SOCIETY

10 SOCIETY How Do I Write This?

BLOG BY TONY HANMER

Ihad a friend over recently, one of my neighbors, with whom I have had a very fruitful back-and-forth ongoing discussion about all sorts of things over the decade Lali and I have lived in this house. He and I just click, and it had been a few weeks (while I was in Tbilisi) since we had slipped effortlessly into discourse mode. He dropped in, I put on coffee, and we got into it.

The topic list, as usual, was quite wideranging. He is highly educated, very open and honest; and religion, morality, politics, the environment, local affairs, family life and much more fl ow through our conversations.

One of our ongoing subjects has been my strong suspicion that Upper Svaneti, which has had free electricity for longer than the 21 years I have been in Georgia, would be an ideal place for someone to exploit for bitcoin mining. I’m not going to get into the technical aspects of this esoteric but very current process here; Google it if you want to. Suffi ce it to say that a couple of years ago, out of simple curiosity, I began investigating what kind of computer is ideal for such numbercrunching, the goal of which is just to make money (called cryptocurrency) electronically.

I very soon realized that my little laptop, or anyone’s standard or even soupedup home computer, doesn’t cut it for bitcoin mining. This is because the calculations are very intensive, needing huge computing power and speed, and actually such machines as are necessary generate a LOT of heat, and need a LOT of electricity simply to keep them cooled. So I gave up on the thing before even starting: it’s out of my price range entirely. You have to be rich in order to get into bitcoin processing.

Funny thing is… the rumors persisted that such things were being done up here, where electricity is without cost, winters are long and cold (helping somewhat with the cooling problem; maybe generating USEFUL heat in the process!), and the law is sliding backwards into the corruption and chaos of the Aprasidzes’ Wild West, which existed until President Saakashvili put an abrupt stop to them.

I have a decade’s worth of living in the same house up here now. Things should be improving infrastructure-wise. But I have to say that this is turning into the worst winter we’ve had thus far, and it’s hardly even under way: we are getting RAIN as I write this, not snow. The thing that’s worst is the amount of electricity available to my house and, reportedly, to those of my neighbors. We’re all using electric heaters to some degree, alongside the ubiquitous and largest-anywhere wood-burning Svan stoves. But the peripherals which should also be able to run alongside them are really struggling now, so that’s a noticeable difference. For our microwave, under-thecounter lighting strips and a few other things to work normally, as they would in other winters, we now have to switch off heaters for a while. More so than ever before. My friend has to turn off any electric heaters just to run the washing machine!

I’m not writing this to complain that my usual life of luxury (ha ha, not there yet) is being curtailed, or that the things I’m so used to having are less available, poor me. But the worse electricity, right now, does point not only to a decaying system not being maintained, but to one being strained far beyond its normal and intended parameters.

Look, the new kindergarten, three years in the building and hardly used at all yet until recently, was recently discovered to have had all its new electric wiring burnt out except for that in its director’s offi ce, useless, dangerous and needing replacement. A new local transformer for its area of our village had been installed next to it as part of the building project: one which, nearly four times as powerful as the one which serves my house and many more houses than the kindergarten one’s area. And yet it too had inexplicably burnt out and had to be replaced, while our old one keeps on keeping on. So, this stinks. As of yet, nothing is being noised about all this; any wrist-slapping is being done very quietly. A great environment for the rumors to fl ourish, suspicion and crazy theories to take root. Such as… bitcoin mining in Upper Svaneti, to fatten the fat cats even further while enmiserizing the lives of the rest of us. (That’s a word I just made up).

When beginning to write this article, I asked many of my neighbors, and other villagers I came across, how their power supply is this year compared to earlier. All say the same: much lower; one benchmark being the need to turn off all heaters to run a washing machine. The only exceptions are those handful of households fortunate enough to be connected to that powerful new transformer at the kindergarten: they have plenty of juice!

Am I endangering myself writing about all this, with nothing more to go on than what you have now read? The rotten structures in regional government are certainly powerful and not known for restraint. I am comforted greatly, however, in the fi rm beliefs that 1) God is not stupid or blind, only patient, and in the end always just, and 2) one can only die once.

Since I made a phone call about this to a friend out of the region and the village lost electricity for some hours twice immediately afterwards, and while writing this article I lost the internet I need to send it for publication (both of which are fairly frequent occurrences, I freely admit), should I then claim intimidation, or just call it coincidence? The former requires that both my phone conversations (in English) and my typing on the computer (ditto) are being monitored, a degree of paranoia which I am very loath to suggest.

What do we want? The perpetrators exposed and brought to justice, the outright bitcoin mining/power THEFT to stop, electricity supplies to return to normal all over Upper Svaneti. Thank you very much and good luck to us. (I hope my modifi ed Bitcoin logo doesn’t look too comical: the effect is supposed to be sinister.)

And…as always at the moment, in Georgia’s current political season, #mishavs means: “It matters to me”!

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/ groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

'U LVA' - A Restaurant that Combines Georgian and European Values

BY KETEVAN TUKHASHVILI

ULVA is a restaurant with traditional Georgian and Czech values and standards, offering guests a new, varied variation of old dishes and premium quality craft beer in a friendly, comfortable, homely, and sophisticated environment. Ulva is a second home for the restaurant staff, so a cohesive and friendly team works together to achieve common success. We talked to its co-founder Tamar Gilashvili to fi nd out more.

“The idea of establishing Ulva fi rst came to my partner, Zdenek Radil, a Czech beer expert and lover, who wanted to develop and popularize the still less common craft beer in Georgia,” she says. “My co-founder has 20 years of experience in the beer industry and came to Georgia to run a brewery. After that, he decided to independently develop his own beer line, share his experience with Georgians, and open his own restaurant to sell his own beer.

“In Vake, the fi rst branch of Ulva on Abashidze Street was initially pub-style and offered guests traditional Czech dishes. Later, the restaurant concept was changed, the Zdenek Craft Beer Collection was added, and it was transformed into a steakhouse. In Saburtalo, we decided to create a second branch on Tsintsadze Street due to the demand of the segment, because the public really wanted to order khinkali in one space along with premium quality beer.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE NAME ULVA?

Ulva means “lion” in Czech. The lion is an important fi gure in Georgian and Czech culture, a symbol of the Czech coat of arms, and is also found in Georgian literature and proverbs. The lion is traditionally a sign of strength, while in us it evokes the association of happiness.

WHAT FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES DISTINGUISH ULVA FROM OTHER RESTAURANTS?

Ulva is distinguished by a unique, highquality collection of 6 types of craft beers made from imported hops and malt. Our restaurant differs from the competitors with a special concept, because we offer guests a tasteful tandem of Georgian and European standards. We took the bases of traditional Georgian dishes, approached them from a gastronomic-creative point of view, and turned them into modern and very diverse variations. For example, in Ulva, you will meet traditional Mtiuluri and urban khinkali, as well as beans and mushroom khinkali, which are less common on the market. In addition, Ulva prepares a delicious Ojakhuri, which is not only associated with bouilli pork and potatoes, as the fl avorful sour sauce comes with it. and spinach pies, Czech traditional Svickova, and Koleno. We have added to Koleno a traditional Georgian feature, the meat for this dish is boiled in premium quality beer, but instead of the oven, it is cooked on the grill, the amazing aroma of which gives the meat more tenderness and variety. When preparing khinkali with cheese, we mix 4 types of Georgian cheese, which is accompanied by a tasty sauce. In order to prepare Apkhazura, Ulva is supplied with fresh, high-quality pork and beef every day. This dish is served with an appropriate sauce, which perfectly separates the quality of the meat and greatly diversifi es the whole dish.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR MENU.

Our menu is varied. For drinks, we serve wine, vodka, and Czech beer. One of the main values of Ulva is constant quality control. We explain to each guest what the difference is between craft beer and pasteurized beer. In addition, we constantly provide customers with seasonal novelties. Our chef also prepares special orders.

TELL US ABOUT THE ULVA STAFF.

Ulva has a very qualifi ed team of cohesive and friendly staff.

We think a class hierarchy would prevent us from achieving success, so we constantly strive to make the work environment a cozy, comfortable, loyal, and warm place. Ulva is not just a job for the restaurant team- it has even become a second home for us, so we all take care of its development together to offer guests traditional Georgian standards along with a comfortable and homely environment. We often have healthy arguments too, but we always take each other’s remarks into account. DESCRIBE THE DESIGN, STYLE, AND INTERIOR OF YOUR RESTAURANT.

We tried to bring out the interior of the Czech beer restaurant at Ulva, so it mainly combines wood, brick, and stone. The restaurant space is divided into two fl oors, the fi rst part is a daily environment for unscheduled meetings and lunches. And the second fl oor is of minimalist design, lounge-type and is suitable for birthdays and different types of celebrations. An aquarium makes Ulva's interior unique, which is much loved by our younger guests. In addition, we have a grill in the interior of the restaurant so that guests can watch how their dishes are made. The bar at the entrance combines imported beer, while the indoor bar offers guests a craft beer made by my partner, Zdenek Radil.

WHO LOVES ULVA MOST?

The menu of our restaurant is very diverse and is not designed for a specifi c type of person. Ulva mainly unites beer lovers and people interested in new tastes.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FUTURE PLANS.

My partner Zdenek prepares beer using his own recipe in contractor microbreweries. However, we have already started building our own brewery in Sagarejo, near my vineyard. Our brewery will of course also have a small tasting area where people will be able to taste freshly brewed beer. In the future, we plan to add another branch of Ulva in the city, at the same time we are going to go beyond the borders of Georgia.