April 22, 2010

Last Saturday we feasted on salmon, fresh asparagus and fresh strawberries. It is SPRING! Our weather is typical for spring: rainy day followed by a warm sunny day, back and forth. It was in the mid 70’s on Sunday so I got the gardening bug bad and dug in the dirt for a couple of hours planting cone flowers, black eyed Susan’s and lupine. For the kitchen I planted thyme, oregano, parsley and rosemary. Sorry about that sage…

Ron’s work has finally kicked into gear. He has had more meetings with Papuna, deputy minister of finance and Giorgi, budget director since we got back from the US than he has had the six months we have been here. This makes both of us happy.

We have been looking at mafrashes, a woven bag much like an open topped bag used when the bridge left her home to carry her belongings or used for carrying other household items. Ron had a great idea to make a bedspread using the two side panels on the top of the bed in the middle and the two ends panels for the pillow area. Easier said than done. We went to Rudy’s and found a mafrash we really liked but decided to look further. A friend recommend Jamal who works out of his home. He brought some mafrashes to the house and we didn’t like any of them compared to the one we had seen downtown. Jamal came back later with more samples including a rug he suggested cutting up to make our bedspread. When we looked at the rug, we really liked it and asked if we could keep it and show it to our friend Anne Patterson who is an expert on regional carpets. Anne said it was a good buy. So we bought it. It will require repairs but that is Jamal’s specialty. Anne has a number of carpets that he has repaired and when she showed them to us we could not see where the repairs had been made. Anne has over 130 pieces in her collection, not all are carpets but she does have quite a few carpets. Jamal also bought some mafrashes we loved, very traditional patterns but the family who was selling them wanted $550. We went back downtown and bought the original mafrash we had seen. We decided to keep it as a mafrash and not disassemble it for the bedspread idea. We asked Jamal to make the needed repairs. The hunt continues.

I was approached by the head of an NGO here about doing a volunteer job with Tbilisi State University. After meeting with Kevin and his assistant Eka I decided to take it. It will be for six months starting in May or June. This is right when IWA shuts down for the summer. The timing seemed perfect. I will help develop an alumni office which is non existent in these parts. Lots needs to be dine but it seems like a neat project with loads of potential.

Saturday we are going to David Gareja on the border with Azerbaijan. There are 15 old monasteries spread over a large remote area that looks like a lunar semi desert landscape. The oldest monastery was founded by Davit (David) Gareja, one of the 13 ascetic ‘Syrian fathers’ who returned from the Middle East to spread Christianity to Georgia in the 6th century. Manuscript were translated and copied and a school of Georgian fresco painting developed. The monasteries were destroyed by the Mongols in 1265 and revived in the early 14th century. They were later sacked and in 1615 on Easter night 6000 monks were killed and most of their artistic treasures were destroyed by Shah Abbas of Persia. In 1675 King Archil initiated some restoration and gave monks a small stipend. They remained working until the end of the 19th century. During the Soviet times the area was used by military exercises. Some of the earliest demonstrations of the perestroika period in Tbilisi were protests against this vandalism. Davit and his disciples lived in caves here. Frescoes from the 11th century still exist and it is now a working monastery once again. We will be able to hike around the area for about three hours before heading back to Tbilisi. We have to visit in the spring as in the summer the area is infested with snakes, yikes!

When we return it will be a quick turn around to attend a charity auction/dinner/dance. Should be a very full day!

Sunday April 25
It rained the entire day yesterday so we only got to see the lower monastery of David Gareja. It was very foggy on the drive up to the monastery so we could see very little. It was cold (60 F). The complex is truly fascinating with most of the structure built into the rock or carved out of the rock. We look forward to going again in better weather. Nino from the Embassy Community Liaison Office said this was her 18th trip and the first time it had been this wet. This region is considered a desert with very little rain fall. Not so today! As it was we were an hour and a half late getting back to town so we walked in the door, showered quickly and changed clothes and headed out the door at 6:40 for a quick stop by at Rami and Patrick’s open house and then on to the charity dinner/dance where we boggied all night to the sounds of the beatles