Logan Went Down to Georgia : Teachers Gone (into the) Wild

Picture this: me in a marshutka traveling across the country with 20 middle-aged Georgian women. Actually don’t try too hard because here is the picture:

My home for the weekend

Now before I get to that story, I will give you a couple of brief updates. First, week two of school is done. My teacher schedule has been sealed. I am now teaching 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th English classes. They don’t meet every day so some I will be with three times a week others two and 1st and 9th only once. Needless to say that is a lot of different ages of students to try and plan lessons for. Also I am still trying to come up with ways to make the classrooms have less of a classroom/prison vibe, but decorating has never been my strong suite.

Raising the flag over the land!

Second update, housing. Things are looking good, though vastly different from where I was at last week. I found a few apartments in my price range and they were pretty scary. After an afternoon of apartment hunting a new option came about. Randi one of the other volunteers in Poti has a neighbor with a separate room built near the back of their house. It’s a separate living area but also well connected to the main living area. Basically they are willing to let me live there and take me in as a new host family. Their house is also just two streets from my school so that solves the distance problem. One of my favorite part of the new place is the porch area that is covered by grape vines, which is the most delicious awning I have ever seen. Peace Corps is sending someone out this week to inspect it and will hopefully give me the go ahead on moving. Stay tuned for updates on this next week.

Our first stop

Now for the story of the week, my excursion with my fellow teachers. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it all started with a plate of cookies. Last Sunday night I was bored and decided to bake something. Given the limited ingredients on hand I went for a no bake cookie recipe that I found. They turned out well and I had plenty, so I decided to take the leftovers to school the next morning. Once I announced that I had made cookies the teachers were curious. One timidly tried one and announced that they were delicious, soon the entire plate was gone and teachers were showering me with- რა კარგი ბიჭი! (What a good boy, a common praise). Later that day my counterpart told me that they teachers wanted to invite me on their weekend excursion and I readily accepted the invite- I told myself that I should say yes to any reasonable invite I receive from a Georgian.

New Georgian Cathedral near the Russian border

Fast forward to 1am Saturday morning and I am now loading onto a marshutka with half of my school’s teachers. We attempted to sleep as we drove across the country but it was not an easy task. Around 6:30 we reached our first stop, an old monastery/castle situated high up overlooking a large lake- it was beautiful. Next we drove up in to the mountains and had a breakfast stop. The teachers unloaded from the marsh found some plastic tables out front of a little kiosk and quickly setup their meal. They had kettle boiling water on a tiny gas burner, cognac and fruit liqueur to add to their coffee, meat, cheese, bread, and sweets. It was a great roadside feast.

My first view of the Gergeti Monastery with Mt Kazbeg in the background

I haven’t been sad here in Georgia by any means, but it was while we were having this impromptu feast on the side of the road high in the mountains that I realized I was happier than I had been in a long time. Trying to find your place in a new foreign community isn’t an easy process, but I felt like they were welcoming me into their group. That high continued for the rest of the trip. It was great.

Our next stop ended up being a mile from the Russian border where the Orthodox Church is building a new cathedral. While this cathedral wasn’t all that special, its location was amazing. It was also interesting to tour through the cathedral with my teachers and watch many of them perform some of their religious rituals associated with visiting a cathedral. It was a different experience from the previous times I have visited Georgian cathedrals with other volunteers.

The Caucus mountains make a lovely backdrop

Next we made the trip down to Kazbegi (ყაზბეგი) and I was so excited I could barely sit still. I have seen pics and heard stories about this place and was so excited to finally go. The only problem was how I was going to make the trek up to the old monastery with my current travel companions. A few opted to take a taxi up the mountain, others decided to take the long dusty switchback road, and a few others decided to hike straight up with me. The trail was beautiful, fall as actually arrived in the mountains of Georgia. Back in Poti it feels like summer will never end. After many breaks we finally reached the summit and the views were amazing. Easily a must see place for anyone coming to visit.

Picnic lunch with my fellow teachers

Later that afternoon after plenty of time resting we headed out for our next stop. On the way we stopped to ask some men for directions. Over the course of the conversation they convinced the ladies to abandon their plans to visit that city and instead come on a hike in the nearby area. Next thing I know one of the men is hopping into the marsh and guiding us to this new location. Soon after we were once again on a trail up a mountains. This time there were no options besides to walk. When we reached the ridge there were only 4 teachers left with me. It was easily the most treacherous hike I’ve been on in Georgia, but at the top we reached a small altar and fortress dedicated to St. George which has been build several hundred years prior.

The few brave teachers who stuck out the whole hike

The next morning we were up and loaded into the bus by 7:30. A short while later we were on a winding unpaved road headed deep into the mountains of Khevsureti. We ended up traveling for 5 hours on this road, up over mountains, down through deep valleys, past waterfalls, and herds of sheep. Finally we reached the town of Shatili and all my complaints disappeared. The place was magical.

Lighting candles in the shrine to St. George

Abandoned in the 60s due to pressure from the Soviet regime, most of the city sits empty. A few families returned in the early 90s but have opted to build other homes nearby. Most of the original homes in the “fort” are empty and open for exploration. This city was built in a way that when under siege they could move around internally without being seen by the enemy. All the structures are interconnected. They kept livestock in the basements and even has a water take with enough water for the village for a week. I would love to step back in time and see how the people lived here over the years.

Teachers in the wild, Khevsureti wilderness

Now it was time to begin the journey home, luckily the return trip didn’t take 5 hours and we made it back to civilization in 2. We then made a stop at the home/museum of a famous Georgian poet. I can’t tell you much about most famous Georgians but I recognize all of their names because every street in Georgia is named after a famous person or an important dates. This is how I am learning my history, through city street names. As you might guess, my knowledge is pretty limited, biographies aren’t included when a street is named.

Khevsureti wilderness, ancient towers and modern sheep herds

Last but not least, we stopped for dinner at a mom and pop roadside (outdoor) restaurant. We feasted on khinkali (dumplings), khatchapuri (cheese bread), and mtsvadi (Georgian barbecue). The teachers once again insisted on paying for my mean, as they had also paid for my share of the marshutka rental. Georgian hospitality again on full display, as a new teacher I was a guest to them and thus deserving of all sorts of niceties that weren’t necessary. After a delicious dinner we loaded up again and made the (mostly non-stop) trip back to Poti, pulling in at 1am. The next morning half the staff looked completely wiped out, however the talk of the teachers’ room was all about the stories from the weekend. It was nice to be on the inside of the daily “gossip” for once.