Well, this is my first actual post for this blog. I've never had a blog, mainly because I never had much to say and there aren't too many people who would care what little I did have to say. But now that my life is about to take a 180, I figured a blog would be a good way to chronicle my new life experiences. Not only that, but it's also an easy (and apparently trendy) way to stay in touch with friends and family. But first, a small warning: I tend to ramble and will do my best to keep it short and hopefully interesting, but no guarantees!
So, for my first blogging post, I suppose I'll start with the basics. As I'm sure everyone who took the time to open this blog knows, my new life's profession for the next two years will be teaching English in the Republic of Georgia. I leave for Philadelphia on June 12 where we have three days of staging and paperwork. We then will leave for Georgia on June 15. Feel free to click on one of the links on the right to check out a country profile of Georgia, as it is small and seemingly unknown to many Americans. The most common reaction I get when I tell people that I'm going to the Republic of Georgia is, "You mean Atlanta, Georgia?" (This is apparently quite common for everyone going to Georgia!). But there are a lot of interesting events happening in and around the country and we might start to see more of it on the news and radio. Georgia is a die-hard friend of America where President Bush probably has better approval numbers than in his own country. America, too, has repeatedly put its weight behind President Saakashvili and the Georgian people and has even officially stated that it would stand behind Georgia if anything were to happen with the separatist regions or with its more powerful northern neighbor, Russia. It is truly a very exciting (if that's even the right word?!) time to be living over there, and I'm looking forward to these new experiences and way of life.
Anyway, I've been busy getting ready and preparing myself for June, both physically and mentally. My last day of work was on Friday (I worked at Border's in St. Paul, for those of you who didn't know). That was kind of sad, I didn't work there that long (I started in January of this year), but it was a fun job for the most part and everyone I worked with was great. I really hope to keep in touch with them. But oddly enough, over the last three months, I had helped three different customers who were parents of PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). I am not sure how we even got on the subject, but something sparked it each time. Even on my last day of work, I was talking to a co-worker about what I would be doing and where I was going, and another customer overheard our conversation. It turns out that her daughter is a PCV who was also leaving around mid-June for Tanzania, Africa. We had a good conversation, but it just made me wonder how many other parents of PCVs or returned PCVs I had helped without even knowing it!
Now that I am unemployed, I'll have more time to devote to actually getting things ready. My number one thing that I want to accomplish is to see everyone at least once before leaving. This past memorial day we had a family get-together where most of my mom's side of the family was in attendance. This side of the family is huge and these family functions always consist of a huge pool of cousins running around. This function was no different, and it was great. I truly am going to miss these family functions. So, it was awesome to see everyone one last time, but saying goodbye to everyone kind of made this Peace Corps thing a little more real. This is no longer something that is going to be happening to me sometime in the future, it starting to become more and more in the present. My flight arrangements are now all made and I am starting to receive more and more information in the mail from the PC. So, here goes nothing.
One of the other things I've been doing to prepare myself is to attempt to learn the alphabet. The alphabet is quite unique and definitely will take some time and effort to learn. There are 33 letters in the alphabet, with some of the letters looking very similar, and some of the pronunciations sounding very similar. So this is going to quite challenging to learn, but I'm looking forward to it. I've been working with it off and on for the past month and have learned how to say and write the first half of the alphabet. Not too bad of a start.
I have also been corresponding with a few other PCVs who will be going with me to Georgia. This is very helpful to be able to talk someone who is going through the same pre-departure jitters as I am. This will be quite a change of life, so it has been fun to share it with them. Plus, these will be my friends for the next two years, so it has been nice to get a small jump-start on getting to know them. I look forward to meeting them in person in June!
There isn't too much more to say yet, but I will hopefully try my best to keep this updated. Since this is my first blog and first desire to even think about owning a blog, I am not yet sure what kind of blogger I will be. Hopefully I'll be the kind that keeps it interesting and keeps updates when possible. But who knows. I'm not quite sure what to expect of anything in my life in the next two years. And when it comes down to it, I really don't mind the unexpected or the challenging.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Testing Again
Newspaper Article from Reuters, May 27, 2008 (http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL19939280)
FEATURE-Georgia rebels ready for war, hope for prosperity
Tue May 27, 2008 3:56am EDT
By Christian Lowe
SUKHUMI, Georgia, May 27 (Reuters) - In the capital of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region, the sea breeze rustles the palm trees and beneath them a group of teenage schoolgirls in camouflage gear rehearse marching drills.
"If, God forbid, a war starts, girls should be able to defend their country just like the boys," said Astada Chkado, a 16-year-old pupil at Sukhumi's Middle School No. 4.
Fifteen years after Abkhazia won a war to throw off Georgian rule, tensions over the region are close to spilling over again into an armed conflict.
A U.N. report says at least three unmanned Georgian spy planes have been shot down over Abkhazia since March -- one by a Russian jet, according to the United Nations, though Moscow denies it -- and Russia has sent in extra peacekeepers to counter what it said was an imminent Georgian attack.
Tensions subsided after a round of diplomacy this month, but observers warn the conflict could flare again at any time. Even if it does not, it could hinder Georgia's ambitions to join NATO because the alliance does not want to get embroiled.
The conflict has global implications. It has pitted former imperial power Russia, which backs the separatists, against the United States, which supports Georgia, a vital link in a Washington-endorsed oil export corridor from the Caspian Sea.
"We have reached the final threshold, when any careless step can lead to war," said separatist foreign minister Sergei Shamba in his ministry -- a few rooms at one end of a corridor in a building missing many of its window panes.
Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast, used to be a favourite destination for Soviet holiday-makers. The conflict has taken a heavy toll.
In the semi-tropical heat, plants sprout through deserted buildings with bullet marks on their walls. Just off the seafront, a massive concrete pier designed to look like an ocean liner is now a derelict shell.
Abkhazia runs its own affairs, though no state has recognised its independence. Tbilisi has vowed to restore its control and bring back hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians who were driven out in the fighting.
Today, there is no evidence of Georgian rule. Instead, Russia's influence is everywhere, from the sanatorium in Sukhumi where officers in Russia's nuclear rocket forces are sent for rest cures to the pensions Moscow pays to all local retirees.
This year Russia went further, scrapping economic sanctions and establishing semi-formal ties with the separatist authorities. It sent extra troops and firepower to strengthen the Russian peacekeepers based here since a 1994 ceasefire.
The top separatist official in Gali region, on the tense de facto border with Georgia, said Russia's intervention prevented a likely Georgian attack, though Tbilisi denies any such plan.
"It frightened them (the Georgian government)," said Ruslan Kishmaria. "They understood that the time when they could dictate their terms to us is over."
BRIGHT FUTURE?
Russia's backing has given Abkhazia the confidence to start looking to a prosperous future.
The memoirs of Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew take pride of place on the bookshelf in separatist president Sergei Bagapsh's office. He sees parallels with his own region.
"Singapore found the strength to develop and join the world's most developed countries," Bagapsh told Reuters. "It is not a big player in world politics but it resolves internal issues for its own people."
"I would say (to potential investors) ... come to Abkhazia while everything is still not too expensive."
Abkhazia's economy does indeed seem to be picking up. Budget revenues are now $1.7 billion, the government says, up from $400 million four years ago.
Natalie Milovanova, boss of the "Yug" real estate agency, said that three years ago a two-room apartment in Gagra, Abkhazia's poshest resort, would sell for $1,000. Now the average price is $80,000.
These signs of progress are a vindication for Milovanova, who says her husband was killed in the war with Georgia.
"For 15 years, we have been able to live independently. We took the rough with the smooth and did the best we could. But we did not become degraded. We are developing," she said.
"I cannot even imagine that in my lifetime or in the lifetime of my children, Georgian influence over Abkhazia will be restored. This victory cost us too much for that."
FEATURE-Georgia rebels ready for war, hope for prosperity
Tue May 27, 2008 3:56am EDT
By Christian Lowe
SUKHUMI, Georgia, May 27 (Reuters) - In the capital of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region, the sea breeze rustles the palm trees and beneath them a group of teenage schoolgirls in camouflage gear rehearse marching drills.
"If, God forbid, a war starts, girls should be able to defend their country just like the boys," said Astada Chkado, a 16-year-old pupil at Sukhumi's Middle School No. 4.
Fifteen years after Abkhazia won a war to throw off Georgian rule, tensions over the region are close to spilling over again into an armed conflict.
A U.N. report says at least three unmanned Georgian spy planes have been shot down over Abkhazia since March -- one by a Russian jet, according to the United Nations, though Moscow denies it -- and Russia has sent in extra peacekeepers to counter what it said was an imminent Georgian attack.
Tensions subsided after a round of diplomacy this month, but observers warn the conflict could flare again at any time. Even if it does not, it could hinder Georgia's ambitions to join NATO because the alliance does not want to get embroiled.
The conflict has global implications. It has pitted former imperial power Russia, which backs the separatists, against the United States, which supports Georgia, a vital link in a Washington-endorsed oil export corridor from the Caspian Sea.
"We have reached the final threshold, when any careless step can lead to war," said separatist foreign minister Sergei Shamba in his ministry -- a few rooms at one end of a corridor in a building missing many of its window panes.
Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast, used to be a favourite destination for Soviet holiday-makers. The conflict has taken a heavy toll.
In the semi-tropical heat, plants sprout through deserted buildings with bullet marks on their walls. Just off the seafront, a massive concrete pier designed to look like an ocean liner is now a derelict shell.
Abkhazia runs its own affairs, though no state has recognised its independence. Tbilisi has vowed to restore its control and bring back hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians who were driven out in the fighting.
Today, there is no evidence of Georgian rule. Instead, Russia's influence is everywhere, from the sanatorium in Sukhumi where officers in Russia's nuclear rocket forces are sent for rest cures to the pensions Moscow pays to all local retirees.
This year Russia went further, scrapping economic sanctions and establishing semi-formal ties with the separatist authorities. It sent extra troops and firepower to strengthen the Russian peacekeepers based here since a 1994 ceasefire.
The top separatist official in Gali region, on the tense de facto border with Georgia, said Russia's intervention prevented a likely Georgian attack, though Tbilisi denies any such plan.
"It frightened them (the Georgian government)," said Ruslan Kishmaria. "They understood that the time when they could dictate their terms to us is over."
BRIGHT FUTURE?
Russia's backing has given Abkhazia the confidence to start looking to a prosperous future.
The memoirs of Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew take pride of place on the bookshelf in separatist president Sergei Bagapsh's office. He sees parallels with his own region.
"Singapore found the strength to develop and join the world's most developed countries," Bagapsh told Reuters. "It is not a big player in world politics but it resolves internal issues for its own people."
"I would say (to potential investors) ... come to Abkhazia while everything is still not too expensive."
Abkhazia's economy does indeed seem to be picking up. Budget revenues are now $1.7 billion, the government says, up from $400 million four years ago.
Natalie Milovanova, boss of the "Yug" real estate agency, said that three years ago a two-room apartment in Gagra, Abkhazia's poshest resort, would sell for $1,000. Now the average price is $80,000.
These signs of progress are a vindication for Milovanova, who says her husband was killed in the war with Georgia.
"For 15 years, we have been able to live independently. We took the rough with the smooth and did the best we could. But we did not become degraded. We are developing," she said.
"I cannot even imagine that in my lifetime or in the lifetime of my children, Georgian influence over Abkhazia will be restored. This victory cost us too much for that."
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