From over a month ago:
Okay, okay, so I haven't posted for a month now. But I defend my slacking in that my main reader was hanging out with me for part of that time.
Of course, I've been back from the family vacation for a while, and there's really no good excuse to why I haven't posted except that I've been really bummed and also freaking out about this project lately. But I'll get to that. First news of the trip of awesome!
Mom and Dad arrived EARLY Friday morning, most of the time waiting which I spent being a sorry excuse for a city guide for some neighboring country PCVs who were staying at the Nika. Then at the airport, pacing back and forth and trying to get a spot among the Georgians waiting for their loved ones to arrive. We were quickly whisked away by Jenora's taxi driver neighbor, caught a few hours rest, then walked (pretty aimlessly; like I said, I'm not much of a guide) around the city until my host dad/brother picked us up later that evening, much to my parents' delight. If you're still unfamiliar with Georgian driving, ask my dad to tell you all about it, which hopefully proves to be not just a traumatic reminder but a good therapy session for him, or see this wonderfully written post describing the Georgian Rules of the Road.
Anyway, traveling around Georgia actually went pretty smoothly. Nothing too unexpected or out of the norm here. We did go to the graveyard, which was pretty cool for Mom the Genealogy Nut. She's been taking me to graveyards since I was a little squirt, showing me how to lay the butcher paper on the gravestones just so, peel the wrapper off the crayon, and rub the crayon sideways until the name and dates magically appeared on the butcher paper in cerulean or mulberry.
But the real genealogy was later, in the Czech Republic. I'll get to that.
In Georgia, however, don't think family wasn't present. Yes, I was exhausted from translating, but I found I didn't need to every second; my mom and Shorena both have that sixth sense or feminine intuition, call it what you will, that sometimes the situation was thus:
Mom: I bet this thing does this because of this.
Shorena, to me, in Georgian: Did she just say this thing does this because of this?
Me: HALLELUJAH.
And, now, to the present. Yes, the visit was wonderful. Yes, translating was exhausting. Yes, eating 24/7 was exhausting. Yes, Ana in Baghdati is such an amazing hostess and friend I can't begin to thank her enough. Surprisingly no, no accidents were had due to Georgian driving.
You know, in retrospect the amount of eating we did was partially due to the fact that we visited places of food production (beehives, vineyard, watermelon garden...) and partially due to the fact that the only thing mutually comprehensible that both families could do with their mouths beyond making a gamarjobat and hello come out of them was to shove something edible in them. Why not?
Needless to say, the amazing adventure in the villages of CR and Prague restored my belief in the existence of flush toilets. Also seeing the site of where my great-grandma was born was pretty cool. Not only that, the mayor of the village (who drives a four-wheeler to work) gave us a book about the history of the village (which also has its own WEBSITE.), which revealed the village paid for some of my relatives to go to America... which is really weird.
Also weird was the bone church at Kutná Hora. But you've already seen pictures on Stalkernet.
When we went to the other (west) side of the CR, after a long pilgrimage back and forth from village to village on a rainy day when we were just about to give up, we ended up in the house of a lady who may or may not be related to us. She fed us awesome Chodsky kolache, a specialty pastry of the region, some turkish kava, and brought out dress after dress, nay, COMPLETE outfit sets of traditional Czech kroj, of which I got the honor of trying on one or two. About which she commented, "If this were to be yours, I'd have to take it in a lot, or you'd have to eat into it." People!!
Of Prague there's not much to tell but pretending to be a tour guide for my parents, getting lost on trams, finding delicious Czech pastries and an amazing teahouse, the cute bartender at the place across from the hotel, the fun little ghost tour, and, best of all, wandering off to gorgeous and tourist-free Vyšehrad.
Next time I go, more time will be spent at that magical castle where no one goes, dinner at At the Ropemaker's Wife bar, more delicious pastries, more talking with the locals, taking a train or two into the countryside, and chillin' in the country where I, the anti-beer-ist, can enjoy a pint.
For a while I was super depressed after the amazing vacation. Going back from Candyland to the Twilight Zone was no walk in the park. Heck, they don't exist in the Newvillage. BUT! What the Newvillage does have to offer now are computer trainings for teachers!
These computer trainings have been a pain, but they're getting something done, and I feel like living again, most of the time. School has started, grape harvest has been missed multiple times, and I'm teaching with Magda and Ana (not Lia or Nino... long story.). But you've already read a novel. Go have a rest (daisvene!), and I'll write later. Besides, gotta go lesson plan.
