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How I somehow missed April (?)

Usually I am the type of person for whom time moves too slow. Every month I just spend waiting for it to end and especially the past winter months made me wish I could skip some time ahead. However, April on the contrary moved too fast and just seconds after April Fool's-jokes were over, the month had already ended leaving me questioning what exactly I did during those 31 days. I will use this blog entry as a tool to remember whatever happened this month so be prepared for a bit of chaos.

Part 1 - The forgotten Vacation

We start at the beginning of the month when I suddenly realized the days moved faster than expected and I had already approached the vacation days I had taken months ago. That led to me being surprised by a lot of free time, a friend visiting from Germany and no plans at all - which, as a planning-person, can be quite frightening. And although we did not travel as much as I would've wanted to, we still managed to visit some places that were unknown to me:

1) The first improvisational destination or rather idea was to simply discover Tbilisi more. I had already been to the city countless times whenever our flat's walls seemed to be suffocating me and I had to see something else than Rustavi’s Park. However, I never actually took the time to simply let myself get lost in Tbilisi. 
During this trip I finally made it to the Mother of Georgia. Had I known you have the most amazing view over Tbilisi from this statue, I would've gone there months before. 
The way back also turned out to be an interesting discovery journey. Due to not really paying attention which way we took, we managed to find ourselves standing on someone's private property, finally realising this would not lead us back down to Tbilisi's Old town. We retraced our steps and finally engaged in some much overdue navigation until we were finally back to public paths.
While walking, my friend and I also discovered the huge amount of churches that are visible from above the city and it was quickly turned into a competitive game. At this point of the story, I highly recommend not to do the same. Especially if the game happens to be an adaptation of the "Hit when you see a yellow car" Game. There is an infinite amount of churches and you will end up hitting each other constantly. Seriously, just don't.

2) Speaking of churches, during these days I finally made it to the "Sameba Cathedral". This has been a destination on my To-Do-List for far too long. Especially, since every night the church seems like it is hovering above the city due to being completely lit. When I did finally see it up close, it was almost intimidating. I believe I have never seen a larger church (Makes sense - it’s the biggest one in Georgia. Still cool!)
Leaving the church behind us, we stopped for a few more on our way, either for game purposes or to visit. And after walking for forever, we finally made it to one of my favorite destinations in Tbilisi.

3) The crooked clocktower is not only an incredibly beautiful architectural sight, but also happens to belong to a theater- and if that wasn't enough to make it one of my favorite places, Gabriadze theater is a puppet theater. When I learned about this it sparked a crazy amount of joy in me and ever since then I have been trying to get my hands on some tickets. Although I now have to wait until June- I did finally manage to get some. Until then I will simply enjoy the clocktower a bit more.
With this somehow illogical highlight our Tbilisi-Tour slowly ended (we did see and encounter many more things but they would simply overflow this blogpost) and we tried to make our way to at least one destination located a tiny bit further.

4) Since forever, I wanted to visit one of the cave towns and while Vardzia is very hard to reach for me, not having a driving license, Uplitsikhe is much nearer and easier to get to. Therefore, we spent one day discovering the caves of Uplitsikhe. It was very interesting, especially since we skipped informing ourselves about the correct historical background before (it was done afterwards - no worries - education stays important) which resulted in guessing what certain parts of the caves might have been used for. Later, we even realised some of our theories were correct, while others reminded us to revise a bit of history knowledge here and there.
After getting back to Tbilisi, we decided to go to the cinema - more specifically “cinemaholics”. Now, I had wanted to visit this place already one week prior, but upon arriving and realising I had to ring a doorbell to be let in, my social insecurities had kicked in and I just left to go back home. Embarrassing, but you know - one of those days. However, I was motivated to not let that happen a second time, especially since I was not alone. We managed to cross the great evil doorbell obstacle and went to sit down and watch a movie. And the movie itself deserves a full paragraph here:

5) We watched "Angels Egg" - a japanese animation movie that takes place in an apocalyptic or maybe even post-apocalyptic world. You would expect me to be able to differentiate between apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movies, but I can confidently say: This movie is designed to not be understood in the most fascinating way. The references to ancient philosophers, religious stories and science (even taking steps into bio-punk aesthetics) completely turn your brain inside out while the uneasy and dooming atmosphere encapsulates your attention. That is until the movie eventually ends and you are suddenly back in reality having to function like a normal human being. If you couldn't tell, this movie is a huge recommendation and if you do end up watching it please reach out to me - I seriously need to talk about what I just saw.
With this my stories of vacation end. I did not manage to travel as much as I would've wanted to, but I still enjoyed a lot of other occupations. However, before I could give travelling through Georgia a second try, I had to get back to volunteering and there was already a Manglisi-Camp waiting for us.

Part 2 - Work, but not really

While I was initially afraid we would not be able to handle the camp (like I am afraid of literally everything at this point) it turned out to be absolutely fine and even a very enjoyable time for myself. One of the reasons for that was the amazing weather, which made it possible to have most activities outside without the need of bad weather alternatives. Somehow during one of those activities all of the 28 kids understood how to set up tents. This sounds like the logical result of having a workshop about tents, but usually when doing those activities I aim for a good 75%. However, they surprised me in the best way.
Another activity was a hike I already knew from December's camp. This time tho - it was a lot different, since I saw the track last when there was still snow and now the ground was full of the first colorful spring flowers. It was truly beautiful and even relaxing, although I did get lost with my group due to not being able to recognize the path during a different season. Still, everybody made it back happy and healthy. Although I was very tired after just those few days of camp, it was a really good one from which I will keep happy memories.

This already brings me to the end of April, which I will finish on a slightly melancholic note since a couple days ago I booked my flight back to Germany determining the fast approaching end of my project. I am now realizing just how little time I have left and although it does make me sad, I gain motivation to finally bring more attention to travelling (for real this time - I promise!). I still have the whole May and I am excited to see what it may bring. 

 


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