In the photo above you can see a path going down the hill, to the right of the river. That's the path we drove up in the marshutka (minibus)! In the distance you can see the small dots of houses. There are even more houses up this road, including the one we went to supra (lunch). Olegi wearing the Guiness cowboy hat Meredith brought from Austin when she visited a few years ago.

20th July 2010 Whilst staying with Olgei and Mzia in Georgia Aaron and I went on many exciting excursiones. No, I haven't spelt that wrong 'excusione' is the Georgian word represented in the English alphabet. Aaron and I visited Kobuleti on the coast where we swam in the black sea and ate ice cream and re-visited Batumi for internet, shopping and fast food, but we didn't make it to the botanical gardens there as it rained. We also went to Khutsabani for a supra with Mzia's family one evening. However my favourite excusiones were when we travelled by foot rather than marshutka. Hiking is not a common hobby in Georgia, but there are plenty of quiet country roads connecting small villages which are ideal for the pursuit. Aaron and my first adventure was actually somewhat unintentional. We departed the house for a tour of Mukaestate and in Aaron's continuous strive to 'travel light' he persuaded me not to carry any water or provisions. After seeing the ...

July 15, 2010 I have returned to Mukhaestate, the village where I lived for two years during my stint in the Peace Corps. Things are very much same while at the same time different. The letter that I sent in March with our wedding invitation arrived with credit due to postal services across several continents. And upon inquiry the letter I had enclosed written in Georgian included only one mistake. I'm not sure if that's true or if my host family is just being nice. I suspect the latter. I left the Republic of Georgia nearly three years ago. My siblings, Meredith and Paul, had arrived in late August of 2007 and we had had a festive week with my host family in Mukhaestate including excursions, trips to the river and the sea, and of course many supras. Early morning in the first week of September, a large group of my friends and family from the village gathered outside my house to see us off. Olegi, my host dad, flagged down a marshrutka [passenger van used for public transp...

10th - 22nd July 2010 Whilst staying in Mukaestate we have visited several of Aaron's old haunts. Mukaestate is mainly a residential village with a school, small shop/stall, petrol station, police sta tion and cemetery. There used to be a tea factory here, but that was abandoned in a similar situation to several factories in the nearby town Kobeluti. Mukaestate is well connected being en-route between two major cities, Batumi and the Capital Tiblisi. When we walked around the town Aaron was often invited in for coffee by students and their families. I wish we could have visited during term time as I can only imagine how excited a whole classroom full of those students would have been! When we did visit the school Aaron pointed out renovations since he was there including a new suite of 15 computers which was a great improvement on the 1-2 machines they had when he left about 3 years ago. We joined the teachers who were having a big meeting which turned out to have shocking news....

18th July 2010 Aaron and I are visiting Aaron's host family from when he was teaching English for the Peace Corps in Mukaestate, Georgia. When we arrived on Saturday 10th July we were welcomed into Olegi (host dad) and Mzia's (host mum's) home. We hadn't yet had lunch so we were treated to a supra (celebration dinner) about 3pm in the afternoon which included a vast array of different dishes, beer or water to drink and vodka, cognac or wine to toast with. Toasts included peace and God, Aaron and I, family in Texas, Britain and Georgia, grandparents, women, those no longer with us, friends, etc. Several of the neighbours visited to greet us and Aaron translated multiple times that I am a 'good girl' ('kargi cogo') and he is a clever boy for marrying me! Olegi and Mzia's eldest son Aliko was in Batumi for the day so I got to meet him in the evening when, as if we hadn't consumed enough already, the supra process was repeated. Unfortunately th...

10th July 2010 Today Aaron and I arrived in Mukhaestate, Georgia, after a very long journey from Kefalonia, Greece. The warm welcome we received from Olegi, Mzia and all the famliy made the trip worth while. On the 1st July Aaron and I caught a bus from Ratzakli, Kefalonia to the port Poros where we took a ferry to mainland Greece and another bus to Athens. We spent two nights in Athens, so that Aaron could collect his passport with his Indian visa thankfully granted. Although Athens is renowned for it's history and culture and for being the seat of democracy, Aaron and I were not so enamoured with the city. It was covered in graffiti, dirty and we saw thieves being arrested and prostitutes on street corners in the middle of the day. Having said that the new acropolis museum was very well designed, the archaeological museum really interesting and we found a charming restaurant for dinner. We stayed in the Ionis hotel which was more luxurious than we had become accustom to and s...

July 8, 2010 After a very hot and sweaty twenty-five hour bus ride from one side of Turkey to the other Jean and I arrived safely at the Turkish/Georgian border. We walked across and got a taxi to the city of Batumi. It's been three years since I last spoke Georgian but it appears to be coming back to me rapidly. Here are some shots from our first couple of nights in Batumi. Here's Jean's first taste of Georgian cuisine. She approves. The Black Sea The new Sheraton Hotel. The Boardwalk The Octopus The Ferris Wheel