Getting to know the life in Kutaisi

I came to Kutaisi airport early in the morning and was greeted with 20 taxi drivers hoping I will choose them. I didn’t – I had to wait for a girl who would take me to the city. While driving I was curiously looking around – the roads seemed empty except for some gas stations and watermelon sellers. The city of Kutaisi seemed quite busy with cars driving fast despite their a bit shabby condition. I was surprised to see such old houses in the city as well.

On the first day I managed to lock my things inside a room and later was surprised by the idea that they don’t really lock their doors (they also don’t have pin codes in phones). Leaving my laptop in an unlocked house seemed weird at first, but I got used to it quite soon. The heat is still one of the things I cannot get used to and therefore I try to spend the hottest time inside (and sadly fail to do that as I still want to go around the city and explore it).

Magnificent Georgian sheep, just 30 min walk away from the center

To be honest, you get used to how the buildings look in one day. I got used to look twice or thrice before crossing the street as the city probably has two traffic lights, maybe five zebras and the cars rarely stop for pedestrians.

But you know, these things don’t really matter. Kutaisi has great parks and a huge river, which despite being brown still provides the mesmerizing sound of flowing water. Combine it with a view to the mountains and interesting old churches and you get a great town. They have lots of fruits being sold on every corner, the prices are low and the food is tasty. I’ve tried Xachapuri and Khinkali – national Georgian dishes and they’re really tasty.

The home owners (where I live) are Georgian and even though we don’t really communicate well because of language barrier, they are super friendly and always smiling – they made me coffee, brought some watermelon for all of us and they try to communicate how they can. One of the interns was even accepted to the Georgian men’s party (men party and women clean up here apparently. Even young girls don't really go out in the evening. That was weird.)

It was a bit of a shock when I came here, but if you have great people around you, where you are doesn’t really matter. And I am with wonderful people who came from a lot of countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Tunisia, Qatar, Egypt, Ukraine and Taiwan and there are even more people coming here. And I love the international atmosphere so much – you can hear different languages on daily basis, you can get to know different religions and customs, some of which are strange and some of them are similar to what we have. It’s just so great.

I think it will be hard to leave. Like always.

Some of us with LC Kutaisi