“Pig-stop”, Sunday, 21 March 2010

On our way back from Gudauri we made a “pig-stop”, where Vlado bought some meat at a roadside stand.

A nice elderly woman with a good sense of humour sold us the meat. The axe that she used for chopping up the meat gave me some association to the axe used for executions by beheading.

A day in Gudauri with fantastic weather, Sunday, 21 March 2010

Vlado and I went to Gudauri for the fourth time, this time again with fantastic weather and very good skiing conditions. The visibility was impressing and we could see over the depression where Tbilisi is situated to the lesser Caucasus mountain rage several hundred kilometres away.

The Shin: Black Sea Fire, Saturday, 20 March 2010

Vlado, Peter and I went to a concert with the group Georgian Group Shin. In Georgian Shin means "the road home".

Although mainly Georgian the Shin included members from several other countries around the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova.

From the Internet: A joyful and dynamic conversation between jazz-rock, flamenco and funk, their music also processes the influence of the guitarist John McLaughlin in a very original way. The Shin’s stage performance with its spirited dance interludes is very impressive.

Over the centuries, a number of nations grew up around the Black Sea, different cultures developed, and the warm fire which once gave us life gradually turned into the fire of war and destruction.

“Black Sea Fire” celebrates the renaissance of this peaceful fire – which can turn to a bonfire on the beach, to a blazing flame, to a glistening sparkle or to glorious fireworks over the sea - with the dance of a nearly extinct culture.

Haircut, 4 March 2010

When it was time for my next haircut I asked Vlado to make some pictures of this great event.

My Azeri haircutter has his small business in the corner of a tailor's repair shop.

The tailors – all over the pension age – seems to enjoy their work and having a nice time together, and the shop seems to be a meeting place for the neighbourhood (at least the old part of it).

The equipment used by the hairdresser seems to be from a far communist past (as the machines used by the old tailors). Vlado told me that his grandma had the same type of transformer as shown on the photo.

The nice streamer with the portrait of Lenin is a reward for being the best collective in Tbilisi. Dust was removed before we were allowed to take a photo.

I the shop Georgians, Armenians and Azeri are working. In a period with ethnic cleansing such a small pocket of mutual understanding and cooperation makes you fells that there is a future for mankind after all.