Gerogia! Drink it in...it always goes down smooth!

Borjomi, a great town with great trails
Pauly, Johanna, and me in Borjomi
Trail maintenance in Georgia, as in the states, is a priority
There may be better places for morning meditation, but I can't think of many.
Just another Sunday at my house. My host dad is playing music. He's a hoot!


Hey all,
Sorry about the delay in posts but getting internet access lately has been as difficult as getting a world series title in Cleveland. It has been an exciting couple of weeks as I have been able to explore some more of this beautiful country and assimilate even more into the wonderful, yet sometimes puzzling culture.
Friday the 20th was a big day as we G7’s found out our permanent site placements. In HUB at Gori they brought us all into the courtyard where they had painted a big map of Georgia. One by one we opened envelopes and walked into the map, standing on our new village or town. A more cynical person would say it was like Godfather II when they cut up the cake shaped like Cuba, but we all found it a lot of fun….and a little sad. Sad because I saw some close friends will be stationed far away, but that’s what Marshutkas are for!
Pauly and Erik…my best friends, are up in the region of Racha, beautiful mountain country in the north. Ryder, my hyper-kinetic Russian-speaking buddy is in a town near the Armenian border and experienced his first earthquake the other night. Allison and Brian are in the balmy resort city of Batumi on the Black Sea. Tony and Katie are far in the East, near Azerbijan, and my dear Johnanna landed a big city post about an hour from me. Kelly, being Kelly, is staying in Gori, her training site. Ellen, my “little sis” is in Adjara, a region that includes Batumi, fairly close to the Turkish border. So, as you can see, we’ll be scattered like so many feathers in the wind come swearing-in day next month.
Me, I’m headed to the region of Samegrelo, which is in Western Georgia. My city is called Senaki and I will be teaching at the agricultural college there. My boss, Gia, is ultimately cool and is literally known by everyone in town…nice to know I’m now connected. I can say, “I know people.” My counterpart is very cool also and I am looking forward to working with her and beefing up the library with lots of English language books (first thinly veiled hint). Samegrelo is an area of Georgia where the people are not Georgian, but Mangrelian. Mangrelian is a totally different language than Georgian…softer, in a matter of speaking. Don’t worry, everyone speaks Georgian too, but I hope to pick up some Mangrelian over the next two years, just cause I have the chance. The West of Georgia is HOT and Humid…it was in the high 90’s everyday I was there. Senaki, about 45 km east of the Black Sea port of Poti, is on the main east-west road and has a train station, theater and cinema. It’s a nice town with a lot to offer.
Well, the power just crapped out and my host mom just brought me some plums that were picked 5 minutes ago, so in the interest of conserving my computer battery, I’ll end this post. Hope all are well back in the states, thanks for the coffee Mom!