What time is it? Summertime!

And then suddenly – half a year passed. Without any warning.

Reading the last article from January while sitting in the office and 40C degrees outside (ugh!) makes you almost want to go back to the cool and fresh winter breeze. Thankfully we have air conditioning. A lot of things have happened, and a lot of things were done and a lots of places were visited. Way too much to put it into just one blog article like this. Therefore, I shall only provide a short recollection with no claim to completeness.

I, Frederik am right now heavily involved in the preparation of the German-Georgian scout exchange that is bound to start in two weeks. Lots of planning, organizing and preparation have already flown into it, with much more to come when it enters the hot phase of the last days. Thankfully I am surrounded by supportive and competent people all working together on this big project, so I believe it will turn out great. Daska, my dear flat mate also had a project on her own, titled “Who am I and why?” focused on cultural identity. It was overall a great success and featured participants from Georgia, Slovakia, Estonia, Tunisia, Italy and Great Britain.

Here in Georgia the summer holidays already began, and with that also the German club I held at a local school has come to an end. In the past weeks before that my pupils, 7th grade, were preparing small presentations about several regions in Georgia and their cultural uniqueness in German language. It was quite impressive to see the language skills and motivation they already had. Some of them even prepared dance choreographies of traditional Georgian dances, with a level of skill most adults couldn’t deliver, it was quite amazing! On the last weekend of school we went on a class trip together to the Borjomi national park, located in the center of Georgia, to go hiking a bit and have a picnic. It was a really great experience!

As for travels, we have made it our task to see every nook and cranny of Georgia. (Hitch-) hiking every weekend! But in the end, after a few months we had to come to the sad realization: it is very much impossible. Even with the year worth of weekends we have, it is simply impossible to everything. And that in a country that small! There are simply too many beautiful mountains, lakes and trails for a simple volunteer to experience. Nonetheless, we are not giving up, and moving every weekend to see new places. Also we have been in Armenia! A country very much alike and also very much different than Georgia. But overall, quite lovely. So lovely, that in fact some of us returned several times!

All in all, our time here is still amazing. We have two more months here, and plan to fully enjoy them!