Thailand

In my contract with TLG it states that upon signing for a full year, the employee is granted a round trip plane ticket to and from his own country or a location that would be of equal or lesser value to his own country, to be paid in full. I decided that since I was already abroad, I should use this opportunity to go somewhere that I might not be able to go otherwise. After being inspired in a non-western architecture class my senior year to visit the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, I decided that a trip to Southeast Asia was in order.

To be perfectly honest, I knew absolutely nothing about SE Asia, other than what I had learned in my architecture class. I assumed that the whole trip would take place driving on dirt roads through jungles. To my surprise, Thailand turned out to be extremely touristy. In fact, it was overwhelmingly touristy compared to anything I had experienced in Georgia. To give an idea, the tourism is similar to Americans going to Cabo San Lucas or Cancun in Mexico. I was OK with all of this, and looked forward to an easy trip.

I got off the plane and shared a cab with a French guy to Kao San Road, the main backpacker area. There are tons of hostels and hotels in this area that cost between five and ten dollars a night. I decided to look for Bamboo Guesthouse, which was recommended by a friend back home, and was about a ten minute walk from Kao San. After asking around I found it and checked in. It was in a quiet neighborhood but still close to the touristy areas so I decided it would be good. After checking in I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the area and trying to acquaint myself with everything. I was amazing to find out that in the Kao San area Thai people were probably outnumbered 20 to 1 by westerners.

Over the next few days I met some people in the hostel and they gave me information on different things I could do while in Thailand. The first thing I did was to buy a copy of Lonely Planet Thailand: Living on a Shoestring. This was a great find because I was on a budget (I had budgeted for four weeks only to find out from TLG that they had booked my flight for a six week vacation) and that was what this book was written for. I also did a lot of walking around Bangkok. Although many people expressed their dislike for the city, I was delighted to be there and found it to be extremely clean and free of litter. This was a nice change from Georgia.

In the few days I spent in Bangkok I met a few people at the guest house I was at. One was James, an outspoken black guy from Compton, who had been in Bangkok for nine months teaching and was heading back to America in August. I also met a few Europeans who were in Thailand for all of the tourist attractions and pointed me in the direction of the beaches to the south and learning to scuba dive. I decided to go with a guy from Belgium, but the busses were all sold out, so I left for Koa Tao the next day, intending to meet up with the Belgium guy.

From the small amount of research I did, an overnight bus and ferry ticket seemed like the best way to go. There are about a million travel agents to choose from on Kao San Road, so I went to one that I head had good prices. The bus wasn’t the most comfortable, but on the way there they showed the movie Superbad, which made everything go by a bit faster. At about four in the morning we arrived at a port, where we had to wait for a few hours before finally getting on the ferry to Koa Toa. We arrived at the island at about 10AM.

The Belgian guy had decided on Ban’s Diving School, which is the biggest diving school in the world, and we had planned to meet there. I ended up not finding him, and decided myself on a smaller and slightly less expensive school, Sunshine Divers. For a bit less than 300 dollars, I got four nights in a private bungalow, all of my scuba diving lessons, and the open water level certification for scuba diving. My diving class consisted of myself, another girl, and our instructor. The first day our class was in the pool, learning to use the equipment. The second and third days we were in the ocean. I saw some beautiful fish and a huge sea turtle. Going to Thailand I had no idea that learning to dive was even an option, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip.

The girl in my class was from Australia and on vacation with her boyfriend. They were both very nice, in convinced me to head to Koa Phangang with them for the infamous “Full Moon” party. The party is on one of the beaches of the island, takes place every month at the full moon, and has about 15000 people in attendance. Because there are so many people at the party, getting to and from the island within a few days of the full moon is very difficult. We got a last minute ticket onto a boat to Koa Phangang a few days before the party. The guesthouse we stayed at only had rooms for the night we got there. The Australian’s ended up going to another hotel, but I opted to stay where I was, sleep outside, and keep my bags in a room with a group of Irish guys. They were nice enough to invite me in and let me sleep on their floor. This was perfect for me since I didn’t want to move and was on a budget. The next few days were spent lounging on the beach. On the night of the full moon, everyone prefunked and put on body paint (don’t ask, it’s just what everyone does). After that, we headed for the party. It was insane. If there is one place where you can’t get enough people watching in it might be here. I spent the next day in recovery and the day after headed back to Bangkok.

Once back in Bangkok, I intended to leave immediately for Cambodia, and if there was time, to also see Laos or Vietnam. Unfortunately, on my second day back in Bangkok, I got a bad ear infection. I went to the doctor to see if the problem was serious. He said that it was a minor infection, and after hearing of my allergies to antibiotics, he thought it would be best for me to just take some pain meds and let my body take care of it. I figured it might take a day or two, and put off my plans to travel on until I felt better. The problem didn’t get better, and two days later there was blood coming out of my ear. I felt horrible. The whole side of my face was in pain. I could barely open my mouth to eat and every time I rolled over on that side of my head while sleeping I would wake up from the pain. At that point I decided to go to a hospital to have my ear looked at. I had a pretty big infection and was given antibiotics to take care of it. The doctor said I’d be better in a few days and I decided to wait to travel until that time. I now have to say that Bangkok medicine is amazing. I was in and out of the hospital within forty five minutes. The visit, plus the meds, cost me about 35 dollars.

Over the next few days I spent most of my time at one of the cinemas in Bangkok. Unless you live in the capitol in Georgia, it’s pretty much impossible to see a movie in English. In Bangkok a few movies that are out in America come out every few weeks. The cinemas are really nice and also very cheap. A normal movie ticket cost about three dollars. For seven or eight dollars, you could go to the VIP theatre, where you got a blanket, a huge chair, and food service without having to leave your seat.

When my ear infection was mostly better I decided to head for Cambodia. As mentioned earlier, Angkor Wat was the reason that I decided to go to SE Asia. I decided to take the 3^rd class train to the border. From the border I shared a cab to Siam Riep with two Germans. They already had a place to stay, and I decided to stay with them. We also decided to share a tuk-tuk for getting around the temples the next day. The next few days were exploring temple ruins. It was very interesting and I was happy to have fulfilled my desire to see the temples in Siam Riep. Since recovering from my ear took longer than expected I didn’t have time to travel any more around Cambodia. I had to get back to Bangkok to meet up with Camille, a friend from Seattle who works in northern Thailand, Rachel, another friend from Seattle, and Camille’s two friends, Erin and Emily.

My time with the four girls was very enjoyable. It was refreshing to see some people from home, and Erin and Emily were both great. After meeting them in Bangkok, we traveled north to Chaing Mai, which was an experience. We boarded the wrong second class train, were kicked off, and had to get on another that wasn’t nearly as nice, and was about fifteen minutes behind us. Chaing Mai was very relaxing. We stayed at Camille’s house and spent our days walking around the city. I also enjoyed some western cafes. One day, Emily, Rachel, and I went on an excursion that included an elephant ride and bamboo rafting. We also got a mini tour of the region we were in.

My last stop on the trip was at a town on the border with Myanmar. Camille worked here in the past and wanted to show it to us. It was a beautiful town in the mountains, and I could instantly see why she loved it. My time here was cut short because I was leaving from Bangkok back to Georgia the Monday after Mothers Day weekend. It turns out that Mothers Day is huge in Thailand, and all of the train and bus tickets back to Bangkok were booked until Tuesday. This wasn’t going to work, so I bussed back to Chaing Mai, hung out with Camille’s roommates for a day, and flew back to Bangkok a few hours before my flight left for Georgia.

Overall I had a wonderful vacation to Thailand. If I go back in the future I’ll make sure and budget for the number of weeks I’m going, not two less. Other than that I had a great trip. I got to see some friends from Seattle, eat some delicious food (both Thai and Western), and just relax after my first Semester of teaching in Georgia.

Visit from Mom and Jerry

I had a great visit with my mom and Jerry when they came to visit me here in Georgia in June. They arrived on the 10^th and stayed through the 28^th. I went into Tbilisi and met them at the airport. It was great to see familiar faces. They were tired, so we went and got settled in at the hotel first thing. We stayed in the Dzveli Ubani hotel, which means ‘old neighborhood’. Our room had a great view of the president’s mansion and the huge new church in Tbilisi. After showers and sitting for a bit, we met up with Matt and got gyros for dinner. We ate in the park near the Freedom Square metro station. When we were done eating we met Kristin as well and went to see one of the national dance groups at the new performing arts center in Tbilisi. It was a great intro into Georgia for my parents, and they even managed to (mostly) stay awake through the whole performance, which is impressive since they had been traveling for a few days.

Our second day was highlighted by some great food. My mom had had the idea to bring ingredients for Mexican food. So, we met up with Matt again and made tacos. They were amazing, and just what I needed if I was going to make it another six months without Mexican food. We said goodbye to Matt and met up with Kristin and Kate to see the big market in Tbilisi. For dinner we went to a European restaurant that would usually be out of my budget. Again, I was delighted to have some non Georgian food.

After the first few days in Tbilisi, we traveled back to Siktarva. We took the marshutka to Zestaphoni and they charged us for two extra seats since we had quite a few bags and the usual baggage storage place was full. At Zestaphoni we bought flowers for Ia and Tsiala and took a Taxi the rest of the way to Ramazi’s house. They were very happy to have us in. We had a small lunch with only a bit of wine and spent the afternoon looking around the property. For supper the extent of Georgian hospitality came out. Pridoni, Luisa, Lamara, Tatia, Malkhazi, Marika, Sopho, and Kote joined my host family for a feast. Pridoni was tamada, and my parents got to see how the toasting works in Georgia from a master. All of the usual dishes were served; Khatchapuri, Ostri, an assortment of greens, cornbread and cheese…etc. etc. Kote brought his accordion and played music on the piano. At some point in the night Ramazi got his father’s sword out, although I don’t remember that happening. Sopho was nervous but excited to practice her English with more people but she did a great job conversing with my parents and translating all of the toasts.

The next few days were spent in Imereti and went by quickly. The hospitality never ceased. On Tuesday, Sopho and Kote gave us a tour of the Gelati, Bagrati, and Motsameta churches, and took us to the Sataphlia park, where there are dinosaur footprints in the rocks and a there is a cool lit up cave. We finished the day by going to the Khinkali house with them and Ia and Ramazi joined us. There was more eating and singing and Kote brought homemade Tchatcha to drink. At the end of the night he gave the rest of the bottle to my parents.

On Wednesday, this was the last day of school, my students put on a performance for my parents. All of my best students told about a different part of Georgian culture or history. In between each presentation there were either videos, or dances done by the recently graduated seniors. Other guests that came to the performance included Matt, all of the Terjola resource center people and the village officials. It was a very nice presentation for my parents, and or course it was followed by a supra. A number of students had spent the day setting up one of the classrooms. Teachers brought in their nicest plates and glasses, and everyone chipped in to cook a different dish for the supra. Multiple people brought wine and there was once again lots of singing and dancing.

After school was over we left the village for a few days and traveled around the country. Our first stop was Batumi. I was happy about this because I hadn’t been to the coast yet. We found a nice little hotel that was about a ten minute walk from the sea. It had a balcony and we spent our evenings playing pinochle in the sea air. One of the days we visited an old Roman fortress south of town. The other day we spent relaxing on the rock beach and swimming in the sea.

After Batumi we had intended to head to Svaneti, but Jerry wasn’t feeling that great, and we didn’t want to have the six or seven hour marshutka ride to Mestia. So we decided to go to Borjomi. While we were in Batumi, there had been a landslide on the pass between east and west Georgia, and we ended up taking the very scenic way to east Georgia. It was a beautiful drive, but in total it ended up taking us about six hours to get to Borjomi. We all thought this was funny. We stayed in the Borjomi hotel, which is where I stayed when I had been there in January with the people from my group. It was rainy in Borjomi, so we enjoyed some time playing more cards and watching movies, but also managed to make it to the national park for a small hike. By the end we were drenched, but it was still fun.

We went back to Siktarva for a few more days after our bit of traveling. Again, the hospitality was great. One of the days I went into Kutaisi to sign my new contract for my second semester here in Georgia. When I got back, it was obvious that my mom had had a very nice afternoon. I found out that Zhuzhuna had come over and my mom got to help her and Tsiala make bread. This was accompanied by wine and I enjoyed looking at the pictures Jerry had taken during the afternoon.

I was hoping that at some point while we were in the village my mom and Jerry would get to have the experience of getting pulled into someone’s house and served a full meal on the spot. This happened one day when we were on our way down to the river. Giga, one of our neighbors that lives down the hill from Ramazi, invited us in on our way to the river. I wanted my parents to see the river, so we declined. We continued to the river, and I also showed them where I played soccer with some of the guys in the village. On the way back to Ramazi’s house, they again spotted us walking by and asked us to come into their home. This time we accepted. They prepared a full meal for us and the wine never ended. Many of their neighbors came by to see the Americans and it made for a very festive afternoon. Jerry made the mistake of offering his big glass, instead of his small wine glass, to be filled after one of the toasts and it turned into a large glass being drunk for every toast. After a few hours of eating, we were driven back to Ramazi’s, where Jerry took a long nap and I helped my mom do some laundry.

On our last full day in the village we went to Dzevri and Gogni. We went to the Dzevri power plant, and then to the church above Gogni. On the way back, we stopped at the lake and had a picnic and enjoyed the sunny day. After this we went to Pridoni’s for our village meal. Again Kote and Sopho joined us, and there was a lot of singing and dancing. Pridoni’s niece was our main server, and Louisa’s food was excellent as always. Pridoni gave my parents a gift of two liters of wine, which they were able to take with them back to America.

The next morning everyone met us by the road to say goodbye. Ramazi gave my parents some of his wine to take, and Kote presented them with a bottle of homemade Cognac. After hailing down a nice looking Marshutka, we left for Tbilisi. We arrived late in the afternoon and headed back to the Dveli Ubani hotel. Jerry wanted to rest, so my mom and I went to the newly built Sameba church. I recently learned that it is the third largest Christian church in the world. There was a service going on and we got to see the bishop of Georgia. After this we went to the sulfur baths. They were amazing as usual, and I think that my mom really enjoyed them. We ended the evening by going out to another European restaurant.

Our last trip was a two day trip to Kazbegi. We hired a taxi to take us so that we could make stops on the way up. We stopped at Ananuri church and fortress, where we took pictures and my mom bought and amazing hat. We made other stops on the way to take pictures, and I was able to show them where I stayed when I went skiing in Gudauri. After a few hours, we arrived in Kazbegi. The host of the guesthouse we had meant to stay at was in Tbilisi, so we went to the town center to regroup. There were a number of women waiting there for tourists to offer the services of their houses and their cooking. We chose one, dropped off our bags, and were told to be back in a few hours for dinner. We walked back into town and crossed the river, and continued down a path on the other side of the river that runs parallel to the town. I was very nice and the weather was perfect. Next we walked back into town and had a beer while enjoying the view of Mt. Kazbegi. After this we went back to dinner. For supper our host had cooked stuffed peppers, khatchapuri, and the regional specialty, Khinkali. It was all delicious.

The next day might have been the fullest of my parents trip to Georgia. It was their last full day and we made the most of it. We got up early and hired a driver for an excursion for the day. Our first stop was the church on the mountainside. It was amazing. We stayed for over an hour enjoying the view of the mountain, the town below, and the church. After this we went to some waterfalls and other places around Kazbegi. We finished around mid afternoon and took another back to Tbilisi. On the way we stopped and saw the Mtskheta and Jvari cathedrals. They are two of the most important holy places in Georgia. By the time we finished all of the sightseeing we were exhausted and went straight to the hotel. We had our last dinner at a European restaurant before getting ice cream and turning in. The morning was spent packing and buying some last minute souvenirs. When that was done we headed for the airport where I said good bye to my mom and Jerry. It was a wonderful vacation, and refreshing for me to spend some time with people I knew and people who spoke English. I was sad to see them go but also excited for my upcoming trip to Thailand.

Teeth

A few years ago during a conversation my grandpa mentioned that in some ways its too bad that everyone gets braces these days because you used to be able to recognize people by their unique smile. At the time I thought it a silly comment, but having spent 5 months in Georgia, I couldn't agree more. Even though I've seen some crazy smiles with missing teeth, gold teeth, teeth that really need to be pulled, and teeth that somehow managed to come out in an unimaginable spot, I agree with my grandpa's comment. Behind the teeth there is a hidden charm in the uniqueness of everyone's smile.

Easter

The Easter celebrations start the week before on Palm Sunday. We went to church and everyone got palm like branches that they brought home. They put these somewhere in their house as a symbol of the week to come and keep them up after Easter as well.

On the first few days of the week, the women of the families go to the cemetery where their relatives are buried and clean up their family’s little plot of land. On Friday every one colors eggs red, which is supposed to be symbolic of the blood of Christ. This isn’t the fun family affair that it is in America where you spend an hour or two dyeing your eggs all colors. Basically, there is a huge cauldron that is filled with water and put over a fire. The water is dyed red and the eggs are put in. That way they are boiled and dyed at the same time. My family dyed around 90 eggs. Along with the eggs tons of other food is prepared for Sunday. Leading up to the weekend all women spend time cooking all the Georgian favorites.

Easter church service in Georgia starts at 11PM on Saturday night. My family lives quite a ways from the church and ended up not going. I wanted to go and see what it would be like so I went with Sopho’s family. The church was packed when we got there and the liturgy was already in progress. There were lots of prayers and songs and at midnight everyone went outside and circled the church three times. Then we came back in, there were more prayers and every now and again the “kriste agsdga,” which means “Christ is Risen,” and the people would respond with “cheshmaritad,” which means truly. The liturgy continued for a few hours after midnight but we ended up leaving around 1:30AM.

Easter Sunday in Georgia is quite a festive day. Everyone packs all of the food they have made in the days previous and heads for the cemetery for a picnic lunch. People put out their food (all the little family plots have tables in them) and instantly people from other families come to say hello and give the Easter greeting. After seeing a few people who came to see us, I left and wandered around and found different families that I knew. A ton of my students were there and I got to meet some of their parents. Every family you go to wants you to eat their food and drink their wine. Being a guest it’s hard for me to refuse, so needless to say I filled up fast.

It sounds a bit weird that we went to the cemetery for celebration but I really enjoyed the tradition and how Georgian’s ‘interact’ with their dead relatives. Most families placed candles around the graves. They also put food and wine on the graves. When you would go to the family of someone you knew, you could take and egg and put it on their grave, or drink part of your glass of wine and pour the rest over the grave. This is a way for them to involve all people in the celebration of Easter.

Later in the day we went home and Ramazi’s brother came over with his daughter and granddaughter and we had another meal with them. After that I went for a walk and had another meal with one of Ramazi’s neighbors. (This was also good because I met some people that I have since played quite a bit of soccer with.) We ended the night with another family coming over and having a meal with them…basically I ate a ton on Easter.

Over all it was a great holiday and I loved experiencing the way Georgian’s celebrate Easter.

Soccer and Work

A little over a week ago, Friday the 1^st to be exact, Matt (a teacher two villages over) came to my school to co-teach with me for a day. The program encouraged us to go to other schools just to see what they are like. I went to Matt’s the previous week to judge an English competition and it was his turn to come to mine. When I told my principle and co-teacher that he was coming the school went into “get the school ready for a visitor” mode. After school students stayed behind to clean the classrooms, the staff room was cleaned, and the next day all of the students came to school in their uniforms, which I hadn’t seen them wear before. We had a good time teaching but the best part of the day was after school. We had a soccer game for the 10, 11, and 12 graders, and some of the staff. They play this game every spring when they have good weather, and it happened to be when Matt was at our school.

So we each went to our different teams. I played on the Barcelona side and Matt played on the Real Madrid side. Matt’s team won but I scored, so I felt pretty good about that. The students here aren’t that great at football. They have ok footwork but no real concept of structure and movement on the field. Also there was a bit too much “kick it as far downfield as you can” soccer. This probably comes from lack of good coaching, and generations of playing that type of soccer. Anyway, it was very fun and nice to actually move around a bit.

The next day I went to Simoneti, Matt’s village, to help till part of their vineyard. And we tilled it by hand with shovels, not with machines. I was more than happy to volunteer myself so that I could finally do some physical labor. We worked for about six hours and I was exhausted and had blistered hands at the end of the day. Also, in true Georgian fashion, we started the day with cows feet and cognac for breakfast, had sausages and wine for lunch part way through working, and finished the day with a supra, for which Matt was toastmaster. The next day I woke up and could barely move.

I was hoping that upon hearing about the work I did, Ramazi would have me start helping out around his house. Instead, he told me that Matt’s host father was crazy for having us do that and jokingly that Matt was a “bad boy” for inviting me over for that. It’s become somewhat of a joke that I, as a guest, did physical labor at the neighbor’s house. So, I don’t think they’re going to let me help out any time in the near future. O well.

Birdy Birdinger

Just want to let everyone know that is was opening day of the Masters last year when I decided I needed a golfing alias...

The result was Birdie 'The Bird' Birdinger...

Song and Dance

One of the nice things about having a co teacher whose husband is an actor is that you get to hear and see lots of singing and dancing. Kote’s birthday was a few weeks ago and I was invited to go to the party. The other guests were all actors that he works with in Kutaisi. Many of these people have trained their whole life in all different aspects of stage performance, including singing. Needless to say, I got to listen to a ton of great Georgian songs during the Supra.

The week after Kote and all of the actors that I met invited me to a performance at the theatre. All I knew going in was that there would be Georgian folk music and dance. I figured it would be performed by the regulars at the theatre, but was pleased to find out when we got there that it was the national folk group giving the performance. Since Kote works at the theatre, we were able to get in through the backdoor. It was an intense experience, as some of the other actors were doing this as well, and the people in charge of the show didn’t seem too pleased with it. I honestly would have rather bought a ticket and had a better seat, but like I said I didn’t know what the show was until we got there. Anyway, we made it in and sat in one of the side boxes on the second level of the theatre.

The show was amazing to say the least. I’m in no way an expert on dance or song, but Georgian dance and folk music is some of the best I have ever seen and heard. If anyone ever has the chance to see a performance by the national Georgian dance group, go! It will be worth it and it will probably blow your mind.

On a side note, I found out that Kote is short for the Georgian version of Constantine…which is an awesome name.