CHAPTER 2

He volunteered in a dog shelter in Turkey for a month and had a short relationship there where he experienced  cohabitation for the first time in his life. He’s soul was asking more questions and the universe was giving him the opportunity to discover the answers within himself . He was able to look at things in an unorthodox light and this enabled him to learn a lot from that experience. 

His time in Turkey was coming to an end and his aim was to do Vipassana, a ten day silent meditation retreat, which was taking place in Armenia in May, about a month later. He actually had many other reasons to go to Armenia besides this retreat. His roots are Armenian and he had been playing with the idea of setting up an eco-village one day which was one of the main reasons that he had started volunteering in eco-villages in the first place and he had people who could help him if he was to do this there. Plus, it’s a great communist country and also very affordable. Anything was possible!

Meanwhile, he had written a book about his travels and was connecting with many people through his website. So although he had no money and was aiming to live moneyless so that he didn’t have to be a part of a system that he didn’t believe in, He did have solid faith in his life journey and knew that he had to take the first step and the universe would guide him to where he was meant to be.  But until then, in between his time in Turkey and Armenia in May, he had one month to kill.

Georgia was like a home to him and he thought it would be great to return and spend that month there. Georgia’s nature really is superlative and his plan was to volunteer in an eco-village somewhere in the mountains. But when your plans clash with destiny’s plans, destiny always wins. 

Some of his friends wanted him to visit them in France and it turned out that he needed to apply for a visa in the French embassy and the embassy was in Tbilisi. He had no intention or desire to be in a city but his dream of going to the mountains had to be put on hold as he needed to remain in Tbilisi for the back-and-forth needed for the visa.

It’s really quite hard to get any sort of employment in Georgia but he had to find a way to sustain himself and also needed a roof over his head. One of the things he could do which would enable both of those was to volunteer in a hostel, so that’s what he decided to do.  He found a hostel in the center of the city. This was quite a big contrast to the mountains and natural living that he had just left behind.

He hate having WiFi around him and they had two big routers and WiFi blasting everywhere. On top of all that, the atmosphere was quite fake and the conversations suitably superficial. The people there were just looking to get drunk and have sex. That just didn’t do it for him, to say the least. He lasted for eight days and then he said, “That’s enough.” 

He had a friend who had an extra room in his house. He approached him and said, “I barely have enough money so i can’t do a flat share. Would you accept this amount and rent me a room until i go to Armenia in a month?” Would be great if he said okay and no problem at all if he declined, but much to his gratitude, he kindly accepted, his very modest budget and he finally had a

place to rest his head for that month in Tbilisi.  

Cindy has thought to herself Although Tbilisi is also a big city like the one She had left behind, it was somehow providing her with the mental space where she was able to detach from the engulfing hustle and bustle and retune and reconnect within. 

She was getting back to her meditation practice. 

She was getting back to myself. 

Gerard’s Nature, as always, was his way of reconnecting. Although his place for the month was a neighborhood called Saburtalo, a fairly busy part of Tbilisi, it is always very easy to find a park or forest to go to for a hike in any city in Georgia so he kept himself well balanced with regular hikes in the woods.  

It was the sixth of April, about a month after Cindy moved. It had been a particularly rainy morning leaving the afternoon fairly cold. She was meant to be meeting up with somebody whom she knew from a few years back in Vienna who She bumped into in Tbilisi in a crazy coincidence. She spent a few hours with her that afternoon.

Gerard as well had thought it was a rainy day, He loved the idea of going for a hike so he headed into the green again. he started in one of the parks then hiked his way up to the top of the mountains and ended up in a misty forest amongst the cedar trees. He was enjoying spending time with himself welcoming and entertaining his thoughts and just embracing this quality time being mindful. He spent the whole day in nature then slowly made his way back into the city as the day slowly turned into night. 

He was cold and drizzle-wet at this point and looking forward to getting home but he received a message from his friend, the owner of the hostel. It seemed he had forgotten a scarf there which had sentimental value as it was a memento from his time in India. He told him, he had drop by to pick it up and made his way over.   He said hello to all the new volunteers, collected his scarf and left. He was really ready to go home now to get dry, get warm and get some rest.

Finally, home! He hung his jacket up to dry, changed and made himself a nice cup of hot tea. He was sitting in a cosy room next to the kitchen trying to purge the cold out of his system. The day had been very enjoyable but also very long.