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...