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?
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