Art and walking

Today was good, I talked to some Canadians who were here for phage therapy who are going home tomorrow, so I won't see them again, unless if they come to Washington or Oregon to talk to some naturopaths I put them in touch with. I went to see some Georgian treasures at the National Museum which were absolutely amazing. Some were as much as 800 years old, and mostly religious artifacts made of gold and ivory. My friend's grandmother and I walked through town and had lunch, and got home around 6:00. It was a good day.

Old friends in Tbilisi

23 May

Yesterday I went to the Eliava Institute where my friend's grandmother works, and saw an old friend who moved to Georgia from my homestate about 10 years ago. I helped her with translating some Italian (I took some Spanish and they are very similar) and am working on some Romanian. We then went to the Georgian National Museum and looked at the art. There were some very beautiful pieces of art of the Georgian countryside that I enjoyed seeing. We had lunch with her husband and another friend who works at Eliava, and I had some khinkali, Georgian meat in bread, which is absolutely amazing and a must have when you are in Georgia. We went to a supermarket (Goodwill) as she got her food, and Georgian supermarkets are extremely similar to American supermarkets. We went home and I watched some Doctor Who because I am behind and want to see the last episode which everyone has told me is amazing, but since I am traveling I have fell behind by a few weeks. In the evening I went for a walk with my friend's grandfather who I am living with, ran into a new friend from the past weekend, and then ran into my friend I am living with and his aunt who we went home on a bus with.

20 May journal, Tbilisi

Today was a quieter day, I left to go to a museum (we forgot it was Monday, so they were closed) but instead went to a flea market. I saw some coins from different European countries that were reasonably priced for the contents and got them, and looked at some bookstores (small wooden cabinets next to the river) that were opening. I saw some books and didn't know how much they were worth so I didn't buy any, but checking now it appears that their prices were the same as on the internet. I went walking down the street and got a milkshake. In America at our local American food drive in near where I live the milk gets flavoring into it, which gives a large amount of options to choose. The restaurant I ate at put ice cream in the cup and then put milk in it and mixed it up. It was quite delicious (based on an Italian cake).

We then took the bus to where his grandmother was and he went off to school. His grandmother and I went to a gigantic church on the east side of the river (Tbilisi runs roughly north to south around downtown and the Mtkvari river defines and divides it into east and west) which was built three years ago funded by their Prime Minister. The first thing I noticed was they were selling candles (I immediately remembered Mark 11 but didn't say anything.) which were put in front of your favorite saints. We got five and I got two. I put them in front of Jesus since he was amazing. It has pictures around the church on walls which were very beautiful and in a medieval style. I found the pictures of different hard to distinguish who was who, since they were simply the saints with a halo standing up holding crosses or other things, but that was just my impression, which reminds me of old medieval paintings from across Europe. Anyways, it was a magnificent church with wonderful architecture which is quite impressive. It has generated a lot of controversy lately over here, because it took millions to build three years ago as refugees from across Abkhazia and South Ossetia looked on in poverty. The Prime Minister has been building housing apparently and given how he is reported to give millions to charity I find this very believable. Long story short, if you are in Tbilisi, it is free and quite impressive.

It started to hail just as we left, we grabbed a taxi and went home, had dinner, and then I spent the rest of my day educating myself about Georgian politics (I found http://www.econpolicyfact.ge/en the most informative on the differences between the parties) and reading other things online.

Georgia updates

On the 18th I spent the morning at Zemphira house while Giorgi was at a meeting. At 1:00 we left with his father and went to a mall in north Tbilisi, walked around a little bit and then met some friends there and got food for our overnight camping west of Tbilisi. We are in a valley south of tsinarhetki. We had diner and had a little vodka which had a depressing effect on me. I remembered that today was the two month anniversary of the house fire and took a nap. I woke up around 11:15 pm and then talked with my new friends.
This morning we got up and a few people stayed in bed really late (from my perspective) as we burned a fire and talked. (mostly in Georgian, so I just sat back and asked for translations, which happened a lot.) The people were friends of my friend who he has from school, and they are all really nice people. We had two older adults with us who guided us to the fortress. The vegetation below the trees is similar to that of home here, except while there are evergreen trees, it is mostly deciduous with a few evergreens mixed in. We walked deep into the valley and one part of it we had to walk over a rock wall basically because it was so narrow. This is extremely rural land, and completely beautiful. It is amazing how it is only about 30 kilometers from my friend's grandmother's house in Tbilisi and so completely different. We were the only group on the trail. Tavkavta fortress is a 900-1100 year old castle and church which is absolutely stunning. There is an old church in it (which is kept up with photos) and a fortress. There is very little information available online, which probably is a good thing because it is so remarkably undisturbed, and I personally want to keep it that way, so it is a gem for people who know the locals. Getting into Tavkavta Fortress is a real adventure, because the trail is extremely narrow (at some points maybe only 1 meter wide above a gigantic cliff, which if you are smart is not a problem) and windy. At parts you are going over sliding rock faces which is dangerous but helps make it so very few people can see the gem inside. There are caves opposite the valley from the large hill which Tavkavta stands (which is where some of the very narrow pathways are) are very beautiful and demonstrate the geological history of the area. It clearly shows how the land has been slanted as the Caucasus and Middle East Tectonic Plates meet, which is stunning to see it. There are medieval caves there with records of Orthodox monks that are to date undisturbed according to our guide. It is a hidden gem, a true backdoor as Rick Steves says you need to look for when you travel and today is a day I will never forget.
I had a great time getting to know new friends, and will definitely see them later in this trip.

Istanbul and Tbilisi, May 16th and 17th.

May 15th
My cousin's fiance and I had breakfast together and drove around Munich. The flight to Istanbul was pretty for the parts that I was awake for. The smaller Istanbul airport has a lot of alcohol and tobacco, this is a very liberal nation by Muslim standards. There are people here from around the world. I looked for Turkish food (I can have Burger King whenever I want at home, and I never want it anyways) and had a simit, and instantly fell in love with Turkish culture at the first bite. It had a delicious cheese and the bread was great. A simit is like a bagel, but with a larger hole in the middle and has a different texture to the bread.

I flew then to Tbilisi and slept on the overnight flight, I got to my friend's house around 3 in the morning and after a snack fell asleep immediately. I woke up about half an hour before I arrived in Tbilisi and watched the lights of the city of over a million people as I woke up. Customs was easy, and I went home with my friend and his father. We drove home and had some really good bread and cheese. The bread was baked with the cheese inside it. Georgian cheese (at least the one I tried) is salty and tasty.

May 16th
The next day (waking up around 12:30 in the afternoon, as opposed to 2:30 my overnight in München) we drove around the city. It is CRAZY! Georgian driving has people doing basically whatever they want.

May 17th
I just got home and had some dinner and it was a partially wonderful and partially eye opening day. I went with my friend's aunt and his brother (who is 8 and has just started to learn English, so he isn't comfortable with it yet) to a Georgian arts in the old city which is both beautiful and somewhat sad. There was some Armenian food, a wrap with what I think was beef inside and some bread very similar to what is made in Western European culture, wonderful people, and beautiful Georgian music. We walked to the top of the mountain on the south side of Tbilisi where there is a large statue that is less than 100 years old made of steel (coordinates: ) which gave Ilia some much needed exercise.When we were done we went to get some food, and then some ice cream. As we were there a small boy came up and asked me for change, I politely said no and he went away. It shook me a bit because I have never had a small child (maybe 8, the same age as Ilia) come up to me and ask for money, we don't have that in the United States. We took a taxi home (there are taxis and buses which are usually vans everywhere in Tbilisi, which is really convenient) and I had some dinner while talking to my friend's grandmother about my day. She explained what I heard a while back, but I didn't realize when the child came to me, that the 2008 war in Abkhazia and South Ossetia has displaced tens of thousands of people of all ages which is a huge crisis right here in Tbilisi. The Georgian government is doing everything they can, giving them 28 Lari (about $4) a month as a stipend, With over 280,000 refugees, this becomes a large price tag for such a small country. That is over 4% of Georgia's population. I see people of all ages on the streets. It's downright heartbreaking. I wish there was something I could do. I feel like this is truly life changing and that once I have got my life together this is one issue I would be willing to take on a part of, maybe a monthly donation of $100 or something like that to a charity to help these people. All in all, it was a very educational day with great music, great food, and a depressing realization.

I try not to publish politics on this blog, but this is not just a political issue, this is a moral issue.

First day in Germany

May 13-14, 2013

I got up at 6:00 in the morning and got my bags ready after worrying that I lost my passport. My mom and i drove to the airport and had a bite to eat. I went through customs easily by myself for the first time and went to my plane. I talked with a nice woman who was going to Sweden (I myself am in Munich as I write this entry) to see family, cousins, and an elderly aunt and her nearly centenarian brother. Something one just cannot miss. I boarded the airplane and found my seat. Amazingly I was in between two other twenty year olds on the same flight. I talked with the woman to my right (who is my age) about our different countries politics and other things (she is Canadian, I am American). She is in Ghana now as I write this on may 14th starting to teach English. The woman to my left lives about an hour away from me and is visiting family. I couldn't sleep which frustrated me, but talking to my 1st cousin's fiancé (twice removed) he explained that isn't unusual given how I was gaining hours by going east. The sun didn't set for me for over 24 hours because I was going over Greenland. I watched game of thrones and listened to podcasts and music.

I arrived in Amsterdam Schippol on time and found it to be a really well designed airport I had no trouble navigating for the first time. I sat next to a nice English student who teaches in Austria (a few years older than me). I was amazed at how very flat Europe is,  and stunningly beautiful. I arrived at Munich on time and found my 1st cousin twice removed's fiancé and one of my 2nd cousin once removeds who I am staying the night with. We went to a small Biergarten in a small town about 10 minutes west of Munich and had great food and great conversation about what we are planning to do when I get back from Tbilisi. We drove into Munich where they live and I talked with my second cousin for a few hours about her grandmother and family. There are a lot of stories still to share. We had a nice snack with my second cousin's fiancé as we continued to talk about my plans when I come home. It was a great day.

How to forward your iPhone call in 4 easy steps

For people like me who live in places that are not in places where any major phone network reaches, receiving calls can be extremely frustrating. If you have an iPhone, Android, or other phone (probably) than the easiest way to receive calls while you are at home or somewhere else without service is to use Google Voice.

Step one (possibly): Set up a Google account if you don't have one yet. It is worth it, Gmail and Google Calendars are the best.

Step two (possibly): Set up Google Voice with a local number

Step three: Install Talkatone onto your iPhone (or different phone)

Step four (iPhone only): set up call forwarding to your Google Voice number as explained here: http://www.simonblog.com/2009/08/03/iphone-tip-how-to-use-conditional-call-forwarding/ which takes only one phone call and one step to finish the set up.