March 23, 2014
Life in a Georgian village: Puddles and potatoes
The next morning I woke up and saw a really beautiful view from the house of the surrounding mountains and the river running through the valley below. Everything all around was green and alive, the sky was a bright blue, the air was fresh and warm. It was perfect. I was invited to stay another day and as I had nowhere else to be, I gladly agreed.
The neighbours next door were working in the field and I was invited over to see them by Luka who was all smiles again. They were planting the potatoes and it was a real team effort. They had a small machined plough but it took four men to push it. And the women were there working too, spreading manure and fertiliser and planting the potatoes. The whole family was helping. I wanted to as well, but they all insisted I shouldn't, so I sat and watched. It was brilliant to do so, to see real Georgian life, a family working their land as they have done for generations. Finally I persuaded them to let me plant a few potatoes because I really wanted to. Then we sat around and talked. Irakli, one of the sons, was in the maritime academy in Batumi and could speak good English, a requirement for working at sea. We compared stories and he, like everyone I met, was an incredibly friendly and nice person. But then he told me Georgia wanted to be a part of Europe, but he himself hated Europe because homosexuality is legal. I was a little shocked by the strength of his feelings, and although I obviously disagreed I thought it best not to argue with him. I was also distracted by the sight of the 12-year-old Luka jumping in the car and driving off.
I was kept well fed by Gio. Well, by his mother and sister to be more precise. Each meal time Gio and I would sit down and be served up a feast by the women, usually involving a lot of potatoes and a lot of eggs. It wasn't a problem that I was a vegetarian, my hosts only wanted to please me. If I'd told them I only ate fried insects I think the whole neighbourhood would have gone out catching grasshoppers for me. I did find it a little awkward that the gender roles were so defined, that I wasn't allowed in the kitchen and that the whole time I was there I didn't see the women eat. Another thing that I didn't like so much was the way they treated their poor little puppy, who sat outside the front door on the porch. He kept trying to come inside but if he did Gio would give him a good kick. He was such a cute little dog too, but so sad, with dirty fur that looked like it had never been washed. Gio told me that he didn't even have a name. I decided to give him some love but he was a little shy with me when I showed him some affection, I'm not sure he was used to it.
In the evening we were to play football in the village and Gio made me think it was going to be a serious game by suggesting that I should wear boots and shorts. It had been a couple of years since I had played and I was nervous that I might get shown up, but I was very much looking forward to the game. We walked down to the school with Gio's sister and a couple of other girls, and stopped off at the church on the way. "Is it an old church?" I asked one of the girls.
"What?" She said.
"Is it an old church?"
"What."
"Never mind, I'll just read this information board."
I read the information board that I had seen outside. It said that the church had been built between 2000 and 2003. I looked at it and saw that it was a very modern building. I made a mental note to look at things before asking questions in the future. By the way, people in Georgia are very religious and always make the sign of the cross three times on their chest when they pass a church. It was quite funny to see a car drive past and all four of its occupants making the sign of the cross towards the church as they went.
We made it to the football courts which were on the school grounds. There were some little kids kicking a ball around but only a couple of older guys, so we sat and waited for a while. Then a guy named Beso came who could speak English and I asked him what was going on. "We can't play," he said, "there aren't enough people." I was a bit disappointed because I had been looking forward to the game so I went on the courts anyway and kicked the ball around with the little kids. Then some more guys came and I thought now we would manage to get a game going, but still nothing. I asked Beso again. "We can't play," he said, "the pitch is water-logged." I looked at the other end where he was pointing and couldn't help laugh at the two little puddles in the corner that he was talking about.
My disappointment at not playing football must have been evident to Gio, because in the name of hospitality he rushed off and came back with a spade and started shovelling the water out of the puddles. The rest of us were taking a break and sitting around for a while when a thin man in a suit jacket and smart shoes showed up. His name was Larry and he shook my hand and asked if I liked beer. I said that I did and Larry handed some money to one of the small kids, who a few minutes later came back with a two litre bottle of it and several plastic cups. As my beer was poured I can't remember if I was more shocked by the fact that a ten year old had been allowed to buy beer or by the '12%' label I could read on the side of the bottle. "Beso," I said, "look how strong it is!"
"No, its not strong" he replied with complete sincerity.
"It's 12%!!!"
"Yeah, its not strong. We drink cha-cha, its much stronger. This is only 12%"
"Its beer!" I was beginning to understand why Georgia has such an alcohol problem.
"Larry has already drunk two bottles of wine and a lot of beer today. He doesn't even like football, but he heard you want to play, and so he wants to play. Look at him, he can barely walk straight."
By this point Gio had gone to fetch a wheelbarrow full of sand and had done a sterling job of filling the puddles. Unfortunately it was now dark. But amazingly the Energy minister had permitted us a light at each end of the pitch and after a bit more waiting these came on. Finally we were ready to start. Most of the players were wearing jeans and I think had only showed up to make me happy, but I was still the worst player on the pitch. But at least we were playing. Then the lights went out. "Its okay," Beso said, "five minutes and they will come on again." We waited, they came back on. Five minutes later they went out again. "Its okay, five minutes and they will be on." After all the delays we finally did manage to get through a game. Unfortunately my team lost, and although as I said my performance left a lot to be desired I did feel we were at a severe disadvantage and can put at least part of the blame on having poor Larry in goal.
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