State of mind

Being back in Tbilisi for a few days and being able to use the internet and catch up on what is going on the world also leaves some time for reflection about the first 3 weeks.

I have to admit: I love Georgia! It is a truly fascinating country. One of the reasons is that it is in between everything:

modern and backward

peace and war

Asia and Europe

independency and sovereignty

Communism and Capitalism

Christianity and pagan mythology

east and west (taking the current events in account -you might have heard about the bomb that appeared from nowhere and fortunately didn’t go off- the cold war is not quite over yet at this end of the world)

…

And also: The people. Proud by nature, believing they are one-of-a-kind. Very charming, very emotional, very beautiful, very warm and hospitable (and sometimes just a little bit too much of all of that). The unbelievable landscape: Mountains, steep rugged, daunting and welcoming at the same time. Valleys, gorges, rivers, lakes, natural springs. The culture, the history, the food: All kinds of fruits and vegetables -we eat a few kg each day. The dishes enriched with fresh spices. Very tasty.

The project is going quite well, we work independently and have almost half of the places visited and can start to think about the layout of the website. More Glen people start their projects in the country and this gives us a good excuse to travel and visit. Tomorrow Kadri and I will go to Borjomi, Elina travels on to Batumi and further to Turkey.

As we drove back from Kazbegi I was sitting at the window and realized how dangerous this road is: at some places it disappears into nothing. You have to be at one with the world and yourself to go here, I thought. In a way it’s a pilgrimage… a very light-hearted one…

… and this is just what my next entry will be about: on the 28^th of August 10.000 pilgrims pay a visit to the trinity church on Mt Kazbeg- and we will be among them.