Nr. Liverpool, mid-July 2008

A rarity on the blog: pictures OF me, and not taken BY me either. Here I am in my flag shirt and Svan felt cap, presenting Georgia to a large group of late-teenage sudents in a town school where a friend of mine teaches Russian. (I'm even wearing the same shoes which carried me 111 km through Svaneti in June 2007... still going strong.) They seemed to be quite interested, had some good questions, and some of them even expressed a strong desire to visit the place. Come on in, I'll see you there! Just give me plenty of warning...

Well, I found quite a few more cellphone images from my last weeks in Ushguli, so I'm not through with the village just yet. (Still scanning the 20 rolls of film from the winter - best work from them will come later. IF there's any space left on the blog...) Top to bottom:

- Some of my students outside the school, and the stone path which I helped build last October with my friends from Bulgaria. It's beaten up a bit from the ravages of winter, having nothing to stop the stones from moving around, but still there under the snow and ice.
- Melt in progress. This snow would all disappear a few weeks later.
- Our bebia (grandmother) attacking the veggie plot just outside my window; time to plant soon!
- Almost all of the school's 51 students and 10 or so staff in late April, closest thing to an official school photo for 2007-8. I'm on the extreme right; a few people left of me, in a purple winter coat and sunglasses, is the school's director and my boss, Nona.

Ushguli, Svaneti, September 2007

A weekend trip to Ushguli via Lentekhi (both ways) in September. This had the two main purposes of moving my winter things - especially enough books to read - and delivering a large amount of gifts for Ushguli school, bought by friends and their friends. 1/2 the entire year's curriculum books for all grades in all subjects; many new books for the library; 3 oil-filled electric radiators; and 2 computers. (Still to come: another radiator and computer.)

These 3 clips show the materials being taken into the school, to considerable excitement.

Ushguli, August 2007

Bottom: One of the village's churches.
Middle: The school where I plan to teach English this winter, starting in early November if my Georgian visa comes through.
Top: Lamaria Church and Mt Shkhara at the top of the village. Every day new weather, new light to show off the familiar in new ways.

Back to early 1900s Russia for a bit.

First day of school, Birsk, Bashkiria, Russia, September 1, 1993

I had not seen this event until holidaying in the Ural mountains, visiting a friend who lives in Birsk. All the children and their parents arrive in their best clothes; there are speeches and flowers. The boy winking makes the shot.