The low-down on our slowed down week-end

It is Sunday and another beautiful fall day here. Yesterday was a ‘ruff’ day for me. I woke up at 6:00 and had a classic case of food poisoning. After tossing my cookies, I went back to bed only to return to the porcelain goddess twice more. The third time there was nothing left in my system and I thought my stomach would come up through my esophagus. I slept off and on all day, drinking lots of water. Sunday I managed to have a light breakfast then promptly fell asleep for a morning nap. When I got up we decided to walk to Rustaveli and get a feel for the area where we are staying. We found the main branch of Prospero’s Books and were pleased to find a wonderful bookstore with books in English. We were told that the owner is an American married to a Georgian woman. They also have a great coffee shop with espresso drinks and sandwiches. They have a small branch in our hotel lobby. We ran into the consular from the embassy with his family. We had our first language lesson on Friday at the Embassy and today prided ourselves on being able to recognize the letters we had learned. There is hope for these old dogs! After eating at Prospero’s we came back to the hotel and I promptly fell asleep for my second nap. Yesterday took a lot out of me, so to speak!

Friday night we went to a welcome function at the Marine House, where Marines reside who are stationed at the Embassy. The event was to welcome newcomers. It was informal and great to meet some of the folks here. After an hour it was totally claustrophobic and quite loud so we headed out, came home and had dinner. Saturday we had planned to attend a ‘class’ on Georgian carpets where we would visit a collector’s home and learn tips on buying carpets and then visit a few stores. However my getting sick led to cancelling those plans. It is a little boring hanging out at the hotel but it is about all I can handle today.

Tomorrow we go over to Tim’s in the morning. It is Columbus Day and a holiday observed by the Embassy. We will help Tim as it is his pack-out day. Shippers will arrive in the morning to ship his things to Portland and to Cambodia, his next post. We are going to help as there are three floors and multiple packers. He doesn’t want Portland things going to Cambodia, so we will help to keep things straight. He will move out of the house on Thursday so we are hopeful that the maintenance crew will come in on Friday to paint and make any repairs for our moving in. Once they finish we can move in. I’ll keep you posted. Needless to say, I am anxious to get us settled and already am somewhat tired of living in a hotel, although I couldn’t ask for a place nicer than the Betsy. Our shipment is supposed to arrive on Tuesday and the embassy will store I until we move in.

Ron has been listening to NPR via the computer although Gia, the driver can also get the station on his car radio. How cool is that? I must say this post feels like a breeze so far. Then again I am in the honeymoon stage and will probably find frustrations down the road.