Georgian Autumn

Written by Damián

Days are quickly passing by and even though it is hard to believe it, third month of our stay is coming to an end. Life has gradually become a routine, more places have been discovered, friendships developed, activities organized. Apart from that, temperatures have dropped, which together with lights beeing placed all over main streets indicate that winter and Christmas are right behind the corner.

But what did happen since the last blog? Well, let me start from the end of October. One sunday morning we met with fellow Georgian volunteers and that is how our long trip to the small village Bediani started. After several hours of the journey we had a short stop at a place called Dashbashi Canyon, which is an imposing wonder of nature with nice waterfalls and ancient church above it. Then we headed back on more than bumpy roads and after some time we finally reached Bediani, place in the middle of nowhere. There, attractive workshop about animation and painting was introduced for local children. After several hours of activities, their enthusiasm, effort and work was rewarded by tasty hamburgers and Kaiserschmarren. We all had a great time and it is possible that we will come back one day.

As November continued, some of us decided to explore the country more and visited destinations such as cave monastery in Vardzia, city of Gori and other worth seeing places. These trips were often additionally enriched by pleasant hitch-hiking experiences and hospitable and generous locals. On the other hand, those less lucky had to involuntary explore nooks of Georgian health care facilities instead.

After some positive feelings and experiences we had gained in above-mentioned village Bediani, we have decided to create and prepare something also for children from daily centers here in Rustavi. So we were planning a bit and so far we managed to organize just one afternoon, which was fulfilled with games and Pizza baking, but we are hoping for another occasions in the near future.

Later on, the time for our on-arrival training finally came and we all (understand 5 EVS volunteers from Rustavi) got on minibus which took us to the Tbilisi Central Station, where other volunteers from both Georgia and Armenia were already waiting. The next few days we spent in a hotel near UNESCO site Mtskheta learning about EVS, our rights and responsibilities, cultural differences, our opportunities and our goals for following months. It was also interesting and inspiring to hear about other projects and experiences from other volunteers and to share our opinions and thoughts. However, the top of the program was probably city game in the city centre of Tbilisi, followed by traditional Georgian feast called Supra with lots of various local meals and drinks... After the training, we said ´good bye´ to the majority of  volunteers, but some of them stayed for a few more days to enjoy Tbilisi and other cool places nearby... On the day of return from the training, we hurried in the evening to the scout centre to participate on a night game, which was both nicely spent time and first real encounter with Rustavi scouts.

So November is coming to an end, leaves are falling, colors of landscapes are changing, temperatures are quite low (as we found out during a Rugby game last saturday), clubs and other activities are running and we are all looking forward to some new events, explorations and maybe also to see our homelands in next few weeks...

PS: if you want to see some more photos, visit my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/daamec/ (and hit follow)