Back from Internet Glacier-Land

I returned from Mestia, Svaneti to Tbilisi yesterday, a ride in a public minivan from 06:30 to 19:00 or so. 5 months to the day after I left, I'm back in a warm city from the cold, to higher-speed, one-price-monthly internet... but feeling that I LEFT home rather than returning to it! I have many friends here in Tbilisi, but also many back in Ushguli and other parts of Svaneti. Hoping to get back up there in September, however, to continue English teaching.

Having had few opportunities to blog regularly up there, I now have a wealth of material to choose from for posting - cellphone photos and video, and later, material from 21 rolls of 35mm film. (Film, remember that? Still using it myself.)

Some Ushguli highlights, top to bottom:

Jumping through the remains of the bonfire, Limpari celebration, February 2008

Some of my English students

My new Svan felt hat, followed by the lady who makes them in the village, demonstrating

An altered roadsign

Hat maker, Etseri, December 2000

Svan caps are made of sheep wool felt, mostly grey in colour, hemispherical, waterproof enough to drink from. This one is nearly finished, needing a trim of its base and a cross and tassel to be sewn onto it. New, they are reminiscent of an equestrian helmet in hardness, but they soften up in use.