My mother thinks this is interesting...

Thus, she has asked me to send it to my family and friends with a brief explanation. She said everyone asks her what I'm up to and that this would be a nice way to fill some folks in on my life abroad. Apologies to those of you who may have received this last night. I was falling asleep but so excited and I wanted to send it to a few folks right away.

As many of you know, in 2007 I was introduced to Georgian culture through some clients at work. What began as learning a few words to help me communicate with my clients, turned into a serious undertaking - at the age of 40 - to finally learn a foreign language. I began an independent study of Georgian language which eventually led me to my big trip to Georgia in 2009 so I could attend the International Summer School in Kartelology (Georgian Studies) at Ivane Javakashvili Tbilisi State University. That summer brought about incredible personal development for me and the changes were some of the most significant I've experienced in my adulthood. Over the next 18 months I would make the three-flights and twelve-hour journey three more times to feed my insatiable desire for experience and learning, to immerse myself in Georgian culture and most of all to be with the Georgian people who touched my heart with their hospitality, friendship and kindness.

I know it is hard for some of my beloved friends and family to hear me talk about a place that is 12 hours past Dublin, Ireland. The idea that I might 'up and move' to Georgia someday scares me too. However, I am remaining open to life's possibilities and trying to 'listen to the river'. The older I get, the more seriously I realize the gift that is 'everyday.' It seems beautifully tragic that our learning and our experiences go away with us when we die. Simultaneously both for selfish and for sharing reasons, I want to grab life with as much gusto as I can, while I can. No plans are in place for anything
right now and I still have my good solid employment in Ireland to protect, I'm just saying...and maybe daydreaming a little too.

As I prepare to make my fifth visit to Georgia within two years this coming July, my relationship with the Georgian diaspora in Ireland has also become a primary focus in my life. I am now living with only Georgian housemates and my language is improving daily! I have been told that it is quite likely I am the only non-Georgian person in Ireland that speaks 'Kartuliena,' the language of Sakartvelo (Georgia). I don't know if this is true, it may or may not be, but with this thought and my new Irish naturalization and citizenship, I realized that I would love nothing more than to someday become Ireland's first ambassador to Georgia. Wouldn't that be a great job for me? I think so!

As it happens, Georgia has finally opened an embassy in Ireland. Ambassador Irakli Koplatadze heard about me from some members in the Georgian community here. He invited me to meet with him, which of course was a great and exciting honour. We met for about two hours and it was a lovely visit. Last month, I received another invitation from Mr. Koplatadze AND the Lord Mayor of Dublin Gerry Breen to attend a reception in Dublin's City Hall to celebrate for the first time in Dublin, Georgia's National Day on the 26th of May. I put on my glad rags and attended with my friend Eka Peikrishvili. (You should have seen her shoes!)

The attached image is of us with the Ambassador and his wife Irene Giviashvili (also born on the 28th of July).



Thanks for reading THIS far!! :-)


Thomas

The Changing...and constantly...

Oh my God, I don't even know where to begin this blog entry. I simply cannot believe it has been almost a whole year since I last wrote. In the time since my last post, I've been back to Georgia for two more fantastic visits. I was there for 3 weeks in the summer (August 2010 was the hottest month I've ever lived through!) and more recently for 3 weeks over the New Year holidays. So that was 4 trips to Georgia in a year and half. I'll be going again this July so that will be 5 trips within the space of two years!

As you can imagine, the experiences of my last two trips (totaling 6 weeks - which was more than I had spent on my first trip with the Summer School) are going to be nary impossible to write about...but I've just got too. There were so many amazing things that happened.

I stayed with Shota and his family who, for reasons I will NEVER understand, gave me the master bedroom to myself instead of making me sleep on the floor, which is where I would have put me!

In the summer, we went to two villages, Dzegvi and Babili. Shota's maternal grandparents live in Dzegvi and his paternal grandmother, the widow Angelina, lives in Babili which is in the mountain region of Lower Svaneti. I kinda fell in love with Angelina. I've never met anyone like her. She literally doesn't pay attention to time and dates...she is in such synch with the Earth that she doesn't need a diary. I played her some of Shota's songs that I love...the instrumentals Rainonme and we had such a good cry. She had never heard any of his gorgeous compositions before and she was just blown away...and of course heartbroken that her husband (Shota's beloved grandfather and namesake) was no longer with us to hear such accomplished musicianship and beauty. (This reminds me, I need to burn a CD for her and pick up a CD walkman player for her!)

While visiting her, Shota and I bathed and swam in a river...I'm not sure of the name right now, but I think it was called something like Shavitskhali River (the Black Water River)...or Tskhalitskali River....but it can't be that because that just means the Water Water River! I promise, I will find out and report back to you. I mostly just mention it here because I think it was my favorite day of the whole summer trip...two friends playing in a mountain river and laughing. Yeah, it was THAT great!

I promised Angelina I'd come back to see her on my next trip, but we couldn't get there at New Year's so we're definitely going to visit Babili Village again this coming summer in July 2011.

Another very exciting thing that happened for me during the summer trip was that I was invited back by the Summer School to participate in an excursion with the NEW group of Summer School students. It was fantastic and I was able to join them for their visit to Khaketi which included Telavi, Irkele's House (where Sopho and I found the entries in the guest book from my class in 2009). A very exciting thing that happened on this excursion was that I got to sing, quite extemporaneously with my Georgian wife and sister, the divine Sopho Guliashvili and a Scotman named David Tugwell. The three of us sang Tsinskaro, one of my top 5 favorite Georgian pieces of music which most of the world heard when it was incorporated into Kate Bush's song HELLO EARTH from one of her masterpieces The Hounds of Love album. I have a recording of his somewhere here and will try to post it for you. :-)

I guess the other two most significant things that happened were the wedding of Mariami and Arni and then also the recording my vocals on top of Thomas Negovan's instrumental The Trouble With Cinderella.

I really need to start linking photos and files into my blog posts...let me work on that.

In part two of the The Changing...and constantly, I'll discuss the visit over the winter of 2010/2011. Note to self: recording, holidays, photo-shoot, motseva klavs.

I'll write the second part soon...I promise.

Much love to everyone who made the Summer of 2010 such a gentle visit for me...yes, I was looking for the Summer of 2009, but the heart of Georgia is so big, it just gave me a whole new batch of wonderful experiences to take away with me.

Mmmmmm.......YES!