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!
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