The Nature

I went to the nature last week! Unfortunately, I have no pictures (yet) to prove this slightly disturbing yet terribly exciting development. I spent the past week as a counsellor at an environmental camp for Georgian youth. This meant many things.

I ate only carbohydrates. Now, you might say that carbs are an important part of a balanced diet and I should celebrate the fact that I am receiving them in a remote village of approximately 2 people that is very deep in the nature where the mountain soil was so hard that it took many hours to dig a latrine. The "soil" consisted of roots, rocks, and frozen clay. After you got through that, you encountered roots, rocks, and frozen clay. So I ate some carbohydrates. Rice-y sugar and tubers were the main staples, and this helped me to use the latrine as little as possible. We also ate bread. One day we had an eggplant-based dish, which I despise yet still lapped up lovingly because it contained a vegetable. (Is eggplant a vegetable? Luckily, the Georgian word for it has nothing to do with eggs. How did eggs get involved with eggplant? I should really get a hobby...)

Also, we went hiking. This was the highlight of the camp, for both me and most of the campers. We went to an area near the Russian border where, at the top, the views were almost panoramic. Unfortunately I lack to ability to describe this without pictures, so I'll stop now and post some pictures of it later.

We also actually did some stuff relating to the environment. One activity involved a discussion about global warming. Did you know that it is popular now in America to go online and find out how large your carbon footprint is? I had no idea of this until going to ECO camp. I wonder how my footprint in Georgia differs from what my footprint was in the States...

Anyway, we discussed global warming. Georgia and it's glaciers and coastline and biodiversity are being affected by it (adversely, of course) at a pretty alarming rate. We asked the campers how they felt about this:

(in Georgian...)
Q: Which countries do you think contribute most to global warming?
A: America, China, India, Japan

Q: Where do you think Georgia falls on this list?
A: Very low. Towards the bottom.

Q: Is Georgia affected by the actions of America, China, etc.?
A: Yes.

Q: How do you feel about this?
A: Very bad. They don't care about the smaller countries.

Q: What can Georgia and Georgians do about this?
A (in English): KILL THE AMERICANS!!!


So that's how Giorgi, age 17, plans to solve global warming. What do we as Peace Corps Volunteers plan to do? We come to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (Shovi, the village hosting the camp) and hang out with teenagers who are more in tune with American pop culture than I am. But it's not just that. We teach them valuable skills, too. We taught them how to find an egg in a bucket in a tree in a forest, how to describe a tree as they would an adopted child, how to build a fort out of dead nature, and, most importantly, how to throw a frisbee.