The 8th Graders of Akhaltsikhe

We took portraits and recorded video of the 8th Graders of Akhaltsikhe. In the portraits, the students showed off an item that had personal significance to them. Students then wrote a short reflection in English and in Georgian. We then recorded them reading their reflection in English. This can be seen at the end of the slide show.

Students in Milton, Vermont did a similar project and then were asked to find similarities and differences between themselves and the students from Akhaltsikhe. 

8th Graders of Akhaltsikhe

Athens

Milton Bear at the Parthenon.

Milton Bear at the Aegean Sea. 

After skiing, Megan and I traveled to Athens to visit the birthplace of democracy and the ancient Greek ruins. After catching a 5:15 a.m. flight, we checking into our hotel room at 9:00 a.m. and found a breakfast. We then proceed to walk 38,000 steps around the city of Athens. We first visited the Botanical Gardens and sat on ancient ruins, looked at birds, and saw many spring flowers. We then visited the monuments of Zeus the Olympian, where we met up with TGC fellows, Walt and Renee. We visited the Planko where there are many stores and shops on small city streets in between ancient Greek remains. We then all went up to Mount Lycabettus and watch the sunset over Athens.

On the following morning, we got up early and went to the Acropolis. We were one of the first people at the Parthenon. It was great to be up there and just stand in awe at this great feat in human engineering. I am amazed the humans were able to erect this massive monument over 2000 years ago. After the Parthenonon we visited the Acropolis museum. Afterward we went back our hotel and took a tram to see the Aegean Sea. We put our feet in the water and enjoyed the peacefulness of the ocean. 

Greek guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Check out their shoes.

From another building at the Acropolis.

This church has a building built around it.

Me sitting on top of some ruins. 

Zeus the Olympian Monument.

Megan and I at the Acropolis. Her and I together we able to easily navigate the city. No one of us was as smart as both of us.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid in Greek.

Skiing in Gudauri

I traveled with my fellow TGC Fellow, Megan, to Gudauri Ski area in the upper Caucuses Mountains. It was a nice trip up to the mountain and we were hoping to ski for two days. On the first day, the power went out at 8:15 and was off until 12:15. It was a bit of a disappointment because we could not get on the slopes right away. However, we made the best of the situation playing backgammon and Monopoly.  Once the power came back on we jumped up rented skis and began skiing. We took the gondola and when we got out we could not see a thing. We were in the middle of a cloud. Since we were above the tree line, we could not even find the trail, so we followed a group of skiers and we found the trail. We figured out that the trails were marked by poles and that we needed to ski between them. 

Despite skiing in the clouds for two days and not being able to get to the top because of the poor visibility. I am still happy to say I skied in the Caucuses Mountains. 

Ski Map

Sunrise from my hotel room window.

View going up the gondola.

Me and the Snow Cat.

Mother Georgia

Before heading to Guduari, Milton Bear visits Mother Georgia. She hold a bowl is for welcoming guests and the sword is for turning away enemies.

View from Mother Georgia.

Last Day as Part of Teachers for a Global Classroom

Today is the last day for the Teachers for a Global Classroom. I will be extending my stay in Georgia to ski at Gudauri ski area in the great Caucasus mountain range. I will be skiing above the tree line the base of the mountain is at 8000 feet and the summit is at 10,000 feet. I will then be heading to Greece on Monday and returning to Vermont on Wednesday night.

I will try to do a quick blog from Gudauri and Athens. I hope to do a final reflection when I have sometime to reflect on this awesome experience.

Today we just did a quick debrief and visited a couple of churches. 

Svetitskhoveli Church - The story is that the Shroud of Jesus is buried in the church with the person who brought it form Jerusalem. This church was built in the 5th century around a wooden church that was built in the 4th century.

In the background is another church, Jvari, that we visited on top of the mountain. I am in awe that they were able to build these churches without any modern equipment.

The River Mtkvari (left) flows from Turkey to the Caspian Sea. The Silk Road followed this river. The River Aragvi (right) flows from the Caucusus Mountains into Mtkvari.

Travel Day

Today was a travel day. I went back to Tbilisi and when I got here I went to a market and bought some Churchkella, hazel nuts dipped in grape juice that forms a hard surface around the nuts. I hope to make this when I get back to Vermont. then to the Vernicular which took us up to an amusement park. I rode a roller coaster and then went back and ate dinner.  We then saw some American blues music, song by a Georgian man, before retiring for the evening.

Village School and Reading

I went and visited a village school. This had a very different feeling to the schools in Akhaltsikhe and Tbilisi. There were a total of 40 students in the school. Many of the students who attended this school were from families who were farmers. I went to a fifth grade classroom, where there were only four students in the class. It was interesting to see the fire place in the classroom. This classroom also served as the computer lab, which did have internet service and a projector. We got to see an English lesson. The students first interviewed each other in English and then they reported out on what they learned about the other person. Then they began a lesson on Shel Siverstein's, "The Giving Tree." Afterwards, they completed a word sort. Then the bell rang.

Irma teaching to her class of four.

I was a little shocked to see these images from the Georgian Orthodox Church in the classroom. When we talked to teacher, she mentioned that the entire population of the school is Georgian Orthodox. The teacher from the school in Akhaltsikhe said, that they could not do this in there school because there are Catholics, Muslims, and Georgian Orthodox students in the classroom.

We then went back to the school in Akhaltsikhe and taught a first grade class. We got to read to them. I read "Are You My Mother?" and my partner teacher, Wendy, read a Elephant and Piggie book. This was fun and I enjoyed being a teacher as opposed to an observer. Afterwards we played Baby Shark with the students, which is similar to "What Time is it Mr. Fox?" and then we taught them Duck, Duck, Goose. Then we got to see the biggest birthday celebration I have ever witnessed in a school. They put foot long sparklers on the cake and lit them. I do not think this would be allowed in Milton.

Vardzia and Khvertsi

Please note that if you click on the pictures, they do enlarge and you can run through all of them.

Today was an awesome day in the mountains. I loved the nature, as they call it here in Georgia. Vardzia was fascinating. These underground caves made in the 12th centuries as a place of refuge for Georgians to fleeing the Mongols. There 13 stories of caves. They were able to hold 50,000 people!  The caves even had clay plumbing and chimneys. In 1283, there was an earthquake that exposed the caves. I wish I could repeat all of the history of these caves, but I was just in awe of being in something this cool and this old. My imagination ran wild with scenes from Lord of the Rings.

There a currently monks who live in these cave.  

 I will put a bad picture up, just to prove that I was there and that I did not pull the photos of the web.

Seats and a table.

A monk.

A tunnel that went up five stories.

Wine cellar.

Our Guide.

Afterwards we visited another set of caves with a church nestled in the cliffs of the cave. Hiking up to this was an adventure in and of itself and a little horrifying as one misstep would have spelled disaster. This was awesome.

Looking up at the church.

Looking across at the church.

Monks still live in the mountain and the proof is in the windows .

An alter just before the church.

The alter in the church.

View from the top.

Then we went to Khertvisi which was a castle that started out as a walled city in 400-300 B.C. The walls witnessed Alexander the Great in Battle. Then it became a castle during the middle ages and was a part of the Silk Road.

Not the best picture, but the people in the picture show the size of the castle.

Our awesome drive. Super nice, super courteous,  and he drove us through snow and over boulders.

For Whom the Bell Tolls