Weird.

Oh, and sorry for the constant weird ominous tone you might have heard while checking out my blog within the past 2-3 months. Apparently one of the games I embedded on the site would instantly start up and basically creep everyone out. I had no idea... So, my bad.

As an apology, here you go:

Livin' like a Georgian

I'll preface this post with, yes...I know, I suck at updating. Haha. I always forget that even my ordinary days in the village, or my regular witnessing of what I deem normal life/behavior here in Georgia could potentially be entertaining for everyone not living a "fake" life as I am. So. I apologize, or as we would say here...Bodishi.

So with that I'll continue on and share some things I have been doing in the past few months.

During the Fall here in Georgia, a big tradition that they have is something called Tataroba. It's whenever they collect the rest of the grapes that won't be used towards winemaking or drying for raisins, and are thrown in a huge cauldron with flour and other Georgiany spices. Then they build a fire underneath and stir the mixture for about 2 hours, and once Grandma says that it is worthy enough, strings with walnuts, hazelnuts, and any other type of nut are dipped into the batter and hung to dry.

Once dry, these Georgian treats are called churchkhela. Or as Georgians brand them, "Georgian Snickers." Each family has their own style of making churchkhela and though they resemble something that might look like the product of a Sunday All You Can Eat buffet at Golden Corral..they can actually taste pretty good. And I take much pride in the quality of my host family's.

 

Secondly, some friends and I thought it would be best to finally get out of site and do some worthwhile site-seeing of Georgia. So, at the request of one of our friends whose birthday it was, we traveled north towards Kazbegi that is situated in the Greater Caucasus Mountains.  Unlike the crazy weather that everyone has been getting back home (Florida mainly), Georgia's winter has been fairly mild, and in turn leaving us snowless...knock on wood. Fortunately, up in the mountains, snow started falling and we all finally felt some Holiday spirit. 

Up on a "hill" that is famous for its monastery, the Sameba, we could witness breathtaking vistas that overlook the town of Kazbegi and the gigantic summits of the Caucasus. After our long and winded hike up, we all were giddy to get back home for some homemade eggnog we recently discovered we could make. So practically after running down the mountain, parkouring over rocks, and falling face first into snow, we made it back to our homestay, the Nazi (not kidding you...it's an actual last name), to make some of the best (insert expletive) eggnog I have ever had. 

  

We had to wake up much earlier the next morning than originally planned because our marshutka driver told us that a major snow storm was coming in and it could very well mean the roads will be closed. And by roads I mean the 1 road up there, and by closed I mean we would be stuck up there for days. A couple of the other people in our group were starting to sweat bullets because they had to be up in a plane later that day to head back to the US. As we were booking back down the mountain, there was absolutely no visibility, only the color white surrounding our vehicle. Also our van was fishtailing all over the place, and if you looked outside the window it was just a sheer drop into an icy abyss only a couple feet away. But, I was strangely comforted by our driver who still felt the need to smoke a cigarette and steer with one arm. Alas, we made it back safe and sound in time to get ready for our Christmas party. Next post, I'll regale you with tales of my nonstop supra-ing
...whoo hoo!

 

Sameba Church picture I took

Much better Sameba Church picture that I didn't take, thanks Google

Volunteer Showcase

A new project I have started working on is a monthly video highlighting different volunteers about their lives in the Peace Corps. The first video spotlights my buddy Tom who lives in a village closest to me.

I hope to travel throughout Georgia in my remaining months, interviewing fellow PCVs, not only for my own interest but so I can share their experiences with others. Soon, the Information Communications Technology committee that I am a part of will have our blog and volunteer website up and running soon, and I'll be posting new Volunteer Showcases each month.

Enjoy!

50th Anniversary

After decades of promoting peace, friendship, and aid to countries all over the world, Peace Corps will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year in 2011. It's exciting to be a part of John F. Kennedy's dream. Me and a few other volunteers are involved in the Peace Corps anniversary committee, where we are in charge of creating different projects to let other family, friends, and host country nationals be a part of the worldwide celebration. We are still in the planning stage but have some ideas including a Trans-Caucasus Skype party where we all can speak to the other surrounding Peace Corps posts on our side of the globe. We're looking at starting an art project to get kids and artists across Georgia express their ideas of peace, and share it with the community. Also, I'm in the process of making a video that we hope will be played on the big screens in the major city squares here in Georgia.

We would love to hear your ideas back home though! If you would like to be involved let us know. We want everyone to be able to be a part of this special occasion. You can contact me through mcraejohnny@gmail.com.

In the mean time, Peace Corps headquarters in DC have created a website project called the "Peace Corps Digital Library" that is filled with photos, stories, essays etc. from volunteers, returned volunteers, staff from all over the world.

Great time to be a Peace Corps volunteer!

Fall...AT LAST!

After a brutal, hot summer here in Georgia we have finally been getting some cooler weather. To take advantage of this change in seasons, Peace Corps had allowed all of the volunteers to come into Tbilisi for an "Emotional Wellness" weekend. The event included grilled hot dogs whilst jamming out to classic American rock, playing kickball, dominating in an undefeated 15 game beer pong winning streak, and fist pumping at our favorite Georgian bar scene, Beatles Club. Suffice to say, I'm doing emotionally well at the moment.

Now that September is creeping through, harvest season will about to be in full swing which is not only a huge deal to almost every Georgian but especially the winery I work for in particular. More and more tourists have been coming to visit the area: mainly guests from Israel, Germany, UK, Australia, and Japan. In addition to doing tours on a daily basis we'll soon be going out to the vineyards to help with the რთველი, grape harvest. This is a strange time of the year because there is so much effort and time put into picking and crushing the grapes and after every major food harvest families celebrate with Thanksgiving style supras several times during the week...which leaves the businesses and streets empty of people. But I'm looking forward to this years harvest, now fully understanding the traditions and having a stronger hold on the language...also it's my last one, so I want to make this one count!

In addition to all the grape-ness here in Kvareli, Alex and I are planning a weekend trip to visit his business associates in Kiev, Ukraine. Both our tourism company (Georgian Journeys) and our wine company (Armunji) are official registered and now we will be spending a good deal of time traveling around the country and surrounding areas looking for contacts and being acquainted with some of Alex's business partners. I'm really looking forward to this because I finally get to be able to see parts of the country that I just haven't had the time (who am I kidding) money to go see. Also, Alex and I are about to implement our business trainings. We have purchased all of our equipment, and most of the students spots have been filled, so we're looking to get this thing running in late September or October. It will be exciting to see my SPA grant finally paying off.

I know, I know...not a very exciting post. But, well...nothing has been very exciting yet. I promise you once harvest starts I'll be sharing plenty of stories. Well, I'll see you (friends and family at least) in less than 11 months! Just one more winter to trudge through. But hey, since I know you want to send me a care package to help me get through it but don't really know what to put in it...you can just send me this. AKA - THE BEST MIX INVENTION...EVER.

Now, for some random Georgian links:

Georgia's Mental Revolution

Russia: In color a century ago. (Some great pictures of old Georgia too)

Everything you'd want to know about Georgia forum

And thanks to Jeff for finding this, you can now build your very own Soviet style cement block apartment! Whoo hoo!

Camping...Georgian Style!

Alright folks, I know my posts are usually straight and to the point, so this time I thought I’d share a story with you. Another volunteer and a good friend of mine, Lauren, will help tell the tale. We both wrote our own perspective of the weekend.

To preface this story, a co-worker of mine caught me off guard one weekend and asked if I’d like to come to the mountains and go camping with his family and close friends. Not knowing of any plausible excuses or reasons to say “No”, I gladly accepted. Lauren was in town at the time, so I dragged her along for moral support. I was told that we needed to be out my front gate at 5 in the morning to be picked up. We both had no idea what we were getting in to. And so our story begins…

Kvareli in the Limelight

My town of Kvareli has been in the Georgian spotlight recently, after discovering that the government's Department of Tourism and Resorts has chosen it as their next tourist location. They are planning a budget of 30 million dollars towards this project, that will go towards road reconstruction, new restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. The project has started now, with the construction of the new tourism office which is about a 1 minute walk from my house and all the brand spanking new signs all over town pointing tourists to different places of interest; and will be in the works till late 2013 (or so they believe...I'm not holding my breath.) Regardless, this an exciting time for my community and for my counterpart, Alex and I as the Department head has asked us to become directly involved. We are charged with the design and creation of Kvareli's branding, flag, and tagline...and hopefully plenty other things later as well. Very fun stuff.

In addition to this, one of the well known news stations, Rustavi 2, here in Georgia has chosen to showcase the winery I work for and interview Alex to ask about our new tourism company he and I started, Georgian Journeys. Unless you speak Georgian, which I'm sure plenty of you do ;) you won't understand what's going on, but there are some cool shots of the winery where I work everyday and some interviews with Alex (guy with silver hair) and also with Kindzmarauli's General Director, Nugzar, who they talk with at length at the end of the program. Skip ahead to minute 13:12 to see the news clip.

Kindzmarauli winery and Georgian Journeys interview

Teo, the marketing director of Kindzmarauli, and myself

Also, to add to the tourismy awesomeness of Kvareli, the president of the winery Tamaz Konchoshvili and the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili have invested their money and efforts into opening a brand new resort here in Kvareli, which just had it's Grand opening a couple of days ago. All the ministry heads, Saakashvili himself, posh-rich Georgian influentials, employees of the winery, and little ole Peace Corps volunteers such as Katelyn and I were invited. Let me tell you....holy...crap. This place is incredible, and seriously belongs in the upper echelons of society even in LA, New York, or Miami. There was non stop all you can eat food and drink (caviar, roasted quail, shrimp, prosciutto, wine, hennesy, whiskey etc etc etc), fireworks, live music from stars of Eurostar and Geostar...Um...wait, am I actually a Peace Corps volunteer? Haha, I'm definitely not gonna try and jinx it. Below is a link to Saakashvili giving a speech, on the roof of the hotel, about the opening of the resort and promotion of tourism on the behalf of Georgia and Kvareli.

The President and the Kvareli Lake Resort


This is gonna be a fun and interesting next year...can't wait.

Nugzar and his wife Teo

The rooftop lounge of the Kvareli Lake Resort

The 2nd 4th

I know I've already stated that it's been a year since first coming here to Georgia like 13 times...but when realizing this is the second 4th of July spent in this country it still surprises me.

It was a great Independence Day weekend though. I made it a point to stuff my face with some classic McDonalds burgers and freedom fries in the morning, then sluggishly make my way over to play softball with some friends who have been setting up games on the weekends to play a team of Georgian girls. The girls are on an official team and wanted practice games to prepare for an upcoming tournament...even though they are in the age range of 12 - 18 years, they were extremely good and we barely won we crushed them...no big deal.

Afterwards, we celebrated with some fried chicken, beer pong, and a night of dancing. BUT! To top off the weekend, Peace Corps invited us to go to the swanky Tbilisi Marriott to hear (and hopefully meet) Hillary Clinton who has been traveling to the Caucasus countries the past week. Sure enough, after quite a long wait (which was done in an air conditioned room...I'm not complaining) she showed up, gave a small 5 minute 'thank you' speech for everyone who has served overseas, yadda yadda. Then, walked around the room to shake hands with anyone who could push their way through. Luckily for me, I towered over everyone else and had a handlebar moustache...so I kinda stood out from everyone else which actually worked, because she looked right at me with a strange eyebrow raised glance, said hello and shook my hand. Pretty cool.

That's my goofy head in the background

Besides not having any fireworks and actually being IN America, I'd say this weekend would be pretty hard to beat for a successful 4th.

Now...if I could only remember where all these states belong, I could truly be proud to be an American. Man, I guess I have been living here for too long.

Games: Play 50 States and Puzzle & Board Games on AddictingGames

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Summer in Georgia

So...this doesn't necessarily show what my summer here in Georgia is like, actually...not at all. I saw ice in drinks at the beginning of the video!, where's the animal slaughter?, or the marshutkas filled with 26 people when it has seats for only 18!?  Haha, but they do make Georgia look pretty good. I gotta admit. Anybody want to come visit?

Hello? Anybody?

My 1 minute and 19 seconds of fame

Last March, a couple of volunteers and myself were asked to be interviewed and photographed for Peace Corps Washington D.C.'s marketing department. The video interviews were about an hour and a half long, and they asked questions regarding practically every aspect of your service. Then I guess when they finally start cutting the footage they pick a certain a theme they want to portray and stick with that. My theme apparently was 'How Peace Corps trained me to become prepared for my service', which is unfortunate because I feel like other parts of my interview were much better...hahah. Oh well. So...finally my video is edited, and even though I look goofy it's cool to be a part of Peace Corps' archives (Who Volunteers?). I could only find my video and another couple who are volunteering in the city of Rustavi here, but hopefully I'll be able to get the others and add them later.

And I guess I'm 26 years old now?

One

Whoa…I have lived in Georgia for exactly a year from today.

I can’t believe it.

Looking back on my first blog post and remembering all the worries and apprehensions about coming here reminds me how much I have learned and seen in my 1st year: I can now speak Georgian (I still use the term ‘speak’ loosely, but am at least able to finally get my points across to them now), I can also read and write in Georgian, I have made great friends both with fellow volunteers and with host country nationals, I’ve participated in several events and helped out with local and community projects, I’ve written a successful grant for my organization and plan on writing several more, I've traveled the country and seen things that date back hundreds and hundreds of years, and I have my sights set on many exciting and up coming projects…

I always think back on the daily devotion I read the day I departed for Georgia exactly 1 year ago, feeling that it spoke directly to me:

June 15^th

God’s Road Map

I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. Deuteronomy 29:5

If we are honest, most of us will admit that we can deal with things that have a precedent, but walking into uncharted territory provokes fear. It is awesome to consider the thoughts that can fill our minds as we look into a future for which we have no road map. There are some things that God used to strengthen His people, and these things are available to us today as we face our challenges as well…’

As much as it was exciting and invigorating to start a new job in a country I knew nothing about and to learn, live, and help the peoples of that nation…it was still extremely nerve-wracking. But, It's comforting to know God is watching and helping you to brave through the unknown if you simply just trust in Him. So, having survived the first year, I feel so comfortable with life here and hope to use the skills I have obtained to further my work and make the next year just as great…if not better than the first.

Reaching the 1st Checkpoint

We're finally about to reach the halfway mark of our service! At times it seems that the first year has flown by, and other times (especially winter) time felt that it was barely craaaaaaawwwwwlling. And yes, there have been some lows since being here but fortunately they have been countered by some incredible highs. I am truly glad to be here, to experience this country and its people firsthand, with some of the best staff and friends that anyone could ask for. I just want to thank my friends and family back home for your constant love and support, and also my fellow volunteers who have become my new family here...thank you for making my service so memorable.

Peace Corps always states that it is "the toughest job you'll ever love". Sometimes for me it has been tough, for different types of reasons, and wanting to go back to the US seemed such an obvious choice. But taking a step back and realizing why I'm truly here and how blessed I am to be able to have such an amazing opportunity like this, has reaffirmed my desire to be here...and shown me why I do love this job.

So, if things ever do look down, and you feel that some obstacles are too overwhelming to achieve, watch this video and you'll find that nothing is impossible.

CNN's i-List

I'm about a month late on this, and most of the other volunteers already know about it, so this is solely for the friends and fam back home.

CNN has started a cool project called i-List and it's, "A new special program that visits a different country each month and look towards its future. Highlighting innovation and influence in business, industry, culture and more. i-List showcases a nation's people and places -- those having an impact inside and outside their borders."

Last month and i-List's 3rd highlighted country was Georgia. Here are the various links CNN created to promote Georgia. To learn more about i-List, click here.

• Georgia's language explained
• Georgia's next generation
• Enjoy a glass of Georgian wine
• Cave tourism in Georgia
• Georgia's unique ballet
• Batumi sees revival of fortunes
• Georgia's powerful patriarch
• Georgia-Russia border tensions
• A Georgian birthday melody
• President Saakashvili

Also, if you have been keeping up with my posts within the past year you should take this Quiz to see how much you really know about Georgia!

The Day I Stopped Sleeping Soundly.

So, I realize this an older video...and for some reason, there's a few of you out there who haven't seen it/but heard about it/and yet still want to see it.

To everybody else. I'm sorry. Don't watch it. (especially if you plan on having BBQ, bacon, ham sandwiches, or any pork related products in the near future.)

The back-story was: My buddy Tom went home on Medical leave for a couple of months. When he finally returned, his family was super thrilled to have him back home. So in order to celebrate his triumphant return they sacrificed and cooked a pig (which is a huuuuuge deal here) for him. And I was lucky enough to be invited.

So...here goes. Curious to see how many seconds most of you get through before you pause/turn away/throw up/run away...etc. It would be a fun experiment so lemme know.

Yes...I actually do work here in Georgia!

"ძალიან დაკავებული ვარ" aka "Sorry it's taken me like 2 months to give you the latest from the land of Stalin."

So, the purpose of this post is my hope to dispel any rumors of me that all I do is sit at a winery everyday, drinking and gettin mtvrali with the locals, playing backgammon, and stumbling back home to just do it over again. Not to say that this isn't a recurring theme in my life here...*ahem*...but yes, I do-do work. Surprise! And lately, a lot of it.

To bring everybody else back up to speed on what I'm exactly doing, I'll give you a quick run-down: I volunteer with the NGO "Association Caucasus Meridian" (ACM) which is headed up by one of the coolest Georgians I've had the pleasure to work with, Alex Tsukilashvili. ACM was established in 1988. Since that time, ACM has implemented about 150 projects of various sizes in the spheres of: local development, environmental protection, education, fighting against corruption, human rights protection, development of children and adolescents, and support of small business development.

Suffice to say, Alex is the man.

                                                                  Alex and his daughter Nata

Anyhow, he wanted to work on something totally different but do it in a way that would be a lot of fun and still promote/help Georgia. So, he became really interested in tourism development. Through this new found passion he has been able to make connections all over Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, etc. to form relationships through each country to be able to promote tourism in this part of the world.

This is where little ole' me finally comes in.

I'm Alex's 3rd Peace Corps volunteer, so he has some experience in dealing with an American and working with the obvious language barriers and such. But, Alex and I have really hit it off and find ourselves passionate about the same types of things. Together we're collaborating to create 2 other companies that will spawn off of his parent company, ACM. Our first project is the creation of our tourism company, "Georgian Journeys". We have been busy creating dozens and dozens of different niche tourism packages: Tours that include but not limited to wine, art, churches and monasteries, white water rafting, hiking, skiing, camping, historical, fishing, etc...this list literally goes on and on...

Also, we've been creating different merchandise (shirts, mugs, towels, practically everything under the sun) to sell on our website that we are also in the midst of also creating right now. So, yeah...busy.

Our second project is the creation of our own wine company. As of now, ACM (Alex and I) are helping with the local winery, JSC Corporation Kindzmarauli, in promoting their products, establishing a working tourist center, and looking for other distributors to sell their wine. Though the people whom we work with here at the winery are a fantastic bunch, there is unfortunately, a lot of restrictions in the freedoms of how Alex and I would like to accomplish these goals. So, eventually we are starting our own wine company, where we can experiment and be independent in the way we market ourselves. Creation of our own branding, bottle styles, logos, the whole bit. So eventually, as time goes on I'll post the links to the individual websites that are being worked on as of now, including Kindzmarauli's. (It's seriously some of the best wine I've had, not trying to be bias here. Apparently, when Stalin was in charge, he would order his favorite semi sweet wine directly from this winery because he claimed it was the best there is. I guess that would be one thing me and him had in common.) 

                                                              My Kindzmarauli winery family

One problem Alex has had within the last year, was he didn't have his own office anymore. Since the president of the winery and Alex are super tight, they have given he and I an office at the winery where we can work during the day. But, within the past few months he was able to find a space suitable for his NGO's needs. Through Peace Corps and USAID's grant program SPA, I succeeded in obtaining a grant for $5000 to reconstruct a brand new conference hall near the office where our organization will do business and entrepreneurship trainings for youth and adults. Also this space will be open for public use since there isn't any similar place business professionals, teachers, and students can use within our region. 

Then, through Peace Corps, I signed up to be on the first ever ICT (Information and Communication Technology) committee here in Georgia. Me and 3 other volunteers have been putting together the guidelines for the committee, and project ideas such as language podcasts for up and coming volunteers, a site for volunteer's parents, a space where current volunteers can share stories and secondary project ideas, etc.

Lastly...whenever there is spare time, I've also been working with both a local sculptor who needs help obtaining finances for an art school here in Kvareli and also the director for a local folk band who needs assistance in marketing his group. And also, since it's getting to be summer time, Kvareli is having tourists visit again! So, from time to time I do English speaking tours throughout the winery and have led guests from Japan, Sweden, Brazil, Israel, and Switzerland. 

Well, that's my long spiel about what I'm actually doing here in Georgia. Hopefully soon I'll post the links to our websites so you can see for yourselves. Till then, droibit!