First month, first impressions

I came to Zugdidi on January 31st. Together with Elena, the Italian volunteer who has been travelling with me since the day before, I met Olga, our coordinator. She took me to my future home where I met Tika, the owner. She showed me the room, prepared me some food, and we chatted for a few hours, amidst her uncertain English and my tiredness after the long journey. I thanked her, went to my room, layed down on the bed, and gazed at the ceiling. Despite the whirlwind of emotions, I was happy. It has been a month since that day, and even though I had ups and downs, the feeling of satisfaction has been constant.

I’m part of an exciting project, the women from the NGO are kind and helpful, step by step I'm creating new connections with locals and expats, and my host family has been incredibly welcoming from the very beginning. Honestly, I couldn't be more satisfied.

I'm not saying there are no difficulties! Language barrier is a big problem (few people speak English in Zugdidi), and I'm really scared to cross the street because Georgian drivers are crazy. I also miss some aspects of my life in Italy (like having breakfast at the café with a croissant and cappuccino XD).  

However, from the beginning, I've chosen to tackle these challenges proactively and embrace change with enthusiasm rather than dwelling on the difficulty itself. Thus, the language barrier has become an opportunity for me to strive to learn Georgian (a beautiful language btw!), the fear of crossing the street has become a way to take long walks to avoid the most dangerous pedestrian crossings and to find new corners of the city (what could be better than combining sports with sightseeing??). Finally, I replaced breakfasts at the bar with equally satisfying breakfasts on my porch at home, chatting with my host family and getting to know them better!

I understand that these examples may seem silly, but this trick has helped me a lot. I'm pretty sure it will continue to work in the upcoming months, especially when I may feel the distance from Italy more strongly.

I came to Merkuri as a Social entrepreneurship and fundraising officer. Basically, I’m gonna support the raise of financial capacity through crowdfunding campaigns, fundraising and partnerships with external organisations and, on the other side, I’m gonna carry out an entrepreneurship training for local women. The main objective of the training is to give them all the basic knowledge to start a small business. I already planned the contents and I can’t wait to start 😆. 

What are the next steps?

Georgia has ancient traditions of polyphonic songs and folk dances. As soon as I discovered this, I decided to take lessons in both. A local girl helped me a lot and found a dance school for me, while another one passed me the contact of a polyphonic choir teacher... I should start in the coming weeks!

That’s all for now, 

See you soon, ნახვამდის

ფრანჩესკა

Francesca

Here there are some photos:

Typical georgian food: Khachapuri, a sort of focaccia with cheese

Lobiani, similar to Khachapuri but filled with beans

Badrijiani, grilled eggplants and peppers filled with walnuts

Olivie, russian salad

Zugdidi Boulevard, the main street of Zugdidi.

It often rains during winter.

Random spot of the city.

Another random spot. 

Me and Elena, the other ESC volunteer, in the office

Social inclusion event for women from the Abkhazia region... We participated representing our NGO. 

My Georgian house!