First Days in Georgia!

Well it has been a whirl wind of travel and such since I last got on here. Let me catch you up. Started my travels early in the morning this past Sunday by driving with my family to the Knoxville airport for my 6 am flight. After a connecting flight in the Washington/Dulles airport i arrived in Philadelphia. After I arrived at the hotel I took an hour nap since all I slept the night before was 30 mins. Then I finally got to meet my fellow volunteers downstairs while we waited for our information session to start. There are 32 of us in total and we are from all over ranging from different ages too with 23 years old being the youngest and mid 60s being the oldest. We all seemed to bond instantly which is good since we will be each other's support group in country for the next two year. To celebrate our last night in the states, we went to a fancy sushi restaurant close to our hotel. 

The next day we left the hotel around ten and took a 3 hour bus ride to JFK airport where we waited another two additional hours to check into our overnight flight. Turkish Airlines we found out is really swanky with nice house slippers to wear during your overnight flight as well as gourmet food too. I didn't get much sleep on our ten hour flight but that was kind of expected. After our flight to Istanbul we had another two hour flight that would take us to the Tbilisi airport. 

Finally Made It! We were met with cheers and clapping in the airport from the older volunteers there in Georgia that came to witness our arrival. Then we had a press conference where we met Richard Norland the U.S. Ambassador for Georgia. After that we traveled to a restaurant to have our first supra complete with bread, cheese, eggplant and other thing. Still with me?....When we finished dinner we boarded our bus and were issued our official Peace Corps phones...actually kind of an upgrade from my phone in the States.. at least this phone has snake. We stopped at a store to pick up some snacks and supplies that we would need for the next three days. We arrived at our orientation camp and basically passed out from exhaustion from traveling. These past few days we have been in and out of language classes, diversity classes, Peace Corps policy classes and culture classes. Since our camp is out in the middle of the Georgian countryside and we aren't really allowed to leave the sight, I haven't seen much of urban part of Georgia...just what we drove through in Tbilisi the night we arrived. Tomorrow we leave the "compound," as we like to call it and go to Khashuri where we will meet our new host families that we will be living with for the next 3 months. It's really kind of scary because we only know maybe ten Georgian phrases  and vice verse with our host families and their English skills. Oh well lots of hand gestures and laughing I guess.

More countryside

ხაჭაპური Khachapuri, the cheesy bread stuff in the center

First Supra

Yay food

Weird window display in front of the restaurant (kind of reminds me of the Beatles ... with Yoko to the right)

Abandoned house next to our camp

Cool building in Tbilisi 

Georgian countryside....looks a lot like East TN

Mischief Managed: Packing Complete

Well I finally finished packing five hours before I have to leave for the airport....not a procrastinator am I? My parents and I are getting up at 3 am and leaving our house in Greeneville in order to make my 6 am flight at the Knoxville airport.


Here is a link for the unofficial Peace Corps anthem: Poop in a Hole and here is a funny Peace Corps site What Should Peace Corps Volunteers Call Me

Well the next time I post on here I'll be in Georgia!  Wish Me Luck!

The Great Georgia Farewell Party!

Well I've got three days left in the states before I leave for Georgia. This past week I had a farewell party at one of my favorite pubs in Knoxville with some of my closest friends and family members. It was the best send off that I could ever hope for. My mother and aunt did a toast for me and presented me with special quick dry underwear for my travels. What better way to start a send off! Then my friends began singing acapella  for the whole pub (hope they enjoyed it!) and playing the house instruments. Somehow  after the farewell party ended my friends and I found ourselves picking up a hitchhiker in the pouring rain and dropping him off  in the city before going to a swanky hotel bar to continue the celebration. The events of the night ended with a 3am stop at a late night burger joint.  All and all it was an epic Thursday.

Below are just some of the 96 photos my grandfather took.

The toast after my mom's speech

My friend Alyssa writing her contact information in my farewell book. 

More friends (Georgian flag behind them!)

Music playing!

Singing for the group

We didn't even know that my friend Brandon could even play the piano...he just sat down and started playing this beautiful song.

Spread of the whole party

Well I could put up more photos but this would be an awfully long blog post.  Happy viewing!

-Cheers

26 Days Later

I can't believe how fast my time here is coming to an end. I officially have 26 days until I'll be in Georgia. Kind of daunting actually. Within the next few weeks i have a million and one things to do before I get on my plane. This week I am dedicated to packing up my apartment in Knoxville and moving all my stuff to my parents' house in Greeneville. It's a little frustrating that I'm going to pack up my clothes only to unpack them at my parents' house and then repack them again for Georgia. That's life though. My siblings have been so kind to call dibs on all my stuff while I'm gone, how sweet of them....in fact I was skyping with my sister Jillian a few weeks ago, (she's in London for a semester doing an internship for her business program) when she called dibs on my TV as well as my kitchenware. My other sister, Olivia, is eyeing some apartment stuff and my brother Reese, who starts his first semester at UT this fall, is open to all the apartment hand me downs he can get. They're like a pack of vultures but I still love them.  Other than the packing, i have to call my credit card company, cancel my Comcast subscription, pay my taxes and buy the last min cold weather items that I'll need in Georgia.

This past Sunday I received my travel info and the go ahead from the Peace Corps to go ahead and book my flight through their travel service. All I can say is that it's going to be one hell of a travel day. My journey from Knoxville, TN to Tbilisi, Georgia goes thus far: I have an early, no, take that back, a SUPER early flight from Knoxville's airport on April 21st. My flight leaves McGhee Tyson airport at 6 am which means either my parents and I drive from Greeneville to the Knoxville that morning...so leaving around 4 am or we get a hotel in Knoxville the night before...either way it's still early. But back to my travel plans...from Knoxville I fly to the Dulles/Washington airport arriving around 7:30. I have an hour long layover before I get on my connecting flight that will take me to Philadelphia. I should arrive in Philly around 9:30.  Still keeping up with me? Oh yeah, I'll also be traveling with two very large 50 lb bags too...keep that in the back of your mind.  Anyway from the airport in Philly I will need to somehow get myself to our designated hotel before 12:30 noonish. I'll be staying here for the next day and a half with the other PC volunteers going to Georgia. From what I'm told this is kind of like a mini orientation before we leave the US. After the orientation we all will take a bus to the JFK airport and board our nonstop flight to Istanbul, Turkey. From Istanbul we fly to Tiblisi arriving sometime midday on April 25th.  Whew...lot of traveling but after that I can finally say that I'll be in Georgia!

Well I've got to get back to packing up the apartment. Below is a picture of all the paperwork I've had to do...and that's not the stuff online either.

Loads and loads of paperwork....that's the government for you

Cheers-
Anneke

Friends O' Mine

Ok so maybe its because its my zodiac period (shout out to those of you that are Pisces ) or maybe it's just because I'm blessed with great luck and amazing friends/family, regardless I have had a stellar week so far. My friend Sarah who I haven't seen since we were study abroad students in Australia (circa 2010) came up for the weekend to visit. Sarah  is a native of California and had never been to Knoxville let alone Tennessee, so I enthusiastically threw myself into Knoxville guide mode to give her a taste of the local atmosphere.  Two hours after I had picked her up from the airport we went to the infamous Sassy Ann's (a bar/night club in one of Knoxville's oldest Victorian homes...so old in fact that they have signs posted on the dance floor asking dancers not to stomp so vigorously to their favorite dance songs) with some of my friends. After running her ragged on Thursday, we took it easy the rest of the weekend and went to  King Tuts (another Knoxville gem), the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame,  Gatlinburg (the epitome of tacky and southern), Smokey Mountains National Park, Boyd's Jig and Reel Pub, and a local performance by Knoxville's Burlesque troop. All and all a great weekend and a perfect way to start the week. 

Since this weekend I have made it a point to throw myself out there even more before I leave for service in April. Seeing my friend Sarah reminded me that:
1) I have some of the coolest/funniest/most loyal/dorkiest/most down to earth friends out there
2) that great friendships change and yet they stand still no matter how much time has passed
3) I need to spend more time with you all before I go
and
4) I'm going to miss the crap out of all of you while I'm away and that even though 2 years is not huge in the long run, I'm still going to miss out on some things too.  So this is to all the friends and family that have seen me at my best and at my worst, who have been there for me or even have just put up with me at times.

Thanks!  Also an amazing thanks to my parents who support me in everything I do and shout out to my mom since today is her birthday!

On a side note, this good feeling has allowed me to get a bunch of things done this week too, I turned in all my medical paper work for the PC (whew, finally) and have started tackling items on that enormous packing list that the PC has provided.

Well I've rambled long enough. Cheers

Encarta: The 2013 Georgian Edition

I had a mini freak out today trying to get all of my medical documents in on time for next week but I should be in the clear now. On a completely unrelated note, here are a few fun facts about Georgia that you may or may not have known about brought to you by the 90s kid in me with my reference to Encarta

1: The deepest known cave in the world is the Voronya Cave in Georgia (Did someone say spelunking?!)

2: Georgia is considered a transcontinental country since it is partially located in Eastern Europe and partially in Southwest Asia.

3: One of the famous historic traditions in Georgia is wine making. They claim to have invented wine. (Yum yum, going back to the land of my grape fermenting forefathers)

4) Georgia has a Jewish community that is considered one of the oldest in the world.

5) Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991

6) The country is divided into 2 halves; west and east by a chain of mountains called The Likhi Range of mountains

7) Georgians have a sense of humor and pride about their country. Here is the Georgian legend of how their country came to be:  When God divided the Earth among the people, the Georgians were late because of their traditional feast (which was full of wine drinking, hearty food, and toasting to each other's health) and by the moment of their arrival the entire world had already been divided. When God asked them to what they had drunk the Georgians just answered: "To you, oh Lord, to us, to peace!". God, liking their light hearted attitude and infectious spirit decided to give the Georgians a second chance. So he told them that although all the lands across the world were taken, he had reserved a small plot for himself but he decided to give it to the Georgians. According to God the land was incomparable in its beauty and all people would admire and cherish it forever.

*I think the last one is my favorite, ahhhh those crazy Georgians.

Well talk to you all later and have an awesome Valentine's Day/Single Awareness Day/ Thursday!

Doctors, needles and exams oh my!

I've been spending the last month getting all my exams needed for my medical clearance. The Peace Corps has its own medical portal where we submit our whole life in the form of test results and clearances from doctors. Last week I went to the Knox health department thinking I only needed to receive a polio vaccination. I spent the next hour and a half trying to convince the doctor that I wasn't going to Russia but in fact going to Georgia. She pulled up the CDC information and kept asking where in Russia I'd be staying. After I had convinced her that Georgia was a real country and that I didn't need a typhoid shot, she started tallying all the vaccinations I needed. Instead of just receiving the polio shot which I had come in for I also was given a flu shot, 1 dose of Hep A, and a DTAP.  Two shots in each arm mind you. I later went into work in a short sleeved shirt to show off my battle scars.

This week I got my physical done as well as all the blood tests that the Peace Corps require. Now the only things I have to do this week is go to the Gyno, see an optometrist, have a Tb skin test done, and check on my dental x-rays. All I can say is that the Peace Corps does not make it easy to leave the country.

Well this girl has been pinched and prodded enough. Check in with you all later