Becoming one of the Bezhanidze family

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 station 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. Apparently about a quarter of the approximately 42 staff were going to loose their jobs. The headmaster (director) read out a list of those definitely staying. There were several raised voices, but given the circumstances I thought the teachers (almost all ladies) took it remarkably well. Mzia works as a book keeper at the school and fortunately her job was secure.

I wish I could speak Georgian so I could learn more about the women here and their role in society. After having learnt some Greek before we left America, then picking up a few words of Turkish in the last couple of days before arriving in Georgia, my head was spinning with languages and I was finding it hard to even learn a few words of Georgian (Kartveli). I wish I had spent more time learning Georgian than Greek, because it is difficult for Aaron to keep translating and also in Greece I was so often addressed in English that I was disappointed how little Greek I got to use. One of the differences of the roles of women in Georgia that I noticed is that in Georgia it is unusual for women to drive and they were shocked to see a photo of my car. The women in Mukaestate mostly wear skirts and dresses of a similar style to that in the US/UK. Children wear shorts and in the city women wear trousers more often. During a men's supra women serve the food but do not sit and eat with the men, however an exception was made for me as a foreigner. Fortunately as a female if you choose to drink at a supra it is acceptable to only take a sip when toasting and not finish the whole glass, however your glass must always be full even if you don't have any intention of draining the whole contents. Mzia kept so busy I rarely saw her sit down other than for a photo! Only one evening she sat with a couple of ladies to gossip and seeing as I didn't understand a word I suggested we play cards.

In Georgia I have been astounded by the generosity and friendliness of the people here, particularly by Olegi and Mzia who called us their family and happily hosted us at their house for 12 nights. Although they called us family they treated us as guests and the words sometimes felt more remote having been translated through Aaron, so it wasn't until we were leaving that I began to understand how Mzia really felt. On 22nd July Aaron and I left Maukaestate with Olegi in a Taxis to Kobeluit, where Olegi had secured us seats on a coach to Istanbul. As the taxi pulled away I turned to wave through the back window. A collection of a few neighbours/cousins waved enthusiastically, but Mzia had already turned her back to us. I got the impression not that she was in a hurry to get back to the house but that she experienced some of the heart felt pangs of saying goodbye to family. It was very touching and I could also feel the emotion welling up inside me.