Social experiments

do you know khinkali? it is a georgian dish, a meat inside of pasta. pelmeni in Latvian.

there is a special way of eating it in georgia. you eat it only with your hands, without using a knife or a fork. you bite a little hole in the khinkali, then drink liquid out of it and then start eating. you never eat the tail-ends, but leave it on the plate. georgians usually order at least 30 khinkali. i can eat 4 of them. may be 5, if especially hungry.

we found a great khinkali-place tonight in tbilisi. there they also served home-made wine. first we ordered 12 khinkali and a liter of wine for three of us. then we decided to make a social experiment and ordered
(1) half a liter of wine (this is rediculous in georgia, because normally they order at least 2 liters)
(2) three more khinkali (also rediculous)

the waiter looked strangely at us, however after 15 minutes we got what we had ordered.

then we thought of more social experiments
1) to order 150 mg of wine (a normal amount for wine in Latvia)
2) to eat all the tail-ends of our khinali
3) to order two more khinkali, after we have eaten our three
4) to order two more khinkali, after we have eaten our three, and then ask the waiter to bring us the tail-ends of khinkali from our neighbours' table
...all of this of course was accompanied by a lot of laughing...
5) to give a "present" to the neighbours table - one khinkali on a separate big plate!
we did not do this, however, believe it or not, soon we received a present from the neighbours table - another liter of wine....

A Day Of Our Life

each day of our life begins at 7 o'clock in the morning when our alarms ring. then there is a short time-out and the day continues at 8.30 - 9 o'clock when we wake up.

then we enjoy breakfast (initially prepared without electricity or gas)

and we can start working
1) in the office

2) do some fieldwork


3) gather information on what kind of information is available for tourists in kazbegi currently



4) explore hiking routes and other tourism objects in the area



5) gather information on accommodation places in kazbegi and surrounding villages



when we feel that enough of work is done for today we either
1) read or write
or 2) watch movies
or 3) spend time with georgian people
or 4) try to get rid of georgian people
or 5) drink wine in candle light
or 6) discuss philosophical and existential issues
or 7) wonder about georgia

several of the mentioned activities are sometimes done simultaneously.

A Real Post

hello everybody!!

so this is a real post, not an sms-post, apart from the last couple of weeks. today we (me, kadri and kristina) arrived in tbilisi for a party. an internet party. in kazbegi village (our home) :) there is no internet at all. indeed, it would be strange if there was, because there is also no electricity, no gas and no water. well, sometimes there is. most of the time, actually :)

to be honest, we enjoy absence of internet, as well as absence of electricity in the evenings, after the sunset. this is how we see it (sunset) from our window.

What isn’t like in EU here?

Today morning after 9 days in Kazbegi we had had once everything: electricity, gas and water. So we were listening music, boiling eggs and washing our clothes. What isn’t like in EU here?

Čem ņe Evrosojuz?

Šorīt pēc 9 dienām Kazbegi pirmo reizi viss bija vienlaicīgi: elektrība, gāze, ūdens. Tad nu mēs klausījāmies mūziku, vārījām olas un mazgājām drēbes. Čem ņe Evrosojuz?

New slogan...

We got a new slogan for the GLEN: The Project is not the most important. Survival is the most important!

Tikko iestājās elektrība!

Tikko iestājās elektrība! Svētki! Gāzes joprojām nav, bet arī nevajag- tikko attīstījām griķu pagatavošanas metodi bez vārīšanas- pietiek, ja to aplej ar karstu ūdeni. Pēc pusstundas ir ēdami! Vēl- esam jau ciemā slavenas. Šovakar uz Manoni mājām bija atnākuši cilvēki, kas gribēja ar mums runāt par mūsu projektu. Viņi nav pirmie mūsu "draugi". Vēlāk zvanīja agresīva sieviete no pašvaldības, aicināja uz bāru dzert alu :). Atteicāmies.

... uzlādējām telefonus

... uzlādējām telefonus. Mums gan elektrības joprojām nav. Šodien satikāmies ar pašvaldības cilvēkiem. Būs interesanti, izskatās!

Pārtiekam no gurķiem, tomātiem un arbūziem, jo navne gāzes, ne elektrības. Visās 3 ēstuvēs piedāvājums vienāds: 3 veidu gaļa un hačaputi, to pēc 3 dienām vairs negribas :) Tikko mājās beidzās arī ūdens :) Telefonus lādējam ēstuvēs.

Vakar Kazbegi ciemā izcēlās skandāls. Kāda sieviete paziņoja, ka mēs bijām paredzētas dzīvot pie viņas, un Manoni (pie kā mēs dzīvojam) viņai atņēmusi 50 Larus (~15 Ls) dienā 3 mēnešu garumā. Tas ir 4x vairāk, nekā maksājam Manoni un tur neesot dušas un toletes. Skandāls liels, visi kliedza viens uz otru. Mēs izliekamies par muļķiem- eiropiešiem un ieturam neitrālas pozīcijas :) Manoni ir ļoti lādzīga saimniece! ...

sms news from Elina

... we just charged our mobile phones. But we still don't have electricity in our house and whole village. Today we met with people from the local municipality. It looks that it will be interesting!

We consume cucumbers, tomatoes and watermelons because there is no gas and no electricity . In all 3 local food shops ('cafes') menu is very similar - 3 types of hacapuri and meat - after 3 days you don't want it anymore :) Just right now also water finished in our house :) We charge our mobile phones in those food shops.

Yesterday in Kazbegi village some scandal happened. One woman announced that we were supposed to live at her place and Manoni (our host lady) has taken of her 50 Lari (~20 Eur) per day for the next 3 months. It is actually 4 times more expensive than we are paying now and there isn't toilet and shower. Big scandal - everybody was shouting at each other. We are pretending like fool Europeans and keeping neutral positions :) Manoni is very good host!...

sms ziņa no Elīnas

... kopš esam Kazbegi, te nav elektrības :) Bet mums tas patīk. Tikko pabeidzām mēbeļu pārbīdi mūsu miteklī un tūlīt sāksim atzīmēt. Pa dienu bijām Sameba. Ir izbeidzies Gruzijas telefons ...

Tbilisi market

Fighting against flies that attack chicken. Georgian solution: waving plastic bags tied to a stick.

Hands and legs. Alive or not, does not matter..

After this kind of views we felt like drinking some wine. To be honest, we felt so already before these views) ;)

...and we left with a liter of wine in Nabeghlavi plastic bottle in my bag.

A bakery in Tbilisi

"Please, come in," the guy said as we curiously stopped next to his bakery. We did so, and after a while got out with several pictures of the fascinating georgian bread oven and a loaf of fresh bread - a present.

The second day of the rest of my life

..started at 5 o'clock in the morning when I woke up from finding myself in a taxi driving from the airport to Tbilisi at 140 km per hour. I glanced at the driver, but he looked as if he was having a good time and had been doing this for the last 14 years. This made me calm again, and as we entered Latvian Consular office in the middle of Tbilisi in the middle of the night, unfolding our matraces was the only thing we did before going to sleep.

Now we are preparing for going to Kazbegi. When a couple of weeks before coming to the project I told the guy in Latvian Consulate that we, three girls, are going to Kazbegi, he laughed and asked if I was kidding. Now (as he probably realized that I was not) we had a one-and-a-half-hours-long lecture on now to survive in Kazbegi. Mountain people are the nicest Georgians, but they are also the most dangerous ones. Women in Georgia are saint, still we have to beware from evil intentions of locals.

But the first day of the rest of my life was August 1, when I for the first time in my life became an unemployed person for undetermined time. This feeling... I recommend it. In despite of my strong belief that my job was the best job I could dream of. This (in the picture) is how I mentally felt and actually spent time on this day (thanks to Latvian former GLENies)