August 8th: Today, the separatists in South Oshetia shelled a number of places in Georgia – that’s the Georgian version. There have been provocations for some time now. Explosions in Gori and other incidents have put us on "stand-fast" a number of times recently. Georgian troops entered South Osetia and took a number of villages. Each side claims that the other started it. Georgia claims that Russia is aiding the separatists and Russia denies it. Planes, probably Russian, have bombed Gori, Kareli and Zugdidi. We are probably pretty safe here, but a number of volunteers in other areas have been evacuated to safer places.

We have been put on “stand-fast” again, which means that we cannot leave our site and have to pack essentials ready to leave. We spent most of the day organizing our belongings into (a) what to take with us, (b) what to leave but hope to recover eventually, (c) what to leave for Georgians – host family, schools, etc. and (d) what to toss out if we have to leave.

Erica, Julie and Giga have left to go to Tbilisi, but we know that they have encountered difficulties because Gori is on the main road to Tbilisi and the road is closed to all but small vehicles. Erica has an appointment in the British consulate on Monday in order to get her visa for her year at Kent University. She needs her visa before Giga can get his to be with her.

Now we wait to see what will happen.

August 9th: Things are getting more serious. We were told to get ready to leave. A Peace Corps vehicle was supposed to pick us up at about 11:00. It arrived at about 2:00, but things are a bit chaotic and so the delay was understandable. We are told to take only one bag with just the necessities for a few days. We decide to take Gill’s computer, it being the lighter, and the backup drives for both machines so we will be able to access my data too. Wrong! Gill’s version of Windows is earlier than mine and, as we later discover, cannot read my backups! Thank you, Bill Gates (yet again).

August 10th: First full day at the Hotel Tbilisi in Bakuriani. All the volunteers are here now – all the G7s except those who were already out-of-country, all the trainee G8s and a few G6s who, for various reasons, are still here. Everyone is watching the television trying to find out what is going on in the rest of Georgia. Borjomi and Bakuriani are considered safe because the is nothing of military importance nearby and we are some distance from the current military operations. The phone system is a mess. People are trying to get through to The States to reassure their families there and to various places in Georgia to find out how their host families are managing and to reassure them of our safety. Because of bombing, the biggest problem area seems to be Gori where we had a few volunteers and hence have some host families and, a close second, Zugdidi where another volunteer couple, Lisa and Mark, were stationed. Things are beginning to look bleak.

Peace Corps meeting in Bakuriani.

We have been told that tomorrow at 11:00 we shall go to Armenia by bus.