Cheers to Georgian Hospitality! (Sunday)

Well, it is 530am and I can't sleep. So I have 2 hours to kill before breakfast, so I guess I do the blogging I didn't do last night. Yesterday was an incredible day. I'll be honest and admit that everyone slept til noon - those of us that have been here a day, and those that arrived at 4am last night. We are still missing 2 people in our group who missed their flight in NY due to weather and now they have a crazy path to get here. The last I heard was NY-London-Istanbul-Baku-Tbilisi! Sooooooo glad that wasn't me. At noon, the program officially started. We had a group lunch in the hotel that was delicious! It was another broth soup, this time onions and cabbage, we had rice stuff green peppers, bread (of course), more salads, and a honey-square pastry dessert. After lunch, we all headed to the International Center on Conflict and Negotiation (from here on out to be referred to as the ICCN).

We have our own "classroom" downstairs in the basement to use when speakers come to us.

We spent the first 2 hours doing introductions, goals, going over the syllabus and discussing our field trip options. I'll be super honest and say I'm a bit disappointed with our field trip. Originally we were going to cross the occupied border and go visit with South Ossetian students in Tskinvali to understand their perspective. Everyone said yes except for the South Ossetians who said there was too much violence in Tbilisi to let us come - a total excuse. Oh well. Our next plan was to take a 36 hour trip via soviet train, bus, walking across the border, etc. into the other contested area of Abkhazia. BUT, yesterday the Abkhaz president died under some sketchy circumstances in Moscow, so it is definitely NOT a good idea to go there now. Hopefully everyone will keep it together and not fight over the next Abkhaz leader until we go home. Sooooooo now that those options are out, I think we are just going to go visit some beautiful churches in the mountains at Kakheti. Still a great day, but not quite the same.

For the last 2 hours of class, we had a group of Georgian students who are engaged in peace activities with the Abkhaz come and dialogue with us about their experiences - Nino, Lali, Keti and Nana. They were fantastic! I really wish I had thought to take pictures... At first they spoke to us (via translator), then we got to ask them questions (via translator) and then we broke up into small groups to talk more one-on-one. Somehow I got lumped into the group with all Russian speakers - the native Georgians, a native Russian, and a peace-corps girl from Kazakhstan. Awesome. I think I picked up most of what they said, but when they got excited they started talking really fast! I have to say that I found them incredibly inspiring. To hear them talk about getting past the idea of "enemies" and get to not only know the Abkhaz but understand their desires and their problems really made me excited about being here. They were so passionate about something that alot of people dont understand or respect - peace. I hope we get to see those girls again.

After class, we all walked down the street for a welcome dinner at a restaurant, Vino Veritas, together.

That dinner was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. To start off with, the restaurant was absolutely beautiful! Very traditional and set the mood for a great evening.

 They brought out tons of different Georgian food. I took pictures, but I only know what a few of the things actually are. Whether you like it or not, you try everything! We had.....

 Tarragon water. I believe the Tarragon is what made it green? It tasted slightly licorice and sweet. I couldn't drink alot of it, but it was good! They also had grape, pear and lemon flavored water.

 Beef in a sauce. It was actually one of my favorites from the evening. The sauce was spicy and delicious!

 I'm not totally sure what these are, but they taste alot better than they look. I believe they are bean, spinach and something else mixed with herbs and nuts that you eat with bread.

 This is cheese in cheese. The outer cheese was mozarella-esque and the inside was like a feta/goat cheese. Pretty strong so I ate mine with bread, but still tasty!

Fried cheese! This was literally a bowl of friend squares of cheese. As one girl said, I can hear my arteries screaming, but it just tastes so good!

The food alone would have made for a great dinner, but our tour guide Nelly brought us some of her family friends' homemade Georgian red wine. Then we started in on a true evening of enjoying Georgian hospitality. She started us off by making a toast. She told us, from memory, a beautiful Georgian poem about love and then toasted to love.

She then explained that in Georgian culture, the entire group goes around in a circle and toasts to a variety of things. In fact, they spend the whole evening toasting and spending a good time together. Soooooo, she then passed the toast off to one of our leaders who is from the Netherlands. He toasted in Dutch, and then we listened to an Arab love song, and a Russian poem on love, and so on and so on all the way around the table. Everyone had BEAUTIFUL things to say about love, and to hear about them in so many different languages was incredible

Of course, after our group of 15 toasted on love, then we went around the circle toasting life, and friendship, and, of course, peace. We were there for hours talking and laughing and just truly enjoying the beauty that is Georgian culture.

 Me and my roommate Lydia at dinner.

The whole group at our table! (sorry its kind of blurry).

After dinner, we all came home and people divided up between studying and sleeping. I hung out with several girls in my room for awhile and then g-chatted with Caleb, which is why I didn't get my blogging done. Monday is going to be a very full day of meetings, so I better go to bed! Happy Memorial Day to everyone tomorrow!