My Last GLOW Camp

Well, I just got back from GLOW camp. This one was by far the best camp that we've ever had. It was also one of the most tiring too.  I'm planning on trying to relax this week if I can.

You might be asking yourself, "But Anneke it's winter...Isn't GLOW in the summer?"

Yes, in the past GLOW has only done summer camps. However this year because the American Embassy (who funded our summer camps) loved our project so much, they gave us the extra $18,000 that they had left over from their projects that they funded this past year ....that's right, free money and no grant to write for it. Soooo....we decided to hold a winter camp!

Hosting camp in the winter definitely had us concerned....What if the weather is bad? Can we even host a camp among the Georgian festivities that predominately take place in January? Will girls even want to go to a camp in the winter?  Is this place going to have heat? And so on and so on.

Fortunately the camp was a success. This year we were able to bring in around 60 girls to camp to learn about women's leadership, issues and empowerment. We had an amazing team of counselors to work with during camp and a great group of campers to host. GLOW also had a slew of visitors: a few U.S. Embassy staff members, a very excited Canadian Embassy staff member (the Canadian Embassy funded a small portion of our grant), Peace Corps staff members, guest speakers as well as a surprise visit from some of our old counselors from camps past.

GLOW also took it up a notch by really hitting hard its "Taking GLOW Home" initiative, an initiative that encourages the girls to take the information that they've learned at GLOW Camp and share it with members of their community back home through projects and training opportunities. In fact, because this is the main sustainability factor of GLOW and because we've been hugely successful with girls completing multiple projects in the past, we applied for and were awarded a grant to fund GLOW's very first GLOW Ambassador Conference. The GLOW Ambassador Conference will bring together past campers who have completed three projects or more within the first three months after camp. If they achieve this, then they are named GLOW Ambassadors and are invited to attend the conference where they will learn more about project design and management and further their leadership skills.

Since the creation of GLOW-Georgia NGO last January (we are not even a year old yet, January 27th is our anniversary) we have been able to host three GLOW camps, hire interns, and create the GLOW Ambassador Conference. All of this through grant funding and amazing support from our board of directors. Not many NGOs our age can say that, which is why I'm so proud.


Stats:
1,707 Likes on our GLOW Georgia Facebook page and counting
800~ Applications received
156 girls have attended a week long GLOW camp, transportation, food, lodging and all paid for
47 Take GLOW Home projects have been conducted around the country
20 Counselors who have received leadership experience because of their time at GLOW
16 GLOW Ambassadors
3 GLOW Interns
2 GLOW Banners
1 Amazing Year!

Below is a video from our winter camp. For more videos go to our YouTube Channel GLOW Georgia

GLOW is by far my most rewarding project that I have worked on here in Georgia which is why this past camp was bittersweet because it is also my last. Four GLOW camps in and still loving it!

Keep on GLOWing!

The Last Few Months of 2014 and The Future

Like most bloggers, I'm running a bit behind on my posts. I've been pretty busy since October and it seems to never let up. This is what I've been up to:

1) Halloween
We had our annual Halloween party at my school again. All the teachers and students were asking about it as soon as October started. This year we had a costume contest, slide show, dancing, and students reading the history readings from my students about Halloween during our presentation.

2) All-Vol
This was my last All-Vol conference. Every November all the Peace Corps volunteers in the country gather together to conduct trainings and interviews for next year's committee members. This is also the time that we get together and have a Thanksgiving feast with the U.S. Ambassador.

The Thanksgiving Cooking crew

Anthony and me

Finishing our All-Vol Thanksgiving

All the Volunteers: G13s, G14s, and Response Volunteers

3) Thanksgiving
I celebrated Thanksgiving with a few friends in Tbilisi at another friend's apartment. We made pumpkin pie, a gratin, mulled wine, chicken, hummus and veggies. Yum yum.

4) GRE and graduate school applications
Ugh, not fun especially when you have to take the GRE two days after Thanksgiving. Also applications and personal essays are the worst. I want to earn my masters degree in social work so I'm currently applying to graduate schools. I've narrowed it down to seven different schools and so far have submitted four of the seven applications. Trying to coordinate transcripts, recommendation letters, rough drafts, application fees, final drafts, and communicating to various admissions offices overseas has been a juggling act. Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted about how it turns out.

5) Grant Project
Finally finished!!! I mentioned a few posts back how my counterpart and I were awarded a grant for our school. Well ,we finally finished it. Now all that's left is to submit the paperwork

6) GLOW Camp Preparation
We have our Winter GLOW camp in less than two weeks so I've been busy finalizing our camper and counselor list for camp. Having a camp in the middle of break and making sure that all of our campers and counselors can be present for the whole of camp has proven to be challenging. I'm so glad that my recruitment part of camp is almost over....just gotta get them there. 

7) NESC Regionals
We finished the second level of our competition! Now for the big push in March for our national competition. This is going to be a big task too but fortunately it's after GLOW Camp so I can focus on it afterwards. I've got to coordinate volunteers and plan and manage the resource fair among other things.

6) Christmas
Christmas was much needed after all this stress and cold weather. Ten of us rented an apartment in Tbilisi for a few days to celebrate Christmas. We made/ate tons of amazing food that we normally don't get to enjoy (take out Chinese food, fresh veggies, tacos, tomato soup, mulled wine, hot chocolate etc.). I even got to Skype with my family back home.

7) New Years!
My host family rang in the new year Georgian style. We cooked and prepared food all day for the midnight supra that we would have when the clock struck twelve. At midnight my brother, mom, sister, and I set off fireworks in our front yard and toasted to the new year.

I'm ready to take on 2015! It's going to be a year of change for sure with my sister  and a ton of friends getting married, finishing up my two year service here, returning home and hopefully starting grad school in August. 

The Parents Come to Georgia!

I finally had my first visitors during my service...my parents! I picked them up early at the Tbilisi airport at 4am Oct 9^th. Though they were pretty tired from their previous two flights and their 11 hour layover in Munich, they managed to chat with me a bit as we made our way back to the hotel. The next few days were really packed as I tried to show them as much of Georgia as I could. They spent the first two days exploring Tbilisi and meeting my volunteer friends during happy hour on Friday at our hotel.  We took them to all the volunteer hangouts and bars that we often go to. I was quite impressed with how well they were holding up given that they were super jet lagged and had hit the ground running the day before. After Tbilisi, we began our next adventure:  learning how to navigate the rental car out of the city.

Mom and dad meeting some of my friends in Tbilisi

 I must warn you that even though I've traveled a lot around Georgia, I've always traveled as a passenger (usually in the back of marshutka), so helping my dad navigate the streets was very stressful for both of us. Georgians have a special way of driving. You go fast, you pull out quickly in front of and behind cars and you honk all the time. One must also watch out for the occasionally lamb jam or cow jam on the road as well. Anyway, we managed to get out of the city and onto the highway headed towards my town of Sagarejo.

We were greeted by my eager host family who had prepared a small supra for us. I watched as my parents tried the various supra dishes: khinkali, khatchapuri, badrijani, mureba (a soft whole walnut, hull and all, soaked in sweet water), palamushi, etc. My dad’s favorite was khinkhali (meat dumplings) and my mother’s favorite was badrijani (eggplant with garlic and walnut paste). We spent the rest of the night hanging out with my host family and watching football on the computer.  The next day was my host mother Zaira’s birthday so we had another supra but this time with 14 guests! For five hours there was dancing, drinking, singing, toasting, poetry reading, and accordion playing.  The family would make toasts and my host sister Mari and I would translate them to my parents. My parents had shots of chacha (Georgian moonshine) and homemade wine during our supra as well.

Mom learning how to milk our cow Pretty 

Dad making churchkhela

Mom attempting to make churchkhela

Transporting the churchkhela

My host mom Zaira's Birthday Supra!

Love the dancing and peace signs

The next day, Monday, we made our way up to my school before beginning back on our tour through Georgia. My director and counterparts greeted us and took my parents around the school and into various classrooms. Some of my students practiced their English by asking my parents a few questions about themselves.  After the umpteenth goodbye we piled into our blue little rental car and made our way to Kazbegi.

My 4th grade class with my director, counterparts, and coteachers. 

Explaining different icons to Dad

We managed to arrive at Kazbegi that day without any problems (unless you count the lamb jam on the highway) and checked into our hotel before embarking on a small hike to the top of the mountain.  The rest of our time there was a little bit more relaxing than the previous day.

Mt, Kazbegi in the background (view from our hotel)

View of Kazbegi from the mountain. Our hotel is the long one in the back middle. 

Dad at the base of the church with Mt. Kazbegi in the back 

Church at the top of the mountain

Tuesday morning we left Kazbegi and drove to Borjomi, stopping at Osiauri along the way to have lunch with my PST host family (another supra).  A few hours late and full from our big lunch in Osiauri, we arrived in Borjomi and settled in at Anthony’s host family’s house. His host family surprised us with a supra complete with chacha shots and mtsvadi (roasted meat). Once again my parents and I found ourselves in the middle of a multi hour supra.  The feast raged on with toasts from various chalices, magic tricks and panduri (small stringed instrument) playing by Anthony’s host mom Ia.

Anthony's host family: My mom, me, Anthony, In (host mom),Gia (host dad), Saba (host brother) and Robert (host grandfather) standing in the back

Anthony watching in the background as Dad and Gia down wine in a cradle shaped glass in honor of their offspring. 

Lamb Jam! Bunch of sheep on the road as we traveled 

Our faithful steed Blueberry 

In the morning Gia, Anthony’s host dad, drove us three hours to the ancient cave city Vardzia. We explored the caves taking many jumping photos along the way. After about two hours we loaded back in Gia’s car and drove back to Borjomi to pick up our rental car. We only stayed at the house for another 20 mins before loading into our car bound for Kutaisi that night.  

Exploring Vardzia 

In Kutaisi we mainly relaxed, walked around the city and met up with PCVs for drinks at night. I think after all the traveling and supras we just wanted a rest. We hung out with my friends Ann and Joe during our two day stay there.

On Friday we began our journey back east by traveling  to Chiatura to see Katskhi pillar and to defy death on Stalin’s Cable Cars.

Creepy Stalin era cable car that we rode up to the top of the mountain in Chiatura 

After Chiatura we headed to Tbilisi again before my parents had to board their flight.

My parents got to see a lot of Georgia in their 10 days here as well a meet some interesting people (and animals) along the way.

My parents and me

Mountain Adventures: Tusheti

Hey all! I have been kind of busy with a million things, so I'll try to catch up with what I've been doing since GLOW camp this summer.

After GLOW camp I gained two new site mates in Sagarejo. I'm no longer by myself! Angelina works at our local youth house with the teenage leader group and Catherine works as an English teacher at one of the other schools in Sagarejo. Kinda crazy to think that I'm the senior volunteer now. They are still growing accustom to living in Georgia and I can all too well understand their frustrations with the culture at times. It's nice to have someone nearby who gets your quirky American tendencies  and won't judge you for it.  I'm excited about the coming year and what we can achieve together here in Sagarejo.

Speaking of achieving, I finally visited Tusheti, an awe-inspiring part of the Georgian landscape and one of the country's  most picturesque places to see. Tusheti is located on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and is known for its picturesque views, and for its isolation. The single road into the Tusheti region is very dangerous and is only passable four months out of the year. Tusheti's road is so dangerous in fact, that it can only be navigated by a skilled local driver and his four wheel drive jeep. Sounds exciting, right? I tried to put my parents at ease by sending them the Tusheti: World's Most Dangerous Road episode. Not sure if it worked or not but I figured if Hugh Bonneville from the TV show Downton Abbey could do it then so could I.

Tusheti was breathtaking and indescribable to say the least. Guided with two drivers, eleven of us set out on our adventure into the mountains.  In order to safely traverse this perilous road, we decided to give our car the name Brunhilda, Manned by our fearless driver Lado, we slowly spent a good portion of the day driving up into the Tusheti Park Region. The views on the way were amazing while the roadside drops were lethal. We set up camp that night in the outskirts of Omalo, a small town on the other side of the mountain pass. Over the next few days we hiked to a number of the local villages and castle ruins that litter the countryside. We felt so small compared to the mountains around us. During the day we enjoyed homemade khinkali, wine and khachapuri and then at night we feasted on our camp site concoctions. My description of this place simply will not do it justice so I've just decided to show you its splendor through pictures.

Enjoying Homemade Khachapuri

Just sitting on top of the world

 

Fun Car times