Our first days...............

This is our first blog entry since we arrived in Gori, our PST (pre-service training) site. Of course we've been here for more than a month now, but we have been so busy that there has hardly been a free moment to try and update the blog. We have taken a bunch of pictures, some of which are posted in this blog entry, just to give you a feel for what it's like here. Of the 44 remaining members of our group (we've lost 2 already), I think that we are acknowledged to have the nicest living situation. We have indoor western toilets in a big house with lots of bright airy rooms with 12 foot ceilings!! Our host family is the best too! Here are the pictures:

This is a picture of Lisa standing with our suitcases at Dulles airport in DC. We were each allowed to check two pieces of luggage of not more than 50 pounds each. There was also a limitation on the dimensions of the bags. We were a total of 3 pounds under for our four bags (197 pounds total)! Once we arrived in Tbilisi, we were taken by bus (at 4:30 am) to an old Russian compound of some sort for 6 days of orientation before going to our PST site in Gori.

Here is a picture of a Georgian dance troop that the Peace Corps brought in to entertain us one evening. They were really quite good (and very limber too!).

While we staying at the Russian compound, we were invited one evening to a reception at the house of the US Ambassador to Georgia. Here's a picture at the reception. The Ambassador is the gentleman in the white shirt standing in the middle of the picture. He was very personable and enthusiastic about the Peace Corps being in Georgia.

















This is a picture of our cluster. These are the people that we spend the majority of each day with. The woman to the left of Lisa (with her eyes closed) is our language instructor. Diane (pronounced Dee-anna in Georgian) is 28 years old and is an English teacher by profession. Work is very scarce here and the PC holds a competition each year among the many teachers who apply to teach PC volunteers the Georgian language. She is an excellent teacher (its not her fault that Lisa and I are lousy students), and she is all business during our four hour language session each day. The picture was taken at the Ambassador's reception, when we really didn't know her or our cluster mates at all. After spending everyday with them since then, we now know them all intimately!

















Everyday after language class is done, we walk to the house of one member of our cluster, and the host mother of that member feeds us all lunch. This is us at Amy's house.

















Here's Lisa with our host mother Dodo and host sister Miriam. They are really nice and Miriam and her sister Natia speak perfect English (not good for learning Georgian).














Natia, Miriam and Dodo at the kitchen table, with a bowl of cherries picked from the trees outside.














Bebia checking the lottery results which are broadcast on TV at 11 am each Sunday. Last week the electricity went out just before 11, and I thought she was going to have a coronary. She's 87 and has not been out of the house for 7 years.













Here's the family walking with Lisa on the street in front of our house. The house is where the iron gate is, just to the left of Ilia's ballcap in the picture.













This is a picture taken from the fortress, looking out over the town (and the river that runs through it).














The fortress from below.















Here's the whole family (less Bebia) on top of Gori fortress. The fortress was built in the 10th century and stands high atop a hill in the center of Gori.
















A picture of the Bazaar. The Bazaar is where most everything in Gori is bought and sold. It consists of a haphazard array of vendors spread over a wide area selling everything you can
imagine. You are expected to bargain, but the Georgian numbering system is so difficult to understand that sometimes it is hard to understand what you are negotiating over.














A picture of the apartment building across the street, taken from our bedroom window. I'm glad we live in our house, rather than in the apartments!












A picture of one of the trolleybuses rounding the corner at Stalin Square. You can see the statue of Joe in the background.
















Here is "Bear in a Cage", as he is known by the Peace Corps volunteers. Definitely a case for PETA. The bear is located in the middle of a park in Gori. You can walk right up and stick your arm in if you want.
















Another picture of the Joseph Stalin statue and square.

















That's it for now. Back to studying for our language class tomorrow. This blog post was actually made at the beginning of July and now it is July 15th. It took that long for me to figure out how to get the pictures loaded and into position adjacent to the corresponding text. Hopefully, I will do better next time, but at least this should give you some flavor of what life here is like. Nakvamdis (Goodbye) for now.