Some Tidbits from Georgia for early 2016.

Hi Folks, I'm reading The Martian, by Andy Weir, and love his attention to small details that really are interesting.  So, in that vein... Last year I sent you  the David Letterman Top 10 Differences between Georgia and America  (click to review).  This year I've learned a little more. So here is  my early 2016 list of random info and pictures, for your enjoyment. 

our garbage men empty the outdoor bins
 and separate garbage right in the truck

Plastic bags: I have mentioned previously that in Georgia, and if you buy 5 things at the magazia, you get 6 bags.  Now, hold on a minute, let me explain.  One bag is for your eggs - yep, you really can take 5 eggs home in a plastic bag and not break them. Most things in the store are bought bulk and you put it in a plastic bag - no packaging to deal with, or worry about throwing out - macaroni, flour, sugar, coffee, frozen chicken legs, kingali (only want 3 of these meat stuffed dumplings tonight, just buy 3. Our freezers are VERY small!), all your produce that are weighed, cookies, chocolates, beans, cheese - all in little plastic bags.  Now for recycle... we do use these bags for everything, including take out the garbage.

Here we are with all the food PILED up in front of us

Entertaining: When we are invited to someone's house in the US for a dinner party, at least most of the time, you eat, you drink, you talk a lot, maybe a little music, then you go home.  Maybe it's just me and my friends.  But here one is expected to at least add to the enjoyment of the evening. Sing, dance, play an instrument, play a song through your nose, poetry is popular too. And Expected!  That is why every party (every party!) has a Tamada, a master of ceremonies. The good ones can give impassioned speeches, sing and recite poetry. Here is a fun party we attended in a small town in the wine country.  The locals from another Community Education Center - funded by the DVV Foundation that I have discussed -  went all out to entertain the 20 of us on our little excursion. Enjoy some pictures...

The guests jumped in to help make our khachapuri.
Women don't just sit and be served here!

And of course, the traditional georgian dances are performed.

A novel way to play a song with flutes

 Eight men sang in polyphonic harmony,
while one accompanied them

Poetry in motion

Real Estate:  I am on one of a main shopping streets in Tbilisi, the nation's capitol. And here is prime real estate, just sitting empty, with junk piled up.  How can they do this?  Because they can!  People here own a lot of real estate. It seems they never sell it!  You inherit your aunts village home, a place to relax in the summer, your parent's home...  A shop front could stay empty for a long time.  They don't need the rental to pay a mortgage. In many cases, they just own it, and will use it or rent it when they feel like it. ROI doesn't enter the picture here.  

 January:  In January America leaps into action. Of course it has been more than five weeks since we were really productive,what with thanksgiving, etc. of course, year-end sort of  puts a damper on things, especially if you are in sales.  In Georgia,  the partying begins on New Year, when small gifts are shared. Then Christmas on January 7th. Now we have old New Years January 14th. The decorations will still be up for a while longer, but January is a very laid back month - no kickoffs, quotas, goal and strategy session. We drift into February amidst a choir of "jer ara, kimi" (not yet, Kim).

Coka Cola Local Customization:  I just thoughts this was interesting. Local customs targeted on their packaging. Good for them. People bring a bottle of Coke when they come to visit.

This says  - "for our Guests"

Fuel: Our President talked about gas under $2 in the US. WOW.  Here are our prices, per liter of course.  And remember there are almost 4 liters in a gallon!  They still have some leaded fuel as well.  And they sell some type of propane, and convert their gas line to intake from a large propane tank in the trunk. It costs about half the gas prices, but safety is a question.

Local Produce: I really like my favorite 'travelling magazias' now.  The same produce I find in a market in Tbilisi, I can buy for much less here... no overhead of course. :-) I love that vegetables can be so inexpensive and candy and sweets are so much more.  This is what I bought today - in multiple plastic bags. 

 All this for 4 lari ( $1.80)  

Christmas Decorations: Umbrellas to decorate for Christmas?  Why not? Just seems odd when we associate them with baby showers.

  

Church habits: Almost everyone crosses themselves one or three times when they pass a church. I find myself dong the old Catholic sign of the cross over the heart thing, just automatically now.

My sunrises:  Why are the sunrises so beautiful here.  Big sky I call it.  Well of course.  In Raleigh there are so any trees. One has to drive to even find a place where one can see the horizon.  And in Colorado the sun sets behind the mountain way before any show of colors appears.  Not that I will move to a flat state anytime soon, but I really have enjoyed this.

Knitters gone wild!:  And the #1 most interesting tidbit today...  People home asked me if I had woolen long underwear. Is this what they meant?

From the Tbilisi bazaar

Playing Tourist in Tbilisi

For some of you that want to come visit Georgia before I leave, here are more pictures of Tbilisi.

 

Modern bars in Tbilisi

just across from the modern bars!

The largest cathedral in Tbilisi,
with one of the oldest ones in the foreground.

Gondola goes to the top of
the old fortress on the hill

The Turkish baths, where one gets naked
 with some of your favorite friends.

Lack of architectural controls gives rise to creative building,
plus a loss of historical congruity.

view from a tourist restaurant 

 

Tourist prices: salad, deep fried kingali with soy sauce, and 2 glasses of wine
$4.80  :-)

In the middle of Old Town tourist area

Underground walkways beneath the busy roads

The same flower ladies have been here for 2 years. They wouldn't let me
take their picture until I said I wanted to buy a bouquet. Now
they smile each time I walk by.  

Finally, a efficient, well utilized Metro  

Death in Georgia

A while ago we had a terrible tragedy in our community.  Koda is a village and the IDP settlement, that is now well integrated.  The village has approximately 3000 residents, the IDP settlement hosts about 2000 now in our old military barrack buildings. Everyone gets along well now or so it seems.  I would give credit to the mayor, a hard working and committed man, trying to help everyone out, the one integrated school, and hopefully our Community Education Center, that is missioned to support both the IDPs and the village residents.

Living in the settlement, I feel like a cross between the Bronx in the 50s and a college quad. Everything goes on right outside our balconies. Garbage men pick up, vans sell produce, kids play soccer  each day, men play backgammon on a series of picnic tables, little cinderblock shops open and close.

So when a tragedy strikes, everyone is affected.  A male driver, with 3 young women in a car, was in an accident with another car, on a hilly curvy village road not far from us.  Alcohol was involved.  The 3 women were killed.  Two were from our village, and a 22 year old from our settlement.  It was so difficult that it is still hard to write about it. But I think that we learn about people in different cultures by their traditions, especially at these significant times in their lives.

For us it was three difficult days.  For day one, everyone was just in shock.  A lovely young, vibrant, happy young woman was dead.  It is still like the 1960s in the US, when few people wore seatbelts, or just 'pretended' to wear them. And drunk driving is such a big issue here in Georgia, although they do try to address it, and we have had many 'trainings' about it at our Center, for the youth.  But for adults...

Day two we saw many people mourning.  Of the two deceased women from the village, one was a mother of 2 and was pregnant with her third. Groups of 15+ women were seen walking from one home to another, to pay their respects.  Day three let's just say many, many of the men took to their bottles.  It was a tough time.

The day of the funeral I joined my landlady and good friend, and other neighbors.  We went to her close neighbor's apartment, where they hold the wake in the main room.  (As I have previously described, these converted army barracks have 1 or 2 rooms, in addition to the kitchen and indoor bathroom, depending on the size of the family)  Girls almost always live with their families until they get married.  Boys NEVER leave. For the most part, the first born son lives with his family and his wife joins him, even in these small apartments, and they inherit the house/apartment eventually. Of course things are a bit different in Tbilisi.

Sorry I digress,  so we went to their apartment, where about 20 women are all sitting around the casket. The mother of this young woman was standing, and calling out to her daughter. She told her daughter that 'the American is here for you',  almost a call to wake up.  I know this is normal, as it happened to me before, but now I read about it and understood it. The visitors process around the casket, give condolences to the bereaved, and then are ushered out.  The casket was open, even though it was a bad car wreck.

One note, only the family brings food.  When I asked if I could bring something, they said that it wasn't done that way.  Some people brought flowers, and they some were strewn on the ground as we processed to the church.  (What a sad comparison, we only throw flowers when someone gets married in the US).  There was however an official looking table set up, with two men manning it. Each mourner came and made a financial donation.  A entry was made into the book to document each donation. This is to pay for the burial, and also to pay for the supra, that they have in one month, I believe. They have an even bigger supra after one year has passed.

This is just the beginning of the procession to the church.

Eventually, everyone started leaving the apartment, and they brought out the casket.  At least 300 people walked to the church behind the open casket, which was held high and slanted so anyone passing could see the deceased. The church was about a kilometer away. Traffic stopped on the main road. There were no police stopping traffic.  Everyone just pulled off out of respect. (I have only seen his in the deep south, in the US) At the small church they had a  service for several hours, with hymns and readings.  Everyone stands at the georgian Orthodox church.  The mother finally was given a chair. The ones that couldn't fit in the church stood outside in the church gardens. Eventually the regional Patriarch came and said prayers around the casket in the church.  As has become custom, the older ladies pushed me forward to be blessed by the Patriach, in a show of acceptance I believe. I keep telling you all how good these people are to me.

Finally, about 15 of the the regional government employees processed in to the church grounds, carrying a large floral arrangement. The officials all entered the church, probably were blessed too, and then left.  After this most of the mourners walked to the graveyard, about another 2 miles away.

It was an exhausting and mournful day.

Georgian New Year, then Christmas

Orthodox Holidays.   I like the different traditions of New Year in Georgia.  First,  we cook all day New Year's Eve so we have food for the next week and for all the guests that come to visit.  Decorations are strung, and small Christmas trees are decorated.

Secondly, at midnight we don't have to jockey for position for a New Year kiss (issue of singles as well as married people, as I have experienced)  We all run outside and everyone (YES, everyone) has real fireworks that they shoot off in the yard.  So the entire town, village, or city, lights up with fireworks.  for a half hour.  Next we all come inside and toast to the new year, then have fruit and sweets, and watch the obligatory celebrations from around the world on TV. One traditional food is cosinoki - this is just honey and crushed nuts, heated on the stove and then cooled, like on a cookie sheet. It is good and not too unhealthy.  We share secret santa gifts - nothing big and thank heaven, nothing so commercial as in the US.  My host sister received a little bunny!   Around 2am, we may have a meal, since everyone is hungry by then.  

Finally, there is lovely tradition that the first person who comes to visit in the new year portends to a new year of good karma.  It was true this year when a 7 year old arrived (by taxi, no less) to be the first visitor, about 1:30am.  He was treated as a special guest, and when his mom called to arrange for him to come home, he begged to spend the night.  It was a fun time, relaxing and jovial, without all the stress of many holidays.

New Years day arrived quietly, We all slept in. It was cold with a dusting of snow, but still warm enough to not fear going out to the bathroom in the morning.  We pulled out a nice meal around 2pm, and this evening we had my burritos I made the other night.

As we viewed pictures from past trips and talked about future plans, we watched a popular georgian comedy movie, called Mrs.Zdidza.  It was a georgian remake of Mrs. Doubtfire! EXACTLY!  It was amazing to know exactly what was happening throughout the story, and how easily they took all the plot and copied it.  Except the star didn't save Pierce Brosnan with a shrimp stuck in his throat, but got into a fight with someone hitting on his ex-wife.  Now, I'm watching the georgian remake of Home Alone.  Honest!  Great country of copyrights,  or maybe they did pay royalties?  Who knows. HA HA.

I was back in Koda for Georgian Christmas, January 7th.  It is a quiet affair.  Some say that most of the traditions went away during the Soviet rule. Some attend mass - it goes from 11pm Christmas Eve until about 3 am Christmas Day.  Now that is dedication!   There are no presents; that is handled on New Years. But we do get the day off.

There is also talk of the "old new year" celebrated in mid January.  So, in other words, not much gets done here in January.  It is hard to have exciting work related 'kick-offs' that I like - full of planning and goals.  It is a bit like our work day - slow to start and at 4:30 everyone decide to have meetings and get the work done.  Different strokes...

So from my georgian family to you and yours,  Happy New year. Let's have a great 2016!