Akh Has Aisles, a New Cafe, & Other Important Updates!

My last update was more of an anecdotal nature, rather than what we're actually up to. So, here goes an update based more on what we've been doing with ourselves the last month or so. This month, our weekends have been pretty busy, and I expect April be a lot of the same. Two weekends ago was the only weekend both of us will be at home, in Akhaltsikhe, relaxing in March. This past weekend, we were in Zugdidi for a Women's Health Day (our friends Lisa and Johanna organized it; we just helped out). Currently, I'm in Tbilisi for a PC retreat—I'm not sure exactly my role at this event, although we have a meeting later today with our Country Director that should clarify that. On Wednesday afternoon, I return to Akhaltsikhe, and the following weekend, we will both be in Akh (and Brenden will be relaxing, actually), but I have a 2-day teacher training. The last weekend in March, I'll be back in Tbilisi for another GLOW meeting and (hopefully) some personal time. I'm also hoping to have a meeting about the grant I'm writing, and have it ready to submit by the first week in April. Brenden has been getting busier at site—at his last cafe meeting, 16 students showed up! Plus, as we've both involved with Youth Bank, we are now getting to the “handing out applications for grants” stage.

Oh, and in news important to us, the gastronomic quality of Akhaltsikhe is improving!
Note: our host mother has always been a fantastic cook—this is all about food-related developments in the greater Akhaltsikhe.

Prior to a few weeks ago, in terms of cafes, there were two popular ones, and a lot of other smaller ones. Now there is a third “popular” cafe, the kind of place the young people hang out in (there aren't coffee bars here, so it's sort of that sort of equivalent). This new place is quite tastefully designed, plays music videos on a flat screen TV at a tasteful sound level (this isn't important to me, but the flat screen TV is a novelty in Akhaltsikhe), has an excellent lobiani penovani (a flaky-crusted pastry with beans inside), and—best of all—serves a really good cup of coffee with milk. We've been there twice in the last week. That should tell you something.
Note: It also serves a soda that tastes exactly like a lemondrop candy if it were in soda form. You decide if that's a plus or a minus.

In addition to the popular cafe, there is a new “Fast Food” joint in town, which is exactly what it says—it serves ready-made hamburgers, hot dogs, and what looked like doner kabob when we were in there (we didn't get anything because we has just eaten at the new cafe). They also have a few little pastries, including a quite tasty little chocolate ball with coconut. The owner of this place also speaks English (!).

Finally, one of the grocery stores in town has added a new feature: aisles. I know, you're asking, why am I so excited about aisles? Georgian stores, in general, do not believe in the concept of the aisle. Back in the U.S., I never once walked into Vons and thought, Gosh, I just love aisles. But until you are without aisles, you don't realize how amazing they really are. The Georgian design basically has items crowded around the walls, with space in the middle for the customers, and space behind the counters for the owners. This discourages browsing, and also makes it difficult to see if the carry the specific item you're looking for (Georgians aren't big on specific items either, though—a topic for another time is the Georgian inventory ordering system). Anyway, we now have 4 aisles, which means two things: I can browse and look to my heart's content, and they can also carry a LOT more items, most of which are imports. Now, for example, I could buy German peanut butter (which I am told is not like American peanut butter, but still...), Czech beer, or 4 different kinds of American chips (I haven't bought any of these items yet, but the possibility of buying them is amazing). Brenden saw this store first, because it's on his way to work, and one day, after a particularly frustating Georgian lesson, he informed me we were going to this store. I asked why, and he told me I would see. I did see. I apparently babbled a bit, then said, “We have to buy something!” Brenden asked why, and I answered that is was important to support this new development, otherwise they might take it back.

Yes, you may laugh at my response to a simple innovation, but it's amazing what you get used to and becomes your new reality. It's not that I haven't been in stores in aisles in Georgia before—there is a new chain called Populi, mostly in Tbilisi (they also have stores in Kutaisi, Batumi, and now one in Gori—although the one in Gori didn't come until November, so I've never been in it), and the Populi grocery stores do have aisles, with many products. But since Akhaltsikhe is the main city in our region and we're not big enough to have a Populi (at least, not yet), stores with aisles were always a “big city” thing, not a “home town” sort of thing.

Anyway, these are the main updates about life here in Georgia. Now that weather isn't dominating our life, food can go back to dominating our life like it did before winter struck. ;) (It's amazing what changes...neither of us were anywhere close to being this obsessed with food back in the U.S.).