Goroba!

Today (October 2nd) was Goroba – Gori’s first annual Gori Day festival! Now, usually Gori is not the most hopping town in Georgia. In fact, most residents (and guidebook writers) consider it depressingly boring. Everything’s still so new and exciting for me, so I don’t find it boring, but I’ll take their word for it. However, today was not a typical Gori day. It was Gori Day! See the difference? A capital letter and an exclamation point can make all the difference…

Now, most people I talked to hadn’t heard about Gori Day; there were rumors of free shashliki and of Saakasvilli visiting. As it turned out, one of those rumors was true. This meant free shashliki for me! Woohoo! Who cares about presidents when you have shashliki? Anyways, I role out of bed at 11:00 and head out of the house to explore the Gori Day festivities. As it happened, most of Stalin Avenue (the main street in Gori) was roped off. And all around the government square were people in costumes, vendors selling everything from homemade woolskin scarves to honey and paintings. There were kids running around in traditional folk dress and students with easels overlooking the mountains. A little farther down were small little huts constructed overnight with people barbequing shashliki and setting up Georgian table. There was folk dancing and singing and karate performances.

A little later on, Corrie and I met up with some of the people she works with and we headed up to Gori Stikhe – the fortress in the middle of town. Along the way were even more of these little shashliki huts with people sitting around and eating and drinking. As everyone knows everyone in Gori, we ran across some people Corrie’s co-workers know and got our free shashliki. Yum. At the top of the fortress was a large stage where performances soon commenced.

If you’ve never seen a Georgian folk dance, I strongly suggest you go to YouTube right now and take a look. Go ahead, we can wait. Traditional Georgian dance is one of the most beautiful and interesting things I have ever seen. The girls wear long flowing dresses and move like they are just gliding over the floor. The boys dress up with daggers and big fur hats and stomp and jump around stage. At one point, they even did a knife dance/faux-fight which was absolute favorite. Two guys have long daggers and face each other before literally attacking the other. They are flying around the stage, sparks flying from the daggers when they clash. It actually looks quite dangerous – turns out, it is. One of the dancers is a friend of a friend and he showed me the massive bruise and cut where his partner slipped and caught him with the dagger. Ouch!

My landlady’s daughters – Anano and Nini – danced in the festival as well. After they were done, we (our landlady, her brother who has become a great friend, and I) headed back down to the center of town. Along the way we saw lots of old pottery and tools the ethnography museum had set up along the back streets for the festival. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but my camera died after all the picture taking of the day. After reaching the center, we meandered around for a bit and met back up with Corrie who had gone off with her co-workers. Eventually, the concert started and this famous folk band started playing. We watched for a while and then our landlady invited us over for dinner.

Then the eating commenced. Georgian food is amazing and the people are known both for their generous hospitality and “Georgian table.” So even though it was just supposed to be a small dinner, the food just kept coming, and coming. And when you thought you were done? More food. Not that I’m complaining, of course. We had roasted chicken and this special cheese, salads, two types of khachipuri, roasted eggplants with hazelnuts, pickled vegetables, delicious bread, and, of course, homemade Georgian wine. I’ve had Georgian wine before, and it is quite delicious, but I had never had homemade Georgian wine. I can understand why people so often get drunk – it is amazing! Next week they are having a winemaking party, which should be a blast!

So we ate, and talked, and toasted, and drank some more, and had more toasts, and then ate some more. Two hours later, it looked like things were finally winding down. And then, dessert! Eight types of cakes and fresh fruit from the garden – 4 or 5 types of apples (which our landlord peeled for us) and grapes. And chai, of course. We looked at some old photos and just enjoyed each others’ company. That is one thing I really appreciate about Georgia. In America, everything is done quickly and on a schedule. When we want entertainment, we go somewhere and pay for someone else to entertain us, whether that be a movie or a sports game. In Georgia, they take time for people; entertainment is being with friends over good food and drink. Time is relaxed; relationships are more important than schedules. If there is one thing I love about Georgia, that’s it. And so, after ringing in the new day, we finally headed home for a much deserved rest. So, now, I will head to bed. Until next time, nakvamdis!

Sometimes...

Sometimes Georgia makes me happy – like when I can buy 2 pounds of figs for $.50.

Sometimes Georgia makes me sad – like when I see beautiful mountains and streams littered with trash.

Sometimes Georgia makes me laugh – like when my students finally get that “ah ha!” moment.

Sometimes Georgia makes me angry – when I can’t sit alone in a park without getting stared at and harassed because I’m a woman.

Sometimes Georgia makes me feel humble – like when you finally make it up to the top of that mountain you’ve been climbing and find yourself looking over an awe inspiring landscape.

It’s going through all the stages of culture shock – honeymoon, withdrawal, and adjustment – all in one day. Every day. But, hey, that’s what makes it fun. Right?

Gori Jvari or Our Hiking Adventure

Friday (October 1st) after work, Corrie and I were feeling a little stir crazy and decided to see if we could get to one of the mountains around Gori. I didn’t really know how to get their or how far away it actually was, just that we probably wouldn’t get in too much trouble as long as we didn’t turn right. In Gori, you never turn right lest you end up in South Ossetia. (Okay, so it’s not quite that dramatic.)

So, we headed out early afternoon for our little adventure. After walking through a village and getting stared at we, gasp, took a right. While it didn’t take us to South Ossetia, it did put us out on a highway outside of the city. With nothing really to do, we just kept walking. About 15 minutes later, we spied these two old ladies hiking up a hill off the highway. How they managed it, I’ll never know. Georgian babyshki are like Russian babyshki – they’re crazy fierce and you best not mess with them. Figuring that if they could do it, so could we, Corrie and I followed them up. About 10 minutes later, we were at the top, gasping for breath. Like I said, never take on a babyshka…

Anyways, we ended up in this old village at the top of the hill. It appears to have no electricity or running water, with women washing clothes in a big basin in the street. There are haystacks everywhere with donkeys and cows roaming the streets. A massive tank of kvas (a Russian soda) was the only sign of modernity. Of course.

We wandered around the village and found a small path that looked like it led up to this church at the top of the mountain we were trying to get to. We started up the path and spent about an hour hiking to the top. By the end, my legs were shaking and I was out of breath, but it was totally worth the view. Nobody was at the church, so we were able to walk around freely. From the top, we looked out over all of Gori and the surrounding villages, farms, mountains and rivers. What a view. This country is absolutely stunning. We spent about half and hour at the top and vowed to come back with a picnic one day. We set off back down and saw this lovely little road that apparently led down to the highway. 15 minutes later, we were back at the village. I’m still taking the small path next time; it’s part of the experience.







After that, we walked back home, bought some plums from the villagers, and took a much needed 10 hour nap.