DAY TEN

After a day working with the teachers, I was invited to a supra at the home of the host family of one of the TLG volunteers.  We toured the yard, vineyard, chicken coop, rabbit house, bee hives and small garden while upstairs in the house, pots boiled, knives chopped and pestles crushed ingredients for the feast that was being prepared.  Children ran in circles screaming, taking turns with the giant stuffed bear one of the guests had brought with them while their mud pies dried in the evening sun.

Conversation was muted for the first moments of the meal, everyone too busy eating to talk.  Plates were restocked, glasses refilled with the home-made red wine and toasts were made every few minutes, to our countries, to education, to literature, to Sachkhere, to love, to family.  Even I offered a couple of toasts, getting into the swing of things.  Through the interpretation of the TLGer who lived with the family, we compared notes on our favorite authors, Pearl Buck, Isaac Asimov, Hemingway, Tolstoy.  We discussed philosophy, psychology, war, poetry and a myriad of other subjects till late in the evening when someone started playing the piano and all the Georgians around the table began to sing something softly, in harmony, a beautiful ending to my ten school days in the lovely town of Sachkhere, Georgia.