must be the Stalin Museum – a fascinating place that covers Stalin’s life from start to finish but does not mention the Gulag, show-trials, deaths by starvation (whether deliberate or as a result of ill-conceived collectivization) or the other less celebrated results of his rule.

The museum has a cast of his death mask, the carriage that took him to Postdam to meet Churchill and Roosevelt, the house where he was born (apparently in the original spot) and many busts and statues of him.

The carriage is very heavy because it is armor-plated. Inside it is not particularly grand, but it looked comfortable and functional with a kitchen, radio room, bedrooms and a conference/dining room.

The emblem on the side of the carriage.

The mandatory photograph.

On July 10th. we went to Khasbegi. The scenery was stunning, but, as luck would have it, I forgot my camera, and everyone else’s camera ran out of battery. Batteries bought in a shop in Khasbegi ran out after about 3 or 4 shots. The batteries were still in their shrink-wrap, but must have been very old. Mako’s cell-phone lasted the longest, but even that gave out too. Consequently, there are few pictures!

The scenery en route was spectacular too.

We visited the local museum before steeling ourselves

for the climb to the church at the top of the hill.

Typical old Georgian home.

At the top. Hot and tired, but very proud of ourselves.

Mako photographs the view.

July 9th and we went to Sighnaghi. This is a walled hill-town that has been done up and gentrified and is a draw for artists and tourists.

Most people like it, but I felt that, while pretty, it was rather artificial – like a mini-Disney World. Perhaps that was the inspiration.

Marina did not come, but Erica, Mako, Valeri

and Giga did. (Erica is taking the picture.)

City walls.

We went to a restaurant with a great view. The food pretty good too! We took lots of pictures – most of which were lousy!

Gill and Diana behaving.

Gill holding forth.

The camera was straight (more or less) -

it’s a hillside in the background.

Erica and Giga, who are soon to be married.

July 8th and we are back from England. For some reason, we didn’t take a single picture there. England was nice - but expensive. Petrol is now £1.20 a litre and everything else is very dear.

Mum seemed to be in good spirits but is very frail. She is deaf and has lost her short-term memory. It was the usual routine: Mum asks a question; we write the answer in a pad of paper; she asks where we are; she expresses surprise that we are in the state of Georgia; we explain that we are not; she asks the same question as before; we point to the answer given previously – and on it goes. However, she seems very content, the staff at the home are wonderful , and she looks very well looked after.

In London, Diana’s neighbors, Marcy and Peter had a July 5th party (July 4th was inconvenient) with fireworks. It was a great show. I think some of the neighbors were puzzled.

Now in Georgia with Diana, we spent a few days showing her the country (and seeing much for the first time ourselves).

Tbilisi restaurant before setting out on our adventures.