My suitcases arrived Tuesday afternoon. I had planned to unpack only one as we had organized our packing so we would not need to use any of the others. Unfortunately I discovered that some of my clothes were wet so checked and sure enough every bag had damp to soaking wet clothes in them. What a royal pain in the tushie. Obviously someone left our bags out in the rain in Turkey. I spread clothes all over the room and bathroom. I strung a line on the balcony and hung things out to dry. Once while I was in the room, a strong wind whipped up and tore one of Ron’s shirts right off the line. I went outside and peered over the edge looking for the shirt. It was nowhere to be found. I went downstairs and peered over the patio, no shirt. I scanned the ground, the trees and no shirt. I turned my head and there, hanging on the side of the next building was the shirt. I went out front to see how to retrieve the shirt and realized there was no easy access. When Ron came home, I showed him where the shirt had landed. Here is a man who can solve any problem and he couldn’t figure out how to get to the shirt as there is construction going on in that building and access is blocked. Ultimately the security staff of the hotel retrieved the wayward shirt. I begged to use the hotel laundry after realizing there was no way I would be able to dry so many wet clothes, given the limited hangers and space I had. Remember I had four large suitcases full of wet clothes. So after the staff left, we were allowed into the bowels of the building where the funky laundry was housed. I find it hard to believe that this hotel even though it is small, uses three residential size washing machines and two residential size dryers. We were able to dry everything within an hour.


The food at the hotel continues to please us. Each evening at 7:00 dinner is served. The room is quite small with four tables set for four places and one table for two and one for three. We get to meet some interesting people staying at the hotel because of the shared seating. The vast majority are Americans doing business here. Each evening there are three or four salads that are self served and two entrees to choose from. Dessert is fresh fruit, some baked goody like a brownie or pastry and ice cream. Breakfast is the same each morning: eggs prepared any way you want them, toast, four cold cereals, French toast, pancakes, oatmeal and bacon cooked lightly. Tea, orange juice and coffee. Usually around 10:00 when our room is being cleaned I go to the lobby where there is a bookstore/espresso bar and I have an Americano. Life is good here at the Betsy!

We have spent this week checking in at the Embassy. Ron is required to touch base with a number of offices for orientation. I go to a few of these. I am impressed with what is available to us. The CLO (Community Liaison Office) has activities of every description for the Embassy families. They have a resource library with brochures, books and videos. Saturday they are sponsoring a carpet tour that we will attend. First we visit a collector’s home and learn tips on buying carpets then we visit a couple of shops that sell carpets. Our hotel is filled with Georgian carpets, some well made and some not. But I do like the designs and colors. I am eager to get out and about to learn more about Georgian crafts. The Embassy also has a health clinic, a cashier service where we can cash checks for up to $1000 and get money in either Georgian Lari or US dollars. They have the best exchange rate. There is an HR office where I can apply for jobs within the Embassy. In addition there is a commissary where I can get Starbucks coffee for home! They get shipments every two months so I would guess they run out of items in between shipments. And there is a cafeteria where they have affordable lunches. Also we will take language lessons through the Embassy. They have thought of everything and make the transition much easier than if we were trying to find these resources on our own, as we did in Sri Lanka.

Yesterday we went back to Tim’s house, our future home, and had a little more time to look around. We went out back and there is no yard at all. But there is a private patio with outdoor furniture and a second terrace/patio off the second floor. I doubt that we will have any need to use it. There is a small outdoor fireplace for Georgian barbeques with a small sink. We brought a Weber and there is room for it on the patio. All Embassy housing is quite secure with alarm systems, high walls all around the perimeter of the properties and window bars, steel doors, etc. We have been to other settings where razor wire is the standard. We were glad that was not the case here. The kitchen is large although not well laid out. We have a standard size refrigerator like our 24 year old one from Sears and an upright freezer so we can freeze the fruits and veggies that are so abundant here in the summer. There is a table that seats four in the kitchen and a formal dining room table that seats 10 comfortably in the front room. There is a short bar between the kitchen and living area. There are no bar stools but I think we will try to find some after we get settled. There appears to be plenty of storage space in the kitchen cabinets for dishes and pots and pans. Off the kitchen is an ample pantry. There is a half bath, completely tiled next to the pantry in the hallway between the front door and stairway upstairs. The living room has high ceilings, a fireplace, a couch, love seat, and four (I think) upholstered side chairs. There is a china cabinet, a cabinet for table linens and a cabinet for the TV and stereo equipment. We might take a few leaves out of the table to reduce the crowded feeling in the living area.

Last night we had dinner with the Culpeppers who have lived here for six years. David works for Treasury also. It was so funny to see the exact same furniture in their home as is in ours: same exact dining room table, same exact couch and love seat. I had to laugh. Their home is gianormous! We only saw the living/dining area but they have four floors of living space plus a basement. I am grateful for the house we will have and I find it a bit too large for our needs. Apparently housing is assigned by family size and since there are two of us we may have been eligible for more space. No thanks! I wonder for whom these large homes were built. Surely some were built when the Soviets were still here. They do not fit my image of Soviet housing but rather they are more like the US McMansions. Perhaps they were built for the high ranking officials within the Soviet hierarchy. I think our house is a newer one but don’t know. In some places, I think the houses are specifically built on spec for the expats who work in developing countries. Apparently our landlord owns three of the houses that the Embassy leases.

Today I ventured out into the ‘hood’. We are in an older area. The buildings are almost all concrete. Most I would guess were built in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. They are very tired looking, all in need of repair. Most have balconies, some with beautiful ornate iron work. Others have pretty ugly but functional iron work: rebar. Some have beautiful designs in the concrete: scrolls or faces or floral motifs. Other buildings look like a classic Soviet style architecture: butt ugly! All of them appear to have multiple units for multiple families. Hopefully we can get out this weekend and take some photos. It has rained off and on today. This is the first day since we arrived that we didn’t have sunshine so I can’t complain.