
Thursday September 18
This morning we do the unit on
Transportation of Dangerous Goods. They are
interested to hear that the principles are almost exactly the same in both countries. In
fact, TDG seems to be very consistent from one country to another. The participants ask lots of questions. They agree that they require only an introduction,
not a complete certificate course, and say my presentation is fine.
At 3:45, Taimuna
picks me up and takes me to City Hall, where I meet with Ghiorghi Karbelashvili, Deputy
Mayor of the City of Tbilisi. Despite
being very busy because of the upcoming elections, he makes 15 minutes for me to
present my credentials as the Ambassador-at-Large for the City of Dryden. I make a little speech, which Taimuna translates
and present him with the certificate from Dryden. Taimuna
takes a picture with my camera and I assure him that he will be in the Dryden Observer in
a couple of weeks. He is very gracious and
expresses his sincere appreciation for our efforts to make this kind of contact and for
our interest in the development of Tbilisi and Georgia. He speaks
briefly about his area of responsibility, which is urban transportation. It is a very positive experience and I think it is
worthwhile to make this sort of contact. I
trust Dryden Mayor Wintle will be pleased with my efforts.
After that, I stroll along Gamsakhurdia Avenue again and have a couple of cold Kasbegis in a
little restaurant. I love this city! It is a bustling and lively capital, but not
frenetic and insane like most European cities are any more.
There is a pleasant relaxed air about it. The
people stroll along arm-in-arm and they chatter and laugh as though they are thoroughly
enjoying life. In many ways it reminds me of the European cities I
visited in 1969.
At dinner,
several old friends and some new ones join us. Maya
is Brunhilda's Georgian friend, who teaches German language at the University. She speaks beautiful, fluent German and is a
brilliant simultaneous translator.
Also at
dinner are Niko, Constantine and Nino #1. Constantine
tells me he has recently quit his job as a policeman because he is so disgusted by the
rampant corruption that is commonplace. He
doesnt say, and I dont find out until later, that he held the rank of Lt.
Colonel a pretty impressive career for a man who is only about thirty-five years
old. I think the situation must be extremely
bad to make him give up a job like that. Unfortunately,
corruption is such a big a problem, that they need honest and honourable, men like Constantine, very badly.
This evening, Nino brings
her fiancé, Beso. My first impression is
that Beso is a simple man, perhaps a mid-level civil servant, a manager in a factory or
some such. I kind of wonder that he is engaged
to the beautiful and sophisticated Nino. When
I ask him about his work, he is taciturn and says only:
I dont really have a job.
Later, I get to sit beside him and talk some more. I find out that
Beso speaks excellent English along with half a dozen other languages and he owns a
company, which buys and sells oil! He buys oil
in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan etc. and sells it to Britain, Spain, Italy and
other countries. I suspect that Beso is very
rich. His father lost his position as a
director of a large company when the Soviets left. Beso
bought him a farm, so he would have something to do in his post-Soviet life. On this farm, he grows watermelons and other crops
and has 100 cows not just a little hobby farm.
Beso also has a small sideline: a
company, which imports and sells computer equipment. Dea
asks me to send some pictures back after I get home, and I should send them to Beso. Foolishly, I ask
him if he has a good printer. He says, with a small smile: We should have.
Yesterday, we received two shipping containers of printers from Taiwan!
Friday September 19
Dr. Boris arrives this morning
with a litre of his homemade red wine and instructs me to take it home to Canada and
drink it with my wife. It is very kind of him
but it sure is going to make my backpack heavy on the way home. The group asked for my presentation on
International traffic Signs. It is no surprise
to me that they know more about the topic than I do. After
all, Georgia uses international traffic signs and Canada
mostly
doesnt. I have a collection of overhead transparencies with the various road signs
and everybody gets a kick out of identifying what each one means and arguing about
what each thinks they really mean!
The Signs
session doesnt take long so I offer a presentation on Crossing Borders in North America. They agree and seem to find it interesting too. It is like science fiction to them. I explain how a Canadian trucker faxes his
documents to a customs broker and the shipment is cleared before he even arrives at the
border. In most cases, our trucks clear
customs and cross the Canada - U.S. border in less than ten minutes. They tell me that it is not unusual for a truck to
wait for more than a week to cross the Georgia
Russia
border and that the process always involves the payment of substantial bribes.
After the session, Mr.
Darchiasvili introduces me to his friend, Ghia Tsipuria (right),
Secretary-General of the Georgian International Road Carriers Association. Ghia is an intense, Type-A personality who
chain-smokes and talks non-stop. Unfortunately,
although his English is good, he has a very thick accent and I have to concentrate very
hard to understand him. He and Mr. D. load me
in their car, without telling me anything and head out of the city. Eventually, I discover (when I have a chance to get
a word in edgewise) that we are going sightseeing and then they are taking me to dinner.
We
drive about 20 km north of Tbilisi to the ancient town of Mtskheta,
located at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers.
Mtskheta was the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia from the 3rd century B.C. until the thirteenth century A.D. when Tbilisi was
founded. It is very scenic as the town is located in the deep valley of the river. We visit the cathedral of Sveti-Tskhoveli (left)
and the Samtavro monastery. In a
corner of the Samtavro churchyard is a tiny, fourth-century chapel (right),
erected on the site where St. Nino used to pray. Georgian churches are all
impressive, but the monastery-church of Jvari is really spectacular! It is located on a
very high cliff, overlooking the town and the place where the two rivers join. We arrive there just at sundown so I cant
take any pictures. The church itself is very
old, dating from the sixth century A.D. I
would like to come back again and have more time to take it all in.
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Cathedral of
SvetiSkoveli |
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Tiny orthodox chapel |
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Then we go for dinner. The restaurant is part of a resort complex on the
edge of the river. Apparently, these places
are very popular in summer, when temperatures routinely reach 40C. The restaurant has many terraces built on different
levels, from the top of the riverbank down to water level. A large boat moored to the
bank, has been converted into a floating restaurant. Water from the river is pumped up to
the top and allowed to flow down in waterfalls and cascades.
Even in the hottest weather there is always a cool breeze off the river and
the waterfalls help to make it cooler as well. It
isnt that hot in September but it is still a very appealing place. Each table in the restaurant is separated from the
others by partitions and swinging doors so that guests dine in privacy. Unfortunately, the partitions dont block out
the selections of Georgian Folk music, played at ear-splitting volume on a very bad sound
system.
Dinner is wonderful and
features a variety of Georgian delicacies. Nearly
every meal starts out with a big serving of kachapuri
(a cheese pastry, sort of like a pizza). Georgian
salads are delicious: fresh tomatoes and
cucumbers, other interesting ingredients and are flavoured with very unusual and tasty
herbs. Then comes baked mushrooms, served,
still sizzling, in a clay dish, that could be
the best mushrooms I have ever tasted! Next, shashlik (shish-kebabs) and some small roasted
birds, sort of like Cornish hens, but they are wild and people hunt them for sport.
Saturday September 20
This morning, at 05:00,
another CESO Volunteer arrives on the red-eye flight from Vienna. Denis Stephenson is a retired business teacher from
Sheridan College in Oakville. He will be
here for three weeks, teaching in the business faculty at the State University.
Today I set out to
explore more of Tbilisi, especially the old town.
I take #2 minibus like a veteran and get off in the middle of Rustaveli Avenue. This is the
main downtown shopping street of Tbilisi. It is lined
with big shady trees and is a favourite place for people to stroll, look at the shops and
each other and enjoy the ambiance of the city. The
Georgian Parliament building, the Opera House, the State Museum all
share the Avenue with shops and restaurants, sidewalk vendors and panhandlers, fancy
hotels and stately old buildings. One of my
favourite places is Prospero Bookstore. Prospero is like a mini-McNally Robinson. It has a
good selection of books in several languages, a coffee bar with excellent espresso and
cappuccino, a shady outdoor patio and an internet cafe. All this in a space about the size
of our living room. It has a very relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.
At the end of Rustaveli
is Freedom (formerly Lenin) Square (with no statue of Lenin in the middle any more). I take some pictures of Tbilisi City Hall (left)
and then walk down Pushkin Street towards the Mtkvari River and cross on the Baratashvili Bridge. On the other side, I climb up to the Metekhi Church
on a high cliff above the river. From here
there is a fabulous view of the ruins of the Narakila Fortress on a ridge high above the
old town. Saturday is wedding day in Georgia and
each church processes through anywhere from six to ten weddings. In this churchyard, there are at least four brides,
bridal parties and sets of guests, either coming or going, all at the same time.
I stroll back across the river
and wander into another churchyard where yet more weddings are taking place. I am studying my map and guidebook when a voice
says: Excuse me.
Do you speak English? I look up
to find a very nice-looking, and very polite, young man in his late-twenties. His name is Nikolas Akopian
and he is Armenian (it was an Armenian Churchyard) Niko is a doctor,
actually a gynecologist, who studied medicine in Knoxville, TN. He
also wants to become a priest and helps out in
the church as a lay person. Apparently, the
priest said to him: That man looks like
a foreigner. Go and speak to him.
Niko
shows me his church and explains the distinctions between the Armenian, the Georgian
Orthodox and the Roman Catholic religions. It
is very interesting.
Then he takes me on a
walking tour of the old town, through narrow, crooked streets that I wouldnt explore
on my own and shows me ancient houses, old churches, a traditional bakery and
many other sights. He is very personable and
intelligent and we have excellent conversations.
At
the end of the afternoon, I invite him to join me for dinner and he chooses a rather plain
restaurant where the food is excellent and reasonably priced. Niko says the wine in the restaurant is too
expensive, so he runs down the street to a shop and brings back an excellent bottle of
local red wine. Which we drink! It is the best
wine I have had, so far, in Georgia. Altogether, it is a fascinating and rewarding
afternoon with a warm and genuine person, so typical of all the Georgian people I meet. Every day is a new adventure!
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