We still do not know where we will be posted for our two year service, but we will find out next weekend and will spend a few days with our "permanent" host families. Next week, we also start our teaching practicum. We are working at summer school with about 15 children in each of two classes - 5th and 7th grade. Their parents have paid a small sum for their children to go to summer school. This is the first time our teacher counterparts have taught summer school also, so we will all be experiencing something new. Our TOEFL teacher has given us many ideas for teaching techniques and we will see how it goes. More on that next week.

This weekend the Peace Corps paid for us to take an excursion out of our villages. We decided to stay fairly close to home because it is very hot and humid and the thought of 3 hours in a marshutka (the mini-buses that people use to get around) did not appeal. So we moved into the main town of Gori and took a hotel with mod cons. We went out to a famous site called Uplis Tsikhe - an ancient cave city on the southern silk road. The city was founded appoximately 1000 BC. At its peak, in the early middle ages, it had a population of 20000 and an area of 9.5 hectars. Now it is down to about 5 hectars and of course nobody lives there. In the 13th century, Tamerlane destroyed the city and its environs and subsequent earthquakes have added to the damage. We were told by our guide that there was a 9 point earthquake in the 1920's. This does not seem possible and we are going to check. The city had theatres, temples, palaces for "King" Tamara, who was actually a woman, but Georgian refer to her as a king, because she was so strong and because her reign was a high point in Georgian history - sounds like Queen Elizabeth I. The rooms have carved stone decoration and faux wooden beams which are actually sandstone. The theater has recently been used in a movie and the walls were painted blue so that they would show up on the screen! There is evidence of wine making all over the place. The method was to have an upper pressing room (actually foot stomping) and a lower capture basin for the grape juice. Our guide told us that there are over 400 varieties of grapes in Georgia and that 25 of them are found in the small region around Uplis Tsikhe. Our guide's name was Stalbe. He was 70 years old and had been named for Stalin and Beria. He looked pretty good and scrambled over the rocks while Gill puffed her way up them. He attributed his health to a litre of red wine a day and tea for breakfast. The first church in the stone city was erected in the 4th century, but all that remains is a carving of a Georgian cross which looks a little like a celtic cross. The "new" church was built in the 9th and 10th centuries on top of a pagan temple. Interestly, the pagan temple was to the sun goddess and men used to be sacrificed to her - as in the Renault book "The King Must Die." The church is still very much in use and Gill and Ruth (a Peace Corps friend) went inside. It was very plain with a few icons. Many women were praying out loud and it was possible to make out the Lord's Prayer in Georgian. There was a monk praying quietly in the corner. Monks, by the way, are the only Georgians to have beards. They can be married, but the rule is that they have to be married before entering the priesthood.

We learned that the Georgian for capital is dedakalaki which means mother city, so everthing is a little different here. Mama = father and Deda = mother. They probably think we are equally strange.

Our host mother, Zoia, is in the midst of the annual juice and jam making season. She picked 20 kilos of cherries last week and this week the small apricots and raspberries have come into season. She has put up 20 liters of juice. Gill did offer to help, but it is difficult as we are always so busy. She did help her to make stuffed cabbage one time. Zoia spends a lot of her time up trees picking fruit. She says she enjoys work. The garden is amazingly fecund and seems to be mostly bugfree (Susan eat your heart out) despite the fact that they do not use insecticides. We keep on asking about this, but have received no explanation except perhaps that the Caucusus are a barrier to bugs!

The groupings for language classes have been changed. Gill remains with her wizkid colleagues and I have joined the remedial group where I might become a big fish in a small pool. The one good possibility is that I might be able to get on the internet more often, but apparently the teacher is very strict and does not allow much time off.

Bob, like many others, is having a bit of a problem with this language, which is certainly difficult. However, he is brilliant at the teaching of English part of our job. He seems to have a natural talent for pacing the lesson and for making it fun at the same time.

We will end now. We are off to have lunch with friends at the coffee shop opposite the Stalin statue. Our favourite meal is mushroom blinis.

By the way, the Georgians frequently use English English terms and spellings. We have been told to use the terms "full stop" and "Zed." We also received information about English English and American English usage and some of it had never occurred to us. More about this later.

We miss everyone and would like to hear your news.