Skip to main content

ქართული გამოცდილება

So let’s get back into my stuff, in my life here in Georgia. 

First the end of our weekend trip in Kojori, a small fortress near Tbilisi, which was covered in snow and offered a beautiful view on the surrounding areas. We struggled to access it in the beginning. Hopefully, we had an SUV, which allowed us to cut a big part of the road. But we had to climb a steep slop covered in snow. We reached the first top at the same time as the sunset. We took some really cool pictures ! Then began the hard part ! We had to get into the castle which stand on a cliff, and the way was frozen ! It was really slippery, and sometimes the only way down was through falling into the void ! 

At the top of the fortress we had a beautiful view of Tbilisi and the mountains surrounding it. 

The next day we went with everyone to the rainbow mountains. There’s no real road to get to it, which meant that we had to do a bit of off-road. We went around a military base, near the Azeri border (we had to turn back) and after nearly 2 hours we finally arrived to the rainbow mountains. It was a really nice thing to see.


Since then, the whole month of march went like lightning. It was the holy month of Ramadan. For the first time in my life, I had to do it alone. Breaking the fast alone is a … unique experience ? 

It was an excellent experience to grow personally in my life. I cooked a lot of food, sometimes things that I would’ve never tried to ! At the end of the month, it was obvious to me that I wasn’t that bad of a cook. I broke my fast multiple times with my friends that I invited to eat. The fast itself was OK, sometimes it’s really hard to keep up, and you get exhausted, especially for not drinking water. You get headaches, and it’s difficult to be productive. On a most religious part, I am happy that I’ve done it, but I still don’t know if my faith is somewhere here …

For the end of Ramadan, meaning Aid el Fitr I organized a big supra in which I tried to invite all my friends. Some could make it, others no. I cooked for the whole day with the help of my friend Anias (see picture of both of us below).


Here’s the menu : 

  • Hummus

  • Salad méchouia

  • Olive tajine with fries

  • Omelette (tortilla)

  • Khachapuri with a twist (meat and cheese)

  • peanut and chocolate cake

It was an incredible experience. My expectations were really high and the effort I put into it was a lot, so I kinda felt empty when I finished everything. I am grateful for all the people that came and shared bread with me on this holy day. 


I made quite a lot of friend since I arrived here in Georgia. Furthermore, I am really happy to have met all of them, they’ve met my staying here quite exceptional. What’s even more crazy is that it all comes down to one or two persons to whom I got introduced. And from there it all went up the chains, a friend introduces you to another friend, a brother to his brother, a sister to her sister etc… Crazy ! Georgians are extroverted people in general that love to talk, share and of course drink with you. They are always really curious about foreigners, and they really make you fell accepted and welcome. I got invited to some supra and friend fathering and never had a bad time. I am adding a picture below of when I crashed one of my friend car !


 


Comments

Popular Posts

MOVING TO GEORGIA: MY FIRST EXPERIENCES!

Moving to Georgia: my first experiences! At the start of September I moved to Georgia to volunteer at the International Scout Center in Rustavi for 6 months. In this blog I will tell you more about why I decided to volunteer in Georgia, about how I prepared myself to move abroad, about my expectations and about my experiences of the first weeks. Who am I and why did I decide to volunteer abroad? Why did I decide to move to Georgia? I am Renée and I am 25 years old. I am from the Netherlands and there I lived in a small city called Leiden. The few past years I was studying Education and Child studies there. In my bachelors I did an exchange semester and lived for 6 months in the city Tartu in Estonia. This was a really nice experience and after I came back to the Netherlands I decided that at some point I wanted to live abroad again. So when I graduated university last year I knew what I did not want: a stressful job in the Netherlands. I explored different possibilities, for exam...

In the head of a volunteer - Arrival and first week

     I can’t believe that it’s been two months since I set foot in Georgia for the first time. And yet it seems like a lifetime of experiences. Here is an assortment of my very first moments, hope you enjoy :)  The arrival and discovery of Rustavi landscape           When I arrived at Tbilisi Airport I was surprised to see it was not as big as I expected a capital airport to be. I waited alone for a few moments for Aleks to pick me up. During my wait I went to exchange money (by the way, if you come to Georgia, don’t do it at the airport, the exchange rates are far better in the city) and I realised that I really was far from home, I couldn’t understand any of the words people were saying to each other.         When Aleks arrived I went in the car. I had a cold at the time, and I travelled at night, so I arrived in Georgia without any sleep. I felt really tired and I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t talk m...

In the head of a volunteer: 7th month update

  Since the beginning of the project we have been asked to fill reports every month. One of the questions is about personal development and milestones and this question is a good way to reflect about the experience. Today I wanted to use the blog to reflect on the last 7 months and figure out what I still want to experience before leaving.   A big reason for coming here was to experience living fully abroad, to discover an unknown country, to meet new and interesting people, to get out of my comfort zone. Did I manage that ? I think I mostly did.  First let’s talk about discovering Georgia and its people. We can’t say that I improved my Georgian that much. I know how to read the strange letters but I mostly don’t have any idea what the words mean. However, I find it way easier to understand basic sentences and context. This helps a lot with working with the kids at school or even exchanging a few words with locals at the shops.      I noticed the amoun...

CHAPTER 1

Once upon a time there lived five gnomes. They each lived a different life in a different place for a different amount of time. However, the thing they had in common was an unexplainable urge to add a new plot to their autobiographies, to put their for-centuries-collected skills and knowledge to a good use and go to a land far far away. They packed their biggest tiny backpacks, said farewell to their gnome families and forest fairy friends, each jumped on the back of a seagull and flew into an unfamiliar direction. This is where their stories intertwine. Turns out all the seagulls were going the same way; they dropped all the gnomes at the same place – a magical castle surrounded by forests and hills. The castle was home for many, no matter big or small, young or old, beginner or advanced, from this planet or another. All the residents of the castle warmly welcomed the gnomes with open arms and open hearts. The castle was a place where a helpful hand was given first and questions ask...

In the head of a volunteer : What volunteering means to me

     This article is more a train of thoughts about my volunteering experience and what it means to me than a story about reel experiences. I wanted to share it in the hope that other volunteers can relate.              Those reflections started when I took over the instagram page. I am now in charge of posting about our workshops, keeping you updated about our activities and making weekly and monthly recaps.         To give myself ideas, I went to see the archived posts and I got lost in what the previous teams of volunteers posted. I felt so strange. I realised that this place, where I work, eat and sleep everyday, was used by people in the same situation as me before. They walked in the same streets, shopped in the same grocery stores and discovered the same Rustavi as foreigners. Maybe the children I am meeting during my workshops knew those other volunteers, and it’s more than probable that they will me...