The Walled City and Loose Cannons

So this past weekend was awesome. Me and three other volunteers went on a mini vacation for Saturday night and Sunday afternoon to Sighnaghi. It’s a town from ancient history that I won’t insult by guessing the century. (13th I think). Let me tell you that this is one of the more beautiful places I’ve ever been with some of the best views and some great food.
We arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday and I had to take a shower at the hotel/home that we were staying in since my family here in Tokhliauri had been without water for 5 days and hence I had not had a shower. Shower out of the way, we walked around to get our bearings in the city and then headed for one of the only Mexican restaurants in the whole country. Its authentic Mexican too since apparently one of the women who cooks there spent several years in Mexico, fell in love with their food and came home to cook it. I had a beef and bean burrito and some red rice that was very good. We also had some very strong sangria made from local red wine and fruit. The whole place was decorated like you would imagine any Mexican place to be; sombreros and Mexican blankets on the wall, strings of peppers, and portraits of Mexicans in black and white all over the place. This may seem normal to you, but in Georgia, this is the last thing you expect to see.
After dinner we walked around a bit more and took photos like the tourists we were, had a few beers in the central park and then headed back to the hotel. The hotel was really just a house that this family rented out to people passing through and was sort of like a hostel style. When we got there we found all the other tourists hanging out in the common room and eager to meet and chat with us. There was a Polish couple, a Russian guy, a Frenchman, an Australian woman, and a Turkish woman all there along with our two Georgian hosts. It was awesome! We had a great time hanging out and sharing stories of our travels and life experiences. When we couldn’t use English we just resorted to Russian. Only one of the other Americans with me spoke Russian, but it was easy to translate using both languages.
The next morning we got up, ate breakfast there and then went out exploring the city by day. The wall around it is amazing for the time that it was built. There are 12 towers that were used for the 12 villages that surrounded the central city of this kingdom. Whenever it came under attack, each village would come into the city and each would be responsible for defending their tower. The city itself is on the side of a mountain and there is a steep drop-off to the massive valley below. On the other side of the valley are the Caucus Mountains and on the other side of them is… well… Russia/Chechnya. Anyway, it’s easy to see why the city never really fell to anyone since you could see an attacker coming from days away in any direction and you’d really have to want it to make the trip over either set of mountains. We also checkout the local museum which was actually pretty cool and loaded with all kinds of artifacts and history of the region in both Georgian and English. The day in Sighnaghi ended with us at a café where I had some fried cabbage with ham (sub bacon and you got good ol’ Southern fried cabbage) and some pork medallions in an awesome sauce. Yum! But all good things must come to an end and we got on a long marshutka ride back to Tokhliauri where me and one of the other volunteers got off and went home.
And, this is where the weekend went wrong. After unpacking and sharing stories with my host family I sat down to dinner. I thought the soup tasted a little funny and so did the corn that was served later in the meal, but I didn’t really pay that much attention since I was hungry after my trip. I then sat down and did some homework and prepared some other stuff that Peace Corps wanted me to do. Stayed up talking on the phone to my parents and other volunteers for a while and then went to bed around 11.
2 a.m. I wake up with stomach pains. What’s this I wonder? Hmmm… Oh well, I’ll just try to go back to sleep. No deal. I barely made it out the door before I stared throwing up all over the place. This went on for about FOUR HOURS! Not to mention the back-road evacuation (if you catch my drift) that started around 3 a.m. I think I must have passed out around 6:30 or so but I woke up with my alarm a little after 7. I called my doctor to tell her what had happened and that I would not be attending classes on Monday. She agreed and told me what steps to take to re-hydrate and rest. I pretty much didn’t get out of bed on Monday and wasn’t even able to eat anything until 7:30 or 8 on Monday night. My host-family was freaking out! They were so worried about me to the point that I thought they were going to be sick. But, they were relieved that on Tuesday I woke up with no major problems and was able to go to classes. I wasn’t 100%, but I felt well enough to make the effort and at least attend.
I was just drained as hell on Tuesday and barely able to mentally keep up. Georgian class wasn’t that bad, but Azeri class was hell. And, our Azeri teacher didn’t make matters any better. She gave us an activity to do using the material “we” learned on Monday. When I made more than a few mistakes she said in about the snottiest voice I’ve ever heard, “Well if you want, you can just stay after class and I’ll explain it to you.” My response was none too polite when I said, “No I don’t want. In fact I don’t even want to be here right now because I’m ill.” She of course took offense to this which to tell you the truth I could care less. She wanted to speak to me after class about it but I told her I was in no mood and no thanks. I’m sure I’ll hear about it from PC since our training director was there not for the first exchange but for the after class conversation refusal. Whatever. I’ll stick to my guns that her rudeness and my poor mood after my illness was the root of the issue and she should have realized not to push the matter.
After lunch I went to our summer camp that we are running this week which was about all I had left in me for the day. Luckily it’s only four days and I missed the first one on Monday. It’s fun playing games and stuff with the kids, but I don’t think we need to dedicate a whole week to it in PST. It just seems to me like there is a whole lot of information left to cover in the week and a half that we have left before we go to our sites.
Anyway, other than the trip and my brush with food poisoning, there isn’t much to report. The weather is unseasonable cool right now which is weird. It’s really cool and rainy and even the locals think it’s strange for this time of year. I had to break out a sweatshirt on Tuesday it was so chilly. I know those of you in the South would pray for a day like that about now, but I’m not exactly ready for Summer to be over in August.
Only 10 (or less by the time I post this; we swear in on the 21st) more days of training left to go and then I’m off to Muganlo. (Also only a few more days of this damn itchy mustache and then it’s out of here. Don’t worry, I’ll take a final picture with me and the stache before I shave it off)) I will have almost zero access to Internet there, but I’m looking into purchasing a card for my computer that is wireless so I can get it. We’ll see how that goes and whether it even works there. Oh, and don’t even bother trying to find a better address for mail. Just keep sending it to the Peace Corps and I’ll have to go pick it up once a month, if at all possible, since the office is only open M-F and I also have to work those days. I need to ask about that.
All is well otherwise. I hope this blog doesn’t turn into my one and only outlet for venting and such. I know these last two posts have been on the negative side, but… “A great man once said, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. Think about that for a minute.” Ahhhh… Thank you Bull Durham.
Peace!