Just a snapshot of a few days in Koda this summer and how life calms down. The kids are off from school. The high school seniors took their final exams. Here, the final grades constitute the decision for which college they attend, and if they receive any financial support. So it's a big thing. The parents even go to the exams with the kids and stand outside the building to support them. How's that for a little extra stress!
My young neighbors decided to have a little concert outside our building, and sent me a hand written English invitation. They designed the program all themselves. No Adult Supervision. (what a concept!) They hung a blanket over the stairway to my building for a backstage and sang, danced, and played drums on chairs. Then they did a shortened version of Cinderella. It was a great effort.
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| she sings an Italian song for us |
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| Cinderella, abridged |
Here some of my neighbors are making nazuki, a sweet bread. It is famous in each region for the subtle differences in the recipes. And here they were very proud of their South Ossetian variety. It was delicious. They stick the dough to the sides of this oven, built outside in these little open sheds in the settlement. Unlike regular tonis puri (the village bread which is fabulous) this bread has to cook a while and they cover the oven.
Here they are uncover it and are pleased with the result.
I went to get drinking water from our well in the middle of the settlement, and it was warm. That didn't feel right to me so I asked some neighbors to show me the other place many of them go for drinking water. Here is an old natural spring, that supposedly comes from the mountains. Many come to fill up their containers here. It seems that this was built out a while ago to be some type of fountain, probably during Soviet times. Now it works just fine to get good, cool drinking water. Then I filter it through a Peace Corps supplied filter. There are many thyroid problems here, due to some minerals in the water from what I understand, and lack of iodine. So we are sure to take our vitamins daily. Here's my favorite landlady, Lali, in the picture. 
A neighbor invited me in and shared her intricate knitting. I looked like crochet but was knitted. Really nice. 
One of our Healthy Life informational fairs engaged these students. They distributed pamphlets on the bad effects of smoking, excess drinking and drugs. |
| G15 Swearing in Ceremony |
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| Maura Fulton, our Georgia Peace Corps Director doing an excellent job. |
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| Two new volunteers 'job shadowing' me - of course with a party at my place. |
Peace Corps Volunteers took a Friday afternoon off to help celebrate the swearing in of 50 new Georgian Peace Corps volunteers. It was a lovely ceremony, and some great, sharp new folks. Another 30+ are in the process of leaving; their 27 months are over.
I am trying to accompany a panduri player and flutist, at a craft and music festival in Tbilisi. My office came to try to sell our traditional georgian crafts, and to have some fun.
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| Some of our DVV International donor staff - a psychologist who volunteers in the settlement once/week, our driver and Goga, working on a new project for active seniors. |
