There are many stories that can be told about Georgia, but probably one thing that is common to all of them is the incredible hospitality you will find in this country. It is such a strong part of the culture that even for the police such behaviour is obvious. In this article we will tell you a small story about the national drink Chacha, some English youth exchange participants, a very helpful Georgian policeman and an unexpected family dinner. But that’s not all, you will find out how it feels to spend three days without internet in Georgia and to be on the verge of losing all your money.
Michael Makowiecki: The police – your friend
It was back in 2009 when I was co-organising a youth exchange in the Georgian town Kobuleti, a touristic resort on the Black Sea. But as the exchange was taking place in October – out of season – the town was not very populated and many restaurants or even shops were closed.
It is easy to guess that during this project, apart from all the intensive and productive cultural sessions during the day, the nights were dedicated to the more applied way of exploring the local culture and customs. Consumption of Chacha was part of it, but one evening it somehow happened that we ran out of it. In this moment an English guy and a girl announced their heroic plan to go to a shop and get some more Chacha. But unfortunately it was already very late and some Georgians had informed us that probably only at the train station there might be an opportunity to purchase some more of it. This should not be any reason to quit our two adventurers. They left the hotel and suddenly got the idea to hitchhike. Just a second later, a truck stopped and the driver said “Station, station” and waved them in. But moments later they realised that the driver did not speak any other language than Turkish and he was certainly not driving them to the train station, rather leaving the town. Panic broke out now that they were probably driving to Istanbul. But soon enough the driver stopped at some gas station in the middle of nowhere and was insisting on consuming a beer with his fellow hitchhikers. But the fun didn’t last for long and he left them alone at this gas station. Fortunately they spotted a police car and approached the officer asking for help. He understood that they were just planning to get some Chacha and took them in his car. Soon they were in a shop buying bottles of this desired drink and getting back into the police car in order to be driven back to the hotel. But the girl couldn’t hold herself back and asked the policeman “Could you perhaps turn on the sirene and the lights?”
“Why not!”, said the policeman.
Anna Barikyan: The green clutch
Last summer I went to Batumi with my parents and that was one of those trips that were meant to happen. That was my first time in Georgia. I’ve been dreaming to see Tbilisi because I have heard so much about it. But I wasn’t lucky, though we decided to make a trip in our car, we didn’t have time to stay in Tbilisi, however, I was amazed by its beauty, and I was staring out of the car window as we drove down its beautiful streets. However, the story that I am going to tell you didn’t happen in Tbilisi. It was in Kvariati, a small village not too far from Batumi. My family rented a room in a two-storey mansion that the owners used as a bed and breakfast. By the way, none of the guests were against it. The place had no internet, no TV, and although the lack of the latter is bearable, I am an internet-addict. There was just us, the sea, mother nature and several people. The first day after we got back from the beach, we went downstairs to the cafeteria to have dinner. As we had a lot of money in our room we needed to lock the door, but the problem was that while we were changing and taking shower, my father went to a shop and took the keys with him. Since we were terribly hungry we couldn’t wait any longer so we took all the money we had, put it in my green clutch and hurried to satisfy our hunger. By the time my dad joined us we were devouring delicious Georgian plates. We talked, we took pictures, my father took out his wallet and paid for that feast. We went upstairs and made coffee. As we sat on the balcony, someone cried: “Girl, girl” in Russian. I turned my head and saw a waitress showing me the most expensive green clutch I have ever seen. My mom turned pale, I ran downstairs and took the clutch. We were shocked by the kindness of that woman. She could have looked inside the purse, she could have taken it. We wouldn’t be able to prove anything. I think I got a couple of grey hairs that day, thinking about the amount of money we had in that clutch. We fantasized for a long time about what would have happened if that lovely lady hadn’t returned the money to us. We could have become illegal immigrants. So God bless her.
Michael Makowiecki: Like lost family members
While visiting Tbilisi with my Italian and Greek friends, we decided to make a small trip to the countryside and visit the ancient ruins and archeological site of Dmanissi. With the help of my Georgian friend we rented a taxi for the whole day to drive us there. It was fairly cheap. On the way home our driver asked us whether we would like some wine. As Georgian wine is absolutely delicious, our answer was, naturally, positive.
We then drove to a village to visit our nice driver’s friends. We sat down in the garden with the whole family and beer was served, followed by some snacks. We were very happy to try the drinks, the homemade wine, the snacks and to talk to these nice people. But soon more and more food came out of nowhere and in just two hours there were more different dishes on the table than for a big Christmas dinner. Then some traditional toasts with the head of the family followed. This short visit suddently turned into an amazing afternoon with people that have shown to us the best hospitality I have ever encountered. And these were the friends of our taxi driver treating us as lost family members that were found after several years.
Anna Barikyan: Internetless? Hopeless!
Another story about my best friend who was in Batumi at exactly the same time that I was. Unfortunately we couldn’t find each other because our mobile phones didn’t work in Georgia and we had no internet connection at the place we stayed at in Kvariati. On the third day of our stay we went to explore the city and there was a beautiful restaurant with Ukrainian food called “Ukrainochka”. It caught my eye and I insisted that we had dinner there. Then in a couple of days I accidentally ran into my friend near that exact restaurant. What a coincidence. My family happily agreed to spend the rest of the holidays in Batumi and we rented the best apartment near my friend’s hotel at a very low cost. How was that possible? But what surprised me the most is how excited I got the minute I found out that the new apartment had WiFi. I read all the latest news, Facebook didn’t seem boring anymore. But the best part of our new apartment was that I was with my best friend. We had so much fun together. We were literally driving crazy all the salespersons by asking them the letters on the labels and we learned the alphabet that way. We went shopping together and my friend even made attempts to teach me swimming. I almost learned it but we definitely need to go back this summer.
I think Georgians are extremely hospitable and nice. You feel safe all day long, I can’t remember anything negative or scary happening during the trip. On our way to Batumi we couldn’t find the right road and we stopped several times in Tbilisi to ask people, and all of them with no exceptions were so friendly. The majority of them spoke Russian and those who didn’t tried passionately to explain something to us in Georgian, which was so sweet. I have the best memories from Batumi. If you have never been there, I highly recommend you to visit Georgia.
Written by Michael Makowiecki, AEGEE-Hamburg & Anna Barikyan, AEGEE-Yerevan