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.