The lil guy before the slaughter.
Decapitated, and ready for skinning and cooking.
Chopped and seasoned!
Over a very warm toasty fire. In the end it was very delicious, very fresh.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Holidays in Georgia
So since I'm not going home this holiday season, I'm spending holiday's in Georgia. It's going to be interesting, and cold. I already spend some of the holiday season here, starting with Giorgioba! Basically you put -oba at the end of any name and it's the birthday celebration of that person. So you could call my birthday party "Engioba." Which I will. Giorgioba is the celebration of St. George, the patron saint of Georgia and its name sake.
For this Giorgioba, I went up the mountains to have a traditional Georgia feast with many wine, toasts, and meat. In fact, we slaughtered a small sheep for the festivities. It was very interesting seeing an animal killed, skinned, then chopped up and cooked before my very eyes. I usually go to the supermarket and buy meat there, neatly wrapped and artificially reddened. As always, in any Georgian supra, we have many toasts. The typical ones are for the family, for the moms, dads, sisters, brothers, children, grandchildren, grandparents, etc... We also have for love, for peace, for Georgia, for America (since I'm there), for the fallen, and finally for God. Mind you we have to drink an entire glass of wine for each one, so I get pretty hammered by the time we get to God. It's going to be interesting re-adjusting to America when I have wine, then just chug it. It's how we do it in Georgia, I might forget that we sip wine in America.
I also made a Thanksgiving dinner where we had music (my guitar teacher came and played songs), lively conversation, and lots and lots of food. Except turkey. Not sure where to get Turkey here, I sometimes see them wandering around the train tracks, but I never see anyone eat them. Maybe next year I'll chase one down and eat it. This year, I made chili, fried rice, salad, bruschetta, sweet carrots, mashed potatoes, and apple pie. It was exhausting making so much, luckily I had someone helping me, other wise 2 days of straight cooking wouldn't have been enough. The dinner paled in comparison to the PC thanksgiving dinner, which was hosted 2 weeks before actual thanksgiving. That dinner was awesome, and I'm pretty sure I gained 5 (very needed) lbs that weekend.
We're also planning a Christmas dinner for those who are too cheap to go home or don't have family who want them home this Christmas. Hopefully we'll have some pumpkin pie. Or at least some eggnog.
The spread before the meat.
Serious Georgians making serious toasts.
Thanksgiving with Peace Corps. Roasted Pumpkin seeds are good!
New Routines, New Beds
So I understand I haven't updated my blog in forever. Seems like a common theme of all my blogs, first I start by apologizing for not updating, then I update hastily about my life. Well, thing's aren't changing! Sorry for not blogging more, there has actually been stuff happening in my life, I guess I'm just too busy or too lazy to do blog about it.
First things first, I moved out of my host family. There was nothing wrong with the host family, and in fact, there are things I miss about living with one. But, in the end, I think it's better this way. I get more independence, which was vital for me, since I've been living on my own for the past 7 years, and it was weird to be back with a family being so dependent all the time. And, most importantly, I'm closer to work. Before, my commute was one hour walking, and now it's less than 10 minutes. I moved to the center of town, so I'm close to all the markets as well. I can also stay up late and make all the noise I want without anyone bother me. Only downside is that I have to clean after myself and do my own laundry. I can't just leave for Tbilisi on a weekend and have everything cleaned and tidied up by the time I get back home.
I also picked up some new routines. I picked up formal guitar lessons, which I have twice a week, and Judo lessons, which I have as many times a week as I want. The guitar instructor used to play for this band, and he's been teaching me classical songs as well as pop songs. Although I feel half the lesson is him writing chords in my book (by hand, painstakingly) and singing songs to me, and the other half me actually practicing. Also, he doesn't speak English. So it's an interesting lesson usually when he tries to explain something new to me. It's basically my Guitar/Georgian lesson.
Judo lessons are similar. No one speaks English, and I'm confused half the time I'm there. I'm also with the 10-16 year-old boys, and I usually spar with the 15-16 year olds, who are my size and can usually kick my ass. The fun part is when we practice throwing, I'm usually behind, so they always offer to let me throw them around. I throw them. Then they get up and say "kidev!" (again!) and then I throw them again. I feel kinda bad throwing around a 15-year old 20 times until I get it right. It kinda hurts to be thrown on the mat, which isn't very soft in the first place. But I guess they get some advantages as well as they get to practice falling?
It's also practically freezing here in Borjomi. I basically walk around in my room seeing my breath follow me every time, day or night. These are the times I miss sunny California.
My new small kitchen. Which I recently used to feed 16 people in a Thanksgiving dinner.
My warm fire place. Which I used only twice because I don't know how to start a proper fire.
My guitar teacher. Which has taught me a few Georgian songs. Which I can't sing.
My Judo class. During warm-ups, I feel terrible fighting 15 -year olds. I feel even worst getting my ass kick by them!
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