Roses, ruts, rain and rants

Feb 21 2010

On Valentine’s Day Ron overwhelmed me with a dozen red roses. We left the next day for the ski resort and I was thrilled when we returned on Monday to discover the roses still looked great.

One of the things we deal with in a developing country is the dirt: dirty air and dirty streets in this case. Because many streets are not paved and because many paved streets have potholes, there is dirt everywhere. So when it rains or snows, you get very muddy. I frequently have to wash off my shoes and polish them much more frequently here than at home. The house requires vacuuming twice a week and dusting often.

I have started a yoga class that Laurie teaches in our neighborhood at Leslie’s who lives right around the corner from Laurie. We meet at 7:30-9 on Wednesday morning and at 8-9:30 on Saturday. I have gotten terribly out of shape and more rigid than I care to admit so I am thankful to be limbering up. Laurie is a great teacher and I am thankful that I don’t feel like I have to compete with the much younger participants. There are four other women in the class.

On Wednesday last week Ron went to Ireland with some people from his work to look at how Ireland is doing capital budgeting. He left at 3:00 a.m. to go to the airport. I decided to get up and fix him some coffee. As I was sitting at the table with him, I realized I was drinking regular coffee, not decaf. Bummer! We ran out of decaf a good while ago. I tried to go back to bed but it was useless so I stayed up until 11:00 that night. At 5:00 p.m. I went over to Jock and Laurie’s to help them with a dinner party they were having for some of Jock’s Georgian staff. He has 80 Georgians on his staff and he has invited them all to a series of dinner parties he is hosting over the next few months. So I helped with set up, food prep and clean up. We finished in the kitchen around 11:00 and they invited me to stay over. I decided to do it because by then I was exhausted, having been up since 2:00 a.m. Live and learn!

On Thursday I cooked my hinny off. Friday was a chocolate/chili fund raiser for IWA and I was asked to quadruple my recipe for Black Bean Soup with Chocolate. I didn’t bring but one large pot and it wasn’t large enough. I should mention here that there are NO black beans in Georgia so borrowed Patty’s stash which I will replenish when we go to the States in March for a meeting in SF. So I reconstituted six pounds of black beans and cooked them on Thursday. Then I needed to refrigerate the soup. What a mess I had trying to mix all the pots I was using to even out the spices, etc. I was in the kitchen from 10:30 until 5:00. I took a break and came back after dinner to make a double batch of brownies. On Friday I left the house at 9:30 a.m. and had Gia take me to Patty’s where I stayed until 11:00 p.m. From noon-6:00 p.m. we held a chocolate tasting. For 20 lari participants could come for coffee, tea, soft drinks or juice and as much of the chocolate desserts as would fit on a plate. This event didn’t sell well but we had about 30 people come throughout the day. At 7:00 we held a chili contest. Here guests could sample the 10 chilies that members of IWA had made and vote for their favorite. The tickets for this event were 45 lari. We served appetizers, wine, beer, soft drinks, chili of your choice, corn bread muffins and any of the chocolate desserts you wanted. We sold about 110 -120 tickets for this event. I got home a bit after 11:00 very tired but glad we had made about 3500 lari for the effort.

Saturday was a relatively pretty day so I left the house a little before noon to go downtown. I feel like a mole here: anytime the sun comes out I want to be outside. So I took the metro and went downtown. There are very few public toilets and I only know of two downtown so I stopped at Prospero’s Book Store to have lunch and relief. I ran into Leslie my neighbor who was with two other women who were buying rugs next store at an antique carpet place. From here I walked down Rustaveli to Pushkin Street and further down the hill to an art salon owned by a member of IWA. She had quite a collection and I saw a copy of a 12th century icon of St George that I liked. I didn’t have enough cash to buy it so will return to see if it is still available. I then walked back up the hill to the Hobby Gallery that I discovered on our art salon tour and they had a new exhibition up to commemorate the life of a former diplomat who lived here before going to Haiti to work. He died in the recent earthquake. Apparently he was a big supporter of the arts in Tbilisi. I was pleased to see three of Maia’s pieces in the show. We are having an open house for her on Sunday so people can see her work and meet her. We were so pleased with our wall hanging we thought we should share her talent with others in hopes of getting her more work. Maia supports herself with her art and teaching others. It was quite warm so I decided to take a taxi home as I was tired and I had a long walk to the metro and an even longer walk to the house. When I got home I relaxed and napped then got up and got ready for another fund raiser, this one was sponsored by some of the embassy staff. I shared a taxi with Leslie and her house guest, Lisa. We went to the new and very exquisite Radisson Hotel in downtown Tbilisi. There were 140 guests for this event and we had a great meal. Our tickets were 80 lari.

Ron was due to fly in at 3:40 AM but called to say Tbilisi was fogged in and he would have to stay overnight in Istanbul where he had been sitting for a six hour layover. Bummer! On Sunday I worked on my language homework which I had managed to put off all week. I spent a long time trying to find the Olympics on TV and curling and ice hockey were featured. Bummer! I am bored with both. I rescheduled Maia our masseuse so that Ron could still get a massage. She arrived at 6:00 and as she was finishing with me, Ron arrived in time to shower before his massage. As I was leaving the room, he was moaning softly something about being in heaven. Yeah Maia!

I read in the newspaper an ad for bank mortgages. Thank your lucky stars, it is 14.9% here! Remember the 1980’s?

On Monday we had a beautiful day after a light morning rain but the wind picked up and created havoc. I had planned to take a walk but once I went outside I didn’t feel safe due to the force of the wind. Ultimately, it blew our satellite dish off the beam so we now have no reception, the power went off and on all day and night, there are roof singles scattered about today and two large pieces of flashing blew off the garage and several other pieces are loose and bent. The telephone pole at the end of the street is close to falling over into the street. Our generator came on at least once. It is the size of a Mack truck and comes on automatically if the power goes off for more than 30 seconds. We are so spoiled here. I think only expats have such privilege. We have UPSs for our computers so we are protected there also.

Today is Tuesday and because it is sunny again I went downtown to get a gift for a friend’s son who turns six on Sunday. When I stepped outside I thought it was warm enough to go without a jacket but once I got outside the gate I realized that our front porch is the warmest place in Tbilisi because it faces south and the stone porch and façade of the house absorb the heat and fooled me into thinking it was warmer than it really was so back into the house I went to get my lightweight coat. I went to town on the metro.

I don’t know if I mentioned the people who beg for money here. Ninety percent are the elderly who have very meager pensions; I think it is about $40 a month which is totally inadequate. Mostly elderly women beg. Widows dress in black and many cover their faces with a veil to save being embarrassed by begging. Some hold a picture of a saint, I assume to let you know they are Christians. Many Georgians give to the poor and we do also. Some beggars will stand in the entry to the metro as there is always foot traffic there and they can get out of the weather if it is cold or rainy. Some ride the subway and walk down the car either verbally asking or simply walking with their hand out. Sometimes there are children begging but not as often as the elderly. Also I see people lying on the street on a blanket with a cup for donations. There are a number of regular beggars at the main subway junction where I change lines. Today I looked in my car and counted about 80 riders and 11 had on a coat or jacket that wasn’t black! Most of the 11 were gray or brown with an occasional color like green. I wear black jeans daily and have a black jacket that I wear when it isn’t too cold so I fit right in here!

Learning about Georgia & ordinary stuff

Feb 3, 2010

I asked Elza, our language teacher, about wages here. She earns $10.00 an hour teaching Georgian. In our case it is $18 since there are two of us. Her husband works at the embassy as a security guard and the guards make between $600-$700 a month and the embassy provides insurance for their families. This is an above average salary but not a great one here. They are fortunate because they both have jobs. Elza’s utilities for a three bedroom apartment run about 80-90 GEL for gas, 30 internet, 40 for electricity, 9 for garbage and 9 for water. That totals to about $81 a month for her utilities. Many people make 400 GEL (Georgian Lari) a month in their jobs. That’s about $231 a month. Nino’s nephew makes 35 GEL ($20) a day as a restaurant worker but they usually only get three days a week of work. He was thrilled to get the job. Nino our housekeeper gets 35GEL each time she comes and she is usually here 3.5-4 hours. She also gets all Georgian and US holidays off and paid. This is not normal but she said that is the way it was for her. My friend has a half time housekeeper and pays her 700 GEL ($404) a month. To have your children in private school is cost a minimum of $100 a month per child. Gia, our driver, has three kids in private schools. I asked Maia our masseuse how much her utilities cost. She lives with her sister in an unheated apartment. Only the bedroom has heat. The electric bill is 85 lari, the gas is 35 lari, the internet is 30 lari, water is 15 and trash is 8. So her utilities are $100 a month. She supports her sister who has lost her job and her mother who doesn’t work. Maia makes her living with one housekeeping job and doing massage, about ten a week at 25 lari per massage. So she may make around $623 a month plus whatever she makes as a housekeeper. That would be a fairly good salary but she is supporting three people. In addition she helps out with her niece and nephew. Maia’s other sister died a few years ago and she and her sister do what they can to help out the children’s father. I am humbled by how hard it is here in Georgia. People make do and say it is better than under the Soviets where no one had heat, electricity was limited to a few hours daily and food was in short supply.

I asked Nino about her utilities. She lives in a house as opposed to an apartment. It is three floors: a full basement used for storage and wine making I think. The main floor is a large open floor plan with kitchen, living and dining rooms as well as a bathroom. On the upper floor there are four bedrooms but she says they only use one of them for the five people who live there: Nino, her husband Zura, their two kids and Zura’s mother. The house is 15 meters x 14 meters. About 45 feet by 42 feet or 1900 sq feet. Her electricity in summer is about 80 lari and it is 100 in the winter. Her gas is 200 in the winter and 40-60 in the summer. She doesn’t have to pay for water or trash. She tried to explain that to me but it made absolutely no sense. So her utilities at the highest are $175 a month. She only heats the downstairs which is one large room and she uses what sounds like a gas space heater. So I doubt the room is very warm. I am guessing at her income based on what I pay her. She has one other client that she works for five days a week. So I would guess she makes $700 a month. Zura’s income has been sporadic but when he works he makes what Nino makes on a daily basis. In the winter he has almost no income since he has been doing yard work. He just got a job where he works on a contractor who drives military to and from the airport and other places in Tbilisi. Zura gets 20 lari a day working up to 12 hours a day. That is $11.67 a day. He was making up to 70 lari a day when he worked doing yard work but this new job has regular days he works so he is thrilled to be out of the house and earning a regular income. Zura has this very sad face, as though he is permanently depressed. In this culture which is male chauvinistic, men are expected to be the bread winners and Zura was laid off five years ago at a bank and has not had regular employment since then. No wonder he has such a sad face.

February 9, 2010

On Saturday we woke up to five-six inches of snow. We thought our art salon tour would be cancelled but it wasn’t. We walked 15 minutes to a nearby square where we were picked up by the mini bus that the embassy had arranged for the tour. There were 11 of us all together. Most had come from the embassy where the mini van had originated. We visited five galleries. The range was amazing. The first gallery had paintings hung from floor to ceiling literally so it made it difficult to really look at the art but frankly real estate is relatively expensive so people maximize the space. There were three rooms of paintings. We saw one we liked: an urban scene which has become one of our favorite themes. Next we visited an artist who represents other artists. He had paintings on the wall but three times as many on the floor in upright stacks, making it vey difficult to see what was there. The space was cramped as it usually is in developing countries. People do business on a shoe string so space is at a premium. From here we went to a café/art gallery. Oddly enough they were supposed to set up for a show later in the day but none of the art was out for us to see. You would think if they knew a bus load of Americans were coming to look at art and possible buy some they would have things out. They hurriedly bought out paintings and leaned them against the wall for us to view. Afterwards we had lunch in the café. We had ordered our meals over the internet to avoid wasting time. I had ordered a salad, soup and cornbread for a $6.00 lunch. Good lord, the portions were gigantic. I could have gone swimming on my soup bowl it was so big. I didn’t finish any of the three items. After lunch we went to old town and visited two more galleries, one of which had the prices in euros, a sign that it wasn’t affordable. The last gallery we had visited previously. The owner carves cameos from mammoth tusks. Where one finds mammoth tusks these days is beyond me. His gallery also was chock full and nothing of interest to us. One person bought one painting on the tour and another person bought a ring at the last gallery. We may return to buy the street scene if we are feeling flush.


We got home around 3:00 and started preparing for our dinner party. We had the Culpeppers over and the Nutters who live two blocks away. The two couples are friends so it worked out nicely. The Culpeppers have been so gracious to us, inviting us numerous times to their home for fabulous meals. I was glad to finally be able to reciprocate.

On Sunday Laurie called to say she was having back spasms and asked if Maia coming to give us massages. I told her I would call and see if she was available. Maia arrived here about 12:30 and I walked her over to Laurie’s as they had never met. Afterwards, Maia came back over here and gave Ron and me a massage. I was so glad as I had overdone my weightlifting exercise on Friday using ankle weights that weigh 14 pounds each. My hips were killing me Friday and Saturday night. Maia’s massage cured what ailed me! Sunday night we watched a 1949 Japanese detective film. It was interesting to note how some things have changed and others haven’t changed in film making.

Monday I stayed home as Elza is on a vacation with her family so we don’t have language class until Thursday this week. She had assigned a long lesson so I spent a lot of time on my homework. In the afternoon I went over to Laurie’s for tea and for her to show me where the yoga class will be. Tomorrow I start a new class that Laurie is teaching in Leslie’s house around the corner from Laurie. Afterwards I came home and fixed a simple meal as we both have gained weight this past week, Funny thing but it is so much easier to take off three pounds than 20 so we weigh daily and start to work on lessening our intake once we realize we are gaining.

Today is Tuesday and I went to the embassy with Ron to find out about using the CLO office to sell tickets for an IWA fund raiser we are having on the 19th. I worked out a schedule and will start tomorrow. I spent the rest of the day doing homework, working on an email to raise funds for Shilpa, an orphanage in Sri Lanka and drafting an open house invite for Maia, the artist. We want to host the reception in one or two weeks for our friends to meet Maia and hopefully get her more commissions or sales.

It has been cold since Saturday. A little snow lingers and the sun pops out throughout the day making me happy.

February 15 2010
YIKES! I apologize for taking so long to get this posted. We had more snow on Friday and had planned to go to a movie but when we started driving out of the neighborhood we realized it was not a good plan as the roads were so slippery. We were with Jock and Laurie and turned around and went to their house and watched the DVD ‘Spanglish’. We slid our way walking home and I got up early for my yoga class. Ron and Jock packed the car and came by to pick us up at Leslie’s after the yoga class. We all piled into the car to head to Bakuriani, another ski resort. We didn’t go anywhere as the street was a sheet of ice. We all got out and started pushing the car (uphill!) and nothing. Then two guys came by and with five of us pushing Jock got some traction and made it to the top of the hill and off we went. About 90 minutes into the trip we had a flat. Unfortunately the wind was blowing to beat the band and we nearly froze to death. We went from bad to worst when we found out the spare had almost no air. The good news was John Hansen was coming to Bakuriani and was behind us so we called and asked him to stop and help. He put our tire on top of his loaded car (four adults, a toddler and ski gear and luggage). He left us with a small compressor so we could fill the spare. We drove to the next wide spot in the road and called John who had backtracked looking for a tire repair place and he joined us at the tire repair place we had found. We had to go to another place to buy an inner tube. One thing that you learn to live with in developing countries is a lack of inventory. Often you have to go to several places to find what you need. I am not sure how we would have accomplished this repair had it not been for John. I can’t begin to describe how cold it was but colder than Paris which is 16 degrees F when I was there in January. We drove on to Bakuriani and had a late lunch around 3:00, a very picked over buffet at the hotel, and went to our rooms for a nap! The next day we had breakfast at 9 when they started serving at our hotel. Then the guys headed up the hill to ski when the lift opened around 10:30. Georgians do not do early morning anything! Leslie, Laurie and I walked up the hill and made it all the way to the top where the ski lift was and saw Jock and Ron after their first run. It was sunny and warmer than the day before. We tried helping a man and his family by pushing his car on the road as he was spinning his wheels on the ice. No luck! The three of us just didn’t have enough oomph. On the way down we helped another man and were successful. Rarely did we see chains on this icy road but there was a lot of traffic to the ski lift. On the way back I spied an Illy sign across the street from our hotel which only served instant coffee. Being from the NW where coffee is one of the major food groups, I eschew instant coffee. The place was a lovely family owned small hotel. It was nicer than our hotel in décor. Our hotel had three or four fixtures with plastic columns with small plastic fish in them. I think if you plugged them in the heat from the light at the bottom would cause the fish to float or swim but none were functioning and were awfully ugly anyway. The Cedars across the street has tasteful Georgian wall hangings and hand made sconces. The owners were warm and welcoming. We enjoyed some great Americanos and cappuccinos. The next day all of us went over there after our breakfast and had another coffee drink before taking off for home. We made reservations for another three day weekend in early March. We arrived home three hours later to dry streets. We were glad the snow and ice had dissipated as it made traveling much easier.

A super Supra and a piece of art

February 1, 2010

We had our first supra at our house and it was super. We had 18 invited guests and ended up with 16 plus the two of us. It was great fun. On Friday we shopped for groceries, went out to dinner and the movie "This is It", Michael Jackson’s final bow and set up the two tables to seat our guests. We had borrowed a table, 10 chairs, plates, wine glasses and cutlery from the embassy who delivered these items Friday morning. On Saturday we made the couscous salad which requires a lot of chopping: dates, onions, red and yellow peppers, etc. Then Ron made the salmon. We actually had time to rest in the late afternoon.

Guests arrived from 5-5:30 with a couple of late comers. A supra is a ritualized feast, a very old tradition in Georgia. The party began with us waiting for everyone to arrive. We served beer, juice, sodas and whiskey as instructed by Marika, Ron’s assistant at work. We have never bought whiskey in our lives just to give you some perspective here. We did not serve appetizers because the meal goes on for hours with twice the food needed for the number of guests. Yes that is part of the tradition: too much food. This was a potluck by the way, making it quite easy for the two of us. Ilya who works with the other Treasury rep, was asked to come and cook the pork as he has a reputation as an excellent ‘barbequer’. After he got the first batch done, he asked us to be seated. By this time the table was covered with various dishes, most of which you would see at every supra: three kinds of Georgian breads, a spinach dish with walnuts, an eggplant dish with walnut sauce, chicken salad, fish salad, fish stuffed with tarragon, baked beans, Georgian cheese, fried chicken, pork bbq.

Did I leave something out? Oh yes fabulous bilini made by Tiko, Gia’s wife. In the kitchen were two huge boxes of gooey bakery desserts. There were three carafes of wine, a pitcher of wine and because I had run out of pouring containers we used our coffee pot for wine. Get it? Wine is central to this event and this cultural. We also had juice as most women do not drink that much wine. I had requested 10 plates from the embassy and soon realized not a single guest brought a serving container. We shipped a minimum of goods here so I was using salad plates for dining so I could use dinner plates as serving dishes. I resorted to cereal bowls, soup bowls, etc because you don’t pass large platters or bowls to serve the guests. Multiple dishes of the same food are placed along the table so that each serving dish serves three-four guests.

Since Ilya was outside cooking Roland started us off with the first toasts so we could begin our meal. To make a long story short, we were at the table, eating, toasting and drinking until 10:00 p.m.! It turned out that Ilya was long winded. At one point I observed Nino rolling her eyes as Ilya went on and on about peace, one of the traditional toasts. She looked across the table to Elza and said something which was the equivalent to ‘enough already’. Those who smoked would get up and go outside for a smoke during the meal. One of the nontraditional toasts was to Tim Grewe, Ron’s predecessor. Tim made many friends in the time he was here and left an indelible mark on their hearts. It was very touching. I wrote him at 11:30 that night to let him know he is sorely missed. Everyone left by 10:30. No one would take any leftovers but Nino was still here and I insisted she take some. She resisted until I asked her how Ron and I could eat this much food before it spoiled and many items would not freeze well. At that point she loaded up.

The tamada,Ilya, however hung around until 11:30! He was wound up shall we say. We got everything cleaned up but not put away but we were too tired to continue to finished Sunday morning. By the way, most of our guests used taxi services rather than drive after a night of drinking. Gia parked his car in our garage and took a taxi home. On Sunday he came over to get his car. I was glad to see how smart and responsible our guests were.

Sunday afternoon Maia came over and gave us both 90 minute massages. What a blessing. We are averaging about two a month. She is very good and very reasonable. We always give her a healthy tip for which she is grateful. Afterwards we went to another Maia’s who is an artist, to pick up our commissioned art piece, a felt/wool & silk wall hanging. She had set out teacups, chocolates and bottled water for the occasion. She unveiled the piece and we were thrilled. She exceeded our expectations and we loved it. We initially met her in November and talked about what we wanted. We had two follow up meetings and kept our fingers crossed as you never really know how it will turn out when you commission an artwork. Ron had a metal rod to hold the hanging manufactured based upon some metal work we saw this summer in Italy.  We have commissioned art twice before at home and were somewhat disappointed. Not this time. We love it. See photo. The detail photo is the more accurate on the color.

Last week I explored a job opening at the Community Liaison Office at the embassy. It is a half time position. Before I left home I assumed I would get a job while here to avoid getting bored. I was offered a consulting position early on but we were still trying to move in and get settled and it felt all wrong to be starting work before we got settled. I interviewed the coordinator and the other half time worker and decided against the job. I felt I would be underemployed if not bored at work. One of my favorite bosses used to say ‘there something worst than not having a job and that is having a job you don’t like’. After I reviewed the other job description I decided it was too much of a stretch for my skills. I had many of the transferable skills but not the work content skills. It was full time with travel. I felt I would have to give up too much even if I could qualify although I doubted that I would. Both jobs were specifically for family members of employees of the embassy. If the state department wants to attract employees with families, they realized that there has to be good job opportunities for those family members. I realized I am not bored here and seem to have enough activities to keep me engaged. I still want to take some art classes and will be starting yoga this month so will hold off on job search for now.

February 2 Tuesday
For the past four days we have had incredible weather: sunny and warm. Yesterday it got up to 61 degrees Fahrenheit. Today was even warmer. I had been indoors Saturday and Sunday because of the dinner party, clean up and massages so I was determined to get outside on Monday. After language class I came home and worked at the computer then had lunch and left for the afternoon. I took the subway downtown and walked around, ending up at a large high end grocery, the only place I have found decaf coffee, an Italian import. I got a few items then headed to Prospero’s Books which has a café where I can get a decaf Americano, a rarity here. I read a couple of local papers then went across the way to the art shop where I can get decent cards made by local artists. I picked out eight and realized I had a 50 lari note for a 24 lari purchase. Of course she couldn’t make change, a common problem in developing countries so I left my groceries there and went in search of a bank. I returned and made my purchase and headed home.

I called Laurie and we decided to have a play day on Tuesday, today. We both love being outside when the weather is good so we decided to visit the outdoor ethnological museum that Ron and I had visited early on. We took a cab there and enjoyed walking around looking at houses that were moved to the site from various regions of Georgia, illustrating the different architectural styles. It was the perfect day for it. We wore light weight jackets and chatted the entire time. I saw the artist George who works there and whom we had met on our first trip. He is now the proud father of a two month old son whom he had with him today. What a cutie!

Laurie and I decided to walk down the hill and catch a cab below. We were up high enough to see the Caucasus Mountains including Kazbegi, Georgia’s highest. Ultimately we decided to walk the entire way home, well over an hour. Neither of us could bear to get inside a car and out of the sun. I told Laurie we were ‘sluts for the sun’. I got home at 3:40 and was tired and hungry but so happy to have spent the entire afternoon outside. We had to shed our jackets it was so warm. Can you believe it in February? How great is that?