Happy Days

Just about 3 weeks ago (it takes me a long time to write these posts now- it took me another week just to post it after writing...) we had our Close of Service (COS) conference in Tbilisi. This is the final training for Peace Corps Volunteers and it is heavily focused on how to wrap up your service and what to do after you return home. We had sessions on networking, how to talk about your service, resume writing, applying for government jobs, etc. It was all very informative, but that was by no means the main draw of the conference.

Selfies with my sitemate

COS conference also marks what is likely to be the last whole group gathering of my fellow G15 volunteers. Even though we still had 3 months of service, it is likely that we will never all be together in one place again. Naturally we made the most of it. Our free time was spent talking, catching up, and just reflecting on the previous two years that have flown by. I remember when I first met half of these people at a generic Marriott hotel out in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. I remember looking around the room and wondering who I would be friends with, what kind of people I was going to be stuck with, and who might get on my nerves- I thought of it all. Now here we were once again gathered in a hotel conference room around round tables, but this time you couldn't get us to stop talking with one another.

Last Peace Corps conference with this bougie roomie

On the last night of the conference we had a formal reception with the US ambassador and some Georgian government officials. Karen and I were each invited to give a speech at the reception for our respective programs- Individual and Organizational Development and Education. Writing the speech was pretty difficult but I think it went well. Karen did a fantastic job with hers and was a complete natural. Being able to speak on behalf of my fellow volunteers felt like a great honor and I was grateful to do it. (I'll share my speech later.)

Trust me the room wasn't empty, it just looks empty...

The real party started after the reception when all the guests and staff had left for the night. We had organized a small planning group and organized a "prom" Georgian style. We raided the left over reception food and then hooked up a projector and speakers to my laptop. We started the evening with an In Memoriam tribute to the volunteers from our group who left early for one reason or another. Then we shared "Most likely to" awards. We also made Peace Corps service yearbooks full of pics from our service as well as personal reflections and pages for signatures. The rest of the evening was spend dancing, eating, chatting, and signing yearbooks. It was perfect.

Mr. Ambassador cutting the cake

Now to make an already wonderful night even better, I got my first grad school admissions notifications during the festivities. Given the time difference from the East coast these emails came late in the evening while we were partying. First came new from Tufts that I had been accepted to their Masters of Arts in Law and Diplomacy with partial funding, next came news from Columbia's Masters of International Affairs where they admitted me with 50% funding. Then last of all came new from Johns Hopkins SAIS program that I was admitted to their MA in International Studies with ~50% funding and was also accepted to begin my studies at their European campus in Bologna, Italy before completing the program in Washington D.C.

Some great friends 

After months of stressful application writing it felt fantastic to finally get some good news. It was fitting that the news came on the same night that I was celebrating the past two years with some of my best friends. Having options for the future has really eased the burden of uncertainty that was hovering. Moreover, additional good news arrived just about 10 days later when Georgetown's MS in Foreign Service contacted me with an offer for admissions as well as a scholarship. I was on cloud nine.

The G15s all gussied up for the reception

Now comes the difficult task of actually choosing which post Peace Corps path I want to take. However I am grateful to have options, let a lone any plans period so that I don't have to worry about returning home disoriented. Also even though I am set to finish up here in ~75 days or so, that doesn't mean I will be headed straight home. I expect to take the long way home, potentially 40 days long. Winding my way though mainland SE Asia and visiting as many sites as I can along the way.

My fellow Samegrelo education volunteers

Hopefully by the next update I will have some real news about what I've decided to do next. In the meantime feel free to send advice (or Sour patch kids, I could really go for some Sour patch kids.)

With Teo our first program manager

BUILDing a More Gender Equitable Society

Time for another update. I've been gone for close to two weeks and they were busy busy. First, like I mentioned in my last post, it was finally time for our GLOW-BUILD joint conference on gender. This project has been in the works for a long time and it was great to see it finally get off the ground.

Lazare and Ana leading a session in the conference room

For the conference we brought in 10 boys from our BUILD camp, 10 GLOW alumni girls, as well as 2 former counselors from each. The kids were chosen from towns across the country and paired up to be able to work on projects together after the conference. It was nice to see a project that we've been working on for so long so go so well. We had sessions on: Gender vs. Sex, and gender roles in Georgia, how to transform Georgian society, gender based violence, tolerance and diversity, teamwork and problem solving, and a guest panel. We were nervous that the kids wouldn't be mature enough, or that they wouldn't care, or that they wouldn't even come- all proved to be untrue.

The Country Director chatting with youth during a coffee break

The kids were engaged from the very beginning. They had a lot of great comments and were full of ideas. We talked about the idea of toxic masculinity and how it often puts men in boxes which cause them to feel trapped and often behave poorly. We also talked about the problems with putting women on pedestals and the pressures that that puts on them. Each of these were issues we presented to the youth during summer camp, but it was their first time hearing about the issues facing the opposite gender. They took time to share how they felt when they were confined to strict roles, it was really interesting to hear them share their feelings and then also speak about ways to help the other gender.

Youth discussing ways to help each other break harmful gender stereotypes 

This conference was a first for us. Talking about gender equality and other related issues isn't new but holding a mixed gender conference on it was.  Most issues related to gender are fairly taboo here, especially as a topic among boys. However, the level of interest and engagement from the youth showed that things are changing. The second half of the conference was devoted to brainstorming and project planning. At the end of the conference they all took turns presenting their ideas to us and we were really impressed.

Let's be honest these are just candid shots and I have no idea what they are really talking about

One more project down, and several more to go. A few days after the conference I was in Tbilisi when the Country Director sent out an email with our close of service (COS) dates. The official date was scheduled to be July 7 but per PC rules we could COS up to 4 weeks early. Most PCVs applied so the office had to sort out the dates so too many people weren't leaving on the same day. Much to my surprise I was assigned to June 16th- the day after school ends. It's crazy to think that my time here is ending so soon (three months is still a ways away though). This conference was just a great reminder of the great work that we are empowered to do here in Georgia.

Boys hard at work listening and not running their mouths

P.S. One final shout out to Michele Obama for creating the Let Girls Learn fund that funded this project. Hopefully this program will be continued under the new administration.

The whole group of Georgian youth and counselors 

The GLOW camp girls

My BUILD camp boys

What am I Even Doing Here? (part II)

As promised here is part 2 of my, "So what do you even do over there?" answer post. This next group of projects I work on are more connected to Peace Corps/Georgia as a whole and often involve cooperation with other volunteers. I'd say that in any given week I spend about half of my time working on these other secondary projects. Most of them have come around due to my joining several Peace Corps working groups and committees, both official and unofficial. The official ones include: the Youth as Resources committee, English Education Program Advisory Committee, Peer Support Network, and Diversity Support Working Group. My unofficial committees are BUILD (Boys United In Leadership Development) and the Megobari (friend) committees. Each of these groups requires semi-regular meetings and several on-going projects. I'll try to explain most of them:

A training with other PC committees about working with and empowering Georgian youth

Youth as Resources (YAR): Youth development is an official programming priority for the PC Georgia post. This committee is generally made up of 6 volunteers, 3 from each of the current groups, as well as a staff liaison. We plan projects and create resources to help volunteers get Georgian youth involved in projects in the areas of- life skills, work skills, volunteerism, healthy living, leadership, and civic engagement. We meet quarterly and have many things going at any given time. Currently we are publishing a monthly themed newsletter with advice and project ideas for volunteers, are in the beginning stages of planning a volunteer fair in April, and we are organizing a drive for Global Youth Service Day. In the past we have had health fairs in the past, and we have worked with the Georgian Ministry of Youth and Sports to talk to youth about volunteerism. Additionally, I am working with a group of 3 other PCVs and 2 Georgian youth to hold a weekend youth empowerment summit for other PCVs and youth from their communities to teach them how to create lasting and sustainable clubs through which they can begin to drive positive change in their communities (I'll update you on it later if I remember).

Working on creating plans for our upcoming youth summit.

English Education Program Advisory Council:  This is a group made up of 4 PCVs, Georgian teachers, school directors, and stakeholders from the Georgian government, US embassy, and local NGOs. We work to refine and better shape the PC education program to fit Georgia's needs and goals. We recently had our annual meeting where we worked on creating a plan to help Georgian English teachers working with PCVs fulfill the requirements for advancement and promotion in the Ministry of Education's Teacher Professional Development Scheme (yes they call is a scheme and it makes me laugh every time). This is very different from other work that I do because it is very high level project but it has been interesting to see how PC works from an organizational level separate from the grass roots work I am doing in my community. It has also been great for networking and meeting interesting and impressive Georgians who are very active in the country's development.

Working with Georgian educators to better customize Peace Corps work in Georgia 

Peer Support Network: This is a newly created group designed to be a support for currently serving volunteers. We had a training last October, and have since laid out the plans for our work in Georgia. I am actually in Tbilisi this weekend for a PSN meeting on Monday to hopefully finalize our plans for the coming year. Being in the Peace Corps is very difficult and the PSN was created to be a resource for PCVs to reach out to to discuss any issues or concerns they might be having. The post has 2 full-time medical doctors who are well trained but often busy so this group was created to supplement their work in supporting volunteers.

Kutaisi Volunteerism fair I helped organize last year

Diversity Support Working Group: Another newly founded initiative her in Georgia. This group was designed to help volunteers and staff be more aware of issues regarding diversity within the volunteer community. Georgia tends to by a very homogeneous society, and volunteers also have a variety of backgrounds and experiences before they came to Georgia. Each of these factors can create problems in helping PCVs to feel supported and understood by their local communities, fellow volunteers, and PC staff members (who are mostly local Georgians). We have organized online discussion and support groups, in person trainings, and are working to create resources for staff to better understand the experiences of volunteers in Georgia based on various aspects of diversity. I am currently helping to plan our upcoming training/discussion on intersectionality and how we as volunteers can create a better support system for each other.

A wall of differences created after a DSWG activity

BUILD camp: This is the boys' summer camp that I have helped implement for that past two summers. Planning and preparing for the camp takes a lot of time and effort. I am assigned to curriculum which this past year included writing out all new lesson plans for our expanded camp, creating a new week long camp plan, and working on training our Georgian counselors. We are a fairly large group of volunteers with about 12 PCVs total, 6 from each group, working together on this project. We recently submitted a grand to the US embassy to get funding for this upcoming summer camp. Additionally, I have been working a lot on creating our first alumni conference on gender equality in cooperation with GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) a girls leadership and empowerment camp that has a long established history in Georgia. Together we have chosen 20 alumni, 10 from each camp, to come together for a weekend conference in Tbilisi to discuss gender issues in the local Georgian context. We have planned session on gender equality, stereotypes, gender based violence, gender diversity and LGBTQ issues, as well as problem solving. We received our funding through a Let Girls Learn grant  (thanks Michelle Obama!) and I am looking forward to implementing this conference this upcoming weekend in Tbilisi. (Yet another thing to follow up with you all on later.)

Build Camp service project from last summer

Megobari Committee: Megobari means friend in Georgian. This is a completely volunteer lead initiative to help pair incoming PCVs with currently serving PCVs to answer questions and help them adjust to the new experience. The committee does a lot of the logistical and organizational work behind the scenes. Now that the G17 group is preparing for their departure and arrival the G16s have picked up the reigns but this has been a really fun project to get to know the new volunteers before their arrival.

Airport greeting for the G16s

Finally, last but not least there are several reoccurring and one and done projects that I work on with other volunteers. Each year there is a National English Spelling Competition (NESC) which is basically a national spelling bee. I have helped conduct local rounds at schools in Poti as well as the regional round. Students and volunteers are now getting ready for the National round coming up at the end of March (can you tell that March is a busy month?) Another annual project is the WriteOn! creative writing competition. Students are given two options for prompts based on their grade and then they have an hour to write a story based on that prompt, all in English! There is no judgment for spelling or grammar so students are a little more relaxed and have a chance to do some great creative writing. This project originated in Georgia and is now conducted in several Peace Corps posts.

Explaining the Write On! competition 

This week my sitemate Konstantin and I helped hold the competition here in Poti, the committee will meet soon to judge the essays and choose the national level winners. Their essays will then move on to be judged for the international round. Finally, last but not least, we have the Let's Play Together. For this project volunteers have paired up with a local NGO to raise awareness of youth with disabilities in Georgia and help to bring able bodied youth together with disabled youth to play games and learn together. These events are generally held every couple of months in different towns and cities across the country. We held one in Poti last September and I have helped volunteer in several others before. It is another great project that meets a local need that was designed by local Peace Corps volunteers and proven to be very effective at changing mindsets.

Mom and Safi after the Let's Play Together Event

As far as one and done projects there are harder to encapsulate. Other volunteers are often planning projects at their sites and need the help of other volunteers to facilitate things. In Poti I have organized a youth leadership conference, I have helped deliver trainings to other youth on gender equality, health, human rights, and more. I have also judged and proctored various competitions. The opportunities are always available. Currently I am working on preparing a presentation for a fellow volunteer's youth group about the benefits of travel and how to do so on a budget and while young, a fun and fitting topic for myself.

Helping out at a Human Rights Day activity that another volunteer organized

There you have it. A long and wordy summary of all of the work that I have been doing here in Georgia for the past, soon to be, 2 years. I still have 4 more months to go and as you can see the work isn't slowing down. March is going to be a very busy month with our Close of Service conference, grad school and job acceptance/reject notifications, conferences, and so much more.

Thanks for following along!

What am I Even Doing Here? (part I)

My mother informed me yesterday that I haven't updated by blog in awhile, I guess she is right. Despite my lack of updates I have been mulling over what I could write about for quite some time actually. When I was back home for Christmas I met up with a lot of friends and family who were interested in what I have been doing for the past 22 months. However, since I wasn't able to catch up with everyone, I thought I would also share my answer to- "So, what do you even do over there?"

First, in Peace Corps parlance there is what we call primary and secondary projects. Peace Corps works in 6 different sectors of development- Agriculture, Environment, Health, Education, Community Economic Development, and Youth in Development. In Georgia we have two programs: Community Economic Development and Education. I was assigned to work in the Education sector (side note however, I was originally turned down an invitation to serve in Nicaragua in the Community Economic Development sector). The purpose of Peace Corps Georgia's education project is English education. This aligns with the goals of the Georgian government and is part of the reason why Peace Corps was invited to set up operations in Georgia. (Have you browsed the PC Georgia website?)

Meet the wonderfully symmetrical Georgian flag

As an English Education volunteer (EE) I have been assigned to a local public school where I am expected to co-teach 18 lessons a week with the school's English teachers. I am also assigned to work on professional development by planning lessons with my counterpart teachers, discuss classroom management, multi-level teaching strategies, and assist them in any work they might be doing to advance their careers. In all this takes about 25-30 hours a week.

This is my school originally built in 1902

Specifically, I work at Poti Public School #1. There are 6 English teachers in my school and I am currently co-teaching at least one class with each teacher. I have lessons with the 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.  The school is 1st-12th grade and there are just under 700 students and about 50 staff members. Class sizes are on average 25-30 students and lessons are scheduled for 45 minutes. With the first lesson starting at 9am and the rarely used 7th lesson ending at 2:50. Students have a different schedule each day some days a class is out by 12:30 other it could be later. Most students are done by 2pm though. When a student first starts school they are assigned to a class and then they stick with that class for the next 12 years, so the students in a class tend to become each other's friend groups. In a large school like mine a single grade can have multiple classes, and although the students are the same age and go to school together I am often surprised by how separated they still are socially from what they call their parallel class.

Some of the English teachers I work with

In addition to the regular teaching duties, I have also worked with one of my counterpart teacher to write a grant, which was approved, to update our computer lab and do some technology trainings with teachers and students. With the grant money were were able to buy new tables and chairs, portable speakers, a wife router, adapters, a printer, and 5 new laptops. It has been a great improvement for the school. Soon we'll be starting our trainings and hopefully get teachers to use more technology and interactive methods during their lessons.

The computer room, all you can really see are the tables that I bought. 

That is a pretty decent rundown of why my primary assignment work is like here in Georgia. It is nice to have a regular reliable work load so that there is some semblance of routine in my life because when it comes to the rest of what I do things tend to get scattered and a lot less reliable.

All of the work that a volunteer does outside of their primary assignment is known as (you guessed it) secondary work or secondary projects. These is where there is a lot more autonomy and flexibility for volunteers to really customize their work to fit their interested and desires. This is also an area where I have picked up a lot of work and opportunities.

First, there are the community projects that I have committee myself to on a more or less regular basis. On Mondays I meet with the Access Club and we have a 2 hour lesson focused on learning English but really heavy on American culture and values. The students I work with are at a fairly high level of fluency and we try to do almost all of our work in English. Some of our recent lessons have been a discussion of holidays, human rights, watching La La Land and writing the ending before watching it, improv acting, and more. These students are great to work with and it is fun to be able to take the teaching beyond grammar and vocabulary.

Randi and Archil the two constants of our American Club

Next, on Tuesdays I help run our weekly American Club. When we first arrived in Poti Randi had the idea to create a weekly club for any youth in Poti interested in English or American culture to come and learn. We have recently celebrated Valentines day, practiced creative writing, had many conversations on current events, played games like: what if, telestrations, and bananagrams; and the youth have started giving their own presentations each week. Club attendance has fluctuated a lot over the past year and a half, but it has been a fun project to keep going.

Dima learning how to play Candyland 

Finally, my last regular project isn't much of a project at all. I live a few blocks away from a small children's home/orphanage and I have made it a habit to go and spend time with the kids in the evening when I have free time. The are all students at my school and love when I come to play with them. After my Christmas break I brought them some new games and they have had a blast. We usually work on some English and they always have a million questions about America and just about everything else under the sun.

Just playing a little game of Santa :)

Aside from some one and done projects like our trash pick ups and whatever new project Randi needs help on- like dressing up as Santa Claus, that is a pretty good summary of my work in Poti. However, that is still only half of what I've been up to in Georgia. Don't go anywhere (besides to the next post) because there is a part 2 to all of this.

Sliding Into the Homestretch

Ladies and gentlemen we are now in the homestretch. I have 5 months left. I am out of leave days, and I have no more money so I am here in Georgia until I finish in mid/late June. I can do this!

After my delayed return from Bulgaria I had to spent a few days in Kutaisi to figure out how to buy a whiteboard and transport it back to Poti. I never knew it was going to end up being so complicated. I was finally able to work it out with a store and showed up at 10am to pick everything up. We loaded some things into the shop assistant's car and then he motioned for me to put the 2x1 meter board on the roof of the car and then hold onto it from the front seat with my hand out the window (it wasn't secured at all). He then held it down on his side and started up the car. Before we could pull out though he decided to light up a cigarette and then we drove off. He opted to take the back roads as well as a few sidewalks. Halfway though he answered a phone call while still smoking, driving, and holding the whiteboard down. (HE ONLY HAS 2 HANDS!) Luckily he was skilled with his knee and we avoided all the potholes on the way. Apparently the marshutka had already left the station so we needed to catch it on the way out of town which we did and which lead to this sight-

Just strapping my whiteboard to the roof of this marshutka

This was the last major purchase I had to make with my grant money so I was stoked to have it all done with. However, when I got to Poti I discovered that they had given me the wrong size whiteboard stand so I need to go back to Kutaisi to exchange that. It's a never ending struggle.

Fast forward to later that same night when Randi asked if I could help the NGO she works for. They were looking for someone to play Santa while they delivered toys they had collected for some needy kids in town. It was SO MUCH FUN! The kids loved seeing Santa Clause, they loved they toys, and I loved playing the part. This was never on my bucket list, but I am putting it on my list now and checking it off!

The best Santa Claus you ever did see

Another great moment came when I was able to go and visit my orphan friends nearby. I had brought some gifts back from home for them but I hadn't been able to deliver them until I got back from Bulgaria. I brought them their own copy of UNO as well as Chutes and Ladders and Candyland. I had a blast teaching them how to play some of the games and they loves all the new things that there was to discover and learn. However turn based games are difficult for them so learning to wait their turn is going to be REALLY hard. 

Playing games with the orphans 

After being home for a whole 1 day, I left again the next morning to travel back across the country and visit my PST host family. In Georgia they use 2 different calendars, the one most of us are used to and then an old Orthodox calendar which tends to have different dates for holidays like Christmas- Jan 8th, and New Years- Jan 14th. Hence I was going to spend Old New Year's Day in the village with one of my favorite families. It was well worth it!

Cute little Dima

I live in a larger city so we don't always practice old traditions and customs so there was plenty to learn while I was in the village. For example, you can imagine my surprise when I opened a pot that was cooking on the wood stove and found a severed pig's head boiling... Apparently this is a common delicacy for the season and everyone loves it. Cue having a pig head starring at me from the dinner table while eating. Pig's head aside, everything else was delicious. I didn't do much while visiting but that is hardly a problem. We ate and ate and talked and talked and I read and read. After weeks of travel and running around it was nice to finally be able to relax and have some peace and quiet- something that is elusive here in Georgia. 

Oh look what's for dinner

Now school is back in session. All the teachers are back and they have changed the class schedule on me once again so I had to adjust my teaching schedule. I had to give up teaching my adorable 1st graders and pick up a class of not so adorable 9th graders- they aren't too back though. I have 5 more months of teaching so we'll see how much progress we can make in the short amount of time that is left. 

He says that the ears are delicious

On a final note, we got an email today inviting us to apply for our close of service dates. I'll probably be choosing June 18th or 19th. That means I really only have 5 months left- crazy, I am still waiting to hear back on all my applications but it is crazy to me that time is winding down so quickly. School will end, I'll wrap up my service, then I'll probably say my goodbyes and do some traveling before heading home and moving on to the new changes that will hopefully be waiting for me. I can't wait to figure out what those changes will be. 

A Frozen Escape

It is now a week since I was in Stockholm, flying home from the US. I am currently sitting on a train passing through the Bulgarian countryside, there is plenty to catch up on. When I arrived home I found that my host grandmother and mother had both gotten ill and I was unwilling to risk getting sick so I spent a lot of time holed up in my room. This was a good thing since it isolated me and got me to really start working on my grad school applications. The application process has become very cumbersome and I just wanted to be done. I feel like I am ready for grad school, however applying for school was intimidating since I have decided to apply to some of the top programs and schools. Also I haven’t had to write anything of importance (besides this stream of consciousness blog) in years so my writing skills have gotten rusty.

First snowy night in Sofia

I am looking at studying International Affairs and Public Policy. The programs that I am applying to are all interdisciplinary with bits of business, finance, political science, economics, history, and other disciplines mixed together. Despite the anxiety of applications, the process left me excited at the prospect of going back to school. In the end I decided to apply to Georgetown’s Masters of Foreign Service, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Columbia’s Masters of International Affairs, and Tufts Masters of Arts in Law and Diplomacy. Now I just need to wait 3 months to see if I get in and if I can get any funding to help pay for it. One semester alone will end up costing more than my entire undergrad…

Some late night sightseeing in the snow

As for Bulgaria, this trip has become a reward for finishing my applications. I originally booked a cheap ticket to Sofia in the fall and after booking a ticket to the US wasn’t going to be able to use the Sofia one. However, they ended up canceling my original flight and I had to rebook. It ended up working out perfectly and I rebooked for a shorter time period that would actually work for me. I told myself however that I wouldn’t be able to come on this trip unless I had finished my applications so at 1am the night before/day of my flight, I finished my final two applications and packed my bags.

Hitting up museums to stay warm

Just like in the US the snow started in Sofia the moment my plan landed, and it went for two days. I hadn’t planned any part of my trip before my arrival so things have been very flexible. A fellow PCV Evan ended up being on my same flight so we have met up a few times. Additionally, two G14s who have already left Georgia met up with us in Sofia so my solo trip hasn’t been all that solo so far. The past three days have been a lot of fun- minus the snow and below freezing temperatures. Sofia isn’t much larger than Tbilisi but due to its location and geography it has a more diverse population and food scene. Food is one of the most important parts of traveling, and Sofia is doing a great job at providing a variety of flavors.

Old Communist Party HQ for Bulgaria... I bet it was always a party in there...

I am back in Georgia now and it is nice to look back on my trip to Bulgaria from a far. Sofia was a great city to explore and there is plenty that would be worth coming back to see- hopefully in warmer temperatures. On Sunday I got up early to catch a train to Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv. The process was complicated since I don’t speak Bulgarian and no one seemed to speak English. Luckily the train was late and I had plenty of time to figure out where to go and what to do.

Luckily it was so cold our there wasn't a single person or car out to get in the way of this shot

When I arrived in Plovdiv I was excited because it instantly felt warmer. So warm that I decided to walk a bit before finding a bush that could take me to the local church that I had found online. The congregation was really small because of the cold but it was nice to meet some friendly Bulgarians as well as some of the local missionaries. After church I found a hostel to check into and then set out to explore the town. I started with an interesting museum and then walked around outside but I didn’t last long due to the cold. The night did culminate with the first decent Mexican food I have had on this side of the Atlantic so I’ll mark the day as a win.

Another museum detour, but this one wasn't heated.

Most of that night was spent in the hostel talking to two others travelers, one from Malaysia and the other from Finland. The topics for discussion were wide ranging and so were the views and perspectives from each person. The people you meet when traveling are fascinating and the conversations always have something to offer if you just pay close attention.

More snowy churches 

The next morning things were better and I was able to see more of this historic town. Plovdiv is over 6,000 years old. There was so much history to learn. There were ruins from the Roman empire as well as revival homes and structures from the 17th century as well as modern bohemian/hipster neighborhoods. Plovdiv was A-ok in my book. (I should note that it is also more deserving of a visit in the non-winter months so that you can more fully take advantage of is surrounding nature and natural beautify.

It was so cold my phone died after taking this picture. 

After 2 days in Plovdiv I took another train back to Sofia where much to my dismay it had started snowing again. The train was an hour delayed and many stores were closed when I got in so I gave up on my search for food and just went to bed. The next morning I gorged myself on free breakfast at the first opportunity and then made sure that the last thing I did was grab what Evan declared to be the best panni he had ever eating- it was pretty amazing!

Traditional Bulgarian houses

When I got back to the hostel to check out I happened to noticed that another traveler had just called a cab so I offered to split it with him. Coincidentally he was also traveling to Georgia. His name was Jin and he is from South Korea. He has been traveling for months, including traveling on the trans-Siberian railway. We stuck together which was nice since it took us 90 minutes to check in and get to the gate, it was a madhouse. Once we arrived at the gate it was time to board and then our luck ran out as we continued to sit on board for 3 hours waiting for take-off. After 3 hours they had to deplane everyone and we went inside but less than an hour later we were cleared to go and had to run back to the plane. Even then it took about and 1 or more to eventually take off. We arrived in Georgia 5 hours late.

5 hours on the runway...

I am back now and everything is great (or at least seems that way) because the weather is considerably warmer. I am no longer freezing nor wrapped from head to toe in various layers of fabric trying to escape the frigid air. I am out of leave days now so it is time to buckle down. There are about 5 more months to go and plenty of projects to complete in the meantime.