When I came here to Georgia at the end of April, I was wondering about the juicy green nature I saw, while looking down to earth out of my airplane. There was a river and lots of beautiful landscapes. Some months ago, I had the idea that I should go to Georgia. I am a musician and I have a huge interest in Georgian music and the polyphonic choirs. And I am also pretty interested in learning new skills – so I was very curious about what I will learn in my future work. I was sitting on the bus from Kutaisi to Tbilisi. And in 3 hours of driving, one can see tons of different landscapes. Beginning with the fresh green nature with flatlands and short blooming trees near Kutaisi to landscapes that look close to German nature – where I come from – and ending up in a mix of brittle Soviet blocks and extremely modern buildings in Tbilisi, where I will work for one year, from now on. The next day, I had to find out that I could leave my coat in the wardrobe because it is already summer here. I went to the top of the hill. There grow plenty of interesting herbs and you have a great view down to the city landscape. Also, there are many walking paths on top of that hill and it seems you could walk there for hours. I had a little scare when I almost stepped on a prickly pear cactus, but if you are very brave and don’t care about the many little spines in your hand, they are very tasty. In the days to come, I started my work in the Youth Centre in Ponichalla – in the suburbs of Tbilisi. To me, it seems to be the driest place in Tbilisi, but also when you come here, the air is much more breathable than in Tbilisi Centre. The buildings from Soviet time have become a bit brittle and brown. You see peaceful vegetable sellers in tin huts. Two beautiful cows crossed the street, I could hear their bells tolling from the faraway.
I was told that in some areas of Ponichalla, there are many drug dealers and so on… I forgot if it was every day or every week, that around twenty of them get arrested. First, I watched the other teachers and volunteers while teaching and I got to know some of the kids and teens. Then I started with German, English and guitar lessons. The children in my German class are pretty nice and intelligent (but also a bit wild…) And I think their English is extremely good for their age. The teens in my guitar class are very interested in learning new skills. It was the first time, that the girls in my English class, read Franz Kafka. They did like it. One of them told me that her sister had read every Kafka book. I was wondering about that fact. The holidays at school start very early here and last for about three months. The pupils in Germany would dream of it… So our Youth club had an exhibition of art and craft and painting class before the holidays started. There was a DJ and some great Georgian sweets. They created many things out of felt, like hats, bags and even a whole outfit. A lot of paintings and some airbrush art. Some of them have been very excited, the girls even bought new outfits for their first exhibition. I took photos for the following Facebook post, talked to a nice girl who drew caricatures of the visitors on that day and enjoyed looking at what they all created.
