School Literary Competition In Sameba Cathedral

Students of 50 public schools in Tbilisi are taking part in literary competition arragned by the youth organization Davitianni, under patronage of Georgian Patriarchate. The competition was held in Sameba Cathedral on November, 11.

The participants of the competition are the students from VIII to  XII classes. The 7 themes for literary competition Tergi 2009  was chosen by the Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II. The most popular topics appeared to be: Patriotism, Role of Freedom and The Value of Human Life. “Our life is invaluable, we should appreciate it,” said Ani Gabriadze, one of the participants.

During the competition students were not limited in the  types of writing. Students were chosen in the first part of the competition locally at there schools. The main criterion was their creativity: each student had to present at least 5 of his works. Nominations for the winners are not established yet but, as the organizers say, the works of winner/s of the first 3 places will be published as a book. The manager of Davitianni School Programs, Tamta Chikovani, says: “The main surprise is that winners will meet the Patriarch and get the bless of his holiness.”

The winners of Tergi 2009 will be known on November, 26. The organizers say that in future the competition will cover the whole country.

Sopo Datishvili

Shorena Kopaleishvili

Zura Balanchivadze

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Story Idea 6: Shawarma In Tbilisi

OMG, I don’t know what to think about while thinking only about my final story 😦 …But I hope that Turkish Shawarma in Tbilisi is a good idea. Despite that I love eating shawarma, I try to be suspicious. In Georgia we very often face with hygiene untidiness, food made God knows where, how and by whom, products sold in dirty and untidy places. Unfortunately, shawarma is one of them.

While writing about this delicious food, firstly I’d ask a comment about Georgian Food … the institution which regulates safety and quality of food in Georgia. I’d ask what do they know about shawarma centers. It’s also interesting to know how they control cleanness  in that places. It would be better to know the approximate number of shawarma centers.

Then I’d go to a doctor who would explain what kind of illnesses and toxins a human might gain from bad shawarma. I’d also apply to several hospitals’ statistics to find out the number of patients with same symptoms.

After that I’d go and ask people near shawarma centers to know whether they eat shawarma and how often they do it. I’d also ask if they are sure in their food’s safety.

Finally I’d ask a comment to shawarma sellers. I’d like them to show the whole process of shawarma’s making. From roasting a meat to wrapping it in bread. I’d also find their opinion about bad quality shawarmas and know their opinion where they are being sold.

And after finishing a story, I’m sure I’ll have known at least one place where the real shawarma is made and I’d eat a big one! 😛

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Georgian Chess Players Win Silver

Georgian group of women chess players got the second place in European Individual Chess Championship 2009 which was held in Novi Sad, Serbia.  

Georgian players succeeded in championship with 16 points, _ official site of Georgian Chess Federation reports. Georgian group succeeded in 9 tours and got 7 points, they also had 2 draw-games. Georgia could not manage to outrun Russian group in individual points score. Players got silver medals. According to chess players Georgian group faced with Russian and took over them. In spite of this, while counting total points, it turned out that Georgia comes after Russia.

Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava met Georgian chess player women and rewarded them with 1500 GEL. The president of Georgian Chess Federation also attended the meeting.

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Story Idea 5: Completely Renewed Tbilisi Philharmonic?

Tbilisi has a renewed Philharmonic Concert Hall. It was being repaired nearly for a year. On October 20 The Three Tenors charity concert was held by Paata Burchuladze’s fund Iavnana.

While searching a booking-office in a renewed building, I found that it has not changed at all: I was looking for at list a bit more light there. But… the same old wooden walls, casher, even windows were the same. So, the variants of leaving an old booking-office are:

1. It was such a relic that couldn’t have been even touched
2. Repair works organizers forgot existence of booking-office
3. They saved money and used for repairing something else, that is more visible from Melikishvili Ave.
4. Nobody had thought of booking-office… because it isn’t round-shaped and has no glass walls

Besides this, the whole construction of Philharmonic hasn’t been finished yet. On the picture above it is can bee seen that the right and left sides from the entrance not finished yet. As I found out from the workers soon there will be Café. As for the hall itself, the balcony is as narrow as before. Moreover, the same old and dusty wooden desks cover the internal side of it.

According to this information I would investigate the reconstruction of Philharmonic. I’d interview the chief of the process. I’d like also to show the map of reconstruction. I’d interview the workers and ask about quality of materials. I’d call in the Tbilisi City Hall to find out which company sponsored the reconstruction and what sum was spent for it.

It would be a feature story with the chief constructor as the main figure. I suppose that good focus would be to walk through the building and ask for some details that seem to be not repaired.

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Story Idea 1: Plastic Recycle Bins

My first story idea is about plastic recycle bins in Tbilisi. The problem is that they are often burnt. It’s partly because of some citizens who don’t put out the cigarettes while dropping them into the bins. There could also be other reasons for fire in recycle bins but the fact is that for next day the bin is totally vanished.

For this material I’d contact to Tbilisi Clean Service and ask the responsible person to comment the fact mentioned above. The main interest is – how correct idea was to replace iron bins with plastic ones.

The second person I’d interview would be yard-keepers who are in touch with plastic recycle bins. It’s interesting to know how comfortable is to work with  plastic bins.

The third part of the story would be citizens who smoke. Firstly, I’d know how often they use recycle bins for throwing cigarettes there. Secondly, I’d ask if they put up the cigarettes before throwing them into recycle bins. After that I’d find out what they know about plastic recycle bins, are they safer than iron ones or not.

BTW I’d ask this to the person from Tbilisi Clean Service and the yard-keeper as well. It is needed for some background information.

That’s a brief idea about the story about plastic recycle bins in Tbilisi.

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