The grapes in our garden are turning dark red and we can imagine what a stunning site it will be when the grapes are ripe in the whole town of Kareli. Our family has a grape stomping bath - it looks rather like a deep sitzbath - and they put on special boots for grape-stomping. Apparently this is the busiest time of the year for them, because, apart from the grape stomping, there are several foods to be preserved for the winter. Zoia, the housemother, makes grape juice, sour plum sauce, fig jam, and various other preserves, and apples and potatoes are stored in the cellar. Koba, our host father, produces 500 litres of wine (red and white). This is his estimate. Some of the wine goes to family members in Tbilisi, but most stays at home.

Host family's budding birja.

Doors in old Tbilisi.

Four volunteers and bebia (in the rear) waiting for dinner with two cows, a dog and, if you look carefully, a pig.

Gill, two other volunteers and "host mother" (far left) making khatchapuri.

These young ladies took part in Gill's survey of Georgian girls' aspirations for the future.

August 19, Sunday

Well, well, this will be our last post from Gori. Next week is our final week of training and we will then take wing into Georgia and become fully-fledged English teachers and Georgian speakers - ha, ha! Actually our language ability seems to have regressed during the last week, probably due to exhaustion. So very many reports and tests. I can't speak or write in either language (English or Georgian) now. We have our final Georgian language test next week. We are expected to be able to form past progressive, present, and future tense sentences with complex subordinate clauses, e.g.:
"I found Georgian very difficult yesterday, I find it very difficult today and I am sure that I will find it even more difficult next week when I am in Borjomi and have nobody to help me."
I could just about say this sentence but figure it might taken me about 45 minutes.

Last week, we went on a picnic with our present host family. We piled into a small and old Russian car and headed off to the hills. High in the hills we came to a mountain monastery, apparently built in the middle of nowhere as a fortress against the moslem invaders of from Turkey, Persia, etc. The oldest building was from the 8th century. The 12th century church was in great need of repair. However, one could see how beautiful the frescoes once were - the eyes had been erased by the moslem conquerers. One crowd picture (Bob will post soon) was particularly pleasing as it was obvious that the image was of real people whom the painter knew. Italian restorers have been consulting with the restoration work in Georgia. The task is on the same scale as the "ruinas" in Mexico. The priest at the church welcomed us and blessed us both. We then had a picnic of salad, khatchapuri and water melon and our host family toasted world peace, christians everywhere, everyone everywhere and Americans especially. Absolutely stunning landscape - apparently even more stunning in winter.

Next Friday we go to Tbilisi for our swearing in ceremony. So far we have only lost one trainee and that was right at the beginning of service, so, so far, we are a record making group. Two trainees, one from the NGO program and one from the TEFL program, are making speeches in Georgian and Bob and a group of ten other trainees are singing the national anthems of Geogian (in Georgian) and America (in American). After the swearing in we go to our new site - Borjomi. You can look this up on the web. We suspect there is quite a bit about Borjomi, as it was a major destinations for Russians at one time and it is still a major summer destination for people getting away from the heat of Tbilisi. The Georgian president goes there frequently. We will miss our garden and the pig, but Borjomi has a great deal to offer, including acres of national park and, hey, just maybe, better internet access! We hope to return to Kareli in September for a family visit and for grape stomping - if it is allowed.

Today is August 5. Last week was the second week of our English teaching practicum. The PC asked us to sequence our lessons so that they built on each other and so that the children had ample opportunity for revision. Some of the problems we faced: We had children ranging in English ability of zero (we got her to drawer pictures and other class members labeled them) to university level (we got them to translate); different children showed up every day (we guess the looking at funny Americans wore off after one day); and the weather was in the 90's. Actually we managed pretty well and feel we can manage anything with a good group of fellow workers, lots of humor, and plenty of ice cream. Georgian children are natural actors and all of ours were eager to try out the games we suggested - charades, drawing, simon says, hangman, singing, etc. They even let Gill sing! I am staying here. Georgians have a special type of three part harmony - a copy of their singing was actually put in tube launched into space. So if they appreciate my singing - what's wrong with all my friends and family?

To celebrate the end of English teaching practicum, friends came to Kareli from Gori (remember Gori, Stalin's birthplace) and we all cooked "American" food in one of our family's summer kitchen. It was a fun experience. We managed a pretty good spaghetti bolognese and we had an awesome Thai cabbage salad. I made cucumber and yoghurt which I love when the weather is hot and Bob made a hazel and peanut praline, which looked wierd but was a big success. Gill had her first lesson in making Khatchapuri and got covered in flour. The family grows its own wheat, grinds its own flour, makes its own cheese and yoghurt, and grows all its own vegetables. They were a little mad at us for buying from the market when their foods is "upro gargia" (better), but we wanted to buy for them as they have all been so generous. We got to feed the pigs and milk a cow. Gill was not too successful with Khatchapuri and needs several more lessons to become adept, but the dough felt great. We were all impressed at what wonderful food they manage to produce with so little equipment. Nana, the host mother, also makes wonderful james and fruit juices.

We have to run now or we are going to miss our last bus home to Kareli. We have to be home by seven.

Much love to all. We would love to hear from you.