Berlin, 16.02.2019 Winter bike

Berlin, 02.03.2019 At night

Berlin, 23.03.2019 Same same but different

Berlin, 31.03.2019 First student exchange: China

Beijing, 01.04.2019 Lu He High School Campus and Welcome

Beijing, 03.04.2019 Lu He High School Classes

Beijing, 04.04.2019 Summer palace

Xian, 08.04.2019 Warriors

Shanghai, 13.04.2019 Meeting Ayi

Berlin, 06.04.2019 Shrub market

Sighnaghi, 17.04.2019 Welcome to Georgia

While I was practicing my maths during the winter holidays, Tobi decided he couldn`t stand our next holidays just staying at home again. So he spontaneously booked flights to Tiflis and a house in Sighnaghi for a week. We left Berlin right after Moritz return from China and his birthday to explore a country I barely even heard of. And apart from the weather, we had a great stay!

Weather statue

The local market offered a variety of Churchkhela, different sorts of nuts and dried fruit covered in grape juice.

Our landlord Piotr is Polish, and introduced us to one of his Georgian neighbours. Even though he did not speak any English or German, he invited us to distill Chacha, the local schnaps. While watching the Chacha flowing, he prepared Khinkali, the Georgian version of Jiaozi. We couldn`t communicate too well, but he understood that Mia wouldn`t eat the meat-filled dumplings, so he offered fresh herbs and grilled mushrooms, too. All along the way we grownups had lots of Chacha, and the neighbour commented "No Chacha, but rain. Chacha, and sky blue!" We were quite surprised that this was actually true.

The Georgian way to save plastic:

David Gareja, 18.04.2019 At the border to Azerbaijan

After distilling Chacha, the cold and rainy weather changed - at least for one day. We seized the chance to visit David Gareja and its surroundings. The complex was founded in the 6th century by David, one of the thirteen Assyrian monks who arrived in the country at the same time and is a rock-hewn Orthodox monastery complex in the Kakhetion region on the half-desert slopes of Mount Gareja. It includes hundreds of cells, churches, chapels, refectories and living quarters hollowed out of the rock face, some of them located right behind the border to Azerbaijan.

Sighnaghi, 19.04.2019 Georgian street dogs

Available in all kinds of sizes and varieties, almost everywhere you go at anytime!

Sighnaghi, 20.04.2019 Father and daughter deal

Kvareli, 21.04.2019 Traditional winemaking

Piotrs passion is the making of traditional Georgian wine, so today he took us on a journey through Kvareli, where different winemakers show how Kindzmarauli and other Georgian wines are produced. Qvevris, egg-shaped earthenware vessels are used for making, ageing and storing the wine. The wine-making process involves pressing the grapes and then pouring the juice, grape skins, stalks and pips into the Qvevri, which is then sealed and buried in the ground so that the wine can ferment for five to six months before being drunk.

This is Piotr trying his red wine from last autumns harvest for the first time after it spent half a year in a Qvevri. He gave us a sip and it was great, tasted slightly like a port wine. And the best: I tried a lot of different sorts and did not react allergically to any of them. So the natural process of not adding any sulfides seems to suit my nose perfectly well.