We had a conference devoted to grant application writing in mid-April. A number of Peace Corps folks were there including the Country Director who brought me a huge birthday cake that would have been over-the-top at a wedding! When we got home, Marina, our host-mother had prepared a big supra for us and about ten Peace Corps volunteers came to the party. Marina had put out the best china, cutlery and glasses. Luckily there were no breakages!

When I got back to school a few days later, the teachers sang “Happy Birthday” for me and gave me presents. These are people who earn very little and many of whose husbands have no job. Later, two classes also sang “Happy Birthday”. It was embarrassing, but very touching. I also have two birthday cards made by the children.

Suddenly, spring is over and the weather has become very warm.

A few weeks ago, we visited a little village nearby that has a very small and very old church in it. En route, we visited a newer church that was having its paintings restored. Many churches have had their murals damaged or completely destroyed. When the Turks invaded they often damaged the paintings and during the communist period more damage was done. Now, many churches are having their murals restored.

The old church has a new roof, but the rest is fifth century. Georgia shares with England St. George as its patron saint - we must find out how that came about - and depictions of George and the dragon are common in Georgia.

In mid-March, we spent the weekend in a town called Zugdidi where the Peace Corps was holding a meeting open to the general public devoted to women’s health issues. We helped out, Gill by being the receptionist and I by being a food-bar manager. The main topics were, not surprisingly, birth control, breast cancer and STDs, but general health was also on the agenda.

It was a bit of a haul getting there. We had to change marshutkas and, unlike trips to Tbilisi, rest-stops were needed. At one stop where there were a number of white marshutkas like ours, Gill asked which marshutka was ours. “That’s easy”, I said, “It’s the one with the sofa on top”.

At the place where we had to change marshutkas, we watched an oil train go by. We saw many of these in Kareli too. Until a pipline is built, this is how some of the oil gets from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea.

While in Zugdidi, Gill took the opportunity to demonstrate a more general health issue by falling over in the street and breaking a bone in her foot. This is Gill’s third broken foot undertaking – remarkable in view of the fact that she has only two feet. Admittedly, we were walking back from a restaurant on a pot-holed street with no street lights, but we should not allow this to detract from her achievement.

Initially, she thought she had merely sprained her ankle, but after a few days, when it got worse, she went to Tbilisi for an x-ray and has had a cast on her foot ever since. She had hoped to have it taken off last Monday when she visited the specialist in Tbilisi again, but he wants another two weeks. She has not been to school for a month, and the Easter holidays are just starting, so she will have been goofing off for more than five weeks.