May 24, 2010
I must say I am ‘behinder’ than usual. I have gotten very busy here and other things seem to get in the way of blogging so my apologies to our readers.
I have accepted a volunteer position as Tbilisi State University. In 2005 the national government decided to stop funding state schools and the onus is now on the schools to find addition funds to exist. TBS won a grant that had a consultant perform an assessment of the management system. One recommendation was to create an alumni relations office to maintain communication with alums and hopefully obtain some funds from the more successful alumni. TBS is the oldest (90 years) and largest public university in Georgian. Many politicians, and professionals are graduates of TSU. This year TSU won another grant to develop an alumni relations office. I have volunteered to help the newly hired chief alumni officer develop the program. A consultant will visit TSU three times this summer fro assessment and training. Unfortunately I will miss the first visit. He arrives the day after we leave and leaves two days before our return. Bummer!
We leave Friday, May 28th for a meeting in Atlanta. The meetings start on June 3rd so we will zip up to DC to see our kids for Friday-Tuesday and come back to Atlanta on the 2nd. Then we will drive to SC to see my family on June 10th and drive back on Monday June 14 to catch our plane back here, arriving June 15th. My dear friend James Wall has moved to Atlanta recently so I will spend time with him while Ron is attending his meetings. Another friend of high school lives in Atlanta and James has hooked us up so Nan and I will have 47 years of catching up to do! Yikes, can I be that old?
Things are going much better here for Ron. His work is finally moving along, not as fast as he would like but at least it is now moving! IWA is slowing down for me as we don’t meet again until September so there will be no fundraising activities. This is the perfect time for me to help TSU with their project but I think the fall will be real busy when IWA starts to gear up for fall activities. Hopefully things at TSU will be off to a good start and my work will start to wan by then. How’s that for positive thinking?
We are having spring weather here. It rains often but the sun comes out almost daily. We have taken the wool blankets off the bed and opened the window and turned off all the radiators. Everyone says summers are hot here. We have air conditioners in each room but we prefer fresh air over the AC. My guess is we will need AC in order to sleep.
I planted two packets of nasturtiums that I had ordered from the US and they are all germinating. I hope they survive our being away for 17 days. I have asked my housekeeper to come three times a week to water plants. I planted about 15-17 pots to help soften the concrete castle we live in. I am pleased with the results. Our yard is miniscule and I am grateful that I think I can keep up with the weeds. My gardener doesn’t seem to notice them and I never seem to be here when he is here to show him how to weed. We have a horrid grass weed with roots to China. I dig and dig and never seem to find the bottom. My arthritic fingers don’t much like pulling weeds.
We have been engaging in lots of social activities: dinner parties, meeting friends at restaurants for lunch on Sunday, and having friend here for dinner. I am excited to be working at TSU because I will be working with Georgians as I find I don’t have as much interaction as I would like through my normal course of the day. I am learning first hand about some of our cultural differences. For instance, Georgians sense of time is more casual than ours. Today we had a meeting with the Vice Rector of the university. She is the equivalent to the VP. The meeting was scheduled for 11:00. At 11:05 I asked Mariam the chief alumni officer what time the meeting was with the VR and she said 11:00. A minute or so later we got up to go downstairs to meet with her. It’s what Ron calls GST (Georgian Standard Time). Georgians also don’t plan ahead (as evidenced by the way they drive). It was decided this morning that we should have a meeting this week to inform the key staff about the consultant’s visit next week. He will be meeting with the same staff who will be invited to the meeting to be held on Thursday. But that is one of the benefits of working with Georgians: I will learn more about their way of life.
The thing I dislike the most about living here is the driving. When we had our security orientation, the security officer said the biggest danger in Georgia was not the possibility of being robbed, murdered or burglarized but getting into a car. He encouraged us to never drive at night due to the amount of drinking and driving that occurs here. I mentioned lack of planning above. Multiple times a day every day I see drivers in the far left lane making right hand turns. They often do this when stopped at a red light, turning in front of three lanes of stopped traffic. Countless times I have witnessed drivers running red lights without even slowing down. My least favorite offense is the drivers who blow through a red light at a specially designated pedestrian crossing. A pedestrian could be crossing the street and the driver would not see the pedestrian until they had run over them. There are few places to make left hand turns here or to find a convenient place to U-turn. Drivers have to go a long way sometimes to make a left handed turn. For instance to get to our fresh market it is illegal to make a left handed turn onto the street where the market is located so Gia drives across the river, exits under the bridge so he can get back onto the bridge on the correct side of the street re-crosses the river and makes a right hand turn. This maneuver take 4 right hand turns. It is a very typical move here. At an intersection near our house many driver blow through the red light so they can turn left before the oncoming traffic has a green light. As a pedestrian, I have to watch out to make sure one of these idiots doesn’t kill me while I am trying to cross that street. I feel very blessed that I don’t have to drive here and am very grateful that Gia is so skillful. He watches all his mirrors and the road ahead constantly checking to see who is doing what around him. I have seen police cars break every traffic law imaginable: driving in the opposing lane of traffic ( a very common practice here by every driver, not just police cars), driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, making illegal u-turns and left hand turns to name a few. Only once have I seen a police car stop a traffic violator, someone driving top speed in a congested commercial/residential area. By the way, almost every street is a mixed use area: commercial on the first floor and residential above. Most buildings here are four-15 stories high and most have small shops/businesses on the first floor and residences above. There are very few individual homes here. The vast majority of people in Tbilisi live in high rise concrete ugly buildings with tiny balconies where they dry their clothes as almost no one owns a clothes dryer. Recently I asked Gia, our driver, how long he had lived in his apartment. He said “All my life.” I almost fell over. I counted up how many places I had lived and came up with 28. Granted I am older but I had lived in three places by the time I was 8! If you went to the villages outside of Tbilisi you would find people living in small houses for the most part and they would be quite humble judging from the outside. I would guess most do not have central heating if any heat at all. The Georgians that I have asked told me they heat one room in their apartments here as it is very expensive. Our housekeeper and Laurie’s housekeeper call and then ask us to call them back on our phones to reduce the cost of their cell phone usage. It is as though their watch every tetri (100 tetri make one lari about $0.53). A friend of ours said he thinks it is more a matter of getting what you can from the system, a holdover from Soviet days. For example Nino, our housekeeper asked me if she could shower here because her house is not heated. It is now spring, much warmer, but she continues to shower here, saving her water usage and electricity to heat water assuming they have a hot water heater. As Americans most of us have an abundance by comparison. I have been to two apartments where Georgians live and have been made aware of how little space they have. Tim, Ron’s predecessor here, told us the Georgians he knew loved to come to his house because they could spread out and really relax because of the space available. I have been in many homes where American are living or other expats and diplomats and we all have large homes or apartments that for the most part are elegant at best and more than adequate at worst. There are some very wealthy Georgians who live well but I would guess most people here are below middle class.
Ron has gotten a wild hair and want to buy an old Russian jeep to be his project car. Not a project to fix up, but a vehicle to use to pick-up project materials for projects around the house. We know we need a new car when we get home and deciding on what to get has always been difficult because he wants to be able to carry a full sheet of plywood. If we have another way to do that, we will have more options on what to buy. Before coming here he was thinking of an old step-side pick-up truck. But now, he’s looking into what it will take to bring one of these things home. Besides, he likes the way these things look. It must be a “guy” thing! They call it a GAZ 69.
I think I menioned before that we purchased a Mafrash a while ago. Many of you have written to ask: "Just what is a Mafrash" Well, it's an original carpet bag, abour 2 feet long by one foot wide and 18 inches deep. We had a small table/bench built so we can place the Magrash upside down over it and use it as a suitcase stand in one of our guest rooms at home in Vancouver.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
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…
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
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.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
Repairs, a Party and Sunshine
Feb 25, 2010
Today two plumbers came to clear the bathtub drain on the third floor. They brought a toilet plunger. Three electricians came to find out why our security lights weren’t on and two men came to work on the refrigerator that leaks water on the inside of the refrigerator. So I had seven men here at once working on minor repairs. This must be a hold over from the Soviet era where everyone had a job!
Feb 26
We got a new refrigerator delivered today. It is much nicer than the old one but would be considered small at home. I ain’t complaining about no free refrigerator!
Feb 28
Today we had an ‘art party’ for Maia who made our wall hanging. We had invited a number of people over to meet her and see her work. On Friday I picked her up at her house and brought her over here to hang some of her pieces. Today she came over early and used our dining room table to display her beautiful scarves of felt and silk. About 20 people came by today. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Rain had been predicted so I did a bit of worrying thinking people wouldn’t come out on a rainy day. Then when it turned out so pretty I worried that they wouldn’t come because it was so nice. Do you get an idea of how much I like to worry?!? One person ordered a custom made felt scarf for her husband and two people were very interested in one of her framed pieces. I don’t know if others will follow up with her but she seemed pleased to have the exposure. A number of people took her card.
It was a fun day. Ron and I worked like a well oiled piece of machinery getting ready. We truly enjoy working on things together and have a good rhythm as a team. Clean up is the same way. It goes easily and quickly. Must have something to do with having been together for so many years and enjoying each other’s company. It helps that neither of us likes confrontation or fighting so we rarely have anything that we disagree over. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a loud noise and considered getting up but fell asleep before I managed to crawl out of bed. Turns out someone must have been mighty mad or drunk as they completely wrecked our very strong steel gate. It will still be able to keep people out but I am not sure it can be opened for large deliveries. Because we have these incredible security lights that light up the street for a couple of houses in each direction, we have to assume the driver was drunk as you can’t miss this gate. We reported it to the Embassy. Our contact said it will probably be a landlord issue. Who knows what that will entail?
Last night we attended a concert sponsored by the Polish Embassy. The program featured two Russian pianists who were playing Chopin’s first and second concertos. It was a great program. The conservatory was filled to overflowing. I would guess there were fifty people standing throughout the evening. Georgians seem to love the arts. We met in Old Town, Ron walked from work and I had Gia take me there. I went early so I could explore some of the shops. Old Town is being revitalized and it a very attractive area. No gray concrete apartment houses here. Instead there are charming colorful rehabbed buildings. It has some good restaurants and neat shops, galleries, etc. We had a great meal at the French restaurant where we dined a few months ago.
Today is March 2 and the plumbers arrived shortly after the satellite dish guys. Our boiler needed a new water pump which was installed today. We now have a new satellite dish so we can catch the news. I have no idea what has been going on in the world for the past week. I missed the Olympics and I am sad about that. I love watching the Olympics. Such is life. After they finished up I made a quick lunch then walked to the other end of Lvovi to see where the IWA coffee is being held tomorrow. It is at the Dutch Ambassador’s house as his wife is a member. It is a huge and gorgeous place and I wanted to make sure it was within walking distance. It is a perfectly beautiful day today so when I got back home, I took a dining chair, a small side table and my homework outside on the front porch and spent an hour writing questions for my assignment. Elza has busted us for being so lazy lately and told us we need to be speaking Georgian more. So on Saturday night while dining out and last night we spoke Georgian to each other for about five minutes. We have been remiss with our drills although we do our assignments.
Tomorrow is another Georgian holiday so Ron has the day off. We hope the weather holds and plan to have a play day after I get home from the IWA coffee at noon. We want to either walk up to Lisi Lake above our house or go to the botanical gardens. Anytime the weather is pleasant Georgians pour out of their dreary apartment houses and sit in the parks, or on all the benches that are downtown. I am the same way here. I look for reasons to go outside. Our house is quite nice but there are no windows on the right or left side of the house and relatively little light from the north side, making the house darker than I like. Fortunately we have had many more sunny days here than we have at home in the Greyt NW!
Today two plumbers came to clear the bathtub drain on the third floor. They brought a toilet plunger. Three electricians came to find out why our security lights weren’t on and two men came to work on the refrigerator that leaks water on the inside of the refrigerator. So I had seven men here at once working on minor repairs. This must be a hold over from the Soviet era where everyone had a job!
Feb 26
We got a new refrigerator delivered today. It is much nicer than the old one but would be considered small at home. I ain’t complaining about no free refrigerator!
Feb 28
Today we had an ‘art party’ for Maia who made our wall hanging. We had invited a number of people over to meet her and see her work. On Friday I picked her up at her house and brought her over here to hang some of her pieces. Today she came over early and used our dining room table to display her beautiful scarves of felt and silk. About 20 people came by today. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Rain had been predicted so I did a bit of worrying thinking people wouldn’t come out on a rainy day. Then when it turned out so pretty I worried that they wouldn’t come because it was so nice. Do you get an idea of how much I like to worry?!? One person ordered a custom made felt scarf for her husband and two people were very interested in one of her framed pieces. I don’t know if others will follow up with her but she seemed pleased to have the exposure. A number of people took her card.
It was a fun day. Ron and I worked like a well oiled piece of machinery getting ready. We truly enjoy working on things together and have a good rhythm as a team. Clean up is the same way. It goes easily and quickly. Must have something to do with having been together for so many years and enjoying each other’s company. It helps that neither of us likes confrontation or fighting so we rarely have anything that we disagree over. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a loud noise and considered getting up but fell asleep before I managed to crawl out of bed. Turns out someone must have been mighty mad or drunk as they completely wrecked our very strong steel gate. It will still be able to keep people out but I am not sure it can be opened for large deliveries. Because we have these incredible security lights that light up the street for a couple of houses in each direction, we have to assume the driver was drunk as you can’t miss this gate. We reported it to the Embassy. Our contact said it will probably be a landlord issue. Who knows what that will entail?
Last night we attended a concert sponsored by the Polish Embassy. The program featured two Russian pianists who were playing Chopin’s first and second concertos. It was a great program. The conservatory was filled to overflowing. I would guess there were fifty people standing throughout the evening. Georgians seem to love the arts. We met in Old Town, Ron walked from work and I had Gia take me there. I went early so I could explore some of the shops. Old Town is being revitalized and it a very attractive area. No gray concrete apartment houses here. Instead there are charming colorful rehabbed buildings. It has some good restaurants and neat shops, galleries, etc. We had a great meal at the French restaurant where we dined a few months ago.
Today is March 2 and the plumbers arrived shortly after the satellite dish guys. Our boiler needed a new water pump which was installed today. We now have a new satellite dish so we can catch the news. I have no idea what has been going on in the world for the past week. I missed the Olympics and I am sad about that. I love watching the Olympics. Such is life. After they finished up I made a quick lunch then walked to the other end of Lvovi to see where the IWA coffee is being held tomorrow. It is at the Dutch Ambassador’s house as his wife is a member. It is a huge and gorgeous place and I wanted to make sure it was within walking distance. It is a perfectly beautiful day today so when I got back home, I took a dining chair, a small side table and my homework outside on the front porch and spent an hour writing questions for my assignment. Elza has busted us for being so lazy lately and told us we need to be speaking Georgian more. So on Saturday night while dining out and last night we spoke Georgian to each other for about five minutes. We have been remiss with our drills although we do our assignments.
Tomorrow is another Georgian holiday so Ron has the day off. We hope the weather holds and plan to have a play day after I get home from the IWA coffee at noon. We want to either walk up to Lisi Lake above our house or go to the botanical gardens. Anytime the weather is pleasant Georgians pour out of their dreary apartment houses and sit in the parks, or on all the benches that are downtown. I am the same way here. I look for reasons to go outside. Our house is quite nice but there are no windows on the right or left side of the house and relatively little light from the north side, making the house darker than I like. Fortunately we have had many more sunny days here than we have at home in the Greyt NW!
Monday, May 10, 2010
May 4 2010
On Sunday we were invited to a Kentucky Derby party given by embassy friends Craig and Svetlana Hart. Craig is from Kentucky. They had invited guests to wear hats of all kinds in the tradition of the derby. What fun. Ron and I decided to dress up for the occasion. I used one of his hats and added silk flowers and a scarf and he won his panama with one of my scarves serving as his ascot! He he. See how cute we are in the photo. There were probably 75 people there. The hats were great. Some of our favorites were a heliport hat, a landing strip with plane hat, a race course hat complete with horses, railing, American flags and pendants with all the horses names, the ‘sheik your booty’ hat to name a few. The Harts had prepared a feast, a Southern feast at that: burgoo, cornpudding, ribs and chicken, pecan pie and such. I got homesick just eating the food.
We were invited to buy chances on the race. So we bought one chance for 5 lari (about $2.50). They sold 100 chances so there would be five winners as there were 20 horses in the race. We drew Super Saver. I told Ron we would win because we are…super savers. Ron’s mom says we squeeze the nickel so hard the Indian is riding the buffalo. Sure enough we won 100 lari, $56. Before distributing the money a woman from USAID made a plea for a child with meningitis and the five winners gave her our winnings. 500 lari will help the child get the needed medication. It poured rain throughout the party but it didn’t dampen our spirits. Craig had erected some tarps over the patio and the house was large enough for the group.
Last night Jamal brought over our mafrash that we purchased a month or so ago. Jamal sells and repairs carpets, and other woven items, such as the mafrash. This is a large woven bag used for carrying items such as clothing before the suitcase was created. It has an open top. We will have a structure made and invert the mafrash over the top and use it as a luggage stand or table. See photo.
We are now working with Lala (have you noticed how the names here have lots of vowels? Unlike the nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs). To make us a bedspread from a Turkish textile we bought Easter weekend when we were in Istanbul. She will attach some fabric to the edges of the textile to make it large enough to serve as a coverlet then she will make a bed skirt. Once this project is finished we will have show and tell with photos.
Ron’s work has really taken off since our return from San Francisco. He has had more meetings since our return than in the entire seven months since we arrived. He is much happier to be busy. Tomorrow I will take part in the interviews for the chief alumni officer position at Tbilisi State University. I will volunteer for the project two days a week for six months. Alumni associations are unheard of here and the concept of giving back to the university is unknown also. However the national government was changed the way schools are funded and it is critical that universities find other means of support. This is a grant funded project and I think it will be great fun. How’s that for optimism?
On Sunday we were invited to a Kentucky Derby party given by embassy friends Craig and Svetlana Hart. Craig is from Kentucky. They had invited guests to wear hats of all kinds in the tradition of the derby. What fun. Ron and I decided to dress up for the occasion. I used one of his hats and added silk flowers and a scarf and he won his panama with one of my scarves serving as his ascot! He he. See how cute we are in the photo. There were probably 75 people there. The hats were great. Some of our favorites were a heliport hat, a landing strip with plane hat, a race course hat complete with horses, railing, American flags and pendants with all the horses names, the ‘sheik your booty’ hat to name a few. The Harts had prepared a feast, a Southern feast at that: burgoo, cornpudding, ribs and chicken, pecan pie and such. I got homesick just eating the food.
Last night Jamal brought over our mafrash that we purchased a month or so ago. Jamal sells and repairs carpets, and other woven items, such as the mafrash. This is a large woven bag used for carrying items such as clothing before the suitcase was created. It has an open top. We will have a structure made and invert the mafrash over the top and use it as a luggage stand or table. See photo.
We are now working with Lala (have you noticed how the names here have lots of vowels? Unlike the nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs). To make us a bedspread from a Turkish textile we bought Easter weekend when we were in Istanbul. She will attach some fabric to the edges of the textile to make it large enough to serve as a coverlet then she will make a bed skirt. Once this project is finished we will have show and tell with photos.
Ron’s work has really taken off since our return from San Francisco. He has had more meetings since our return than in the entire seven months since we arrived. He is much happier to be busy. Tomorrow I will take part in the interviews for the chief alumni officer position at Tbilisi State University. I will volunteer for the project two days a week for six months. Alumni associations are unheard of here and the concept of giving back to the university is unknown also. However the national government was changed the way schools are funded and it is critical that universities find other means of support. This is a grant funded project and I think it will be great fun. How’s that for optimism?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Carperts, Caves and Cavorting
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 a 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 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 house. He bought 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 will place it over a small table (upside down) and use the table as a place for a guest to rest a suitcase. 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!
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. The food was the worst I have ever had at a large event. The meals were stone cold. Ron and I had different entrees and both were cold. I won’t linger on this because the rest of the evening was great. We enjoyed dancing to a band that played Beatles music and the auction was quick. The raffle prizes went on forever but we got through it okay. Ron danced almost every song while I only like to dance to slow tunes anymore. Fortunately there were four women at our table who loved to dance and he kept them busy. One of the single women said ‘Ron is such a gentleman’. If she only knew how wonderful he really is (see below). I can only say ‘gentleman’ hardly describes this guy. I count my lucky stars daily and feel blessed among women!!
Sunday April 25
We had trouble getting to sleep and I was a total grouch today. Added to lack of sleep I discovered all the pots I had planted were in standing water due to the rain and the fact they had no drain holes! Damn. Ron drilled holes while I tilted the pots. We had mud everywhere. I realized that I needed to repot all of them and had a snit fit. My dear husband consoled me all day. He helped me clean up the mess on the front porch when I finished and then he grilled the most wonderful salmon on the Weber. We finally found some real charcoal briquettes and we were ecstatic. Funny how the little things in life can make such a difference. We had tried cooking with the Georgian charcoal and were not very successful. It isn’t compressed like ours and never seems to get very hot. I guess if this is our biggest problem we are doing okay.
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.
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!
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. The food was the worst I have ever had at a large event. The meals were stone cold. Ron and I had different entrees and both were cold. I won’t linger on this because the rest of the evening was great. We enjoyed dancing to a band that played Beatles music and the auction was quick. The raffle prizes went on forever but we got through it okay. Ron danced almost every song while I only like to dance to slow tunes anymore. Fortunately there were four women at our table who loved to dance and he kept them busy. One of the single women said ‘Ron is such a gentleman’. If she only knew how wonderful he really is (see below). I can only say ‘gentleman’ hardly describes this guy. I count my lucky stars daily and feel blessed among women!! Sunday April 25
We had trouble getting to sleep and I was a total grouch today. Added to lack of sleep I discovered all the pots I had planted were in standing water due to the rain and the fact they had no drain holes! Damn. Ron drilled holes while I tilted the pots. We had mud everywhere. I realized that I needed to repot all of them and had a snit fit. My dear husband consoled me all day. He helped me clean up the mess on the front porch when I finished and then he grilled the most wonderful salmon on the Weber. We finally found some real charcoal briquettes and we were ecstatic. Funny how the little things in life can make such a difference. We had tried cooking with the Georgian charcoal and were not very successful. It isn’t compressed like ours and never seems to get very hot. I guess if this is our biggest problem we are doing okay.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Building and Moving Bridges
April 13, 2010
What really intrigued us was when the band played national songs the majority of people went to the dance floor and did national dances which involved a lot of hand movements and bowing while dancing. Our friend Gigi trained as a dancer and he is a pleasure to watch. During these dances, men danced with men, men and women danced together and women with women. When I was telling Elza about this she asked if people were drunk and I realized it was later in the evening and most people had been drinking since 7:30 or so. Even so I realized we don’t have national dances in the US much less an excitement about such a ritual.
Around 10:00 the deputy minister showed up and after a while came over to us and asked via his interpreter if we were having a good time. He had his photos taken with us and returned to his seat after congratulating the newly appointed staff. As the night wore on we grew tired. Various attendees of the multiple supras were getting drunker as the night wore on. We got up to dance and we realized every person attending our supra was watching us. I don’t think we look that odd and since we were dancing to a slow number Ron danced with a number of women from the ministry. At midnight we decided it was time to leave. We needed to get up early on Friday as the fabulous Italian designed bridge that has been being erected most of the time we have been here was ready to move into place across the river and Ron was dying to see how they were going to move it. You would have thought we were leaving five minutes after eating when several people rushed up to make sure we really wanted to leave. We got to bed around 1:00 but Ron woke up several times with food poisoning. Gross! I think because Georgians leave food out for hours at supras there is a greater chance of food poisoning with mayonnaise based iitems. We will skip those items next time. It may have been caused by a food service worker not washing his or her hands. Who knows? At any rate Ron finished tossing his cookies around 6:00 a.m.
Gia took us to see the bridge moving across the river one centimeter at a time. It took three hours to get across a river not as wide as the Willamette in downtown Portland. It was fun and we were blessed with a crystal clear day that was relatively warm. Afterwards we walked downtown and had lunch at Prosperos, a favorite hangout. We then went next door shopped for a mafrash, a large woven bag that we hope to have made into a bedspread using the end panels for the pillow area and the side panels for the top of the spread. We found one that I was wild about. It requires a lot of repair which can easily be done here but Ron wanted to check to see if there were others available from a man we heard about through friends. Jamal doesn’t have a shop but comes to the house with his wares. Jamal came over on Wednesday night but we weren’t interested in the two mafrashes he bought. He also had brought a salt bag which we purchased. He said he had more panels to show us and is due back tonight. After he left we walked over to Leslie’s house and joined Laurie and Leslie for a movie downtown: Men Who Stare at Goats. The best part was listening to Laurie and Leslie laugh throughout the movie.
Last Thursday Ron got a call in the afternoon inviting us to a celebration for interns at the ministry who had been appointed to positions there. We decide to go since this was a first invitation and it had come from the Budget Director who is the person Ron works directly with. We arrived at 7:30 as instructed and were about 15 minutes ahead of anyone else. Georgians have a rather different sense of time. Cultural differences. We were sitting at one of the two tables that had been set for the event. It was evident we were in for a supra as much of the food had already been placed on the table: fish, cheese platers, chicken salad, another mayonnaise based salad which I have no idea what it was even after tasting it, breads, spinach spread, etc As the table filled up we were instructed to move to the other table where the Deputy Minister of Finance and the budget director would be sitting. Too bad because the people around us at the original table didn’t smoke
.
By eight, the budget director showed up and about two hours later the deputy minister came. Our friend Gigi served as tamada, toastmaster, and I have always liked his toasts as they are brief. No long diatribes with Gigi. He was joined by his lovely wife Sophie who is a physician who works as a nurse because she can’t find work as a doctor! The restaurant hosted several other supras as well. After things got started there was ‘entertainment’. I thought I was in a foreign country, not Georgia, when the can-can girls came out. Not a traditional dance here! There were several other performances that weren’t Georgian including a Russian dance. Odd since most Georgians resent the Russians.
Around 10:00 the deputy minister showed up and after a while came over to us and asked via his interpreter if we were having a good time. He had his photos taken with us and returned to his seat after congratulating the newly appointed staff. As the night wore on we grew tired. Various attendees of the multiple supras were getting drunker as the night wore on. We got up to dance and we realized every person attending our supra was watching us. I don’t think we look that odd and since we were dancing to a slow number Ron danced with a number of women from the ministry. At midnight we decided it was time to leave. We needed to get up early on Friday as the fabulous Italian designed bridge that has been being erected most of the time we have been here was ready to move into place across the river and Ron was dying to see how they were going to move it. You would have thought we were leaving five minutes after eating when several people rushed up to make sure we really wanted to leave. We got to bed around 1:00 but Ron woke up several times with food poisoning. Gross! I think because Georgians leave food out for hours at supras there is a greater chance of food poisoning with mayonnaise based iitems. We will skip those items next time. It may have been caused by a food service worker not washing his or her hands. Who knows? At any rate Ron finished tossing his cookies around 6:00 a.m.
Gia took us to see the bridge moving across the river one centimeter at a time. It took three hours to get across a river not as wide as the Willamette in downtown Portland. It was fun and we were blessed with a crystal clear day that was relatively warm. Afterwards we walked downtown and had lunch at Prosperos, a favorite hangout. We then went next door shopped for a mafrash, a large woven bag that we hope to have made into a bedspread using the end panels for the pillow area and the side panels for the top of the spread. We found one that I was wild about. It requires a lot of repair which can easily be done here but Ron wanted to check to see if there were others available from a man we heard about through friends. Jamal doesn’t have a shop but comes to the house with his wares. Jamal came over on Wednesday night but we weren’t interested in the two mafrashes he bought. He also had brought a salt bag which we purchased. He said he had more panels to show us and is due back tonight. After he left we walked over to Leslie’s house and joined Laurie and Leslie for a movie downtown: Men Who Stare at Goats. The best part was listening to Laurie and Leslie laugh throughout the movie.We are feeling very comfortable here and Ron’s work seems to really be picking up. Today I visited with the Chief of Party (yes they really do call the executive director for USAID projects this) for a project that he has asked me to volunteer for. I think I probably will as IWA doesn’t have any summer activities and I will grow restless. The project involves helping to establish an alumni office at the oldest and largest university in Georgia which is here in Tbilisi. Stay tuned.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Travelin
April 7 2010
Alas, we are home after 19 days of travel. We headed out to San Francisco on the 19th of March leaving the house around 2:30 a.m. Neither of us could sleep anticipating the journey and worrying about oversleeping. We arrived in San Francisco mid afternoon the same day 26 hours later. Nothing like flying against the clock to confuse your head and body!
San Francisco was wonderful. We had excellent weather the entire time with lots of sun, yeah California! We stayed at the Mark Hopkins Hotel on top of Nob Hill, a very luxurious hotel. This is where the Treasury held its four day meeting that didn’t start until Monday. Friday is a blur but on Saturday we met our friend Wendy at the farmer’s market at the bottom of the hill. She was shopping with her friends Steve and Robert. I have heard about Steve for years so it was a real treat to finally meet him. He is quite tall and his partner Robert is much shorter so they make a great Mutt and Jeff team. I have known Wendy since she was 16 when I administered her GED. I was in my mid 20’s at the time. The market was fabulous, located at the Embarcadero. Steve and Robert gave us a great trip for dinner. Later Wendy and the two of us drove over to the Presidio and walked along the shore and ate a yummy lunch sitting outside. After saying goodbye to Wendy, we headed over to the Flour +Water restaurant. We were told to get in line by 5:00 or forget it. It takes a couple of months to get a reservation. We arrived three minutes before five and were the third people in line. Tim Grewe, the man Ron replaced in Tbilisi, joined us. The doors opened at 5:30 and some people didn’t get seated. We had been introduced to the chef that morning at the market so waved to him as we were eating. He came to our table and we reminded him how we knew him. He is 25 years old and already a raving success in the restaurant scene in SF. Our meal was fabulous of course!
Sunday we were treated to a tour of Marin County across the Golden Gate Bridge by Dee Michener, the mother of one of our Embassy friends in Tbilisi. Dee is an 80 year old spitfire! No moss is gathering under her. She drove us to Muir Woods and after walking through the woods we headed for Stinson Beach and Reyes Point. We had taken the ferry over but she drove us home, above and beyond the call of duty. In between squiring us around, she entertained us with wonderful stories of her life and family. We had a delightful time.
On Thursday I took the ferry over to meet Dee and pick up Kirsten’s tax return to bring back to Tbilisi. Dee took me on another excursion to Sonoma, a charming old California town with lots a real cool shops and a lovely town square.
Friday we flew to LA to see Sonia and Bob, Ron’s mom and her partner. We were very fortunate in that Ron’s sister, Sandi and her husband Bill from Rhode Island were there also. Ron only gets two weeks vacation so being able to see family is a real treat when we are so far away. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and regretted that our time was so short.
On Monday afternoon we flew back to SF and caught a 9:00 p.m. flight to Munich where we stayed overnight for a 24 hr layover. This time we were flying with the clock so we left SF on Monday arriving in Germany on Tuesday and left late at night on Wednesday arriving in Tbilisi on Thursday at 3:00 a.m. In Munich we had fun taking a self guided two hour of the neighborhood. I spied an amber shop and my dear husband brought me a honey amber pendant to go with the large cuff bracelet he had gotten me several years ago when he had a study tour in central Europe. I stayed home on that trip to save money as it was quite expensive. It was a decision that we both regretted and now rarely do I stay at home on these long trips. We left Munich late at night and got here at 3:00 a.m. OY! Not a good schedule but welcome to Georgia. We waited a long time for luggage because the kiosk said our luggage would be on carousel 2 and it was on carousel 1 along with another flight’s luggage. It was after 6:00 before we got to sleep and I was up at 9:00 as Kirsten was coming by to pick up her tax forms. I never went back to bed. Nino, our housekeeper was sick the entire time we were gone so the house was a mess. We repacked for Turkey and got on a 5:00 p.m. flight for Istanbul. Guess you could call us jet setters or just plain nuts…
I forgot to mention that 24 hours before our flight to Istanbul our hotel cancelled our rooms. This was a major problem as we were out of the country with limited access to computers and Istanbul is swarming with tourists on Easter weekend. Laurie headed out to the Embassy and got us a room that morning using the travel agency. Our hotel had a super location although it was somewhat seedy. Our room had three single beds, a hole in the wall as though there had been a fight, a hole in the bathroom door as thought someone tried to put their fist through it and the oddest thing was the hole someone had cut into a painting. Go figure. Rooms cost a small fortune due to the popularity of Istanbul at Easter. Normally we would pay about $300 for four nights in a three star hotel but we paid $544.
An ever so brief history of Istanbul. The foundation of Istanbul dates to 667 BC when a Greek colonist, Byzas, led an expedition from the overcrowded cities of Athens and Megara to establish a colony on the European side of the Bosphorus. (The Bosphorus is a body of water that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara then the Aegean and Mediteranean and is the dividing line between Europe and Asia.)This colony known as Byzantion grew to a successful independent city-state. In 64 BC it was subsumed into the Roman Empire and became Byzantium. In 324 Constantine become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. He moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium. Later the city became known as Constantinople. The ruler was instrumental in the spread of Christianity. The 6th century was dominated by the extraordinary genius of Justinian (527-65) who developed the city into a thriving city and re-conquered lost provinces. At the time of his death the empire had expanded to its greatest size and covered Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, the Balkans, Italy, southern Spain, parts of northern Africa including Egypt. Jumping ahead, The Ottoman state was born in 1301 when Osman I, a leader of warriors who were fighting for the Muslin faith declared his independence. The new state quickly expanded. By 1453 the Ottomans had captured Constantinople. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire steadily lost territory thorough wars with Russia and Austria. In WWI the empire was on the losing side. The peace treaties rewarded victors with Ottoman territory and as a result stimulated nationalists to take over power from the sultan. Mustafa Kemal Pasa, known at Ataturk ‘the father of Turks’ set in motion an ambitious program of political and social change. The sultanate was abolished in 1922 and religion and state were formally separated when the country was declared a secular republic a year later. His reforms included replacing the Arabic alphabet with a Roman one, allowing women greater rights, encouraging western dress (the fez was banned) and obliging all Turks to choose a surname! Needless to say, I skipped over 299 pages of my history book but thought it would be helpful to know that three distinct civilizations ruled here for long periods of time.
Our first night was walked across the street and ate a late meal at an outdoor café. It was not memorable but was edible. Breakfast at the hotel was Turkish: sliced hard boiled eggs with raw onions and fresh dill, bread, tahini sauce and others I didn’t try, cucumbers and tomatoes, sliced deli meats and feta cheese. There were some dry cereals also. Again it wasn’t memorable but it was edible and held us until lunch. The coffee was instant, sacrilege in Turkey I would think. Our first day we visited Topkapi Palace, built in 1459-65 by Sultan Mehmet II. We were lucky enough to get there early and not have to wait in line (last time I was there I waited a very long time to buy tickets.) Once inside we scored tickets for the harem section of the palace. Last time they were sold out. I found this section fascinating as it gave us insight into the lives of sultans. Some had as many as 1000 concubines. Oy! Think about that one folks! Before going I read a 300 page history of Istanbul and the palace intrigue, political maneuvering, etc were brutal. Lots of beheadings. Lots of siblings killed so the sultan didn’t have to worry about his next of kin usurping the throne. Later this practice changed to imprisoning siblings within the palace in an area called the Cage.
Right across the way was Haghia Sophia, one of the world’s greatest architectural achievements. It is 1400 years old and is known as the ‘Church of Holy Wisdom’. It stands as a testament to the sophistication of the 6th century Byzantine capital. It was inaugurated by Emperor Justinian in 537. In the 15th century it was converted into a mosque and the incredible mosaics were plastered over. Minarets, tombs and fountains date from that period. The mosaics are now being restored.
We also visited the Blue Mosque, named for the incredible blue Iznik tiles inside the mosque. It is one of the most famous religious buildings in the world. It was built in 1609-16.
We ate lunch at a place within the spice bazaar that had been recommended by a friend in Tbilisi. It is always fun to note weird translations and this menu was no exception with ‘write rice’ and our all time favorite ‘burnt bottom milk pudding of chicken breast’. Do chickens have milk? I don’t think so. Anyone who can give us some insight into this dish will be rewarded…with a free serving of the above! In the Spice Bizaar we purchased a box of Turkish Delight that Ron will share with is office.
On our last full day we visited the Basilica Cistern. This cavernous vault was laid out under Justinian in 532, another beautiful piece of Byzantine engineering. The roof of the cistern is held up by 336 columns, each over 26 ft high. It is enormous but only two thirds of the original structure is visible today. In one corner there are two columns that rest on Medusa head bases: one is turned sideways and the other head is upside down. No one knows the reason they were placed at these angles. We were able to walk through the structure on raised walkways. It would be the perfect setting for a movie like the Da Vinci Code. It is dark, damp and there is the sound of water dripping throughout. For a century after the conquest the Ottomans did not know of the cistern’s existence. It was rediscovered after people were found to be collecting water and even fish, by lowering buckets through holes in their basements.
Later that day we went to the Church of St Savior in Chora. Some of the finest Byzantine mosaics and frescoes are here. They were exquisite. There were several domes with the finest mosaics I have ever seen. Given the age, it was all the more impressive. This church was located on the edge of town. We took a light rail train then walked for about 20 minutes to get to it. “In Chora” means in the country. The church dates from the 11th century and between 1315-21 it was remodeled and the mosaics and frescoes were added by Theodore Metochites, a theologian, philosopher and one of the elite Byzantine officials of his day.
Later that day we visited Rustem Pasa Mosque that is noted for its Iznik tiles. ‘There is no mosque in the city adorned with such a magnificent blanket of tiles.’ It was built in 1561 and rises above the busy shops and warehouse around the Spice Bazaar.
One day we visited the Grand Bazaar. It is gianormous built by Mehmet II in 1453 shortly after his conquest. There are literally 1000’s of shops, each with a hawker or person asking you to come into his shop. Two hundred thousand visitors a day flow through here. It is exhausting and I find it difficult to shop in this kind fractured loud setting. Bangkok also has such a bazaar. Haggling is a definite must here. This also makes me uncomfortable. Although we spent time looking at carpets, copperware and bedspreads, we walked away empty handed.
We tried to visit a carpet museum but it was closed for remodeling. We did make it to the Mosaic Museum. This museum was created by roofing over a part of the Great Palace of the Byzantine Emperors which was discovered in the 1930s. In its heyday the palace had hundreds of rooms, many of them glittering with gold mosaics. The surviving mosaic floor shows a variety of animals which made us wonder: were there lions and leopards here at some point? The palace is thought to have been built in the late 5th century.
Our last morning we went to visit the “Little Hagia Sophia, Saints Sergius ad Bacchus’ Church. This church was built in 527, again by Justinian. It was converted into a mosque in 1453 after the conquest. It was a real beauty with white walls and a blue and soft green decoration. The original marble carved frieze remains intact.
Alas, we are home after 19 days of travel. We headed out to San Francisco on the 19th of March leaving the house around 2:30 a.m. Neither of us could sleep anticipating the journey and worrying about oversleeping. We arrived in San Francisco mid afternoon the same day 26 hours later. Nothing like flying against the clock to confuse your head and body!
San Francisco was wonderful. We had excellent weather the entire time with lots of sun, yeah California! We stayed at the Mark Hopkins Hotel on top of Nob Hill, a very luxurious hotel. This is where the Treasury held its four day meeting that didn’t start until Monday. Friday is a blur but on Saturday we met our friend Wendy at the farmer’s market at the bottom of the hill. She was shopping with her friends Steve and Robert. I have heard about Steve for years so it was a real treat to finally meet him. He is quite tall and his partner Robert is much shorter so they make a great Mutt and Jeff team. I have known Wendy since she was 16 when I administered her GED. I was in my mid 20’s at the time. The market was fabulous, located at the Embarcadero. Steve and Robert gave us a great trip for dinner. Later Wendy and the two of us drove over to the Presidio and walked along the shore and ate a yummy lunch sitting outside. After saying goodbye to Wendy, we headed over to the Flour +Water restaurant. We were told to get in line by 5:00 or forget it. It takes a couple of months to get a reservation. We arrived three minutes before five and were the third people in line. Tim Grewe, the man Ron replaced in Tbilisi, joined us. The doors opened at 5:30 and some people didn’t get seated. We had been introduced to the chef that morning at the market so waved to him as we were eating. He came to our table and we reminded him how we knew him. He is 25 years old and already a raving success in the restaurant scene in SF. Our meal was fabulous of course!
Sunday we were treated to a tour of Marin County across the Golden Gate Bridge by Dee Michener, the mother of one of our Embassy friends in Tbilisi. Dee is an 80 year old spitfire! No moss is gathering under her. She drove us to Muir Woods and after walking through the woods we headed for Stinson Beach and Reyes Point. We had taken the ferry over but she drove us home, above and beyond the call of duty. In between squiring us around, she entertained us with wonderful stories of her life and family. We had a delightful time.Monday Ron headed off to his meetings and I went shopping with two other wives, one of whom is Patty Culpepper, a good friend from Tbilisi. I discovered that my lowly Lee Jeans aren’t available in the city and would require me going out of the area to find them. Bummer. I did manage to go to a pharmacy and a grocery store and get many of the items we needed in Tbilisi. Shopping in the US is so easy due to the availability of goods. I went to the deYoung Museum with Dee on Tuesday to see an Amish quilt show of quilts made between 1900-1930’s. What a treat for my eyes. Some of them were real gems. We ate lunch at a Jewish deli and waddled out afterwards. On Wednesday I went to see a show of Cartier jewels with Patty and another friend. Talk about gems, oh my goodness. Some of the items displayed had belonged to the rich and famous: people like Liz Taylor and Princess Grace of Monaco. It was amazing to see all the items that had been custom made for celebrities.
On Thursday I took the ferry over to meet Dee and pick up Kirsten’s tax return to bring back to Tbilisi. Dee took me on another excursion to Sonoma, a charming old California town with lots a real cool shops and a lovely town square.
Friday we flew to LA to see Sonia and Bob, Ron’s mom and her partner. We were very fortunate in that Ron’s sister, Sandi and her husband Bill from Rhode Island were there also. Ron only gets two weeks vacation so being able to see family is a real treat when we are so far away. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and regretted that our time was so short.
I forgot to mention that 24 hours before our flight to Istanbul our hotel cancelled our rooms. This was a major problem as we were out of the country with limited access to computers and Istanbul is swarming with tourists on Easter weekend. Laurie headed out to the Embassy and got us a room that morning using the travel agency. Our hotel had a super location although it was somewhat seedy. Our room had three single beds, a hole in the wall as though there had been a fight, a hole in the bathroom door as thought someone tried to put their fist through it and the oddest thing was the hole someone had cut into a painting. Go figure. Rooms cost a small fortune due to the popularity of Istanbul at Easter. Normally we would pay about $300 for four nights in a three star hotel but we paid $544.
An ever so brief history of Istanbul. The foundation of Istanbul dates to 667 BC when a Greek colonist, Byzas, led an expedition from the overcrowded cities of Athens and Megara to establish a colony on the European side of the Bosphorus. (The Bosphorus is a body of water that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara then the Aegean and Mediteranean and is the dividing line between Europe and Asia.)This colony known as Byzantion grew to a successful independent city-state. In 64 BC it was subsumed into the Roman Empire and became Byzantium. In 324 Constantine become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. He moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium. Later the city became known as Constantinople. The ruler was instrumental in the spread of Christianity. The 6th century was dominated by the extraordinary genius of Justinian (527-65) who developed the city into a thriving city and re-conquered lost provinces. At the time of his death the empire had expanded to its greatest size and covered Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, the Balkans, Italy, southern Spain, parts of northern Africa including Egypt. Jumping ahead, The Ottoman state was born in 1301 when Osman I, a leader of warriors who were fighting for the Muslin faith declared his independence. The new state quickly expanded. By 1453 the Ottomans had captured Constantinople. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire steadily lost territory thorough wars with Russia and Austria. In WWI the empire was on the losing side. The peace treaties rewarded victors with Ottoman territory and as a result stimulated nationalists to take over power from the sultan. Mustafa Kemal Pasa, known at Ataturk ‘the father of Turks’ set in motion an ambitious program of political and social change. The sultanate was abolished in 1922 and religion and state were formally separated when the country was declared a secular republic a year later. His reforms included replacing the Arabic alphabet with a Roman one, allowing women greater rights, encouraging western dress (the fez was banned) and obliging all Turks to choose a surname! Needless to say, I skipped over 299 pages of my history book but thought it would be helpful to know that three distinct civilizations ruled here for long periods of time.
Our first night was walked across the street and ate a late meal at an outdoor café. It was not memorable but was edible. Breakfast at the hotel was Turkish: sliced hard boiled eggs with raw onions and fresh dill, bread, tahini sauce and others I didn’t try, cucumbers and tomatoes, sliced deli meats and feta cheese. There were some dry cereals also. Again it wasn’t memorable but it was edible and held us until lunch. The coffee was instant, sacrilege in Turkey I would think. Our first day we visited Topkapi Palace, built in 1459-65 by Sultan Mehmet II. We were lucky enough to get there early and not have to wait in line (last time I was there I waited a very long time to buy tickets.) Once inside we scored tickets for the harem section of the palace. Last time they were sold out. I found this section fascinating as it gave us insight into the lives of sultans. Some had as many as 1000 concubines. Oy! Think about that one folks! Before going I read a 300 page history of Istanbul and the palace intrigue, political maneuvering, etc were brutal. Lots of beheadings. Lots of siblings killed so the sultan didn’t have to worry about his next of kin usurping the throne. Later this practice changed to imprisoning siblings within the palace in an area called the Cage.
Right across the way was Haghia Sophia, one of the world’s greatest architectural achievements. It is 1400 years old and is known as the ‘Church of Holy Wisdom’. It stands as a testament to the sophistication of the 6th century Byzantine capital. It was inaugurated by Emperor Justinian in 537. In the 15th century it was converted into a mosque and the incredible mosaics were plastered over. Minarets, tombs and fountains date from that period. The mosaics are now being restored.
We also visited the Blue Mosque, named for the incredible blue Iznik tiles inside the mosque. It is one of the most famous religious buildings in the world. It was built in 1609-16.We ate lunch at a place within the spice bazaar that had been recommended by a friend in Tbilisi. It is always fun to note weird translations and this menu was no exception with ‘write rice’ and our all time favorite ‘burnt bottom milk pudding of chicken breast’. Do chickens have milk? I don’t think so. Anyone who can give us some insight into this dish will be rewarded…with a free serving of the above! In the Spice Bizaar we purchased a box of Turkish Delight that Ron will share with is office.
On our last full day we visited the Basilica Cistern. This cavernous vault was laid out under Justinian in 532, another beautiful piece of Byzantine engineering. The roof of the cistern is held up by 336 columns, each over 26 ft high. It is enormous but only two thirds of the original structure is visible today. In one corner there are two columns that rest on Medusa head bases: one is turned sideways and the other head is upside down. No one knows the reason they were placed at these angles. We were able to walk through the structure on raised walkways. It would be the perfect setting for a movie like the Da Vinci Code. It is dark, damp and there is the sound of water dripping throughout. For a century after the conquest the Ottomans did not know of the cistern’s existence. It was rediscovered after people were found to be collecting water and even fish, by lowering buckets through holes in their basements.
Later that day we went to the Church of St Savior in Chora. Some of the finest Byzantine mosaics and frescoes are here. They were exquisite. There were several domes with the finest mosaics I have ever seen. Given the age, it was all the more impressive. This church was located on the edge of town. We took a light rail train then walked for about 20 minutes to get to it. “In Chora” means in the country. The church dates from the 11th century and between 1315-21 it was remodeled and the mosaics and frescoes were added by Theodore Metochites, a theologian, philosopher and one of the elite Byzantine officials of his day. 
Afterwards we ate at a hotel nearby. We sat outside on the terrace as the weather was wonderful everyday we were in Istanbul. This was the nicest place we had dined in Istanbul. Excellent service and Jock said his meal was the best of his life. Laurie agreed. I told the manager when I went inside to use the restroom and he said it was their signature dish. As a thank you he gave each couple a jar of their homemade apple jam.
Later that day we visited Rustem Pasa Mosque that is noted for its Iznik tiles. ‘There is no mosque in the city adorned with such a magnificent blanket of tiles.’ It was built in 1561 and rises above the busy shops and warehouse around the Spice Bazaar.On the way to visit a church I asked if I could pop into a shop that sold carpets and textiles. Three and a half hours and three cups of tea later, we had bought four village textiles with lovely embroidery and the Conly’s out spent us by buying a carpet, a wall hanging and a lovely bedspread. It was too late to visit the church but we made it there our last morning. Below is a picture of the happy seller and the happy buyers.
All in all it was a great trip. Ron divided vacations into three categories: vacations of obligation (this is when you visit family), tourists on speed (you may never pass this way again so you had better see and do everything you can with the time you have) and PMB (Park My Butt: sleeping in, lying on a beach under a palm tree reading a book and taking a nap after lunch). This trip to Istanbul was definitely tourists on speed. Although we were tired when we came home, we wouldn’t change anything about the trip. The best part was traveling with Laurie and Jock. It was fun to discover how similar we are in terms of interests, values and a sense of play.
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