Wintry Reflections

It’s been cold. The other day, coming back from school, I saw someone was burning tires on top of the water pipes in an attempt to unthaw them. I don’t know if I’ve been dressing warmer, or if I’m just getting used to teaching in rooms only slightly warmer than it is outside, but it hasn’t felt as cold at school. We missed Thursday and Friday of last week on account of the snow. I was hoping to spend a good part of the extended weekend in the capitol, but the marshukas weren’t running so I only got in on Saturday afternoon.

When I think back to the weeks in Georgia leading up to my month in the States I realize I’m living much more in the present since I’ve come back here. I do not find myself thinking about how many more lessons are left in the day, how many more days in the week, or how many weeks are left before whatever’s next. And in just showing up for whatever is at hand the time passes quickly. We’re already half-way through February.

A couple weekends back, my friend Lukas, the one who introduced me to folks at the Waldorf School, invited me to come skiing. This was something I had been hoping to do, so I jumped at the opportunity. Early Saturday morning we shared a cab out to Gudauri with three other Germans. The driver agreed on 120 GEL for a round trip, about 2 hours each way, so it came to 24 GEL per person- not bad at all. The car however could barely accommodate three on the back seat, so I rode in the trunk!

The sun broke through the clouds as we headed up into the mountains. The last time I had been out that way was in late June, so it was a treat to see the landscape transformed by the heavy snows into something much more wild and wintry. It was an amazing day at the ski resort. I wasn’t sure how I’d do on a snowboard, as I had only been 2 or 3 times before, two winters ago in Montreal. But it came back quickly and I found that I had much more control going down the slopes than I ever remember having before. It was exhilarating, looking out across the rugged snow-capped peaks, and then flying down the slope! At the end of the day of the day, while physically exhausted I felt full of energy, high on the physical activity, the clear mountain air and the sunshine. It was 35 GEL for a snowboard rental and 30 GEL for an all-day lift ticket, so with the cab fare the total cost of the day came to about 90 GEL or about $55- worth every tetri and more!

Lukas had mentioned a group that he and Jasper had been singing with at the Christian Community in Tbilisi. Last semester they had been meeting on Tuesday evenings so it was not really possible for me to check it out, but it turns out they’ve decided to move their rehearsals to Sundays at noon. He took me along the day after our day at Gudauri and I plan to make that a regular thing. It’s a small but friendly group of maybe a dozen people. Of course I met a woman there who knows Patrick Kennedy, Marcus, and Mary Graham. Another small world moment- not so surprising within anthro circles I guess. We started learning an arrangement of ‘Deep River’ and a traditional Georgian song in three parts from the region of Guria. While the level and pace is a bit of change from the St Lawrence Choir in Montreal, it’s great to be singing again!

While it’s easy to fill the weekends, I had forgotten just how much time I have during the week after classes. With a working laptop I’ve been watching a lot of TV shows and movies. I made my way through two seasons of ‘Justified’, a crime drama that takes place in the backwoods of Kentucky. I’m almost done the first season of ‘Rome’, a drama set at the time of Julius Caesar. I’ve re-watched my animated favorite ‘Ratatouille’ and an uplifting, whimsical French favorite of mine, ‘Amelie,’ as well as a number of mindless comedies. On the one hand it’s nice to be occupied in some way, and to have the luxury of so much free time, but I can’t help but feel like the quantity of my audio-visual intake might be a little unhealthy! I am keeping up with Georgian language book and of course any work I might have for school, but with so much entertainment so readily available, I can’t help but feel like there are much more fulfilling/productive uses of my time that are being wasted. Even writing this little reflection has taken a good deal of will power, resisting the temptation of getting on to the season finale and finding out what will happen to my Romans!

I don’t know if the groundhog has sway over here, but I’m hoping to hit the slopes at least two more times before winter is out. As time moves forward I will try to at least balance the pull of my electronic entertainment with more wholesome activities. And every week I can now look forward to raising voice in song, something I’ve been longing for.