School Excursion Part 2

Posted by Ian Jobe on 11/30/2007

8am, Tuesday morning: Wake up and enjoy my breakfast of tomato slices, bread, cake, cold chicken and fried potatoes. We were supposed to leave Sighnaghi by 9am but some of the boys decided to just wander off for a while so we didn't actually leave until a little after ten. Needless to say, my director was not a happy woman and yelled at all the students. She then told them that the excursion would be cut short as punishment. Don't worry, this ended up being an empty threat and our excursion didn't miss a beat.

1pm: Arrive in Mtskheta. This is the old capital of Tbilisi located only about 10 kilometers from the current capital. While it looks nothing like the previous town I was at, Sighnaghi, it does have a unique look and feel to it that I haven't seen in other towns in Georgia. This was my third time having visited Mtskheta so I didn't quite have the same enthusiasm that everyone else did. While they went to the various vendors to buy prayer candles, crosses and more, I went for a short little walk alone. I thought about every school trip I had taken and how none of them ever took us to a church or a monastery which is quite the contrast to here, where pretty much all our stops are religious sites. As a 23-year-old I can appreciate the beauty of these places but as a 15-year-old, I would have much preferred an amusement park. And so you know, there is an amusement park that was just built last year.

The main site in Mtskheta is a very large and very old church called sveti skoveli. It's probably the prettiest church I've seen in Georgia and not just in terms of its own architecture. The church itself is surrounded by a very high wall and around that are some of the Caucasus' foothills which contain their own monasteries and fortresses. This lovely scenery really bring the place to life.

4pm: Leave Sveti Skoveli on our way to (drum roll please), another monastery. Not going to lie, I was getting a little tired of monasteries. This next one was secluded in some nearby mountains though and contained a small room where a monk had lived alone for 15 years, eating and drinking only bread and water that was lowered by a rope to him from the ceiling. This monastery was in a very hilly region, so after touring the compound, we walked up on a ridge to get a view of the near by valley. This was my favorite part of this day. We looked down into the valley below and enjoyed the beauty of the region. If I write a lot about the beautiful scenery in Georgia, that's because it's everywhere.

6pm: After taking a group photograph on top of the hills, we went down to the bus and had a picnic party. This would be our last meal together so it had to be a celebration. All the food was brought out, along with the wine so the laughing and singing could begin. I should remind you at this point that we were still parked right outside the monastery and once again, some of the kids were yelled at by monks for making too much noise.

8pm: We are finally on our way back home. We actually stopped at another monastery but nothing that interesting happened here so I'm not going to mention it. Four hours of bus riding later we arrived in Samtredia. After getting a ride home from my school's director, I arrived home and immediately went to bed and passed out of exhaustion somewhere around 12:30 or 1am.

Do I regret this trip? Not in the slightest way. I got to do some traveling and didn't work for two day. If another group of 10th and 11th graders asked me to join them for another excurion, would I say 'yes'? I have no idea.

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This webpage expresses the views of Ian Jobe. It does not express the views of the United States Peace Corps.

Last updated Sep 29 2008