As the wine flows!

October 26 2009

I have completely lost track of time and we are both somewhat exhausted from all the activity here. Some of the fatigue may be a result of adjusting to a new culture and all that entails. Hard to say. Thursday night there was a special dinner for us and the Rusts who were on an official visit to Georgia from Portland,  Ken is the past president of the US Government Fiannce Officers Association and was here for a meeting of the Georgian gorup.  This was something Tim had arranged.  The meal was another Supra... with toasts, koits of wine, and great Georgian food.  The "macho" drinking was also evident with many rounds first from glasses, then from bowls and finally from rams hons. 

On Friday we went on a wine country tour.  wa was ent in a van with a professional driver. That allowed everyone to drink quite heavily when we had the supra later in the day as the professional drivers do not drink and drive, unlike Georgians in general.

The ride took two hours and there was pretty scenery. I think there were nine or ten of us in the van plus the driver. First we stopped at the estate of a famous poet. The grounds were incredible with huge trees. We toured the house with a guide then walked around the grounds and visited the wine cellar which contained 16,000 bottles of wine from the 1800’s. Because this is now a museum the wine is not consumed. What a pity!

Then we drove to an ancient church, where the women were required to put on wrap around skirts over our long pants. The church is being restored but it was wonderful to see such an old building with very high ceilings. Apparently when the Soviets overtook Georgia they white washed all the frescos in the churches. Now the Georgians are trying to restore those that can be restored.

From here we ventured forth to a demonstration farm. We picked grapes and watched them be pressed by a man in rubber boots. The wine flows into a large clay vessel that is buried below the floor then sealed for I think four-six months then the wine is ready. Georgian wine has lower alcohol content than US wine. Then we saw how they make chacha which is homemade vodka.

Next we saw Georgian ‘snickers’ being made. They string walnuts on a thread then coat it with concentrated grape juice that has been reduced to a thick caramel like substance. In the end it looks a lot like a lumpy hot dog. But think fruit leather with nuts. It is quite tasty. Next we saw bread being cooked in a clay oven where they stick the dough to the sides of the conical shaped oven much like naan bread is cooked in a tandori oven.

Then we had a supra, sitting outside in a sheltered area. By now we were joined by another four to six people who seemed to know some of the others present. This started off like all others we have attended. To make a long story short, this supra lasted five hours. The drinking began with traditional wine glasses which are like small juice glasses. As the night wore on, they men progressed to the clay bowls which hold considerably more wine. Here they would balance the bowl on the crook of the arm at the elbow which is held shoulder high, parallel to the floor and consumed in one drink without using hands. Then the bowl is then flipped into the air and caught with one hand. Think showmanship here. As the men became more intoxicated the drinking became fiercer. By this time I had gotten up from the table because we had been sitting for hours and my back hurt from the hard benches. I was standing by the oven nearby. The tamada (toastmaster) looked at me and asked me in Georgian to bring the horns out. Then someone realized I was not an employee and we all had a good laugh. Next they brought out the rams’ horns. The staff brought out the horns which were huge and held lots of wine. By now the men stood on their chairs to drink from the horn, emptying it in one long drink. By the end of evening they moved on to drinking directly from the serving pitcher which held about two quarts. They filled it to the brim and six men passed it around and it was empty by the sixth person. I was ready to jump out of my skin. I left the table and stood by the oven again which was warm as the night was quite cool. It was a long ride home and we arrived at 11:00 p.m. exhausted. I don’t drink alcohol so seeing this kind of excess is actually difficult for me. I will do anything to avoid such a feast again.

The next day was Saturday and a big celebration for Tbilisi as it was the City’s anniversary. We met at the Sheraton Hotel where the Rusts were staying and Dato and crew picked us up there at 11:30. Off we went to the center of the celebration where the first thing was to have designated men put on rubber boots and press the grapes. Ron and Ken got to participate but we had left the camera at home. There were probably fifteen men holding on to each other by having their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders sort of like cancan dancers. After the grapes were pressed, we watched traditional dancing which is quite athletic for the men and very graceful for the women. The women take tiny steps so they literally glide across the stage as though they were skating. It was wonderful to see them in native costumes. We also got to hear traditional singing which I believe is called polyphonic and it was a real treat.

We then walked to old town which is being redeveloped and reminds me of the Pearl district in Portland with lovely sidewalk cafes and interesting shops and apartments. We continued to walk up a very steep, very high hill. At the top was a huge statue of Mother Georgia. In one hand she holds a sword to defend Georgia from her enemies (Georgia has been invaded throughout its history and conquered many times by many different enemies) and in her other hand she holds the traditional bowl of wine to welcome her guests. Wine plays a very critical role in this culture we are learning. The views of the city and the area were the best we have seen here. Fantastic! Did I say we are still enjoying sunshine daily here? Being from the ‘greyt’ NW, this is our idea of heaven.

Next we went on a log raft ride down the river. Each raft had a small table with benches and the traditional supra foods although it was limited. In additional to all the guests on board there were dancers and musicians playing traditional music on traditional instruments. NO one could move very easily here and the dancers had a very small space in which to perform. Outside the rafts there were numerous safely personnel in boats should someone fall into the water. There were no life vests. It was fun and I was glad it was brief as I was about ‘supra-ed out’. It was our fourth days of these events.

Next we went to the largest cathedral in Georgia and it is about ten years old. It was paid for by the government, rich business men, and others. It is huge and made of beautiful carved sandstone. We arrived in time for mass so we saw the patriarch who is the equivalent to the pope in the Georgian Orthodox Church. The churches here are filled with icons and worshippers kiss the icons. There are no pews or chairs and worshippers stand during the services which on Sunday are 3.5-4 hours long. If you are old or pregnant it is acceptable to sit. The best part for me was the choir. Again they were singing in the polyphonic songs and with the acoustics it was a real treat. Afterwards we went home, very tired. After four days of supras we had cereal for dinner and were glad of it. I wanted to go to bed then but it was about 7:30. We made it until 9:30 I think.

Sunday was our first day at home and I relished it. I was able to put all our clothes in order in the closet which is huge and straighten out the dresser drawers. We needed some food so I ventured out to get some veggies and fruit. There is a woman Tim told us about who lives across the street next from us who bakes bread. When I went outside our gate I saw her garage window was open which is the signal that she is selling her bread. I went over and she brought me two rounds of hot bread. It cost about $0.90 for the two. I came back home and pulled out the butter and took it up to Ron who was upstairs in the office. YUM! After the treat I went back out looking for a veggie stand.

Ron spent a frustrating day (not what was needed after this week) trying to get our computers to function. After a bit of expletives he got it done and we went out for lunch. We had no idea what was in the ‘hood’ but stumbled across an Italian place within a few blocks. It was fabulous but the portions were huge so we brought home leftovers. We also found a great shop that had some good home furnishings. If I haven’t mentioned it I am rather particular about such things and it is one of the things that is difficult about living in a developing country: the availability of goods. There were places to get ugly cheap goods but to get quality takes some work. We didn’t buy anything but found some things we liked. I came home and Ron told me he thought there were some leftover bath tiles in the storage room. Sure enough I crawled into the furthest corner and some each color I needed to match towels to tiles. Each bathroom is a different color and the blue towels I brought don’t go with any of the bathrooms. We continued to putter until dinner time and decided to eat light after our big lunch. Ron has managed to add some pounds with all the supras so we are going to try to eat light at dinner time until the weight comes off. We had fruit, cheese, bread, nuts and dried fruit. It was great.

We worked at our computers until bedtime. I was almost in tears I was so exhausted. Ron had a difficult morning with the computers and I was just plum worn out from the week. We have discovered that we have a barking dog behind us and one to our left. They are large dogs with deep barks and they keep us up all night. I was so tired I slept through it mostly but not Ron. He was ready to throttle two dogs last night. We are getting desperate for sleep and rest around here. I told Tim via email about the dogs. He promised us we would learn to tune them out with time.

Today is Monday, Oct 27th.. We had our language lesson first thing. My head was mush so it was a struggle but our teacher is patient. Have I talked about the language here? The alphabet has thirty three letters and a few even look like something you might recognize but that has nothing to do with how the letter sounds. For instance the letter that resembles ‘m’ is pronounced ‘o’, the letter that looks like ‘a’ is pronounced ‘m’, the letter that looks like ‘b’ is pronounced ‘s’. Are you still with me? My favorite word so far is ‘nine’ which is spelled the equivalent of ‘tskhrav’, go ahead, I’m listening to you trying to pronounce it because there’s no friggin’ way to say that word, yet Elza our teacher does it. These guys are short on vowels is all I can say. Ron laughs every tine I attempt to roll my r’s. But the really cool thing is being able to recognize the letters we have learned. Today I was trying to figure out what the three appliances I bought cost me. I was able to read enough letters on the cash register receipt to figure out which one was the blender. It is great fun to learn a new alphabet and language but let me just say I got a loooong away to go! It does make grocery shopping a real challenge however as I haven’t found anything printed in English yet.

After our lesson we got our rabies shots. Yes, there is a problem with rabies here and everyone seems to own a dog. We then got our emergency radio, checked our mail and cashed a check. Ron went to work and I went shopping. Gia helped me. I managed to blow $500 on household items: blender, coffee maker, trash cans, etc. We blew up several appliances when we went to Sri Lanka using transformers and decided to save ourselves the agony this time and just buy appliance that are 220. Unlike Sri Lanka, things are expensive here. Today was my first day to do any serious shopping. I haven’t bought enough food yet to have a feel for the cost of things. The fresh veggies and fruits at the outdoor markets seem very reasonable. And the bread I have mentioned I got for a song.

Oct 28 2009

Today was a great day. We went to bed at a reasonable hour last night and slept in until 7:30 this morning. Georgians go to work around 10 and work later than we do. Ron went to work and I went to an IWA (International Women’s Assoc) monthly meeting. This is a very diverse group of about 100 women. Some are professional working women and some are spouses of men who are working here. About 40% are Georgian. There are women from all over the world here. They do a lot of fund raising in order to do good deeds here. They had a raffle and I won! It was a huge basket with champagne, two flutes, dark chocolates, luxury soaps, candles, olives, cheese and a pillow. Lovely. After the meeting I had a massage at the apartment of the massage therapist. I appreciated being able to see how a typical Georgian lives as many expats live a luxurious lifestyle here. The apartment was tiny and meager but the massage was good. I have had a lot of discomfort since the plane trip here so was glad to start working on getting my strained muscles to loosen up.

Afterwards I came home to meet the guys who were delivering wood for our fireplace and the man who is measuring for window screens. Tonight Ron is at a dinner meeting with reps from IMF (International Monetary Fund) and I get to have a quiet evening alone. I spent most of the time studying my Georgian and writing five simple sentences. I am thrilled that I can already write with the new alphabet but had to admit it is a brain buster.

Slowly I am making headway with finding the things we need for the house: towels, a dish drain board, etc. It takes a real effort to shop here. Yesterday I went to Danish House. I had envisioned lovely items from Denmark such as beautiful table linens, artful knick knacks, and the like. The store was more like Newberry’s, a cheap five and dime. The search continues. I did find a great store for towels but they don’t have wash cloths. So when you come to visit, you will such have to ‘ruff it’.