Georgia week 7: interns just want to have fun

Georgia just keeps on giving memories and experiences. And this week gave a lot!

Vani Sulori camp - where the youth goes

On Tuesday CampusLions Club was invited to Vani Sulori camp. Some of our students were already there and I guess they knew we were coming. For the camp we had to prepare some games and of course take all our motivation so that we could inspire the people there. We rented a bus, suited up (hey, we were supposed to meet the mayor of Kutaisi, we couldn’t just go in trainers) and hit the road. The journey wasn’t that long, especially when you consider that we were dancing most of the time in our seats. The camp people greeted us with applause and cheers and we answered with our enthusiasm.

Vani Sulori camp

Each of us told a little about ourselves so that the campers would know whom they’re dealing with. After that we danced and took photos and we had a few trainings as well. Sadly, we couldn’t stay a long time in the camp, so we went to the bus to find a possible place to eat and later swim. The river water was not so warm, but it felt so nice to cool down finally, that we didn’t care - we took our time there. When we did go out, we traveled to Motsameta – one of the churches next to Kutaisi. The view from the top was beautiful and we didn’t care at all that it started to rain.

Later in the evening we had a little party as we had some watermelon and melon left, so everybody was dancing and eating.

Hide in the caves

On Thursday morning we took a bus as well but this time to visit Sataplia and Prometheus caves - I mean it is the end of our internship, it’s about time we see them. First we went to Sataplia where the guide explained that you can find different footprints of dinosaurs in this area. Of course, that meant there were some dinosaur statues with which we gladly took photos and selfies. The cave was a bit chilly – around 14 degrees, but after such heat it was amazing and refreshing. We didn’t want to go out, but the tour had to end somewhere. We took a pause and continued to the viewing platform from which we could see all of Kutaisi.

In Prometheus cave

Prometheus cave was much bigger so we could take even more time to escape from the heat. It had beaaaaautiful stalactites and stalagmites, I was amazed by them even if I have seen them before. When the tour ended, we took a boat out of the caves to outside. It felt relaxing – just gliding under rocks. Outside the caves a little train was waiting for us to take us to our bus so we hoped onto it and went back.

Flashmob or How to make Georgians dance

While going to Vani Sulori camp, I got the idea of maybe we should do a flashmob to remember our time here. I quickly had a chat with my roommate and we set out on the task of making a dance and finding the music. Our boss liked the idea as well – for her it was a good chance to get more attention into our activities.

We did the music track on Wednesday – the final mix was 3 minutes out of 7 songs. Whole night a trio of us (Lithuania, Algeria, Ukraine collaboration) was thinking what moves can the whole group do and after 1,5 hour of ridiculous movements a dance was born. The hard part was to teach it to other people – that took around 2-3 hours (and also a lot of patience) on Thursday night. Friday was our day to shine.

The flashmob was late and people started gathering to see what’s going on. We’ve lost our element of surprise, but we still had a great time. We repeated it two more times the same day in various places. All of us agreed to repeat it in different countries as well. So if you’re in Lithuania and reading this, you know who to contact – me!

More goodbyes happened

More and more people are leaving. This time it was two of my roommates from Algeria and Qatar (who will be greatly missed – the house is not the same anymore) and two other interns from Egypt. So on Friday we had our little get together. All of our house went to the amusement park and played like little children (the electric cars are the bomb! Plus the funicular – I can’t believe it’s still working) and then in the evening everybody got together for dinner. We wrote some postcards, exchanged gifts and hugged tightly with promises to meet again. In the morning they went to Tbilisi to have their flight.

 

Bunch of weirdos aka my family

Weekend in Kutaisi

You only notice how small it is when you have no activities – there’s no cinema, one night club and most places close until 12. These were two reaaaaally lazy days, but I used them to finally get a good night’s sleep, relax and shop a little. On the evenings we even got some possibilities to cook for ourselves without making a huge mess. It was peaceful. It was calm. It was boring as well. But we got used to this town after so much time. Even if it’s boring here, I would like to stay more.

Georgia week 6: cooking, dancing, goodbyes and couchsurfing

This week seemed so busy and so relaxed at the same time. We continued working on our project in Campus Lions Club, I continued preparing trainings which hopefully one day I would give and brainstorming ideas how could we make a change in Georgia so that we would be remembered.

Global village

We tried our hand in cooking this week and it was very hectic. We bought the supplies, prepared our presentations and attacked the kitchens with full force. I was even making a dessert at 3 am to have it ready for the following day. For the Lithuanian table I had some Saltibarsciai (cold borshch - with kefyr), Lithuanian cheese and chocolate and tinginys (a Lithuanian sweet from cookies, butter, sugar, eggs and cocoa). Cooking in our small kitchen was a disaster especially when the home owner was peeking every minute over your shoulder to see what you are doing. But we managed and transported our stuff to the library.

Everyone prepared their special dishes and some of them even had traditional clothes - my roommates from Qatar and Algeria were wearing their traditional clothes - it was amazing. We heard everybody's presentations, tasted everybody's food, ugh I ate so much. Some of the presentations were quite long, but others were short and funny (including mine - everybody loves the story of Gediminas and the Iron wolf. oh and the fact that you can sell 10 Lt bill in gay bars). After this even we had a looot of leftovers, but they didn't stay for long.

Global village

The goodbye marathon

In this week three people left and everybody started feeling that the internship is coming to an end. It's hard to face it. It's weird even to think that the people you were laughing, dancing with soon will go to their countries and the only possible way to see them will be on Facebook, Skype and with a small possibility to ever meet again as most of the countries need visas to travel.

We already said goodbye to the girl from Taiwan, and this week it was time to say goodbye to a guy from Tunisia, and two girls from Ukraine. So the goodbyes started on Tuesday - we went to the riverside to have a nice chat, sit a little and relax (again it was a perfect time for the Lithuanian fairytales - this time it was Egle the Queen of Snakes time - they loved it). Later we went to have some shwarma and went to rest before another goodbye party which happened the following day.

Ohhhh....for one of the Ukrainian girls we went to the club of Kutaisi - Tetri Xidi Bari (White Bridge Bar). We put on our dresses (or jeans who wanted to, it's everybody's choice) and we destroyed the dance floor. The epitome of the night was King Shit by the Hi-Yahs. Georgians were just staring at us during that song - I guess it's not really their style. We then sat on the White Bridge and said our goodbyes and gave some presents.

The last goodbye this week happened on Thursday when we went to the other intern house, had a nice sit, chat, we cooked some food and said our goodbye to the other Ukrainian girl. Everybody promised to see each other again and we wanted to sit some more, but we got kicked out of the house by the house owner as apparently we made to much noise (it wasn't noisy at all if you ask me).

Couchsurfing in Batumi

From the start of the week me and my roommate were searching for hosts in Batumi. It was her last weekend in Georgia and Batumi was the city she wanted to see again. So all week we were checking possible people we could live with. On Friday we finally agreed with a host. So Saturday the bus moved to Batumi (we slept most of the ride) and when we were there we called and got the key for the apartment (apparently I wrote to our host's roommate asking for a couch as well). The apartment was amazing comparing to what we were living in Kutaisi.

We changed our clothes and hit for the beach where we spent half of the day and got a really nice tan. The sea was very salty compared to the Baltic sea and very very calm, so we could have the best time to relax. After that we hit the shops and prepared ourselves for the night. There was a festival preparation next to the beach, so most of the time we could hear Boney M or Ace of Base preparing themselves. At night we went to eat, have a sit on the beach and watch the waves crash and of course we went to a night club to dance of all our worries and charge ourselves with positive energy. We met our hosts there, so we didn't have to worry how to get home.

On top of Batumi

The following day we searched for some souvenirs, walked around and took the funicular to the top of the mountain. The view was amazing and the funicular was very nice and fast. After taking some pictures there, we went to eat, pack and headed home to Kutaisi. ugh, the ride took three hours with the driver stopping for almost each person - you want ice cream? I'll stop. You want water? no problem. uuuuuugh. The bus drove through Qobuleti as well, which seemed like a nice and loud city at night - you could see people walking around and dancing in the clubs. When the bus finally reached Kutaisi, we decided to have a night snack at McDonalds (I was so tired I ate chicken with ice cream) and headed home.

Georgia week 5: New people, new mountains

Going home from Tbilisi

The week started in Tbilisi. We had a beautiful breakfast in Entree cafe – you don‘t have these in Kutaisi. It reminded me of home, where we would stop in these kind of cafes for a quick snack or cofee.

The bus was very late to pick us up as there was an accident on the road. Since we got some more time, we decided to go to Subway to have lunch there. We met a few Americans there and had a nice chat. It was amazing to have a normal chat in English not trying to limit myself to the little words. Soon the bus came and our journey back started. And it was so looooong. Some of us were already tired and didn‘t want to visit any more churches and some of us were still energetic. I didn‘t understand why we stopped at some of them as all the churches look pretty much the same, but hey, when the majority decides, you gotta go.

Start of the new project

While we were in Tbilisi, some new interns came to Kutaisi, so it was nice to see some new faces. On Tuesday the big Campus Lions Club project started and we had all the interns together in one room where we presented what will happen all week. Now it‘s a bit chaotic as more than twenty people are working and walking around looking for empty sockets to plug in their computers and there are still trainings happening in the main room. But we manage it.

New people meant new trainings, so I had to prepare some PR and Effective communication trainings. Some people seemed bored during it (I mean it is pretty known stuff), but I got some comments that I did good, so hopefully all went well.

During the week we had a movie night where we watched Seven Psychopaths. Sadly, not everyone enjoyed the movie. We also had a barbecue – we gathered at other interns house and cooked some meat, potatoes and ate together. It was great as since we have different jobs, we don‘t see each other every night, plus everybody was getting tired of cafe food and wanted something cooked at home. The food was delicious and filling. It gave us the feeling of being a family again.

Barbecue night

Friday we sort of had a dancing party at the Campus Lions Club. Ok, not sort of, we danced our feet off – we even learned a bit of Georgian dances which are quite hard to remember. Hopefully, we will have more classes for them. We also had a very heated cultural discussion – apparently Georgians are very fast to marry and create families which for me was surprising to hear. We spent the whole evening discussing whether it‘s better to marry fast or later and about the personal choice of creating a family. And after a good discussion we danced again.

Svaneti

On the weekend we went to Svaneti. The trip started at 5 am which means we had to get up at 4am and that is quite hard to do when you went to sleep at 3:20 because of before mentioned dancing party. It was a long journey to Mestia, so we used the time to sleep. We had an option to take some horses, but it was too expensive, plus the horses didn‘t look healthy at all, so we declined and went to the funicular. It took us on top of a mountain and what a view we saw.

Chilling on top

We‘ve also visited the Svaneti museum (which wasn‘t that big) and later started searching for a place to eat and sleep. Finally we‘ve found a hostel and could relax. In there again I heard that I look like a Georgian and that I am a Georgian at heart. Well, maybe Lithuanians and Georgians are similar by their hotheadedness, but otherwise... I don‘t know.

Next day we went to Ushguli. The trip was veeeery hard as the roads were very bad and it took us 4 hours to get there. When we were there, the views were amaaaazing. Ushguli is a town between mountains, so it was very very beautiful (or dzalian lamazi as the locals say). But there was not a lot to do there (I did find a hostel with Lithuania‘s flag but apart this joy there was nothing much). After a few hours we started our way back. It took the whole day. We did see beautiful sights, but I can‘t say the trip was very interesting.

In Ushguli. Flower ring from Hanane.

Nonetheless, I was amazed by the mountains and now each hill seems so small after Svaneti‘s beauty.

Georgia week 4: How to become a mountain goat

This week took a lot of energy from me. After it I couldn't really walk anymore. Why? Let me tell you.

The Borjomi-Kharaguli trip

The week started veeeeeery early - at 4 am we have already been in the Campus Lions Club Kutaisi, packed up and ready to go to the train station. The train took two hours but it didn't seem long and even if I have been tired, I felt so energized! Most of the trip I spent playing cards with one guy and cards always make the time fly.

When we went out of the train, rain greeted us and my shoes got wet in seconds. We missed the rain, as it was hot all week, but not when we were supposed to hike in the mountains. Anyway, I didn't complain, cause hey, it's mountains! (and for the hundrendth time - I come from a country which is flat like a pancake and mountains are amazing). There were some people complaining and they left the following day - well, camping is not for everyone. The first camp was around 10km away from the train station so it was quite hard for some people as we were carrying not only our things, but also the food for three days. When we came to the camp most people were already tired and since it was raining, we couldn't reach the other camp, so we decided to stay here for the night.

First night cabin

We prepared some food, some people went for a nap, guys were participating in throwing knives competition (well, they were just trying to hit this wooden thing - some of them succeeded, some of them didn't) - even I tried it (it was awesome - I was throwing a butterfly knife). We stayed outside, just looking at the clouds on our blankets, we played some Georgian games, learned some Georgian words, played , some more card games, truth or dare and so on. In the evening we baked some potatoes, played some more games. Oh but when it got dark, the staaaars, oh my dear, the stars were so beautiful there. We took some blankets and just layed there for a while, just looking at the stars.

Playing Brisli-miau

Next day we parted with some people and continued to another camp. It was a long and hard road, but after some weird roads, bridges that were just logs thrown over the river, we reached camp number 2. Some of us were really tired, so we just found a spot under a tree and fell asleep for a while. When we woke up, we had a little lunch and decided to head to the mountain further. Some people stayed because they were tired, but I've never been to mountains so I decided I want to challenge myself.

Few kilometers up, I felt really bad and had to stop for a few minutes to catch my breath. Sadly, the other group did not wait for us and our group got lost from them. Which meant that the other group has no water bottles and our group has no food (ok, we had one Snickers, but that's it). During the way up we've actually spotted a cub (small bear) going up in the mountain. It was already sunset when we almost reached the top, but we were not sure where is the other group. We tried searching for them, but after it got dark we decided it was time to go back. Now for those who have never been in the mountains, I can say - going up is hard, but going back at night when you can't see anything, it's just plain challenging. Poison Ivy was slashing my legs and arms, we were just walking through the mud and puddles (no chance avoiding them), at some point we were walking in the dark as we were afraid some animals might see our light and we were just running back with our knives outstreched. It took us three hours to go up. We came back in two. When we reached the camp, we felt so relieved and even if it was scary, it was an amazing experience. The other group came moments later and were greeted as champions - they reached the peak after all.

Sharing the Snickers

Next day we had a looooong way back. But it was way back after all, so everything went smoother. We took lots and lots of photos, we laughed, and when we reached the market, we had a nice picnic. At the train station we waited for the train for like an hour, but we didn't care - some people slept, some took selfies, some danced. The same was in the train and finally we were back in Kutaisi. My roommate was so tired she even screamed for khachapuri (and she doesn't really like them, so when she wants them, it means she's really tired). This camp taught me that if you want to see the true face of somebody, take them hiking 40-80km and see how they behave.

Video

Free days

The next day we could relax, if you could say so as we were just sitting in the office, making trainings. Because of our trip, we missed the Polish girls birthday, so we made a birthday party in our office for her and we danced, we ate cake and pizza - it was super fun. We've also been to a classical music concert, which was amazing. On Friday we had some trainings and training preparations and we came home to pack - we had a journey to Tbilisi on our way!

Tbilisi and places around

On Saturday we visited Rabati and Vardzia, they were really beautiful! Rabati was a beautiful castle/palace and we walked around its gardens. We even threw our coins in the well with wishes, hoping for them to come true. Vardzia was pretty tiring, as we had a big trip before and here we had to walk in the heat again. After that we had lunch and headed to Tbilisi. There we found a hostel - Waltzing Matilda (after some troubles) and went out. By the way, the hostel has a greaaat terrace where you can see most of Tbilisi. I met my roommates friends from Algeria, so we went to the old town, next to the Peace bridge, played some giant chess and went back.

With the Algerians

On Sunday we walked around Tbilisi, visited Wendy's (first Wendy's in my life) and bought some presents for the first intern girl from our group who was leaving Georgia. This day we took the funicular, went up the mountain, I've also met my friend (and her baby, husband, brother and brother's wife) and we went to an amusement park on top of the mountain - even my ears popped - that's how high it was! We walked around there for a while but soon I had to come back to Wendy's as that was were we had a bye bye party for the girl. We had some dinner, gave her presents and played in the game room. Apparently, it was another girl's birthday, so we bought a cake and surprised her on the Peace bridge.

Bye bye, TingWen!

We finished the week by dancing and laughing in some clubs. It was a loooong and impressive week, let's hope the left weeks will not disappoint.