Book Review: The Pear Field (მსხლების მინდორი)

The Pear Field in English and Georgian editions

Ekvtimishvili, Nana. The Pear Field. Translated by Elizabeth Heighway, Peirene Press Ltd, 2020.

The Pear Field has been a critical darling in both English and in Georgian, and it is the first Georgian novel I’ve read in Georgian (with help from the English translation). I’m a big fan of literature in translation and try not to be a snob about it, but I’ve got to say that here the original Georgian version was better. The English version felt quite abridged, and while some of the choices made perfect sense (what does the average English speaker know about the difference between a khrushchyovka and chekhuri proekti or the stereotypes of people from different regions of Georgia? In that context, it’s not informative), others I really missed in the English version. The Georgian descriptions were longer (not just because I read slowly), sly language jokes were missing (I understand that this is not easy to translate, but the ones I understood in Georgian were pretty great…I probably missed even more), and anecdotes and additional examples were cut. They didn’t move the plot forward, but they did contribute to the mood of the book. I think these excisions are what made the English version feel more bleak and depressing to me, while the Georgian version had a lightness and vibrancy to it. (Interestingly enough, this is very similar to my reaction to the author’s film “In Bloom”.)

Most reviews of this book mention that horrible things happen to children in it. Having read these reviews, I was prepared and didn’t find them as awful as I probably would have otherwise. I think reading in Georgian was also helpful here, because I couldn’t understand the awful details on the first read but I could get the gist, so I was more mentally prepared. I recommend this strategy if it applies to you.

So far all I have written about this book is criticism, but I do think it was very good. It’s just not a book that’s easy to explain why it’s good. Lela, the main character, isn’t exactly likable, but she is admirable in her way, and her refusal to give in keeps the story going. The same could be said of many of the characters: you don’t like them, but they’re interesting. Some, of course, you will detest. Ekvtimishvili’s writing is very visual and her descriptions are fantastic. I know Kerchi Street, where the story is set, well, so it was very easy for me to visualize, but I think others can do so as well. Her descriptions of people are full of life and a bit of humor. They keep the book from being bleak.

With the content warning mentioned above, I do recommend this book as a description of life in Tbilisi in the 1990s. It’s quite short (the English version is 163 pages, the Georgian 211), so it’s not a big time commitment like The Eighth Life is. If you’re a Georgian language learner looking to read in Georgian, this seems like a decent place to start. There is lots of dialogue using everyday speech, which is easy to understand. You probably won’t understand the vocabulary used in the violent scenes, but that was OK by me. I “warmed up” by reading two children’s books in English and their Georgian translations first, and while I was glad to have the English version, too, I was able to understand the Georgian well enough without the English to compare them.

One word of advice: pay attention to the boys in the school. I found myself thinking of them as a group rather than individuals (perhaps just like the system did!), and that left me confused about a major plot point later on.

English version: 3.5/5
Georgian version: 4.5/5

Getting vaccinated in Georgia

Covid-19 vaccination started in Georgia on March 15, and as a medical worker, my brother-in-law was vaccinated that very day. My in-laws also got vaccinated quickly and easily as they were in the high-priority age group. The vaccine roll-out here has had some highly publicized ups and downs. The news sites have covered them extensively, and EurasiaNet has a regional vaccine tracker for those interested in the more general view of vaccines in Georgia. I’ll focus on my own experience in this post.

Given high rates of vaccine hesitancy in Georgia that increased after a preventable tragedy, Georgia’s vaccine policy has been fairly open to any who want a vaccine. The most popular vaccine, Pfizer, has just become available to the general population as of today. Individuals can choose which vaccine they want when they are eligible, though there have been different eligibility criteria for each vaccine at different times. Being able to choose which vaccine we received was…strange. While I believe the best vaccine is the one in your arm, being able to choose also made me think maybe I should wait for a vaccine with higher efficacy or that is authorized in the US. G and I decided that we would take the first WHO (emergency)-approved vaccine we were able to. (We decided to wait for WHO approval because we do want to be considered vaccinated for future travel, though now it turns out not all countries are sticking to the WHO decision, but it’s a positive step, anyway). The SinoPharm vaccine was made available to G and I relatively early, but since it wasn’t yet WHO-approved when appointment sign-ups began, we waited to register. I thought given how much vaccine hesitancy there was and how few people chose that vaccine in the survey that we’d still be able to get appointments later on. That strategy didn’t pan out. SinoPharm received WHO approval just a few days later, but the only appointments still available were mid-week in Svaneti, which just wasn’t an option given our work schedules.

I wised up by the time SinoVac appointments were offered. It still wasn’t WHO approved at the time, but the approval was expected soon. It did take me a few hours to realize that I could sign up for an appointment in the future, and cancel it if it wasn’t approved by that time. In those few hours, though, most of the appointments in Tbilisi had been booked up, though there were plenty of appointments throughout the country. We wanted something further in the future to give the WHO time to make their decision, two appointments together so G could do the talking for me if necessary, and if we were leaving Tbilisi we needed a weekend appointment. That did limit the appointments available to us, but we found a perfect slot in Ozurgeti. It’s a relatively accessible town and we’d never been, so we decided to book and make a vaccination vacation of it. Since I had some time before my appointment, I did consult with my doctors about my vaccine options, and they were both enthusiastically in favor of getting SinoVac sooner rather than waiting for something else.

I wasn’t 100% sure if I would be able to get vaccinated at all, as evidence was mixed. Early on, the authorities were notably quiet on the official policy. The US Embassy claimed that vaccination was available only for permanent residents, not temporary, though I knew some temporary residents who had successfully gotten vaccinated. The media always used the word “citizens”, but not “Georgian citizens” (I have an official document that refers to me as “Citizen Em”, though I am not a Georgian citizen). Some friends with legal residence (I’m not sure if temporary or permanent) had trouble registering, though the exact reason wasn’t clear. Some of them may have been trying to register for vaccines their age wasn’t eligible for, and many people had trouble entering the correct Georgian version of their name. I was able to register via the online portal quite easily, so at least that hurdle was cleared. (tip for others registering: your name has to be in Georgian characters spelled exactly the same as on your ID, with middle name, etc. Either permanent or temporary residence seems to work.). A few days before our appointments, the head of the CDC mentioned vaccinating residents in a press conference, so that was positive news, though I still wasn’t positive I’d be able to get it until it was in my arm, as there was presumably some amount of discretion reserved to the doctors administering the vaccine.

Dose 1:
The day we were scheduled, we got calls from the clinic inviting us to come earlier if it was convenient for us. The clinic was very easy to find (on a hillside visible from the town center with a big sign), even though we weren’t too familiar with Ozurgeti. It wasn’t very busy, but we were far from the only ones there. We were, however, the youngest by a good few decades. We didn’t have to wait long, and the clinical registration process was fairly fast and simple, just making sure they had the correct personal information and that we were healthy enough to be vaccinated. The staff were all friendly and efficient. The registration was so easy and pleasant that having worried about being turned away seemed silly.

After filling out the form, they sent us to the doctor who took our blood pressure and gave us the vaccine. Again, she was friendly and efficient. They used such a tiny needle that if I hadn’t watched her prepare it (and G hadn’t taken a photo), I wouldn’t have been sure that she had even administered it.

We were then moved to another section of the room to wait to make sure we didn’t have any post-vaccine reactions. (They are being very cautious now). I have a habit of waving my arm around and exercising it after injections, as I’ve heard this can help keep your arm from being sore after. (I don’t know if this is just the placebo effect and I don’t know how sore my arm might have been otherwise, but I have a pretty good track record with this technique). When she saw me flailing my arm about, another of the doctors rushed over to make sure I was OK, so we were definitely being well monitored. Every so often, a staff member would call out checking to make sure everyone was still feeling OK. One benefit of choosing this clinic, which I’d had no idea of in advance, was that the view from the windows was really beautiful. It was certainly nice to be able to see the beautiful Gurian mountain scenery while waiting. We were given our paper certificates during this time, and after the monitoring time was done, we were released.

After a few hours, my arm did get slightly sore (less so than from my recent tetanus booster, but it lasted longer). I couldn’t fall asleep on that arm when I went to bed, but I woke up in the morning sleeping on that side without any issues. The next few days I felt a little sleepy during the day and slept like a log, but that could also have been from the travel, the fact that it was the first really hot days of the year, or because I was no longer worrying about being able to get vaccinated. I hadn’t slept so well for two nights in a row in a long time, so I’m quite pleased with this result.

First dose

Dose 2:

Our recommended date for the second dose was the beginning of July, though we’re allowed to take it in a 2-week window from 2-4 weeks after the first dose. After our first dose, the month of July wasn’t on the booking system at all, so we had to keep checking until July appointments appeared. At one point I got a little nervous and messaged the vaccine-coordinating body on Facebook, and they replied quickly, helpfully and in English letting me know that July appointments indeed hadn’t been released yet, and that I didn’t need to worry.

On June 28, there were rumors that the vaccine was available to everyone regardless of immigration status that day (they were false, but spurred by the fact that the English version of the booking site had been released a few days before). There were also news stories that the new, large shipments of SinoVac and SinoPharm were set to arrive at the end of the week. I was (unsuccessfully) helping some friends register, so I was actively checking the site regularly that day, which did happen to be when July appointments started popping up. Since we saw them immediately, we were able to book our appointments together on our preferred day (as long an interval between doses as allowed, as that seems to increase efficacy) at the clinic around the corner from our house. A few days later they re-opened booking for first doses of SinoPharm, and the booking site was the victim of a cyberattack. Fortunately it didn’t affect previous bookings, so we didn’t personally experience any issues with it. Partially in response to that event, it is now also possible to register with (some) clinics directly for vaccine appointments by phone. For those trying to register now, if you have a flexible schedule I recommend missing out on the first-day booking rush and periodically scouting for cancelled appointments. While looking for appointments for others and waiting for July to be added, I noticed that I could have gotten a much more convenient appointment that way.

When we arrived for our second dose, the clinic was quite busy but the vaccine administration was quite well-organized. This clinic was much slicker than the one we went to in Ozurgeti–everything was bright and shiny, and they had branded banners to get their logo into vaccine photos. Again, the staff were all friendly and professional. The doctor doing the intake survey asked if I’d prefer to speak English, and his English was excellent–a nice bonus. I think they used a bigger needle this time, because I definitely felt the injection this time. After our jabs, we were brought into a nice, modern auditorium to be monitored for side effects while they processed our paperwork. One thing that this clinic did that I thought was smart was in addition to the doctor doing the monitoring and the people handling the paperwork, they had an administrator (who I believe was also an MD, though I’m not sure) in the room to answer patients’ questions. She congratulated everyone for being vaccinated, and emphasized that people with just one dose of vaccine needed to be even more careful now than they had been before. She said that while there wasn’t an official policy on boosters for SinoVac and SinoPharm yet, it looked likely that a booster with Pfizer (or another Western vaccine) would be recommended in the future and would be made available to everyone who had received those vaccines. There were some heated discussions about the lack of European recognition of the Chinese-made vaccines, but she handled the situation well, even though it was obviously beyond her control.

In terms of side effects, my arm was slightly sore. Interestingly, it continued the trend of my recent vaccines and was less sore than from the previous, but the soreness lingered for even longer. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep as perfectly as I did after the first dose. G did feel quite tired on the first day, but his arm wasn’t even sore.

The best vaccine is the one in your arm. Yes, it may be less effective, but something with lower side effects isn’t a bad consolation prize. Since registration for Pfizer has now been announced for all ages, just a few days after I got my second dose, I do feel a little like I’ve missed out. However, I will be fully vaccinated in time for some date-specific family gatherings, which wouldn’t have happened even if I managed to get a Pfizer appointment on the first day. Even after my vaccine is fully-developed, I’ll still be cautious (turns out, I strongly prefer eating outside) and wear my mask (allergies are much improved by wearing one) and get boosters as necessary, especially since the Delta variant is spreading and case numbers are increasing. I’d rather have some protection than none at all! I’m (unbelievably) looking forward to going to the dentist and getting my teeth cleaned!

Postcard from: Ozurgeti

This trip was a little different, as the primary motive was to get our Covid-19 vaccines. (After our second dose, I’ll post about getting vaccinated in Georgia). Our appointments were in Ozurgeti, the capital of Guria, which we chose in part because we had never been there and I had recently read Emily Lush’s post about interesting things to do in the area. I have some friends from the area and it seems to inspire great loyalty. Now that I’ve visited I can see why.

The 5ish hour drive from Tbilisi was slightly complicated at this time by the 11 PM curfew, but G was able to leave work a little early and we made it out of the house by 5, giving us enough time to get there comfortably. The highway has been improved since we last went to Western Georgia, so the drive was faster and easier. There are multiple roads from the main highway to Ozurgeti, and we took the one from Lanchkhuti. The road was in pretty good shape, but the narrow twisty mountain road after dark was giving me conniption fits. We probably should have taken a different route at that hour. I’m sure that area has beautiful scenery when it’s light out, though. We had pre-booked our stay at Komli Guesthouse, and we definitely should have called Lika for directions earlier on the drive. GoogleMaps will get you VERY close to Komli, and then it will send you driving around in circles rather than getting you the last two minutes. Honestly, if you listen to Lika and not GoogleMaps, Komli is very easy to find, even in the dark. Even though we arrived late she had a feast waiting for us, including Gurian wine, some of the best badrijani nigvzit (eggplant with walnut) I’ve ever had (and that’s my favorite, so I can judge), bamboo pickles, and the Gurian version of chakapuli made with beef and cilantro. Everything was delicious, and we quickly decided that we would add board to our room while we were there. I was a bit nervous about staying in an “historic farmhouse”, but Komli understands both Georgian hospitality and the hospitality industry, so the beautiful old room had a comfortable bed, clean modern bathroom, and wasn’t the slightest bit musty while still being full of character.

Komli

After staying up late chatting with Lika, we woke up on the late side on Saturday morning. We had a massive breakfast (featuring a huge pot of wonderful homegrown tea), and met Lika’s family, friends, and neighbors–everyone was very nice. We agreed to do the tea tour, and Lika told us about the history of tea in Georgia and Guria and her family’s history. We then went to pick some tea from her tea bushes. It’s easier than I thought, and actually quite nice (when you don’t have a quota). We then visited the area where they’re constructing an eco-friendly straw house on the property. Throwing mud at the walls seems quite fun. There’s a rivulet through the property, so Lika has constructed a little boat and you can go on a “mini cruise” which was nice and relaxing. The colors of the bamboo grove were surprisingly bright and pretty.

Picking tea

After a relaxing morning and early afternoon, we went into Ozurgeti proper to get our vaccines at the clinic. The vaccination center was on the 4th floor, so while we were being observed post-vaccine, we had a lovely view of verdant green mountains. We decided to go for a drive and see the scenery while we were out and about, so we picked a road to follow for awhile. Seeing a village with some interesting architecture, we looked on GoogleMaps and realized we were already closer to Batumi than Ozurgeti! We decided it was worth a visit to the Black Sea so we continued on to Kobuleti. We checked to see if our favorite fish farm had survived the pandemic (It has and they’re doing pretty significant renovations). Then we went to the beach and I played in the sea for a bit. We took another road back to Ozurgeti, making a loop. I knew Ozurgeti wasn’t far from the Black Sea, but I was still surprised by how close and accessible it was. If you drive (or are a marshrutka master), I would highly recommend staying in or around Ozurgeti for a beach trip that avoids the hustle of the beach towns.

Playing in the Black Sea

We had hoped to spend more of Sunday in Ozurgeti and explore on the way back, but it turned out we needed to return to Tbilisi sooner than expected, so we took the road back via Chokhatauri, which I think is the main road. Before we left Komli, we bought some of her tea to bring home and continue enjoying.

Even though there “isn’t much to do” in Ozurgeti, we didn’t do nearly everything and would be happy to visit again. Gomi Mountain, the Ozurgeti Theatre, and some Soviet mosaics still await us on our next trip to Guria!

Bookshop.org

Since I’m often asked for book recommendations, I’ve started a list (two actually) on Bookshop.org of books about Georgia and books about the region more generally. They are by nature incomplete–I can only include books available on that site, and I am sticking to things available in English and that I have personally read and liked. If you think something is missing, feel free to reach out–if I haven’t read it yet and you’re willing to get a copy to me, it could make its way there soon! I do plan to keep updating the lists as I work my way through my massive “To Read” pile. Full disclosure, if you buy books through the link, I will get a small commission; you’re of course welcome to make note of my recommendations and buy the books elsewhere. I have also updated the links in my book reviews, where possible. Happy reading!

Postcard from: Kyiv

Now that I’m only working one job with strict hours, I decided to use our break to travel. My cousin lives in Ukraine (no, we don’t have a family connection to the region, we independently found interesting opportunities), and I’d been meaning to visit for a while. I was surprised that ticket prices didn’t go down after the UIH 752 crash, but they still weren’t too expensive, and it seemed like a time the airline and the country could use some customers, so I booked a visit. I thought it might be a little crazy to go to Ukraine in February (cold, right?), but my cousin assured me that with the right gear it would be fine. Lucky for me, I had just bought a proper winter coat. Buying my tickets was ridiculously difficult (no longer a fan of CapitalOne), but I did manage to procure them eventually. I have nothing but good things to say about the individual customer service agents from Ukrainian Airlines, though their website could use some work.

The flight times weren’t ideal, but they were manageable. I had to get up pretty early Saturday morning, but I did manage to snooze on the plane. There was some unplanned drama on the flight when a gentleman smoked in the lavatory, but I was quite impressed with the flight attendants’ handling of it…I don’t think people who weren’t nearby even noticed. My family were pretty much ready to start the day once I got to their house, so the timing was good in that regard. Since they live there and have stuff to do, we spent time together on the weekend and I explored on my own while they were busy with work and school. They introduced me to Ukrainian food at Ostannya Barykada and Khutorets ne Dnipri, some of their favorite Ukrainian restaurants. They were very different, but I enjoyed both. Turns out borscht can be delicious!  We also went to their favorite modern Georgian restaurant, Chichiko, which was fantastic. It was interesting to see how the different food trends in Tbilisi and Kyiv have influenced the menu. Everything was undeniably Georgian food, but there were things on the menu that are not common or popular in Tbilisi–loads of turkey and lamb dishes. The tonis puri was served with an excellent Kakhetian sunflower oil and green onion dipping sauce (I’m working on duplicating it but haven’t been fully successful yet), and we loved the “khachapuri diavola” with adjika baked in.

Most of my top must-sees were museums, and I found that, unlike in many countries where all museums close on Monday, different museums in Kyiv were closed different days. On the one hand this was an advantage, because there was some museum for me to see everyday, but on the other hand it required paying attention to the schedules and planning accordingly. I wasn’t sure how I felt about going on a tour to Chernobyl, so my cousin suggested I go to the museum first and decide after that (Chernobyl tours do need to be booked a few days in advance due to security procedures). I followed his advice and went on Monday (I would recommend this strategy for others who are not sure, too). The Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum was really impressively put together, mostly with historical artifacts, but with some artistic touches mixed in. I got the audioguide and found it interesting and helpful. From there I grabbed some lunch and walked up Andriyivskyy Uzviz to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, which was also well worth the visit. It was a good-sized museum; complete but not so big as to be exhausting.  I was impressed by the attention to details in the design (curtains with traditional embroidery in the textiles room, actually comfortable chairs in front of the video exhibits, kids’ activities in most rooms).

Cabbage Dessert from 100 Years Back in Future

I decided that after an emotional day of museum viewing, I deserved to try some of Ukraine’s famous coffee and pastries. I opened GoogleMaps and was headed to the closest highly-rated coffeeshop when I noticed I was walking past 100 Years Back in Future, which had been recommended to me on Twitter. My mind was made up. I decided to go for it and order the weirdest thing on the dessert menu, a cabbage-based dessert, with my coffee. My tweeps have excellent taste, because the cabbage-based dessert was delicious. The weather was pretty nice and I had some free time, but as it was late afternoon most museums and tourist sites were starting to close, I decided to get to know the city better by walking home. It was a little far (certainly further than would be a reasonable daily commute), but it gave me a great view of the city and helped me figure out the layout.

The next day, I decided to go to Rodina Mat and Lavra Pechersk Monastery since they are near one another and the books said they were open on Tuesdays. The weather was gorgeous (actually warmer than Tbilisi that day!) and I enjoyed walking around in the sunshine and seeing the memorial. There were signs to “the museum” which seemed to be in a different place than I had thought, but I followed them anyway and wound up in the “Museum Making of Ukrainian Nation”, which is not the museum I was looking for. The ticket was also much more expensive than I had read, but I paid up and went in. It was in fact a different museum, and the reason it hadn’t come up in my research was that it had just opened last fall. This is a museum designed for people who don’t like museums (so I’m not the target audience). It had plenty of selfie opportunities, and scenes from Ukrainian history up to the present. The audioguide was generally good, but there were some exhibits that had neither audio nor text descriptions. It was a good overview of Ukrainian history, though the exhibits didn’t provide much information on their own. You could get some great Instagram shots, though.

Cossacks in “Museum Making of Ukrainian Nation”

Then I found my way to my intended museum, the  “Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War”, which was cheap and heart-wrenching and interesting. I remember in history classes in school drawing maps of WW2 battles, and drawing a big marsh between Germany and Moscow. This museum hammered home the fact that there was NOT nothing there; there were good-sized cities and many people living in this area. Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine played a major role in WW2. There was also an exhibit on the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine, so the museum wasn’t limited to WW2 alone. I was in definite need of sustenance after an emotional morning, so I made my way to the Kyiv Food Market, a conglomeration of the best restaurants from a variety of styles and cuisines. I tried three different places, enjoying my green borsht (that’s sorrel instead of beet–also good!), mors, matcha latte and a cinnamon roll. It was a good type of place to eat alone, with the shared tables and simplified service, but it would also be great with a group to share nibbles and try lots of different things. I then wandered back towards the Lavra complex, passing through the Holodomor Memorial (museum under construction) and entered the Lavra complex itself. Most of the museums there were closed on Tuesdays, but the one I was most interested in, the Museum of Historical Treasures, was open and well-worth the visit. So much historical bling that is still absolutely stunning! I found Lavra as a whole a strange place. A door with a sign that said “bookstore” demanded to see my ticket, and all but one of the churches I tried to visit were closed (the open one was nice). The caves that I got to at 3 had closed at 2, and the caves that I got to at 4:01 had closed at 4. But there were loads of shopping opportunities! The grounds were full of stores, restaurants, and kiosks (my tea and donut were really cheap). One door looked like the entry to a church, but was actually a hallway filled with vendors yelling “Girl! I’ll pray for you if you buy something! Curse you for not buying!”. I had thought about going back to Lavra the next day to see more of the museums and churches and maybe go into the caves but I found the whole place had a creepy vibe, so I decided I had seen it and didn’t need to go back.

Wednesday morning I went to Mezhyhirya, Former President Yanukovich’s former home, now billed as the “Museum of Corruption” (a national park) a little outside of Kyiv.  However, when I was there, most things were closed. The house is inaccessible (rumored to be because everything was stolen), there were a number of cafes and souvenir shops that were closed, and even an art gallery that said open but was locked. It was a nice, scenic place to walk around, though, but nothing more at the time I was there. Just when I was getting cold and hungry from walking around a few hours and had decided to head back to Kyiv, a guy started bringing out racks of bicycles available to rent, but I was ready to go so I didn’t rent one. Mezhyhirya is a particularly controversial place. The driver told me he would never go there because everything had been stolen from the Ukrainian people, but he seemed OK with driving me there. However, as a national park, it is the Ukrainian people’s again, but it seems they don’t know quite what to do with it. Turning it into a national park brings up a whiff of the forced collectivization under the Soviets, but it was ill-gotten gains in the first place. It’s unclear if the national park is meant to be a warning to other corrupt officials, a way of educating the public, or a form of retribution. There’s a lot of potential here, but when I was there, none of it was realized. In the afternoon I went to the famous Ukrainian fast food chain Puzata Hata for lunch, and strolled down Kreschatyk to do some shopping. I kind of wanted to buy a vyshyvanka, but the prettiest ones are also the most expensive, so I decided to save my money this time and plan ahead for my next visit to Ukraine. I bought lots of nice little non-souvenir souvenirs at Vsi Svoi, including a hoodie, a trivet, some soap, an English notebook, and other interesting everyday items. Vsi Svoi is a department store (two actually, one for clothes and accessories, one for homegoods) of all Ukrainian-made objects. Not necessarily souvenirs or folkarts, just regular stuff made in Ukraine. They have a great variety and prices are reasonable. If you aren’t sure what type of clothes you’ll need when visiting Ukraine, I’d recommend packing minimally and making a stop at Vsi Svoi early in your trip to get stuff that is definitely seasonally, culturally, and fashionably appropriate. I went next door to a cool coffeeshop filled with ex-pats for my afternoon coffee and a raspberry-chocolate croissant.

The next morning I decided to finish my souvenir shopping and went to Ocean Plaza mall, the second-largest in the city, for the Roshen store (one of my favorite chocolate bars is Roshen’s milk chocolate with sesame seeds, and it’s been scarce in Tbilisi lately) and to see what there was to see. I picked up a few postcards and souvenirs at the UA Made store (not as cool as Vsi Svoi, but still fun). In the afternoon I took myself on a little tour of the metro using this really helpful blog post as a guide. The Kyiv metro is really beautiful, but not as complicated as the Moscow metro. Given my familiarity with the Tbilisi metro, it was a breeze to navigate because all the signs were the same style, and the tokens looked like the ones Tbilisi used to use. It was a fun and cheap afternoon activity.  I had noticed a Ukrainian Museum of Revolution 1917-1921 in my research, and I’m interested in that time time period, but Google suggested it might or might not be open. I decided to check it out with no expectations. When I got nearby, I realized that the address was of the VERY closed-looking building I had walked past before, and indeed it was closed, though the Museum of Pedagogy in the same building seemed open. I went back to Kreschatyk to pick up a few more souvenirs, and went back to hang out with the family.

On Valentine’s Day, I went for my tour of Chernobyl with SoloEast.  I chose them by looking up all the tour companies recommended in my travel books and by the Chernobyl Museum, and seeing who had availability and the lowest price on the day I wanted. This strategy worked out fine. I took the metro to the meeting place outside McDonald’s on Maidan (and grabbed a hashbrown, too!) and met with my group. I was the only solo traveler in the group, and folks weren’t very friendly, but our guides were good. The most important thing for a trip to Chernobyl is that the guides know what they’re doing and where they’re going, both for safety and to avoid bureaucratic delays, and the folks at SoloEast definitely did that. The tour was really interesting, and though there was a lot of information provided and I had been to the Chernobyl Museum (and we did a big commemoration for the 25th anniversary when I was in grad school), I still wanted to know more and more. The church in Chernobyl town is one of the prettiest Orthodox churches I have ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot).  The “Russian woodpecker” was an incredible structure, and it’s hard to believe how well-concealed it was. Seeing the endangered Chernobyl wild horses just standing at the side of the road was something I don’t think I’ll forget for a long time. The reactor itself was not particularly interesting, and I personally didn’t get a kick out of trying to find radiation hot spots with a geiger counter, but that was the highlight for some people. Lunch on the tour was the only meal that lived up to the stereotypes of Slavic food as boring, flavorless, and stodgy (and to be fair, no one was marketing it as a food tour). Chernobyl was good practice for the “Don’t touch your face!” “Don’t touch anything!” times that are upon us now. I’m glad I chose to do the tour.

The scale of Covid-19 was growing over the course of my trip, and people were posting all sorts of alarming things on Facebook (rumor mill, I know) about being denied entry into Georgia, so I was getting a little nervous about my return. There were definitely health precautions in place that I had never seen in Tbilisi before, but at that time it was still fairly calm. There were apparently body temperature scanners, though I didn’t notice them; we had to fill out a health card, and there were doctors in the terminal keeping watch. Unsurprisingly, the precautions have been strengthened since then–if you’re planning a trip to Georgia, here is the MFA’s post with the updated airport health procedures as of March 12. (I recommend checking for updates if you’re on your way to Tbilisi anytime soon). Nonetheless, I still got a warm greeting and a second bottle of welcome wine!

If you, like me, have been saying to yourself “I should go to Ukraine sometime”, you really should! I loved it

Top 10 Dishes to Eat in Tbilisi

Georgian food in general is pretty great, but each restaurant has their own specialties.  For example, you might be disappointed by the khachapuri at a sakhinkle (or you might get lucky). These are the best of the best! My top ten tend to be a little unique, as it’s hard to judge which of the millions of similar dishes is a hair better, whereas the unique and delicious stand out.

Clockwise: rye Adjaruli (#4), ojakhuri (#1), Nutella dessert (#10), and pomegranate khinkali (#7). Enjoy!

1. Ojakhuri (roast pork and potatoes) at Salobie Bia (their kharcho with millet ghomi is also a contender, and you should really order the tomato salad, too, to round out the meal)
2. Shkhmeruli (chicken in garlic sauce) at Khasheria (has been known to make lifelong vegetarians want a bite)
3. Sorrel and Strawberry Salad at Kakhelebi (counteract the healthfulness with a khachapuri Darejani)
4. Rye Khachapuri with Adjika Compound Butter at Chemo Kargo Beer Factory
5. Warm Salad at Khasheria or Cafe Littera (not exactly the same, but similar enough to put them together as they’re both Chef Tekuna’s restaurants)
6. Ossetian Khachapuri (khabizgina) at Alani
7. Pomegranate Khinkali at Zodiaqo
8. Spinach Dip (fancified pkhali) and pita bread at Sirajkhana
9. Sulguni Waffle at CoffeeLab
   …and because you’re clearly going to need dessert:
10. Nutella “dessert” (it’s adjaruli) at Sakhachapure No.1

    Who wants to fight me on these?

    I’ve excluded definitively non-Georgian dishes (like my favorite pad thai or burger) from the list, though I’ve allowed both traditional and contemporary “mostly Georgian” dishes to compete.

Postcard from: Bulgaria

In January due to a bad luck/good luck situation, we received fairly substantial compensation from Lufthansa for a delayed flight. In a funny coincidence, it arrived the day after our legal wedding, so we referred to it as our wedding present, and decided to use that money half for the honeymoon and half for the wedding reception.  We also decided that, out of loyalty, we should at least fly Star Alliance, if not Lufthansa, for the trip. As we were browsing the places Lufthansa flies from Tbilisi that are not at weird hours, I got back in touch with an old friend I hadn’t talked to in a while. He was getting married! In Sofia! We should come! Turkish Airlines had flights to Sofia with a reasonable itinerary (no stupid o’clock AM flights, and long-enough but not-too-long layovers) and average prices, and G thought a Bulgarian wedding sounded fun. Bulgaria, though not a member of Schengen, follows Schengen policy on Georgians, so it was a destination that was visa-free for both of us.  A family friend had relocated to Plovdiv not so long ago and had praised the city and invited visitors. The wedding day was miraculously between my students’ final exam and make-up period, so it was meant to be: we booked our tickets to Bulgaria!

Our flight from Tbilisi to Istanbul was uneventful, and we arrived in Istanbul New Airport for the first time. Our layover was a little over an hour and a half, and people on the internet said the airport was crazy and you needed at least two hours for a layover and so on and so forth, so I was rather nervous and rushed us out of the plane to hot-foot it to our next gate. There was no need; we had to go through security again, but everything was running smoothly and we had about a half hour before boarding even started to sit at the gate. On the way back our gates were about as far apart as possible (there was one more gate before the end), but we didn’t have to go through security that time, and again had plenty of time. There was some strong turbulence on the descent into Sofia (G loved it. I did not), but it was another relatively uneventful flight. The Sofia airport was small and easy. There were a few people who took some extra time at immigration, but G’s Georgian passport didn’t raise any eyebrows…they looked at mine more than his! Luggage also came through the baggage claim quickly, and we were ready to go.

We were going straight to Plovdiv, so we wanted to change a little money into leva and buy a SIM card before we set out so we could pay for the transportation and meet up with our friend easily. There was only one FX booth open at the time, so we didn’t have an option to compare rates or anything, and only changed 100€ for the time being. We couldn’t find a place to buy a SIM card (which we thought was strange but the info booth confirmed there wasn’t one), but there was WiFi, so we sent off a quick message and then booked an OKSuperTrans (THE taxi company that constantly came up in travel recommendations) to the bus station. There are multiple companies offering buses from Sofia to Plovdiv, but the one we had heard was cheaper (Karats) didn’t have a person at the counter, so we bought from the other company (Khebros) that had a bus leaving at the same time. Apparently the lady didn’t like us much, because she gave us the worst seats on the bus (back row in the middle) though there were vacant seats at the front. It didn’t have WiFi as it claimed, and while it was air-conditioned, our vents didn’t work. It was not comfortable, but fortunately it wasn’t a very long trip. We tried to pick up a SIM card at the bus station, but they didn’t seem to be sold there, either. Once we made it to Plovdiv, we were easily able to get a taxi off the street to our friend’s apartment. We had a bit of trouble connecting with him because we had assumed we would have a Bulgarian SIM card, but the very nice staff at “Planet Club” let us use their WiFi without buying anything, and we connected….I felt bad that we were so busy in Plovdiv we never stopped back in to spend money. That evening our friend showed us how the public buses worked and we caught up with our friends, had dinner, and went for a walk in the park along the river.

In the Roman Stadium in Plovdiv

The next day was our big tourist day for Plovdiv. We met our friends in the morning, and they helped us get a SIM and change money at a good rate. They recommended Vivacom, and we got a great deal for a short-term SIM. We paid 8 leva total, and didn’t use all of our internet, much less the call and SMS packages! BulBank had much better rates than the airport, and the customer service was good. Then, we went for a walk through the center of Plovdiv. The center is amazing! A huge pedestrian zone, fountains, green parks, Roman ruins…just lovely. After walking around all morning we stopped at PizzaLab for lunch (our friends had recommended it, and the travel books kept recommending pizza as something to eat in Bulgaria, so it seems to be a thing). It was set-up kind of like Subway–you chose your preferred dough, sauce, and toppings. Mine was SO GOOD. Then we went back out to be tourists. We stopped and watched the 3D show at the Roman stadium, which was interesting, but the 3D seemed to be off. Our ticket for the show included free admission to the House of Stambolyan, an old Balkan-style house displaying the works of painter Dimitar Kirov. We wouldn’t have gone if the ticket hadn’t been included, but I’m so glad we did! The house was beautiful, the guide was friendly and interesting, and I enjoyed the artwork. At the end of the tour, the guide gave us some fresh figs from the yard, and it was such a nice and hospitable gesture. We had planned to go on the walking tour that evening, but there was confusion over the starting point, so we missed it. Oh well. We strolled around with our friends, and when a thunderstorm came out of nowhere we had a delicious dinner at Antik Turkish Restaurant.

Wearing shorts in Bachkovo Monastery

The next day, we decided to visit Bachkovo Monastery, the second largest in Bulgaria, and just over a 30-minute ride from Plovdiv. G’s friends from back home had told him he had to visit it, because it was founded by Georgians. The “bus” (which was a marshrutka, which is fine, but not a bus) departed from the Rhodope bus station, so we found our way there by city bus, were told the tickets were sold out but we should ask the driver anyway, who said they were not sold out and happily sold us two, and set off. The Georgians weren’t exaggerating or being over nationalistic in saying that Bachkovo had Georgian roots, as the introductory sign prominently displayed this information. The oldest part of the church did indeed look like a Georgian church, but the rest of the complex certainly looked Bulgarian. Bulgarian churches are known for their beautiful, brightly colored frescoes, which make them great subjects for photos. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is less strict about dress codes than the Georgian Orthodox Church (our Bulgarian friends more or less said “Wear what you want! Why would they care?”), and so G made sure we got a picture of him wearing shorts at the church. The museum was also quite interesting. We walked back down to the main road, which is lined with little stalls selling food, and picked up some pastries and corn, baklava, Bulgarian delight, and chips–good lunch!

Because of the slight confusion over the marshrutka to Bachkovo, we decided that upon our return to Plovdiv we should but our bus tickets to Veliko Turnovo the following day so we wouldn’t miss our hotel reservation. Turned out the bus station was less than a block away from where we were staying, so it was an easy errand! We rendezvoused with our friends to visit the Plovdiv Rowing Canal--yet another beautiful outdoor public space, and had dinner. The next morning we gathered our things, said farewell and thank you to our friends, and headed off to Veliko Turnovo!

The view from dinner at Ivan Asen, Veliko Turnovo

We checked into the Boutique Hotel Tsarevets, which we would highly recommend as excellent value for money, and freshened up a bit. G was craving fish, so the receptionist recommended the restaurant Ivan Asen where we got a 10% discount as hotel guests. We lucked into a table on their beautiful balcony and enjoyed Bulgarian wine and beer, grilled fish, and chicken and broccoli with Bulgarian cheese. The food was WONDERFUL, and I really enjoyed the chardonnay, which is not usually one of my favorites. After dinner we went for a walk (though G might call it a hike, or even a march), exploring both the old and touristy parts of town, some residential districts, and a highway. We stumbled upon the bus station, so we decided to buy our tickets to Sofia well in advance. And then we heard the music. We decided to check it out since it sounded like people were having a lot of fun, and found ourselves at the Veliko Tarnovo International Folklore Festival.  It was such fun watching dancers from all over the world (even Georgia–we can’t escape). We also enjoyed the food trucks outside–sweetcorn and fried fish, yum!

Georgian dancers performing at the folk festival

The next day was the 4th Thursday of the month, which we didn’t know when we planned, but apparently meant that there was free admission to museums and historical sites. So we did all the museums and historical sites. Tsarevets fortress was much bigger than I had imagined from my reading, and we spent quite a few hours there exploring. The church was particularly interesting, as the frescoes were in a contemporary style (it reminded me a bit of Picasso’s Guernica) and were very movng. We then went to the Modern History Museum, the Jail Museum, the Museum of the Constitutional Assembly, and the Archaeological Museum. They were mostly small and only had limited information available in English, but were worth well more than the price of admission! We went to Inn Khadji Nikoli for dinner, which brought us into the old residential district to explore. The Inn itself is an historical house, and the service was excellent. Don’t skip the bread rolls! The portion size was big even by American standards, so although the meal was more expensive than other places we had eaten, we didn’t feel cheated. After dinner, G wanted to go back to the hotel for a break and I wanted to keep exploring and see some souvenir shops so we split up and agreed to meet at the folklore festival. G took the phone with data, so I had to use my pre-digital skills to get there. According to the map, the park where the festival was being held was just a bit down the road and a block off to the left. I didn’t notice it when I walked past, and ended up in ANOTHER large beautiful park a few blocks away, where I asked for directions and was set straight. Silly Veliko Turnovans with their multiple big beautiful parks! The folklore festival wasn’t quite as magical on the second night, but it was still fun and we had a good time.

The next morning we were set to depart to Sofia for the wedding festivities. There was some confusion, because there are multiple bus stations in Veliko Turnovo, and the woman who sold us the tickets had definitely said “Central Bus Station” and the taxi driver bought us to “South Bus Station” because that’s where the buses to Sofia leave from (my guidebook  said they also left from a private bus station, which looked kind of central). When we got there, though, there was a bus to Sofia with the livery of the company we had bought tickets from, and the same woman in the ticket kiosk said it was correct. I was still nervous though, afraid that we were in the wrong place and there was a parallel bus from another station, and eventually we would be found out and kicked off. I didn’t fully relax until the bus pulled out with no one else demanding our seats. The ride was longer than I had expected it to be, and not as well air-conditioned as it could have been, but relatively fine. G figured out that the “Central Bus Station” in question was not our departure, but our destination in Sofia. We then went to Hotel Forum, where the bride and groom had arranged a block of rooms, to check in and freshen up. We then joined the other guests for welcome drinks at 65 Fireflies. The place had a cool vibe and great pizza (See! Pizza is a thing!). We stopped at a shop on the way home for supplies and snacks to keep in the room and got some fruit (and a really good knife to cut it), interesting beverages, strange flavors of Pringles, etc.

Saturday was the wedding! The legal wedding was short and sweet, and I didn’t understand much of the Bulgarian, but they definitely agreed to get married. They had a receiving line after the ceremony, and at the end the guests were given chocolate–fantastic tradition! However it was hot so the chocolate was melty and I am a klutz, so I squirted my chocolate all over my dress. I did, of course, have a Tide2Go pen in my bag, so I was able to clean up the worst of it. After a few group photos, we had a short break before the bus to the reception while the bride and groom took their photos. I took this opportunity to wash my dress and get the chocolate out. I was all cleaned up by the time to leave for the reception. We were greeted at the venue with some delicious champagne cocktails on the reception patio, and were given little felt flowers to pin to our clothes. The reception building was really nice; apparently it used to be the South Korean embassy, and as such had a great vibe for a wedding. There were a lot of Bulgarian traditions incorporated into the party, though overall the format was familiar to me as a European Christian wedding reception. There were folk dance performances, which were really impressive and lots of eating drinking and dancing (though I couldn’t figure out the horo). It was really fun to hang out with the other guests, and the couple seemed to have thought of every detail to make it easy and fun for their guests (I can only hope our guests were as pleased with our wedding!). It was a blast.

One of the Bulgarian traditions at the wedding: breaking bread. The story is that whoever takes the bigger half will be “the man” in the relationship. She “won”.

The next day, the foreign wedding guests who were still in town went together to Rila Monastery, the largest in Bulgaria. It was a very pretty drive, and the monastery lived up to the hype–big and colorful. We climbed the Tower of Hrelio, which had a few little historical artifacts and amazing views, saw the frescoes in the main church, and ate fried dough and Bulgarian cheese while spending time with friends. That evening, G and I went to a restaurant called Chevermeto which is known for Bulgarian cuisine and folkdances. They charged a cover to enter, but the dance program was very good, and the dancers invited the audience to dance with them in a not-pushy but fun way. The roast lamb was incredible–the best I’ve ever had; the other dishes ranged from “fine” to “good”. It was the most expensive meal we had in Bulgaria, but the entertainment made it worthwhile.

The last day of our trip was the first day we had to explore Sofia, so we walked towards the center and stopped at places that looked interesting, making sure we looked at the major sites. We went into the Central Sofia Market Hall (which was weirdly hard to find) and had some juice, and checked out the exhibits in the Natural History Museum when it looked like it was going to rain. G had never been to a natural history museum, and I predicted he would like it. I was right. We then walked a bit more, stopped for shaurma and to buy my copy of Harry Potter in Bulgarian, and then went back to the hotel to pack and head back to Tbilisi.

Bulgarian souvenirs

Thanks to Kiril and Bilyana and their friends and families, Amol, Dipali, Isha, and plenty of friendly strangers for making our trip fantastic. We highly recommend Bulgaria! We could easily have spent another day in each city without being bored, and we didn’t even make it to the Black Sea coast, so we hope to visit again someday!

How To: Plan a Wedding in Georgia

If you’ve wondered why I haven’t posted much in a while, it’s because I’ve been busy with other things…I got married! I imagine you’re either reading this post because you know me personally (or vicariously through the internet) and are interested in the gossip, or you’re considering getting married in Georgia (they’re trying to market the country as a wedding destination) and wanted the inside scoop. I’ll try to satisfy both parties.

For a variety of reasons, we decided to split the legal ceremony and the party to different days/months, which meant the planning was spread out over a longer period than it would have been had we done everything at once.  We had been in a relationship for a while, but decided last year that in order to be sure we’d be able to continue to live in the same country legally, we should make things official. From there, we examined what we wanted, and what our communities wanted…and it looked like we should organize a big official party. Then we started thinking of what we needed to do to get my international friends and family to Georgia and what they would expect, and how to make that work with what the Georgians would expect. Once we had set the date, we realized that a wedding website was going to be necessary to coordinate the logistics for those abroad (even though he’s a programmer, I did the site on Zola–it was easy), and although paper invitations are becoming less mandatory than in the past, I still wanted them. I do love stationery! So the first step was to get engagement photos to have something to put on said website and invitations. Luckily, a friend/student/coworker reminded me of our former student/coworker/friend Maia, who was now a freelance wedding photographer. In a funny coincidence, right after that, Maia saw me out a marshrutka window and messaged me. Clearly it was meant to be, so we met with Maia and started that side of things. She took great photos, and we used them on our site and worked with Allprint to print our invitations. They were great about helping us get things to look exactly the way we wanted.

The photo used in our invitations. Credit: Maia Tochilashvili

The Legal Wedding:

For a marriage to be legally binding in Georgia, you have to register it at a House of Justice (a church wedding doesn’t do anything legally, like it does in some countries). The process is hailed as being easy and fast. I can’t say it was hard, but it was still plagued by Georgian bureaucracy. Before our vacation to the US last winter, we stopped by the Wedding Hall to ask if I needed to bring any documents from the US, and they said that all I would need was my Georgian residence card, and that when we were ready to get married, just call in advance and schedule. (This is also what one of my good Georgian friends who got married a few months before told me). I didn’t totally believe them that my ID card would be enough, so I preemptively went and got a notarized translation of my passport. When we had gotten the rings together (that took a while since G’s hands required a custom ring) and consulted with a lawyer about a pre-nup (unnecessary in our case, but better safe than sorry), we called to schedule the wedding that weekend. Then they said that we couldn’t schedule over the phone and we needed to come in person to do it…and they were closed the next two (working) days, so better do it fast. (The wedding books suggest that having to go in person a few days in advance is nothing unusual in other places). Fortunately it was a day when we could drop everything and run to the House of Justice. When we got there, they did, indeed, ask for my translated passport and said my residence card was insufficient. Then they said that we needed to give them our witnesses’ IDs that day. Yeah, we don’t walk around carrying our friends’ IDs. If they’d mentioned that, we probably could have gotten them. They agreed to accept photos that day (luckily both of our witnesses happened to have the ability to send them to our phones immediately), as long as we brought the originals on the wedding day.  My witness is also American, so she had to go through the usual drama of finding a notary who is open and has a working translator on any given day, but she managed it in time after running all over the city (hero!).  Allegedly, there are multiple different versions of the ceremony you can choose, but we didn’t get any choice. We were given the most expensive one. The House of Justice had warned us a million times not to be late, so we got there early. You are apparently also not allowed to be early, because they were mean and rude and made me cry, and wouldn’t let me sit in the lobby even though it was freezing outside because there was another wedding (which we never saw any evidence of). I understand not letting me go into the chapel, but the lobby? Totally ridiculous. They made me sit in the closed House of Justice, and when my husband arrived (also early) I couldn’t get out to go sit in the car as the door was locked (That’s safe…). When the time for the ceremony arrived, though, everything went fine. Apparently if you pay the big bucks you get champagne (actually a pretty tasty one), a “first dance,” and a copy of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. After we were married, we went across the street to Sirajkhana and had a lovely dinner with the small group of family and friends who had come to the legal wedding.

Signing the marriage contract at the House of Justice Credit: Maia Tochilashvili

Logistical Prep:

After we were officially married, the logistical arrangements for the reception and related events became our focus. It wasn’t too hard to decide on our venue: Egri. Their decor was the least over-the-top of places we visited, their food was delicious, and the location made sense for guests (it was also a bit cheaper than other places). We realized later on that it was a huge bonus that it was near G’s office; he could run over on his lunch break and figure out some details, which turned out to be very helpful. I really wanted my guests from abroad to get to see Georgian dancing, and Egri had their own dancers to perform, so we didn’t have to worry about arranging that. . Our photographer Maia recommended a “designer” (florist and more), Edemi, who we agreed to put in charge of making things pretty and otherwise leave it to him (of course he turned out to be from the next village over from G’s relatives…small country). I knew from the very beginning that I wanted the cake to be from Mada, because they are the only bakery I have found in Georgia (so far) whose cakes I consistently like (seriously, try their dark chocolate frosting). They were very easy to work with and design a cake.  Our friend Merab is a professional singer, so he helped us find all the musicians. (The music turned out to be one of the highlights–he got literally some of the best people in the country for us). The videography was arranged by the restaurant because it wasn’t a top priority for us, but they wanted some footage to use as advertising. For other little extra details, we had wanted to flavor some of G’s homemade chacha and put it in mini bottles as favors for the guests, but the only guy at Lilo who had mini bottles only had 26 “until spring”, so we had to reevaluate our plans. We wound up ordering customized bottle openers from the US and having them shipped here. That worked out fine. We also put together some things to keep the kids entertained and bathroom amenity baskets to make our guests more comfortable. G had a contact at a company that rents photo booths, and that sounded like it would be fun, so we organized that as well.

Photo booth photo; we got some really funny ones!

Beyond just the reception, we arranged a discounted block of rooms at Betsy’s Hotel for guests from abroad. Many people chose to go the AirBnB route and found really nice places, but we did have people stay at Betsy’s. We also arranged a post-wedding brunch there, and they were great to work with–everything was easy and nice without a lot of work on my part.  We made welcome bags for our guests from abroad. The bags were designed and printed by Allprint, and we filled them with information about Georgia, snacks, and wine. We had quite the time running around the city trying to find enough boxes of Gurieli black tea bags, which were somehow in short supply! We also found a tour guide to do a walking tour of the city so that guests could get their bearings and get to know one another. We had a “support marshrutka” for the long portions, and where we could keep snacks and heavy bags. That hybrid model worked out well. The guide told some stories and took us to some places that were even new to me. After the tour, we had a welcome dinner at Kakhelebi, which worked out very nicely–they have a separate room for mid-size events, and delicious food. We didn’t even have to arrange things too far in advance for it to work out, and the staff were helpful and accommodating. Because we already had the marshrutka, we didn’t need to worry about the slightly inconvenient location because transportation was already taken care of for the non-locals.

The Day-of:

We had to wake up fairly early in order to get my hair and make-up done in time to get to the Ethnographic Museum by 2 for pictures. So we did. Our Best Man had hired a limo, so we drove there in style. Unfortunately, it was quite cold, so not many of our friends and family came to join us for the pictures, and my Maid of Honor and I were freezing (the guys got lucky with their suits and chokhas!).

Ethnographic Museum Crew Credit: Maia Tochilashvili

It was a long time with no food and no bathroom, so we eventually wound up just going to the wedding early! While we were there and the guests started arriving, I kept telling myself “This is Georgia; nothing is going to go the way you plan it, so don’t get too attached to the small details. Things will still be fine anyway. As long as you give the guests food and wine, they’ll be happy.” And there were things I could have had a meltdown over–the cake was too dark, the flowers were too light (and I have no idea where baby pink entered the equation), some guests didn’t pay attention to the seating chart…but like I had been telling myself, it was all fine. My husband’s brother and cousins did an amazing job of dealing with the most urgent problems so that they didn’t snowball (I hope they got to have fun, too). Despite the small things, the cake tasted delicious (which was more important); the centerpieces didn’t block conversations (my main worry), and people seemed to have fun. We didn’t get to spend as much time with our guests or eat as much food as we’d planned (I’ve read this is basically how weddings go), but we had a good time. Our friend’s teenage daughter described it as “lit”, so I guess we pulled it off!

The kids DEFINITELY had fun Credit: Maia Tochilashvili

Analysis:

Our expenses were in line with those mentioned in Meydan TV’s article on wedding costs in the region, which is still shocking to me, honestly, as our combined salaries are (considerably) above average for Georgia. We had 145 guests and the event felt really lavish to me (more lavish than I had dreamed of), and we did a lot of extras (welcome bags, favors, kids’ entertainment…). I’m not sure what people are doing to get up to some of those numbers! We did keep costs lower by 1) having the reception during Lent (church weddings aren’t allowed during Lent): this meant more vegetarian food on the menu, which is cheaper, and less competition for vendors, so they were willing to work for less rather than not work at all and 2) going with a fairly new restaurant, which hadn’t yet established a “stylish” reputation, but was trying really hard to do so. This made them try very hard and be very accommodating (they did a great job), but their prices weren’t inflated by the cool factor.

Advice:

You HAVE TO be “bridechilla”, or Georgia will drive you nuts. You also really need a Georgian speaker involved in this. My Georgian is pretty good, and I rarely have trouble communicating day-to-day, but this was a whole other level. (Mostly phone calls, which are absolutely my linguistic Achilles’ heel). If any of you have stumbled across this post because you’re planning a Tbilisi wedding, feel free to reach out–I have gained some knowledge, and have wedding planning books looking for a new home!

Vendors:

Photographer: Maia Tochilashvili
Reception Venue: Egri
Reception Flowers and Decor: Edemi Gvarmiani
Reception Music: Merab and friends from Rustavi Ensemble, DJ Giga Papaskiri and his assistant(?), Saba
Reception Dance: Restaurant Egri’s Dance Troupe
Photo Booth/GIFFER: GIFme
Wedding Cake: Madart (“Mada”) Conditery
Make-up: Buta at Ici Paris Beauty Center
Hair: Eka at Beauty Salon Zuka
Printing: Allprint

Postcard from: Mestia (4 years later)

Clockwise from top left: Museum rooftop selfie, Mount Ushba from the museum rooftop, Svan tower, millet tchvishtari

Mariamoba was on a Tuesday this year, and since my Monday classes took a summer vacation, that gave me a 4-day weekend; actually enough time to go a little further afield. G had never been to Svaneti, and my previous trip was far from enough, so we decided to make a weekend of it. We planned to leave mid-day Saturday, but work intervened, so we didn’t leave until late afternoon. Our plan was to drive to Zugdidi to spend the night there, break up the drive, and spend some time with G’s relatives. The thing that had come loose on the car on our trip to Poka was making noise again, and there was heavy traffic, so it took longer than planned and we didn’t get in to Zugdidi until quite late. We got to hang out with the family a bit in the morning, though. One of the little ones is book-obsessed and loved the board books I had brought her, so we got along swimmingly.

We left Zugdidi around noon and drove into Svaneti. We’d stopped at the Enguri dam and taken photos before, so we skipped that stop, but did pull off for the odd scenic pitstop. It took about three and a half hours to get to Mestia. Just outside Mestia, we picked up a group of hitchhikers, who were a great boon to us. They were all Tbilisi Svan English teachers spending their summer vacation in their ancestral home. They called a friend of theirs who ran a guesthouse and hooked us up with a cheap, clean guesthouse with a private bathroom. They also gave us some restaurant and sightseeing advice, and were just generally very nice and helpful. Unfortunately I didn’t catch any of their names, but one of them works with one of my co-workers (small country), so hopefully I can meet her again and say thank you.

After dropping our stuff off in the room we went for a wander in the town and relaxed a bit in the park at Seti Square, and then went to make sure we made it to the Svaneti museum before they closed. I’m really glad we made it to the museum; it’s small but well-presented and really worth visiting. I found the display of coins left at the churches really interesting in their age and geographic range. After seeing the exhibits, we climbed to the museum roof to see the panoramic view of Mestia and take some photos. We finished the day at Koshki Bar (also recommended by our hitchhikers for kubdari). I was surprised that a place next to the bus station would be so good…it’s usually better to walk further afield. The menu was extensive, and despite all my years in Georgia, I wasn’t familiar with all the dishes. We were discussing what to order in our usual mish-mash of Georgian and English, and the waitress kept right up, speaking to us in both languages.  We wound up ordering the kubdari (the Svanetian version of khachapuri, filled with spiced meat), the house salad (which the waitress made sure we knew was made with beef tongue) and a tchvishtari (Svanetian cheesy cornbread, a favorite of mine) made with millet. Everything was delicious, though I thought the tchvishtari was a little on the salty side. When I went to the restroom, I noticed in the refrigerator a legit-looking chocolate cake, so I splurged and had dessert and did not regret it in the least. It was one of the best cakes I’ve had in Georgia. Walking around Mestia I was struck by how different it was than four years ago. Then there were lots of empty new buildings and not many people around. This time, Mestia was vibrant! Tourists and locals alike were playing in the park, strolling along the streets, and eating in cafes. There were far fewer empty storefronts, but there were still cows walking down the main street and old men in traditional hats minding their own business. Right now, they’ve hit the balance between tradition and development right on the head for me…I desperately hope they manage to hold onto that balance, as the place is only going to keep getting more and more popular.

After sleeping in the next morning, I started the day with my first-ever flat white at Erti Kava which brews my beloved Coffee Lab beans and has a really extensive drink menu including the lovely flower fairy tea from the baths (…must find the name of that brand!). We had a breakfast that was really more of a lunch at Cafe Panorama  where I sampled their version of millet tchvistari (I preferred Koshki’s version, but this was also very good) and G had a massive plate of ojakhuri (pork and potatoes cooked together…this version included some wine, too). We walked down to the riverside and relaxed and listened to the rushing water for a while. Then we walked to the Hatsvali Ski Lift. The idea was to take the ski lift up, and go for a short hike/long walk once we were at the top. However, the ski lift was closed for repairs. Given what happened at Gudauri last winter, this is probably for the best, but it was annoying that the sign said the lift would reopen on August 10, and we were well past that with no information on when it would actually reopen. Our plans were foiled, so we wandered around the town for a while and returned to Seti Square, where G to a little nap to digest his ojakhuri. After another little wander through the other part of the town, we had dinner at Buba, which was recomended by our hostess for kubdari. G was still pretty full, so we didn’t order it, though. We got “Svan fries” (french fries with Svanetian salt), millet khachapuri (which was amazing! I think the millet was mixed in with the cheese rather than the used for the dough, though, so I think it still contained wheat) and chicken soup (which may also have contained millet). All the food was really good.

Tuesday was Mariamoba, which is apparently a particularly big deal in Svaneti, but we had to drive back to Tbilisi. Only Laila was open for breakfast but their breakfast menu was limited and kind of disappointing, so G decided to wait and I grabbed a packaged croissant and a banana from the market and returned to Erti Kava for a latte. They also had a little bit of quiche left (they don’t sell much food, but apparently have some), so I got a piece and was quite satisfied with my breakfast. We set off, and stopped along the road for G to have his last taste of kubdari in Khaishi. Despite the holiday, traffic wasn’t too bad on the highway, so we made it back to Tbilisi in decent time.

Postcard from: Tusheti

A friend and I had tried to go on a trip to Tusheti a few years ago, but it was too expensive for just two people, so we passed up that opportunity. This summer another friend suggested going and put together a group of four, so it was more financially possible (I also have a better salary now). Tusheti is one of the most gushed-over regions of Georgia, so I was really excited about the trip.

Tusheti is one of the most remote regions of Georgia, located on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus range; the only road is closed from October to May, and sometimes longer. That road is only accessible to 4 wheel drive vehicles, and it takes at least 4 hours to make it to the main village, Omalo.  Very few people stay in Tusheti over the winter (and most of those who stay remain in Omalo, not the other villages) though the government does provide weekly helicopter service for those who do. Pretty much the entire region is a protected area or national park, so the nature there is relatively unspoiled, especially compared to other parts of the country (there are big chunks of woods!). Administratively, Tusheti is part of the Kakheti region. Tushetians are quite well-integrated into the rest of Georgia, but they do have their own culture and history. One of the most obvious demonstrations of this is the prohibition on pork in Tusheti (whereas pork is synonymous with food in much of the rest of Georgia). Instead of pork, lamb is the primary meat source–this is great for me as I love lamb and it isn’t always easy to find in Tbilisi outside the Easter holidays. Accordingly, the people are mostly shepherds and semi-nomadic. The superstition is that if you bring pork into Tusheti, it will rain. I was pretty sure the pate we brought was beef (and it had a picture of a cow on it!) but some Tushetians scolded us for it anyway…

We left early on Monday morning, picked up the others, and made our way to Telavi where we had a khinkali brunch. We proceeded then to Zemo Alvani, where we met the friend-of-a-friend we were staying with. While he was preparing the last things, we went to the local grocery store and stocked up since the boys were afraid they would starve in Tusheti.  We packed up the Delica (300 GEL/car, shared between the number of passengers: “maximum” 6, so 50 GEL/person), stored our car in another friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend’s house in Kvemo Alvani (the main jumping-off point) and were on the road to Tusheti. This road had me a bit apprehensive; it was featured on the BBC’s Most Dangerous Roads, so that’s hardly an endorsement, is it? To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. The road is very narrow and windy, so it definitely requires a driver who knows how to control the car and pay attention, but the road itself was relatively well-maintained. The other big thing about the road is that many of the mountain streams run straight across it, so the driver and the car need to be able to ford some water. I’ve been on MANY worse roads in Georgia, though. The scenery out the window is certainly beautiful. We did get stuck in a traffic jam mid-way caused by a rockfall that needed to be cleared before cars could continue to pass. There are a number of memorials along the road to those who have died, which does undermine one’s confidence a bit, though I have heard rumors that not all of those are actually due to car accidents…

Our destination that night was the village of Parsma, about an hour and a half drive past Omalo, and the last village generally accessible by vehicle. It was dark when we arrived, and we were told that we needed to just climb that little mountain to get to our place. Before we had been told that the car could bring us to the door, so we hadn’t packed accordingly. I grew up with the Girl Scout advice that you should be able to carry your own supplies one mile, and I try to abide by that. HOWEVER, one kilometer straight up a slippery mountain after dark is not the same as a normal one mile, and somehow the shoulder strap for my duffel bag was nowhere to be found, so that was a struggle. We had been told it was a “normal house”, but we were in a remote region, so I wasn’t really expecting electricity (and I was right), but I was kind of expecting beds (and I was wrong). The sleeping arrangements were tables with padding on them (actually not bad), except they were both shorter and narrower than a regular twin bed, and lacking sheets and pillows. I’m not so high maintenance–I can sleep without a pillow on my back or on my stomach, just not on my side. But since the beds were so short, I was too tall to be able to stretch out to sleep on my back or front. Add to that a sunburn on one hip and an ear infection in the opposite ear making sleeping on either side uncomfortable, even if there were a pillow… We had managed to have too much stuff to haul up the mountain and yet not have the things we needed to sleep properly.

After no sleep and a fair amount of crankiness (not just on my part), the boys decided to let the girls “sleep in” and went off in search of a guest house. They returned heroes when they informed us that we could stay at Guesthouse Baso for two nights (2-person room 60 GEL/night; food available, but we had our own). With hot running water, electricity (thank you, solar technology!), WiFi and real beds with sheets and pillows, this place was paradise! (The hostess also, surprisingly, spoke very good Spanish–better than me, for sure!) The first day we were all tired, so we just hung out with the other guests (some French hikers who are starting a bakery when they return to Paris!) and enjoyed the view and the “fresh air”. Tusheti is famous for fresh air, but in my experience there was always someone smoking their cigarette nearby, so I had more breathing problems there than I usually do in Tbilisi. I did sleep like the dead that night, though.

View from Guesthouse Baso

The next day was cooler and cloudier, so we mostly just hung out at the guest house. In the afternoon the boys decided to try their hands at fishing…I think we can say that no unknown talents were discovered, but it was nice to sit next to the river and be outside. We returned to the guest house to hang out, but the (new) other guests, European hikers, asked us to be quiet starting at 7, so we couldn’t do much. (What do you think of that? I’m an early-to-bed early-to-rise person myself, and I understand that they had to wake up early to leave and complete their hike in daylight hours, but given the fact that “quiet hours” in Georgia are more like midnight to 10 AM, it seemed like a big ask…even small children tend to stay up until 11 here, so 7 is really early). I climbed into bed and read my book, and the boys went off to drink with the friend-of-a-friend. And then the rain started. Oh, boy, it was a serious downpour, complete with thunder and everything. It was one of the scarier rain storms I’ve been in, and of course I started worrying about the guys who were who knows where, drinking, and unfamiliar with the terrain. And then the beeping started. Remember how this day was kind of cloudy? That meant that the solar power system hadn’t gotten enough sun to make it through the night, and it was beeping to let us know we were running out of power. We didn’t particularly want to turn out the porch light so the guys could find their way home, but the beeping was also REALLY annoying, and European hiker guy poked his head out to ask me to make it stop (I don’t work here!). We turned the system, and all the electricity, off to make the beeping stop, and eventually the guys found their way back, but between all that and the thunder and pounding rain, it wasn’t a great night’s sleep.

The next day was the village festival, but because of that Baso was out of rooms. They very nicely helped us arrange a room for the next two nights at another guesthouse in another village called Mirgvela. In the morning, we hung out at the parking lot of the village to find a driver who was planning on not drinking at the festival…that was actually easier than I thought it would be. We walked up the mountain to the village to attend the festival. The boys “had to” go to the shrine to be beaten with wooden swords, but the girls weren’t allowed to approach the shrine, so we went to the friend-of-a-friend’s house to hang out. His mother asked us why we hadn’t stayed in the nice room with proper beds! Had we known of the nice room with proper beds, I’m pretty sure we would have! The supra was also gender-divided, but this time that was kind of an advantage…no one was forcing the women’s table to eat or drink, but there was lots of delicious food and drink available. We finally got to eat some lamb, and the pickles were some of the tastiest I’ve had. At the supra, the men with wooden swords became the supra police. I was afraid that they might be forcing people to eat and drink, but actually they were stopping people from saying things that would cause fights, so they seemed to actually be a pretty good addition to the supra! Then the rain started again, which made the outdoor supra and festival significantly less fun (and kind of chilly). We went back to the porch of the house to watch the horse-race, which our friend-of-a-friend’s horse won! Since G had left his suitcase there since the first day (not wanting to schlep it up and down mountain again), we left in a break in the rainstorm to get down the mountain and meet our driver. Our driver’s cousins had asked him to drive them to Dartlo, so he said he’d be back in an hour. Then it started really pouring and didn’t let up. We hung out in one of the little cafes, drinking ქონდრის ჩაი (kondris chai, savory tea). Our driver was quite prompt, especially given the weather conditions (only 10 minutes late!), and we bumped our way over mushy roads to Mirgvela.

Mirgvela greeted us with a view of misty mountains beyond mountains and comfortable rooms and beds (but shared bathrooms) (2-person room 50 GEL/night; food 25 GEL/person/day). The staff there were very sweet and friendly, and spoke a little English and were eager to try to communicate. It kept raining the whole next day, so we didn’t do much other than eat, drink kondris chai, read, and hang out. The food at Mirgvela was really good! They made some mchadi that tasted halfway between normal mchadi and American corn bread and was served with real butter and honey–amazing! The food price included wine and chacha, and we always had loads of leftovers from the portions they served us. However, it was really really cold the whole time we were there, and the cloudiness and the fact that everyone was stuck inside meant the limited electricity was used up pretty fast. Unfortunately, G and L got sick one day, but I think it was because of the raw melon, so it’s not the guest house’s fault. The day we had planned to leave, we learned that the road had washed out, and they weren’t sure when it would re-open…and G and L weren’t feeling well, so we waited (and mostly slept).

View from Mirgvela

The next day (the extra day) we were pleasantly surprised with the news that the road had opened, and our driver was probably on his way, since his neighbors said his car was gone and his phone was out of the coverage area, so we packed and waited.  Eventually the driver’s phone came back into the coverage area, and he said he was on his way! We were heading home! The road back was much bumpier after days of rain, but still only one spot was scary (the road was totally flooded, but apparently it wasn’t too deep if you knew where to drive on the road that you couldn’t see…).

All in all, I can say that Tusheti is pretty and I got a lot of reading done (finished Now I Rise and The Paris Spy, made progress in Let Our Fame be Great and War and Peace), but I don’t know if it was worth the long and expensive drive, particularly since the weather turned out to be bad. Prices are higher there than in other parts of the country because of the difficulty of getting products and the short growing season. We had more adventure and quite a bit less action than I had hoped. If you have plenty of time and money (if you get stuck, you have to pay the guesthouse for those extra days of course) and have already seen other parts of Georgia then maybe it’s worth a trip, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a first-time visit to Georgia. There are lots of beautiful places in Georgia, many of which have significantly less hassle.