In Memoriam

Well, I have been quite the absentee blogger  since leaving for Turkey.  I have quite a bit to share with you, have no doubt.  But I'm afraid that, after putting it off this long, it's going to have to wait a little longer still.

This post is about a very special, very wonderful man in my life, Robert L. O'Connor.  This man is my Grandpa, and he passed away on Friday, September 23, at the age of 89.

His whole life, nothing meant more to Grandpa than family.  Family was paramount.  Family did not just come first -- sometimes it seemed that there simply was nothing after family.  For all of my life, he and his wife Elizabeth, a wife of 65 years, reigned benevelolently over the expansive O'Connor clan.  Three of their five children remained within an hour's drive of their Murray Hill, New Jersey house, and his oldest child -- my mother -- remained so fiercely close to her parents that she spoke to them on the phone nearly every day, and would regularly make the 5-hour drive to visit even for a weekend.  Their house was the epicenter of all things O'Connor, the embodiment of what defined our family.  Bob and Betty O'Connor's children would marry, maybe take different names.  But really it was just the O'Connor clan that was growing.

So it seems only fitting and just that my Grandfather passed away in the very house where he and Grandma raised their five children.  He passed peacefully, in his sleep, surrounded by the family that he and Gradma had devoted their existence to.

I have so many wonderful memories of my Grandfather, and of that house.  When I was still small enough to believe in these things, Grandpa had me convinced that the small chandelier in their downstairs hallway was magic.  He would reach up -- he was tall enough to do this -- and come down with the jellybeans or piece of hard candy that he had stashed up their earlier.  And I was enchanted.

He was the first person I remember playing Candyland with.  He would make me warm milk and actually get it to be yummy.

When I was at their house and looking for something to do, he would take me to the top floor and show me his seashells and drawer full of foreign coins he had picked up during his world travels.  I was enraptured with the delicate skeleton of a tiny seahorse, and he gave it to me as a gift, padded in a jewelry box.  I treasured that seahorse for years.

I last saw my Grandfather last February.  I went up with my Mom for a long weekend, and this time it was my turn to dazzle him -- both he and Grandma were pretty impressed by my new iPhone 4.  I remember staying up late with him one night and Googling trivia for the last couple answers that were stumping him in his NY Times crossword puzzle.  Grandpa managed to hold out for an entire life spent without a computer in his house, but by the end of the weekend he was calling to me to "look up (this or that) on that gadget, will you?"

It is very hard to be across the world at this moment.  Tomorrow morning there will be a viewing, and on Tuesday they will lay him to rest.  I want so badly to be able to be in New Jersey, to say my final goodbyes to the Grandfather who was always so good and kind to me.  But I also want to be there for those people he is leaving behind... my Grandma, my Mother, my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  There is a hole in each of our lives now.  The O'Connor clan has lost its patriarch, and an era is drawing to a close.  From now on, things will be different.

Safe journey, Grandpa.  You have all my love and the love of an incredible family.  And that is the greatest legacy that I can think of.

Happy Birthday Pierre!

Just a short post because I want to make sure to do this, and tomorrow Julie and I leave for TRABZON.  I am so incredibly excited, not to mention a little nervous.  That trip from Poti to Trabzon, ugh.  But I just found out a random awesome bonus -- James, from our intake group, is also traveling to Trabzon tomorrow!  It will be great to see him, and the more the merrier when it comes to figuring out Turkish!

But first -- yesterday, my friend Pierre had a birthday.  His family had a supra for him, of course...

Birthday Boy in green

And it was a total blast!  Pierre's family is so warm and generous, not to mention excellent cooks.  They made chicken mtsvadi.  I know chicken isn't the most exotic of meats, but I love chicken, and hardly ever get to eat it in Poti.

I arrived at 6:00 and immediately had a beer put in my hand.  And the night just went up from there.  Pierre has a lot of Georgian friends and they were all there -- very cool guys.

I ate a ton of food to wash down the beer, homemade wine and vodka shots that were continually being passed around.  It was an all-around fantastic evening and I hope to be invited back to dinner at Pierre's family's house in the future!

Drinking out of the birthday qanci.

Grapes from the family's vineyards

Georgian dancing... sort of. :)

Gaumarjos!

Another amazing Georgian memory in the books.  And in a few days I will have pictures and stories from Turkey for you.  Peace, all.

Travels near and far...

So pleased to announce that I am going to Trabzon, Turkey this coming Saturday with Julie!

I am really, really excited, because this means I will get that passport stamp I wanted before September after all.  Trabzon is only about three hours away by car, and is also on the Black Sea.  The police training program will finish up tomorrow -- I have a mammoth final to give out to these poor guys -- and then I will have Thursday and Friday to get ready for Turkey!  Mustafa helped us book a hotel right off of the main square, and I plan to pick his brain for some helpful Turkish words and phrases I haven't been able to find on the internet.

So... even though Trabzon is only three hours away... it's going to take us a LOT longer to actually get there.  Here's what we have to do.  (Frankly I am really hoping to find some sort of tour bus in Batumi, because this is ridiculous.)

Take a marshrutka to Batumi.  Take a second Marshrutka to Sarpi, which is right on the Turkish border.  Walk through the border, getting our passports stamped and our visas ($20 USD, I have NO idea why we need to pay this in dollars).  THEN, once on the Turkish side of the border, negotiate a cab fare to nearby Hopa, and then get a bus to Trabzon from Hopa.

I am not making this shit up.  REDIC, right???  I have a friend here who went to Trabzon recently, and that is exactly how he got there, so apparently it can be done.  But seriously.  I will so pay a couple extra lari or Turkish lira or whatever to shave some steps off that route.  Negotiate a cab fare?  In Turkish?  Two American women who obviously have no choice but to accept whatever is offered at the end of the day, because we sure can't hang out at the border all day.  YIKES.  I am not looking forward to that part of the trip.

But once we finally arrive, it should be a spectacular time.  There are mosques and museums and parks, and one very cool monastery that is apparently a must-see for anyone visiting Trabzon.  We're going to smoke a hookah, drink quite a lot of Turkish coffee, drink wine and watch the world go by.  Turkey is definitely one place I never thought I'd be going.

And then... I skyped with my amazing sister Eve earlier this week, and we agreed to try and make my traveling to Okinawa for Christmas and New Year's a reality.  SO.  Excited.  Japanese Christmas!  I have not seen my sister in a year and a half, and my brother-in-law Brad for even longer than that.  We're going to try and make a stopover in Tokyo too... because when else will I ever get to Japan??  I really hope that I can work with my Program and make this happen.  How 100% awesome would it be to spend Christmas AND New Year's with THESE GUYS.

Partners in crime!

And then of course there are the trips to Borjomi and Svaneti that I have to make with Julie and Mark before they return Stateside in December. :)  Hopefully before it gets to terribly cold too, although we might be getting too late for that already.  Summer apparently ends with a great big finale come September.  Cool weather, strong breezes, and lots of rain rewarded by the occasional crystal blue day.  Loving Georgia a lot these days.

Realized during my walk home last night (after an entirely pleasant evening of good food and beers with friends), that I am living exactly the kind of life I wanted.  How many people can say that?  Sure, there have been some ups and serious downs, but at the end of the day -- I got out of my suit and my car and away from the poisonous woman who was sucking my self-respect dry.  In a few days I will visit a city I had never heard of before a few months ago.  When I come home, there will be mountians and winemaking and adorable enthusiastic little students.  And a trip to Japan to plan.

Damn, life is good.

What's been goin' on.

"The season is over," Georgians keep telling me, in varying degrees of sadness and wistful regret.  And to all appearances, they are right.  September has arrived, and right on cue, the hot muggy summer disapeared, to be replaced with storms and sudden dounpours, cool grey drizzly days with cooler nights, and reward our stocism with the occasional perfect blue sky.  Of course, today has been a day spent on my bed with my laptop on my legs, finishing up reports and such for my police work, completing another TEFL unit, and -- once the internet finally started working again (out for two days!), catching up on email, uploading photos, and now this.  Hey, I keep you folks in mind. :)So, it looks like the days of lazy summer afternoons at Ureki, Grigoleti and Malatqva might have drawn to a close.  This beautiful fall weather (yes, even the rain) is a pretty blessed change from the awful heat, although such an extreme weather change has me worried that winter really might not be too far away now though!

Well, here's some cool stuff that's been happening lately.

Last Thursday, my very excellent friend Patrick marshrutkaed into Poti for the afternoon.  He was in our intake group and had been posted in Tsalenjikha, a village about half an hour outside of Zugdidi.  WAY too short of a visit, but Julie and I took him out to the Beach Bar so he could at least get a glimpse of the Black Sea.  It was really good to see him, and apparently Tsalenjikha is quite beautiful, so I can add that to my list of places to see!

Me, Patrick, and Julie and the Beach Bar

Back on the farm, the host family and I continue to get along like a house on fire.  Thursday night, Nana and Nata made these pretty, yummy things, a kind of Georgian pudding made, of course, from wine.

Nata, Nana, and Izo, making pretty patterns out of red and white.

Touched by Nata's artistry

On Friday, I came back from a quiet dinner and couple of beers with Julie, only to find my family out in front of the house again, living it up.  I of course got called to join them, and the beer never stopped flowing.  We played checkers (Georgian checkers is weird), and some of the dudes played Nardi, which is Georgian backgammon.  They take Nardi pretty seriously, let me tell you.  Even when it started pouring, we just moved under the porch and kept going.  I said goodnight, FINALLY, at around 1:00.  Apparently the guys went until 4 AM or so.  I'm not used to being the one who goes home early from a party!

Nardi tournament

I am very proud of my little orange flower.

Just hangin' out with the dudes...

And... another day, another supra... on Saturday, I got back from running some errands at the Bazari to find my kitchen filled with men, food, and wine.  This is the life some people dream of! :)  More and more dudes just kept filtering through the door, and we gaumarjosed nonstop for four hours.  Actually, they gaumarjosed a lot longer than that, but I excused myself at 11:30, because I was beat.

Men standing up to Gaumarjos.

Spread.

Ucha, me, and another dude (you can just see his stomach) in a triple Vakhtanguri.

Sunday was pretty quiet, for a change.

Yesterday, Nana made this incredible birthday cake for a neighborhood girl, and then one smaller one for us just for the heck of it.

Nana and Anna

The grapes are from the family's vineyard!

Later on, I met Julie and Mustafa for good food and beers at Oscar's.  Julie is heading to Tbilisi for a few days... before we head off on another truly amazing adventure.  (Stay tuned!  More blog to follow!)  Then I walked home through the cool and quiet night to be greeted by Ucha and company outside the house, who had beer and a pot of kinkhali.

Safe to say that the homesickness and discontent I was feeling about a month ago has dissolved into so much ether.  I'm back to feeling more like I should feel -- that I am one of the luckiest girls in the world to have these people and these experiences.  And there is lots to look forward to on the horizon as well...

Worth Your Time

Lately, me and my BFF the kindle have been spending a lot of quality time together. I've been re-reading a lot of Terry Pratchett just for kicks, and that is one guy who can write a story.  But in between Sam Vimes and Granny Weatherwax, I also polished this one off.

Book Review:
The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman

The title kind of says it all, really. On the premise that human beings disappear tomorrow, Weisman discusses the full range of what will happen to all our miraculous, destructive devices and toys without humans there to constantly maintain the fragile, tentative balance we've created in order to sustain ourselves.  What will happen to our houses, or cities, our bridges and tunnels?  What about our oil refineries and our nuclear reactors?  Which animals and plants will thrive in our wake, and which ones may have already passed to far to come back from the brink of extinction?

Weisman gives a strictly gloves-off account of the true mess we have made of this planet, and discusses which of our marks will vanish without a trace in mere years, and which -- things like plutonium, plastic, and CFCs -- will likely last for thousands or hundreds of thousands of years.

I certainly was never bored reading this book. I was, at times, alternatively made hopeful and horrified by the implications Weisman put forth. It was pretty heartening to read that cockroaches in temperate climates, without the benefit of hiding in human-heated structures, would all die off within a winters. Take that, horrid gross creatures! It was, however, decidedly NOT heartening to read about the truly indestructible nature of one of the worst by-products of our disposable culture, plastic. Of course I knew that plastic doesn't biodegrade. Everyone knows that. I did not know that ocean currents have created dead zones in the pacific, where huge islands of discarded plastic have grown larger than the state of Texas. And it never occurred to me that plastic could be deadly to the planet even after it is ground down to particles too small to see. Because then, they are the perfect size for little plankton to eat, who easily mistake the little bits for food. At which point, the indigestible plastic becomes lodged in their tiny intestines, and the plankton die. Plankton, as I hope everyone reading this knows, are responsible for most of Earth's oxygen production. And there is a LOT of plastic currently floating around in our oceans. A lot.

After reading this book, frankly I don't know how anyone can say, ever, that nuclear power is safe or should be used as an acceptable form of energy. It's not, and it shouldn't. Any power source that requires an entire mountain to be hollowed out so the waste can be disposed of without killing hundreds or thousands of people should put up a red flag that hey -- maybe we should stop making any more of this stuff! And much like plastic, plutonium and uranium will be around forever, for all practical intents and purposes. The US government hired an artist to come up with warning signs that could be universally understood, should an alien or future civilization come upon one of these mountains and wonder what might be buried under there. Scary stuff.

Fortunately, not all of mankind's creations are so deadly or long-lived. The NYC subway system would flood in only a couple of days with no humans to continually man the pumping systems. Even the most massive and impressive infrastructures would fall likely in the first 100 years or so. And even with plastic, radioactivity, and CFCs continuing to muck things up, Weisman continually stresses Earth's remarkable ability for self-healing and regeneration. Eventually, even the most harmful of human-made byproducts will be folded into Earth's mantle and the carbon will be filtered from the air. And personally, I find that all remarkably comforting. Humans may have created more problems than they will eventually be able to solve. But for me, I can take some cold comfort that the Earth, at least, will abide.