A visit from a friend...

Thanks to a church holiday (though I’ve not yet been able to figure out which one), we had no school this past Friday. My friend James—who is teaching in Batumi—decided to take advantage of the extra day and come visit me. Friday morning I helped with cleaning and yardwork, but then around 3 I went to Ambralaouri with Eka and Nona to meet his marshutka. We brought him home, and as soon as he was in the house chemi babua cornered him to remind him “Abi kargi gogo aris.” Diax.

We ate an early dinner and then I took James on a walk up to my school. We were trying to make it up before dark. I wanted him to see the church that’s Sheubani’s landmark, the hike I have daily, and the view of Oni from the top of the trail. We made it to the top just in time, but it was dark before we were back down at street level. I walked him over to the mineral water spring-house so that he could try a sip, and then we went back home. After spending 6 hours in a marshutka, he was pretty tired. We had coffee, watched soap operas/Russian music videos with the family, and made peanut butter cookies. Then we decided to call it a night.

Saturday I got up early to study Georgian a bit. Babua and bebia made fun of me…but I understand more and more of what they say when they tease me at this point! Then James got up and we had breakfast before setting out. The morning was rainy, but he had come to Racha for a break from the city. I love the nature here; even in the rainy weather the mountains are breathtaking. The tree-covered mountains are all glowing with fall colors, and the rain paints all the rocks and tree-trunks black. The river is fast and blue. The far-off snow-capped mountains change daily. Some days they are cloaked in clouds. Some days they stand out against the blue sky. And on days when the sky is that brilliant rainy white, they look like they’re etched into a huge sheet of glass. This is an excellent place to come for a quick break from the city.

The road we walked is actually the road that leads eventually to Ossetia. I live close enough to get there by car in a day, but far enough that there was no danger of us accidentally crossing the border while walking…so off we went. The road follows the river, inclining steadily before leveling off around Pipeleti (mostly because the mountain on the other side of the river rises to meet it). We explored the ruins of an old spa by a mineral spring. It was wrecked during the 2008 war, but the skeleton still stands. There’s an apple tree growing (and bearing fruit already!) in the middle of what must have once been a large bath. There’s shattered glass everywhere and graffiti from other adventurers. James made it up onto the roof, but I wasn’t quite that brave…

Farther down the road, we stopped to sit with some cows on the river bank. James napped in the grass while I watched a beetle and dipped my toes into the cold cold water. Back on the road, we found some waterfalls, frogs, giant rocks to climb (I’ll be the first to admit I was terrified they would fall!), and piglets. At one point, we were talking about being hungry and James suggested that it would be fantastically good luck to stumble into a pear orchard. Not a minute later, we found ourselves next to a huge apple tree! It could not have been better timing. At another point, we were perched on one giant cliff-face and we saw people climbing down the cliff-face opposite us. I waved, and we watched them climb down to the road.

We walked around 10 km. and arrived home rather hungry and tired. In the most pleasant and satisfying way, of course. Dinner wasn’t for an hour, so we sat down in the back room to read for a bit. James promptly fell asleep, and I was rather close to doing the same. Then Eka called us for dinner, and we ate a wonderful dinner with everyone. I forgot to mention that it was Jame’s birthday. Because of the special occasion, Eka pulled out a special glass and we each made a toast to him. I think we had four languages going at one point. Hopefully he was as amused as I was!

After dinner, we went out to walk through the village a bit and to visit Oni’s synagogue. Eka took me when I first arrived here; it was built in 1891 (or ’92…) for the large Jewish population that Oni apparently had at the time. Now there is one family (6 people) and the synagogue is out of regular use. When we asked why the Jews left, we were told that they left for the same reasons everyone else did: the fall of the USSR coinciding with a very large and destructive earthquake that devastated Oni, and then the fighting that culminated in 2008. Fair enough.

There was actually a group of tourists in the synagogue already. This was surprising because it was past 9 pm…But I guess I am glad to know that there’s a definite interest in the history of the beautiful building. We went in and walked around for a bit, and then we left when the other group left. We walked through town to get back home, and when we got home we sat down for coffee and a game or two of UNO (with made up rules because neither of us could remember the real ones). Then  we started reading The Cherry Orchard and continued until we fell asleep.

Today we got up early so that we could have breakfast before driving James to Ambralaouri to catch the 9:30 marshutka (the only one) to Batumi. Since this meant we couldn’t go to church in Oni, Eka and I stopped on the way home to go to a service at Baraku Church of the Virgin. It was big and beautiful, and it’s clearly a church that people come to this area to visit. I have to confess, I like Oni’s small colorful church better…but I’m still grateful to have had a chance to visit Baraku.

Now we’re at home. Bebia’s sister stopped by with her daughter-in-law and young grandchildren. Now a group of the neighbors are here and we’re sitting in the kitchen. They’re all used to me by now, and I can sit in the corner studying/reading/writing…I get called over to the table for coffee and sometimes they call out to me with questions to test my Georgian. I’m figuring out that Sunday is church-laundry-hot shower-neighbor visiting day. I’ll be curious to see if/how things change in the winter.