გიორგი ჭიჭინაძე
ბიბლიოთეკის დირექტორი, აწსუ

Let me share with you the impressions I got in Newport. I have always been admired by the ancient history and traditions of Great Britain. The English Language department and Mrs. Inga Abramidze had played a great role to make me fall in love with this dream country when I was a student.

On June 14 I arrived in Newport, where I was met by Miss Sonia Fisher, the chair of the Kutaisi Newport Association. Ms Sonia Fisher helped me to find an accommodation on the campus of the University of Wales (Caerleon) and I got down to working at the library from the very second day. The library staff expressed great warmth and kindness to me, especially the head of the library, Mrs Lesly May. It was very important for me to learn the library business and innovations from professional viewpoint. The return visit to Kutaisi by the Newport University library staff member should be pointed as one of the most important achievements carried out by the associations. He will share his experience and knowledge with the ATSU staff members.

In Newport I met a lot of interesting people who love Georgia. I became acquainted with Mrs. Vera Brown, Mark Soady who took me on an excursion to the Tintern Abbey, to see the old Monastery. I also met Mrs. Liz Luck, who showed me the ancient Roman amphitheatre and museum. Colin and Sylvia Masons, Debb and Jack Henry, Charles and Anna Ferries hosted me in Britain.

On June 19, Sonia Fisher and I were invited to the civil inauguration of newly appointed Newport Mayor, Meris Margaret Cornelius. The inauguration started in the Mayor’s office by welcoming the official guests. Then they took us to the Cathedral church where the mayor swore an oath and the inauguration ceremony took place. The Mayor invited us to dinner to Tredegar House, together with the Mayor of Haidelhaim, a city in Germany. The new mayor hosted us with special honor and warmth in the picturesque palace.

I would like especially to mention June 21st, when Mr Derek Butler, whom I had met in kutaisi, showed us the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff and the central library. In parliament we met Mrs Rosemary Butler, the presiding officer of the Welsh parliament, who invited us to dinner. People in Kutaisi know these two people very well so I will not talk a lot about them. I would like to say that it was a great pleasure to meet them in Kutaisi.

The farewell party was organized by Miss Sonia Fisher in her house. She invited all the people who enthusiastically work for the Newport Kutaisi Association. I should mention that they even baked very tasty Khachapuri for me.

It’s impossible to remember everything I have seen there but I can say that I fully felt the great love and long-standing relationship which is called the Newport Kutaisi Twinning.

I’d like to thank Professor Madonna Megrelishvili, the chair of the Kutaisi Newport International Association who planned and organized my visit, Professor George Gavtadze, the Rector of ATSU and Sonia Fisher the chair, Newport Kutiaisi Twinning Association.

Giorgi Chichinadze
Director of the Library, ATSU

ანა ჩაკვეტაძე
ინგლისური ფილოლოგიის დეპარტამენტი, აწსუ
 

When I was granted the scholarship to study in the University of Wales, Newport I was very happy. Firstly, I got the chance to do my MA in Britain, which was my dream and secondly that my new university was in Newport, the twinned town of my hometown, Kutaisi. I had heard about Newport and Newport Kutaisi Twining Association before and attended some meetings when some members of the Newport association visited our town.

I had arrived ten days before the academic year started, as I thought I would need some time to get used to my new home. However, I was wrong, because in Newport you do not need any time to get used to anything. I found its people very kind and open to help you in any way they can do it for you. It could be felt not only from my tutors or members of the association, but from people I met in the streets, in buses or shops. They often helped me, especially on the first days of my arrival there. I’d like to say that in Newport I learnt to greet bus drivers getting on a bus and say “thank you” and “good bye” getting off. Moreover, I found that people often smile at you; Also, I found people very hospitable and helpful. . While I visited other cities in Wales with my friends, always felt it. They tried to give us information about this country. In addition, I noticed that Newport people are often very careful to sensitive issues and try not to hurt your feelings. I can speak endlessly with great respect and love about the people I met in Newport. In addition, I also admired the beauty of Welsh nature - beautiful flowers every season and gardens where birds sing all the time.

The support from the members of the Newport Kutaisi Twinning Association (NKTA) to the citizens and the new generation of Kutaisi can never be overestimated. When I settled down in the university campus, in Caerleon, I met Dr. Shirley who told me that soon the members of the association would contact me. First I met Catherine Philpott in the pub ‘Ffrwmn’ in Caerleon. She met me very warmly and later she took me to the meeting of the NKTA. It was a great pleasure to meet the members of the association. I was very surprised how much the chair of the NKTA, Sonia Fisher and all the members of the association loved and respected us, the citizens of Kuatisi, as well as other Georgians; how much they cared for us; how much they tried to help us in many ways and how many programmes and events they arranged and were planning to do for us. It is really amazing, and I want to thank these people for that. I am really proud of being acquainted with them and I am thankful to these people who help and support our people.

I am happy that I was invited to some meetings organized by the NKTA. First I have to emphasize the 23rd Annual Georgian Studies Day in the University of Wales, Caerleon Campus. It was a really very interesting and amazing day. Guests of honor spoke about Georgia with love. I was very happy to participate in this event and read some English poems in Georgian; one of the poems is written by Giorgi Tsurtsumia, a graduate of the ATSU.

Another amazing evening was held in Bristol when I had a chance to attend Bristol Georgian Choir at St. Aidan’s Church in Bristol. British people singing Georgian songs from Svaneti and Samegrelo Regions made such a great impression on me that I wrote about this day in my article for the NKTA website.

A very interesting speech on Georgia and Georgian Architecture was made by Peter Nasmyth in the new city campus of the University of Wales, Newport situated on Kuatisi Walk. It was really interesting to see Georgia and Georgians through others nations’ eyes. Peter Nasmyth knows Georgia, its culture and traditions very well and I am really happy that my friends, Di Zhao and Irina Litovcenko attended the last two parties with me.

I also attended other evenings and events organized by the members of the association. I can’t help mentioning a Christmas lunch when Claire Watkins invited me and I had a wonderful, my first Christmas lunch in Britain, with members of the association in her family. Moreover, Mark Soady and Sonia Fisher invited me for Christmas dinners but I could not accept these invitations because I went back home to spend New Year holidays. Also, I was invited for dinner to the Derek and Rosemary Butler’s. I was very impressed with the warm welcome and the souvenirs from Georgia which were in every corner of the house.

I was also invited at David Megrelishvili’s farewell party organized at the Butler’s house.

I’d like to speak about Giorgi Chichinadze’s farewell party held in Sonia Fisher’s house which was very beautifully decorated with Georgian Flags (made from English flags).It was nice that really delicious Khachapuri was cooked on that day.

I had a very good experience of being a student of the University of Wales, Newport. All tutors at the University are very helpful and make students study enjoyable. Though, the education system in Britain is very different from Georgia, it is really enjoyable and I feel that I enlarged my knowledge a lot. The course teachers and tutors gave so much freedom to my ideas and thoughts that I became a bit afraid at the very beginning. The University library is wonderful and I am so sorry for students who do not have an opportunity to work in it.

During my study at UWN, School of Education for MA students organized some visits to the schools of different levels (Nursery, Primary, Junior, Infants, Secondary, College, and Muslim School) and types (Autism, Learning Difficulties, and Pupil’s Unit where excluded students from schools learn and so on.). It was a very good experience to attend the classes, help teachers and learn more about various branches of education. I got the chance to do voluntary work in the Pillgwnelly Primary School too, where children from 26 countries and of 7 religions study. It was good for my professional development, and it helped me to write successfully my first assignment about Formative Assessment. I want to thank for this my tutor Colin Green and the head teacher, Kath Bevan who were very kind people. I have also done a voluntary job in Caerleon Lodge Hill Junior School. I worked as a student teacher with the most experienced teacher at school Mrs. Beagen from whom I learnt a lot. I’d like to thank for this experience Caroline McLachlan who gave me her recommendation. She said that it would be great if one of the schools from Kutaisi established links with this school. The head teacher liked this idea, and at the beginning of October informal relationships with the Caerleon Lodge Hill School and Kutaisi Public School N9 (which I left) will start developing. Before I came home, I made presentation about Kutaisi and Georgia at school. It made great impression on students. They especially liked our dances, traditional clothes, and became interested how Georgian language sounds. I was very happy that they were so much interested in Georgia and liked my presentation.

Besides hard work as a student at the UWN, I went on a few free trips organized for students to Bristol, Cardiff, St. Fagan’s Museum, Weston Super Mare, Bath for Christmas market and Oxford.

I want to highlight two very interesting and impressive days. First it was when with my friend Chinese Di Zhao, we went to London to visit The Houses of Parliament. At Derek Butler’s house I met Bryant, a parliament member of the House of Commons, who was kind to invite me to see the Houses of Parliament in London. The Houses of Parliament made a great impression on me. It was really great when I entered the room where the Queen has a rest before she goes to the House of Lords Hall. During the lunch time I met Jayne and had coffee in the Parliaments’ café with Paul Flynn, a member of the House of Commons, who organized this trip for me and my friend. It was so nice to meet Paul Flynn and have a very interesting conversation with him. He told me that 15 years ago he met our president when he was still a student. Paul Flynn and Jayne Bryant were very kind to us. We went out on the terrace and took some pictures. It was really a nice day and thanks to Paul Flynn and Jayne Bryant for that. I’d also like to thank Rosemary and Derek Butler for giving me a chance to be acquainted with such nice people.

Giorgi Chichinadze and I were invited by Rosemary Butler, Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for an excursion in the Assembly. Derek Butler and Carrie Elliott, Rosemary’s assistant were our guides during the day. We had a walk in the Assembly building and had coffee in the Italian café in the beautiful Cardiff Bay and had lunch in the Visitors Gallery with Rosemary Butler and then attended First Minister’s Questions. We listened to the debates in Welsh and English Languages. We also visited the huge Cardiff Central Library which all would wish to have. In the evening we had dinner with Derek Butler and his son-in-law, Paul Bright in the very beautiful Celtic Manor where we had very interesting conversation and enjoyed delicious food. It was a really nice day. I am very thankful to Rosemary and Derek Butler for this wonderful day.

As for my student life, most time I was involved in my studies, though I sometimes spent a wonderful time with my fiends. My Hungarian friend invited me to Halloween in Cardiff and bought a very funny costume for me. Thanks god I was not a Vampire; I was a witch, but a kind one. We went to a rock club and really enjoyed ourselves there.

Also, I visited some interesting places with my friends: Cardiff Castle, fabulous Cardiff Museum and Gallery, Newport Museum and Gallery, Caelreon Bath Museum, huge and amazing Caerphilly Castle, nice Cardiff Bay.

On 29th April I went to Prince William Wedding. I stood in front of the Westminster abbey watching Prince William say ‘yes’. It was so quiet, as if all the thousands of people’s breaths stopped just to hear it. Then with thousands of people I ran to the front of the Buckingham palace where everyone was waiting for the kiss of the newly married Royal in the balcony.

We were also invited to Dr. Shirley house on 21 of December and had a wonderful time with her family.

My friends and I sometimes organized some parties or events. I celebrated my birthday party in the campus and cooked Georgian traditional meals. We celebrated Latvian Festival in the forest organized by my Latvian friend. My friends of different nationalities often cooked different meals: Arabian, Chinese, Italian and Greece in the campus. I am very lucky to have such good friends and to learn so much about Greece, Latvia, China, Hungary, Jordan, Nigeria, Finland, Malaysia, India, Italy, and Wales.

On the whole, this academic year for me was really full of challenges, impressions, excitement and good experience. This experience helped me for my professional development as well as for my personal growth. I would like to thank Prof. Madonna Megrelishvili for giving me recommendation to study at the UWN and possibility to meet and have close relationships with the members of the Newport Kutaisi Twining Association, the wonderful people who love our country and Kutaisi dearly. Also, I want to thank Akaki Tsereteli State University to send me to study at the University of Wales, Newport.

Ana Chankvetadze
English Philology Department, ATSU
 

მილოცვა

მოხარული ვართ, რომ შესაძლებლობა გვეძლევა მოგილოცოთ ბრიტანეთის იმპერიის ორდერით თქვენი დაჯოლდოების ფაქტი იმ ფასდაუდებელი წვლილისათის, რაც სამედიცინო საქმეში შეიტანეთ. ეს ნამდვილად დიდი პატივია და აღფთოვანებული ვართ ამ ამბით. ქუთაისი ნიუპორტის საერთაშორისო ასოციაციის სახელით გისურვებთ მომავალ დიდ წარმატებას თქვენს კარიერაში.

ძალიან გვეამაყებით და მართლაც გამორჩეულ მეგობრად გთვლით, რადგან თქვენ ხართ ადამიანი, რომელიც დიდი ენთიზიაზმით ემსახურება ქუთაისსა და ნიუპორტს შორის არსებული კავშირ-ურთიერთობებისა და მეგობრობის კიდევ უფრო განმტკიცებას და ვინც მისი ცოდნა და გამოცდილება დაუზარებლად ჩადო ქუთაისის სამედიცინო სფეროს წარმომადგენლებში.

დიდად გაგვახარებთ თქვენი ქუთაისში ვიზიტით. მოუთმენლად და დიდი სიყვარულით გელით ნებისმიერ დროს.

საუკეთესო სურვილებითა და დიდი სიყვარულით ქუთაისი ნიუპორტის საერთაშორისო ასოციაციის ყველა წევრისგან.

მადონა მეგრელიშვილი
ქუთაისი ნიუპორტის საერთაშორისო ასოციაციის თავმჯდომარე
 

Congratulations

Dear John, 

It gives us a great pleasure to congratulate you on being awarded the Order of the British Empire in    

Recognition of your excellent services to medicine. It’s great honour and we were very happy to learn this great news. Let me pass you our best wishes for your future success in this area from all members of the Kutaisi-Newport International Association.

We are proud of you and think of you very often as our very special friend who, as we know, is keen to help develop links of friendship between our cities and pass your great expertise and experience to Kutaisi medical staff.

We would be very happy if you could consider your next visit to Kutaisi at any time suitable for you. You are our very welcome and dear guest.

Once again best wishes and love from everyone at KNTA

Professor Madonna  Megrelishvili
Kutaisi Newport International Association, Chair

გამოხმაურება

როგორც ყოველთვის, ძალიან დიდი სიამოვნება მივიღე თქვენი ჟურნალის წაკიუთხვით. ერთი საინტერესო საღამო გავატარე მასთან ერთად. ჟურნალის ეს ნომერიც იყო დატვირთული, აკადემიური და ძალიან თბილი. უკვე აღარ მიკვირს. გამიკვირდება, ჟურნალის რომელიმე ნომერი უინტერესო და უღიმღამო რომ იყოს, მხოლოდ ის. მინდა განსაკუთრებით აღვნიშნო გამართული ქართული (ინგლისურზე მსჯელობის უფლებას თავს ვერ მივცემ), რითაც ვერ დაიკვეხნის ბევრი ცნობილი და გაყიდვადი ჟურნალი. და კიდევ, განსაკუთრებული ადამიანური სითბო იღვრება ჟურნალის სტატიებიდან. უშუალოა სტატიები, თბილი, და არა გაყინული, ცუდად ოფიციალური. გმადლობთ, რომ არსებობთ და არ მივიწყებთ.

პატივისცემით და სიყვარულით,
ნინო ჩიხლაძე

Comment

As usual it was a great pleasure to read your newsletter. I spent one interesting evening reading it. Including lots of information, it is academic and very warm.  But I am not surprised any more. Indeed, I would be surprised if any of them were uninteresting and boring. The accurate Georgian language should be especially mentioned as typical of this newsletter (I can't dare to speak about English). Regretfully, many best selling and famous newspapers and magazines don't have the honor of having one. One gets filled with human warmth while reading your newspaper. The articles are warm interesting, direct and not formal. Thank you very much for your time and work you put into producing this newsletter and remembering me all the time.

Thanks for your existence and remembering me all the time.

With great respect and love,
Nino Chikhladze