Letting it unfold

I am currently engaged in the important but frustrating stage of my research project that consists of meetings and planning and preparing. It feels like I am doing nothing yet at the same time is strangely exhausting. I know how important it is to build relationships, but I just want to get out there and start working. 

I have to constantly remind myself to relax and allow it to unfold as it will. Coffee with a friend turns into introductions to other potential contacts and the discovery of a funky new bar. Another meeting spawns an unexpected invitation. Not exactly in my plan, but maybe...

Just as I am starting to get twitchy about work again, I get squeezed by my adorable host family aunties. I remember that my adviser said to enjoy the process and take lots of notes. Larissa and I cap off the day with a sunset walk up the hill behind our house for some fresh air, laughing and chatting and fending off yet another offer of marriage from the man who sells fruit; as we approach the house we walk slower and slower, not wanting it to end. It is unfolding, perfectly.

Mobile office, Tbilisi version

Don't you hate it when you have a bunch of awesome adventures when traveling and forget to take a picture all day? Yeah, me too. That's why I can't show you my old Peace Corps coordinator who I ambushed in her office today (and who is as fetching as always) or the fruit trees and city views my host mom, Larissa, and I marveled over this afternoon on our walk up the hill behind their house. (Perhaps it's best that I didn't take picture of us eating blackberries off somebody else's bushes, so nobody can prove it was us!) Luckily, it is also impossible to capture on film last night's constant howling by their dog, Gary, who is either really happy or deeply traumatized that I am back. (The cat seemed glad to see me, so there's at least that.)

Instead, all I have to show for today is my current office setup in the kitchen, including the stylish Hello Kitty phone that Larissa lent me. Perhaps this is the picture that best sums up my day since I sent so much of it in this spot, arranging meetings and attempting to formulate a plan to get my surveys done. Things are falling into place!

Back to Georgia!

When I left Georgia, I knew/hoped I would be back again soon. Since then, I put into place ideas that percolated while I traveled the Georgian countryside. This spring I finished a masters degree in parks, recreation & tourism and received a fellowship to study agricultural tourism in Georgia while embarking on my PhD.

By chance, it worked out that I just spent a week visiting wineries and taking cooking classes in Tuscany with my mom. She is on her way home, and assuming all goes well, by the end of the day I will be disgorging a suitcase full of American candy for my Peace Corps host family in Tbilisi.

Stay tuned for the latest adventure!

The big walk

Yesterday was the official walking tour, but today we managed to walk many times farther by heading up the island and across a bridge over the Golden Horn to the northern part of Istanbul. Along the way we watched man fishing off the bridge and admired and petted some of the city's gagillion stray cats.
By ignoring/misreading our map, we managed to get good and lost among the city's twisty streets, thus stumbling upon a warren of fascinating little shops where we visited and/or observed a wood carver, a miniature-maker, men playing cards and backgammon, a very attractive older woman with the most lovely lavender hair, a musty secondhand book/record/radio/ephemera store tucked deep in a narrow building, and a hairdresser sweeping water out of his basement thrift shop.We also managed to find yet another restaurant where nobody else spoke English (best. chocolate. cake. ever.) and came home exhausted enough to collapse in our hotel room with a couple of giant cans of Efes beer and a sack of cheese, halvah, olives, bean salad and pomegranates.

Culture club

On our second day in Istanbul, Trevor and I decided to soak up a little of the ancient city's history and culture (in addition to its beer, trinkets and snacks).We started the day by soaking up a little of its rain while waiting for our walking tour guide. (I like how Trevor is gamely attempting to act like he's having fun.) Miraculously, the rain let up while we were touring the Hagia Sophia, just when our guide was showing us the windows designed to point towards Jerusalem.After spending a day hitting the high points and listening to a running commentary that was equal parts crash course in Turkish history and mispronounced English gibberish, we felt we had fulfilled our mission.

Next up: more drinks, shopping and pomegranates.

Istanbul (not Tbilisi)

We're not in Tbilisi anymore. One way I know this for sure is by the food, which blessedly leans more towards vegetables than cheese and bread. This is what I got at a little hole-in-the-wall-dive where the menu was only in Turkish and the waitress only spoke enough English to understand "vegetarian."
Score! Also, there are bikes.
And the Grand Bazaar, oh my. I only wish our suitcases weren't already crammed to bursting.

Goodbyes

One of the things about Peace Corps that truly sucks is meeting people you never would have met in a million years, growing to feel like they are your long-lost beloved family members, and then having to say goodbye, knowing that it's possible you will never see them again.

Monday was wrenching, to say the least, especially at the airport when Larisa and I said goodbye amidst quite a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Luckily, most of the weekend was more fun, such as our attempts to devour this giant cake my mom's friend delivered in honor of our departure. (The cake won. Larisa tried to pack some of it up for our trip, but I refused. I also deflected the offer of a bottle of home-brewed cha-cha, which I now regret.)