It's a Small World: Georgians in Greece too.

BBC recently reported on the effect that the Greek debt crisis will have on Georgia. This ripple effect is exacerbated by the EU structure today, but Georgians have been moving to Greece to find employment, both seasonal and long term, ever since the Soviet collapse.  I know of  many friends and acquaintances here in Georgia who have a parent working in Greece for many years, and sending money home when they can. They say about 200,000 Georgians live in Greece now, which is just under 5% of its population. Greece is also the most popular destination after Russian for Georgian migrant laborers.  But since Greece is in the news, let me tell you my personal experience...

A Little R&R in Greece

I took a little R&R to Greece, a while ago, responding to cheap tickets before it gets too late in my Peace Corps service. I had been in Georgia for almost a year at this time. It seemed like a lifetime and a minute at the same time.

I downloaded Rick Steves guide to Greece, from my favorite on line Vail library free Marmot service.  I love that service and most libraries in the US offer something like this. We had been busy at the Koda Community Education Center, trying to launch our new on-line catalog for our women's traditional handicraft items. Check it out at Art-Koda.com. If you want to order something, just "check out " and we will respond with the shipping costs and payment options. It's not automatic here, but still effective.  

I felt I needed a little break   My great world-traveled friend, Barbara, recommended Athens as a nice place before the tourist season begins.  And I stayed with new friends in Galaxidi for two nights to be near the water, and toured Delphi to learn my future.

I'm busy enjoying my R&R!

                                                        

Splurging on breakfast buffet

 But first, I splurged with one night at an upper scale hotel, the Divani Caravel, with a pool and a bathtub!  I was not sure of which I was more excited about or if I would ever leave my room. And after all those years complaining about living  in those Marriotts on IBM business trips.   Eventually I did pull myself away and ventured out to see Athens and I moved to Hotel Adonis, a lovely little family inn near Plaka, the cool old town... 

It's a Small World After All

The first evening I decided to walk down to the main center in old town, Athens. Of course I took a wrong turn and got lost, as darkness was falling.  There were very few people around and I was getting a little nervous. Finally I saw a young woman, approached her and asked her if I was going in the right direction, in English.  She motioned "sorry, no English," and I motioned that I  didn't speak Greek, but a little charades got me pointed in the right direction for town Central. 

I automatically said " Madloba"  (Georgian for Thanks) and started to move away. 

She paused and then ran up to me.

"Raton laparokob cartuli? ( Why are you speaking Georgian?)

I responded, " Ratom itsi cartuli?  (Why do you know Georgian?)

To which she answered, "ME VAR CARTVELI!  ( I AM GEORGIAN!)

It was so funny, and so out of the blue. How would the first person I spoke to in Greece be a Georgian?

We had a great conversations -  thanks Peace Corps intensive language classes.  She had moved to Greece to get work, as had many Georgians, as we discussed.  She was living there alone, missing her family.  She was taking care of an older woman.  I explained that I was living in Koda, helping the IDPs from S. Ossetia.  It was so good to talk to her, and connect the dots between Greece and Georgia on a more personal level. And we talked about Georgian men vs. Greece men too.  ( Of course Georgian men are better, she said, amazed I would even ask such a question!)

Culturally it was so nice to see men and women together,enjoying each other, socializing over a drink and meal.  I still find the sexes so separated in Georgia. And Athens, being such a cosmopolitan city, there were great, inexpensive restaurants of all types.  I also bumped into a few women from Charlotte, NC.  Imagine their surprise tat I could place their hometown so easily, but you just can't forget that accent.

History

The history of Greece is as amazing as that of Georgia.  I saw 5000 BC statues of female gods from the Cycladic islands, harp and flute from 5000 years ago. Of course the Acropolis, but I won't bother you with words.  Here are my personal pictures. You can see all the famous stuff on google. :-)

I walked around the Acropolis a while with a Spanish couple.
They had classical music blaring, they said, to
get in the mood.  :-)  Neat couple. 

 I asked several people about this big hill, prominent in Athens. But it's not in the tour books I guess so no one seems to notice it.  Finally I ascertained that is was from this hill that the Acropolis was fired upon, during one of the sieges.  Not too popular now; it is a evening disco.

Quick sidebar: In our local youth leadership class we shared the TED Talk  by Amy Cuddy, about feeling more confident by holding this posture for a short time. I thought the Acropolis was a good place to try it.  It is a great experiment; check it out. 

They start the Greek archaeology students early here

They were mesmerized!

Acropolis Museum restaurant was as lovely as they say

I also enjoyed the ancient ruins one just trips over, wandering through town.

Galaxidi and Delphi

These ripe oranges are sour if you pick them from the road, and sweet
if you pick them from someone's yard.  I tested it - TRUE.

Galaxidi - Fabulous

Galaxidi from downtown with Mt. Parnassus

Galaxidi with Mt. Parnassus 

The locals figured these had to be Russians students swimming
when it was still cool on the beach.  

Delphi - wow, how could I not know
all this great history! Glad I have no TV
and thus time to read and research more. 

US Independence Day celebration in Koda

Just a quick post to wish you all a happy 4th!   Koda celebrated our 4th of July a little early.  But we did it!  I made hot dogs, baked beans, German/American potato salad, and Hungarian cucumber salad - for 50 people, in my little kitchen with my little oven and camp stove :-)  But it turned out well and I had some good help and even a little donation for some of the food! I had to do several shifts for the beans.

I knew that everyone would be skeptical of 'sweet beans', and they were.  But it is fun sharing our culture, our food, our songs.  And of course we sang a lot of Georgian songs too.  Fun day. 

Happy 4th to all back home.  Love and miss you all! Miss the cool evening, the fireworks, family, friends, entertainment, music...  I guess I never really thought about what a nice holiday it really is. Next year I will appreciate it more.

Hiking in the Kasbegi Mountains, and more cultural exchanges

An incredible but quick weekend trip to Kasbegi was just what I needed: a little getaway, a new place, and finally, some hiking in the mountains.  Kazbegi is at 1700m  or 5577 ft (yep that is lower elevation than Denver, but high for here)  - and the mountain of Kazbegi  is 5033m or 16512 ft. It is the third highest mountain in Georgia (and the seventh highest peak in the beautiful Caucasus Mountains).  Yep we have big and beautiful mountains here.

According to the Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. He was punished by being chained to this mountain (one of the two references to this region in Greek mythology).  He subsequently was attacked by a horrible dragon and the dragon eventually was turned into this rock. 

Yes, I did take these sunrise pictures - 5:30 am

Hiking to the Gergeti Trinity Church and Monastery 

  

The Gergeti Trinity Church was built in the 14th century and consists of a church and monastery. The separate belltower dates from the same period as the church itself. Its isolated location on top of a steep mountain surrounded by nature has made it a symbol for Georgia and its travel brochures.  The 18th century Georgian author Vakhushti Batonishvili wrote that in times of danger, precious relics from Mtskheta, including Saint Nino's Cross were brought here for safekeeping. During the Soviet era, all religious services were prohibited, but the church remained a popular tourist destination. The church is now an active establishment of the Georgian Orthodox Church.  I was hiking early and actually attended the monk's service early in the morning. (after I draped myself in a 'skirt scarf'and head scarf from the 'loaner box' near the church's entrance and enduring just a few stares from the young monks).  I enjoy the cadence of the prayers and calm recitations - like saying the rosary - but more active since there are no seats, and one still has to touch and then kiss the floor a few times. 

finding my way up the mtn

There are a few ways to get to the monastery but none of them are marked!  Really!  you have to guess, or get a hiking/tourist book.  I asked and gave directions several times during the hike.   How funny, considering it is probably the biggest mountain tourist attraction in the country in the summer.

I love this shot of the opposite mountain range in the valley.

And just like in Colorado, the clouds start accumulating in the afternoon, as I was leaving.

A little excitement on the trip to Kasbegi 

So here's the rest of the story.  We had lovely views driving up - 2 hours from Tbilisi.  We drove through this lovely valley, past the Zhinvali Reservoir, and then started climbing to the 5000 feet elevation to kasbegi.

 

As we began the switchbacks the marsh driver slowed to a stop and pulled over to the side of the road.  After opening the hood and contemplating the engine for a little while, another driver happened by and stopped to discuss the situation. I was sitting in the seat right behind the driver, so could see what was happening, to my dismay.  The accelerator coil had broken, so the accelerator wouldn't work.

And what happened next was amazing... As they say on Internet enticements.  The good Samaritan fellow went back to his car, pulled out a rope, tied it in the engine and then took the other end and hung it inside the drivers window.  And off we went!  The driver accelerated with his left hand, with a hand held accelerator and drove  AND  shifted with his right hand, up the switchbacks.  We did pretty well until the phone rang!  Thankfully he let go of the accelerator (not the steering wheel) and we coasted along until he hung up. :-).  It was quite an introduction to the kasbegi mountain.

Here is our driver manipulating his handheld accelerator up the mountain

Anano's Guesthouse - an interesting melting pot. 

I didn't have a reservation for the guesthouse and no one answered the phone number I had, so when I saw a school boy and asked for directions I was escorted directly to a lovely little home. After knocking on the door unannounced the man answered and said his wife was in Tbilisi on vacation, he had no food to serve, and he was full.  But being good at customer service, he offered me his room for the night, and he slept elsewhere.  It was a lovely room, with a great view of the mountain.  I captured this top picture as I rolled over at 5:30 am and caught the sunrise.  It really was magnificent and understandable that this room was chosen as the owner's room. 

The main room had a huge table - an inviting place for gathering all the guests - which tonight included 2 journalists from Siberia, a Ph.D. student from Zurich, two folks from Poland, and two from the Ukraine.  Our host pulled out his custom-ordered wine, a kakheti white with just a little saperavi (red) to make a nice pink color.  How interesting to mix one's wine for the color!  And didn't taste too bad either. 

As we discussed the day's hiking and bird watching some had come to do, I commented that it was really nice to have a Franco lingua of Russian so they all could communicate.  Well that went over like a lead balloon!  One fellow said that 50 years of the Soviet Union does that to people. But he didn't say it with a smile.  I then commented about the common supply chain during the Soviet Union times.  I recalled and shared a story of a fellow volunteer, a young woman from the Czech Republic who was part of GLEN volunteers and helped our Koda CEC for a few months.  She  joined me on a trip to a friend's house in a remote village near Koda one afternoon and she was shocked to see the kitchen cabinets were exactly like the ones her grama had in former Czechoslovakia.  How amazing that one place in all of Soviet Union was responsible for making kitchen cabinets for the entire Union - from Siberia, to Georgia, to Czechoslovakia!  The Siberian commented that the chacha decanter our host in Kasbegi had shared with us was exactly what her mother had.  To which the Lithuanian chimed in that his grandfather had the same set ,  with 12 small matching glasses.  

I couldn't tell how that felt about it all - comfort, resentment?  In the US it is endearing to see vintage common items: old Hoosier hutches, fiesta ware.  But maybe it is different here. We had a choice of buying these items and they were special to us.  In the USSR, there was only one choice.  So maybe they felt nostalgia now, but it was not so special.  I'm not sure.  I was going to bring up a few positive things I have learned about the USSR, like their decent and affordable health care I have heard about,  or the constitutional right to a paid vacation! But it probably wasn't a good time to discuss old politics, after the cha cha that is.  So I retired and left them to their Russian discussion.  :-) 

 All in all, it was a peaceful quiet time, and I look forward to discovering more of Georgian mountains, people and visitors.

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