Gori at Last!

Wow, what a day! Woke up bright and early to say goodbye and head off to our respective cities. Corrie and U are very lucky in that Gori is only a 40 minute from Tbilisi. They also just renovated the highway on the way there, so the trip is very pleasant. Everyone else wasn’t so fortunate. Chase and Ben went to Kutaisi – a 2ish hour drive – while Caroline and Peg went to Zugdidi – a 4 hour drive. While that’s not all that bad, driving is different in Georgia. Apparently, the most dangerous thing about living in Georgia is the driving. Frankly, it’s terrifying. It’s even worse outside the cities since there is generally only a one-way road. And there are no rules of the road. Apparently, everyone saw about 4 accidents with 3 fatalities on the way there. So, we’re very very lucky.

On a brighter note, Gori is great! It’s old and quaint and has this wonderful small town feel to it. Apparently, you can walk the entire city in less than an hour. As soon as we got there, we dropped off our luggage and then were whisked away to the Education Resource Center (ERC) – Corrie’s home base – to meet some people.

Apparently, everyone is extremely excited to have us because the place was packed. Corrie and I were placed in the front of the room facing everyone while Sophie (our amazing Embassy escort – she’s absolutely fabulous) introduced us and our purpose. I’m a little nervous about the position, mostly because I am new to this experience and want to make a good impression with people who have been teaching for decades. So, I felt kind of like an exhibit in a museum, but everyone was extremely nice and gracious.

We then gave a little blurb about ourselves and then met the teachers. I’m going to be so busy! I am assigned to two schools, but everyone is so excited about us being here and want to learn about America. So it looks like I’m going to be going to all these schools, running tons of programs, and doing workshops all the time. Aaah, I’m not going to have time for everything! I understand what everyone was talking about when they said that sometimes you just need to say no.

After we left the ERC, we did some apartment hunting and had lunch where I attempted to eat some traditional meat dish (I’ve decided that I will at least try all their dishes even if they include meat) – yeah, I don’t like beef or pork, bad idea. After a little more apartment hunting, Sophie and David (our driver) took us outside the city to this lovely, 7th century cathedral in the mountains. It’s one of two of its kind left in the entire country. We went through this small little village – complete with little old ladies washing clothes in buckets outside, men pushing carts of hay, and donkeys and cows in the street. Apparently, Sophie is from that village (or very nearby)!

The cathedral was absolutely stunning. The US has helpd do some restoration and some of the original murals and frescos are still there (color, too!). All around this area are wild and cultivated fruits (that’s what that part of the region is known for). On our very short walk nto the church, there were fig, pears, blackberries, some other fruit trees I couldn’t identify, apples, grapes, and on and on. So, Corrie and I are planning to hike up there early one Sunday morning, go to one of the services in the church (it’s still active), and then have a picnic by the river at the church.

After we left,Sophie treated us to sweets and tea (yum) and we headed back to the hotel. After a little rest, we decided to meet up with this German girl Corrie’s been talking with who lives in Gori and see the city. We walked around for a bit and ran into an outdoor concert – a DJ and lights show. All in all, it was a overwhelming but exciting day. Tomorrow we go to the schools and the next day I start! Wish me luck!