Round Two
It's a crisp, cool, fall evening here in Batumi, and I have to say, fall is the best season in the world, anywhere you are. In Adjara it's still the hills are still green but the air is clearer and drier, and the sunsets are better.
I'm writing this blog in John's new pad. He moved into a tiny apartment furnished with fabulous, old, bright-red furniture, red carpet, and floral wallpaper. It's sweet. I took the bus into Bat-town today because we had the day off for Election Day. Yeah Democracy! Yeah drunk guys on the street and the bus celebrating Democracy! I can smell the Freedom on your breath!
The bus from K to Bat town is called the Yushchenko. It's named after the president of the Ukraine who gave us the buses. I think it's third-hand from the Netherlands, because the instructions for an emergency exit appear to be in Dutch. But we call it the Yushchenko, in honor of our fellow colored-revolutionary, as in:
-How'd you get home, by taxi?
-No, by Yushchenko.
So anyway, I took this Rotterdam/Kiev/Batumi city bus down our newly paved road through the teafields of Adjara, watching the sun set over the pale blue waters of the Black Sea, to celebrate Democracy and give Jhousewarmingarming gift, two Warstiener beers. And I thought I'd write a blog entry, because Dad asked me to.
So, I have three things I have to tell you about: Eco-camp, the Beginning of School, and an Epic Trip to the Top of Guria.
Eco-camp deserves an entry all to itself, but I am lazy and I forget most of the details by now anyway, so I'll stick to the main events. Our campsite wgorgeouseorgeous little canyon near Borjomi and we had some scouts and PCV's all running activities for the 35 kids who attended. a lotdid alot of team-building and leadership activities and learned about enviroproblemsroblemds in Georgian. Austin and I slept out under the stars every night. The hard ground was a welcome relief from the metal-hammock-cot-torture-device things our host-families make us sleep on, and the last bits of the Persied meteor showers were still falling through the atmosphere. On day two of our camp one of the park rangers strolled into the campsite with a sheep over his shoulders. It was a gift for us for Mariamoba, St. Mary's Day. They haven't totally gotten over the whole ritual slaughter thing here in Georgia. The scouts tied the sheep up to a tree for a day, slaughtered it the next, and we ate it for dinner. At the end of the week we took a long hike that began in the back of an aging Soviet pickup truck (see photo below). It was a fun and rewarding week. I think the kids learned a thing or two about environment and why they should protect it.
The beginning of school was bad, just bad. You get your hopes up in August, you know, you think everything's going to be different this year, the kids are just going to eat it up and get it, and you spend hours making these posters about the days of the week and the weather and a really cool one with an illustrated poem, and you get all your sweet maps ready and your new books all stacked. Then you show up and nothing sticks to the walls because they are all unpainted plaster, and there aren't any shelves for your books, and the kids don't care about anything, and your counterpart abandons you to the pack of wolves that is the sixth grade and these aren't even wolves you can reason with because they speak a language that isn't even Indo-freaking-European, and you just want to quit. You know? But it wasn't bad, really. I'm over it. It's better than last year. It's fine. It's good.
The latest event was a trip to the highest mountain in southwestern Georgia, a 2755 meter peak in Guria, from which we could see the whole of Adjara. I picked fresh blueberries and played some high-altitude Frisbee. We spent 2 nights in a small cabin in Bakhmaro without electricity or running water, had a campfire, and sang songs while Austin rocked an old Russian gee-tar. It was great.
I'm writing this blog in John's new pad. He moved into a tiny apartment furnished with fabulous, old, bright-red furniture, red carpet, and floral wallpaper. It's sweet. I took the bus into Bat-town today because we had the day off for Election Day. Yeah Democracy! Yeah drunk guys on the street and the bus celebrating Democracy! I can smell the Freedom on your breath!
The bus from K to Bat town is called the Yushchenko. It's named after the president of the Ukraine who gave us the buses. I think it's third-hand from the Netherlands, because the instructions for an emergency exit appear to be in Dutch. But we call it the Yushchenko, in honor of our fellow colored-revolutionary, as in:
-How'd you get home, by taxi?
-No, by Yushchenko.
So anyway, I took this Rotterdam/Kiev/Batumi city bus down our newly paved road through the teafields of Adjara, watching the sun set over the pale blue waters of the Black Sea, to celebrate Democracy and give Jhousewarmingarming gift, two Warstiener beers. And I thought I'd write a blog entry, because Dad asked me to.
So, I have three things I have to tell you about: Eco-camp, the Beginning of School, and an Epic Trip to the Top of Guria.
Eco-camp deserves an entry all to itself, but I am lazy and I forget most of the details by now anyway, so I'll stick to the main events. Our campsite wgorgeouseorgeous little canyon near Borjomi and we had some scouts and PCV's all running activities for the 35 kids who attended. a lotdid alot of team-building and leadership activities and learned about enviroproblemsroblemds in Georgian. Austin and I slept out under the stars every night. The hard ground was a welcome relief from the metal-hammock-cot-torture-device things our host-families make us sleep on, and the last bits of the Persied meteor showers were still falling through the atmosphere. On day two of our camp one of the park rangers strolled into the campsite with a sheep over his shoulders. It was a gift for us for Mariamoba, St. Mary's Day. They haven't totally gotten over the whole ritual slaughter thing here in Georgia. The scouts tied the sheep up to a tree for a day, slaughtered it the next, and we ate it for dinner. At the end of the week we took a long hike that began in the back of an aging Soviet pickup truck (see photo below). It was a fun and rewarding week. I think the kids learned a thing or two about environment and why they should protect it.
The beginning of school was bad, just bad. You get your hopes up in August, you know, you think everything's going to be different this year, the kids are just going to eat it up and get it, and you spend hours making these posters about the days of the week and the weather and a really cool one with an illustrated poem, and you get all your sweet maps ready and your new books all stacked. Then you show up and nothing sticks to the walls because they are all unpainted plaster, and there aren't any shelves for your books, and the kids don't care about anything, and your counterpart abandons you to the pack of wolves that is the sixth grade and these aren't even wolves you can reason with because they speak a language that isn't even Indo-freaking-European, and you just want to quit. You know? But it wasn't bad, really. I'm over it. It's better than last year. It's fine. It's good.
The latest event was a trip to the highest mountain in southwestern Georgia, a 2755 meter peak in Guria, from which we could see the whole of Adjara. I picked fresh blueberries and played some high-altitude Frisbee. We spent 2 nights in a small cabin in Bakhmaro without electricity or running water, had a campfire, and sang songs while Austin rocked an old Russian gee-tar. It was great.
posted by Paul Stephens at 2:43 AM
2 Comments:
Since you updated your blog i got bugged about updating my blog. you are such a shameless over-achiever
Hi Paul,
Greetings from Wabash College and Crawfordsville, IN. I've enjoyed reading your blog site and looking at the awesome pictures. You seem to be having a great experience with the Peace Corps. Jim just gave me your address so I'll check in from time to time to see what adventures you're having.
Take Care,
Sherry
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