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Thursday, July 17, 2008

There's a tin roof covered shack, dishing out hot dogs and hamburgers, in front of our partner's office. I visit them on a weekly basis for "status updates". The truth is, I enjoy escaping my cubicle and the being in the middle of the Tbilisi hussle. On my fourth visit to the shack for my $1.50 GEL super dog, in the reflection of the service counter mirror, I saw a stray staring at me. Ears pent up, a curious look spread across its face, it had the eyes of dog who's seen a lot, but hasn't given up. I paid for my meal and walked to a corner to eat my lunch. I noticed the stray followed me. She was a smart one, ducking under a car everytime someone walked by. Georgian boys are notorious for kicking, branding, throwing fireworks at strays. As soon as the coast was clear, she would pop back up, waiting for another handout. After about four bites, I realized I wasn't hungry and gave her the remainder of my meal. There's not much I can do for her, due to the complete absence of an stray-care infrastructure, but at least for that one afternoon, she ate a well deserved hot meal.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

I live in Vake, which, along with Vere and parts of New Tbilisi, are the most affluent districts of the Republic of Georgia. Yet for some odd reason, half the lights on the main drag of Vake never work. So every morning and every evening, I have to cross a 6 lane intersection third world country style. It's a game of cat and mouse, with me dodging a fast car, then stepping in front of another slower car. Of course, there's an art to crossing. Like a game of Frogger, you have to time it perfectly. I tell you, there's nothing like standing inches away from Russian made cars, doing 45mph, driven by some of the worst (or best, depending on your POV) drivers in the world.

Wednesday, the internet and power went out for a few hours. Not just for the office, or our complex, but for the city and probably most of the country. My colleagues celebrated it by popping open some wine and bubbly. Gotta love the culture here, after two decades of revolution, civil wars, they're still able to find some cheer in a sea of hmm non-cheer.

So after endless emails to every tour agency in Tbilisi, I found another single traveler willing to go hiking with me. Brian, a professor of Russian politics at U of Florida, was in Tbilisi for a week, collecting data for a project. I learned a great deal from him, especially since I want to be a professor myself down the line. We drove 3 hours to Kazbegi, which is about 20km from the closed Russian border. Along the main route are guard towers spaced about 3 to 5 km apart. Straight out of Lord of the Rings, the towers use to light up, like a daisy chain, when invaders showed up. After a moderate hike, we ended up at Tsminda Sameba church. The church is famous for many reasons, but the one I experienced first hand was the lamb sacrifice. People walk a lamb around the church three times to bless it, and then kill it right there on the church grounds. Poor sheep knew what was up though, as it tried unsuccessfully to dig its toes into the ground as it was dragged around the church.

A peak into the Caucasus

Try canyon running with cows in the middle of the road

Ananuri church, which doubled as a fortress, like all old churches.

Tsminda Sameba background

The main river in Rep of Georgia.

I climbed over a blocked entrance to grab this shot on Jvari church.

Friday, June 27, 2008

I hope everyone's Friday is off to a good start. I'm winding down mine on the 6th floor balcony, a Cohiba and a large bottle of French beer in each hand. I see one lonely star hanging in the sky. I always wonder, is anyone else looking at the sky, thinking about something, someone. The first time you got drunk with your friends? A summer of fun, spent with someone special? I usually just think, it'll be funny if someone else was looking at the same damn star I was. Wrestle you for it.

Busy busy busy. That stupid word describes 95% of our waking hours. "I'm busy, maybe next time. She's busy. Oh my friends are busy". Well fuck you, can't we stay busy while still making time for friends? For the little luxuries in life, like sharing a pint of beer, a glass of Cabernet with someone you care about?

I take one last swig of my Kronenberg and scan the Tbilisi horizon. Sure didn't see this coming. But glad I hopped on that plane.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Had lunch last week with a few Peace Corp volunteers. After exchanging pleasentries, the guy immediately stated "she is my wife". Apparently my eyes were lingering on her a second too long. After that, everytime I directed a question or comment towards her, bro's eyes pounced on me. I don't blame him, she's attractive in a midwestern, ahh shucks type of way.

I've made friends with the neighborhood vendors on my street. "Gamarjobaht chino/rickard" "Gamarjobath batonel". I see the same folks opening up their vegetable and fruit stands in the early morning hours. Georgians define anything before 9am as "early morning". My type of country =)

Besides the obvious, like family and friends, what I really miss is having random conversations with random strangers. The cashier at Wendys. The aunt in front of you at the post office. I speak enough Georgian to get around now, but I don't want to invest any more effort into the language. It'll be of little use to me once I'm back in the US, since only 4 million people in the world speak it. Alas, conversations here are relegated to simple hellos and goodbyes.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I've learn to live with the constant, albeit temporary power outages. But when it happens in the early afternoon, all the food joints close down. I've had raisins and doritos for lunch on two separate occasions. Georgia is nowhere as dangerous as the sensationalist US Embassy reports. Would you wander down an alley in Inglewood at night? Nope. So of course, you shouldn't do that here in Tbilisi either. However, there's still elements of the wild west out here. Just six months ago, embassy folks traveled with bodyguards. The unemployment rate, while officially around 14%, feels like 30 or 40. There's group of guys that hang out at corners all day, drunk.

It's mid June. I miss the beach. My family. Bart. Friends. Taco Bell. I hope everyone has some kick butt summer plans in place. Jealous =)

Georgia is dotted with old architecture, ranging from Churches to fortresses that go back to the 4th century bc.

Kutaisi

Typical fare, Khachapuri and Turkish coffee

Headquarters

It's hard to see, but cows dot the roads across Georgia. The dumber cows hang out in the middle of the road

Teaching a Healthy Lifestyle course at a local high school

The street I live on. Nicest part of town btw =)

Overlooking Tbilisi.