August 12th: The first full day in the Armenian resort. We had a visit from the American charge-d’affaires in Armenia who was a bit lavish with his praise of us, but otherwise gave a good speech.

We all have great admiration and affection for the Georgians. The host families all express concern for our safety when they are potentially in far greater danger than we. The Georgian staff that are accompanying us, Tengo – training co-ordinator, Teo – language co-ordinator, Tamara – medical officer and Nino – safety and security officer, work hard getting things arranged and managing the whole operation. They do it with efficiency and good humour, but their families, while currently OK, are still in harm’s way. Working for Peace Corps is considered a good job in Georgia, so Peace Corps can choose the best. They certainly chose well with this bunch. The Georgians are simply wonderful. The American staff are great too, but their families are not in danger, so our admiration for, and gratitude to, them are somewhat more muted.

August 13th: Another day in the Armenian resort. The Peace Corp Georgia Country Director came and described the possible outcomes for us. Yesterday, with the signing of the agreement between Russia and Georgia, things looked promising. Today, with Russia’s continuing operations in Georgia (despite the agreement) and after the CD’s description of what might happen in the near future we are less sanguine. It now seems unlikely that we shall return to Georgia any time soon – at least, under the auspices of Peace Corps.


August 14th: Yet another day in the Armenian resort. There is a lot of talk about how we might get involved in the clean-up and rebuilding of Georgia. The TELF folks are a bit at a loss as to suitable mechanisms, but the BSE volunteers have a lot of experience with NGOs and know something about getting funds properly channeled to get things done. All this is fine, but many of us are looking for ways to help in a more hands-on manner. If we get back to Georgia, I do not think that we shall do teaching. We shall try to find tasks more directly related to the reconstruction.


August 15th: Yet another day in the Armenian resort. Things are much like yesterday. Most people are feeling frustrated at the inaction, but do not know what options are available to us. We spoke to Mako. She said that the Russians bombed the Borjomi Gorge and had started fires there. This is part of that National Park and is not in Borjomi itself, but just outside. Although Borjomi itself was not hit, the smoke from the fires was very bad in the town and Mako asked if they could use the masks in our medical kits. Of course, we told her to take anything that might be useful.


We took a trip to a pagan temple nearby. here are some pictures.


We then went on to a local 4th century church. As we usually do when visiting such places, we lit a candle for Ben.