Repairs, a Party and Sunshine

Feb 25, 2010
Today two plumbers came to clear the bathtub drain on the third floor. They brought a toilet plunger. Three electricians came to find out why our security lights weren’t on and two men came to work on the refrigerator that leaks water on the inside of the refrigerator. So I had seven men here at once working on minor repairs. This must be a hold over from the Soviet era where everyone had a job!

Feb 26
We got a new refrigerator delivered today. It is much nicer than the old one but would be considered small at home. I ain’t complaining about no free refrigerator!

Feb 28
Today we had an ‘art party’ for Maia who made our wall hanging. We had invited a number of people over to meet her and see her work. On Friday I picked her up at her house and brought her over here to hang some of her pieces. Today she came over early and used our dining room table to display her beautiful scarves of felt and silk. About 20 people came by today. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Rain had been predicted so I did a bit of worrying thinking people wouldn’t come out on a rainy day. Then when it turned out so pretty I worried that they wouldn’t come because it was so nice. Do you get an idea of how much I like to worry?!? One person ordered a custom made felt scarf for her husband and two people were very interested in one of her framed pieces. I don’t know if others will follow up with her but she seemed pleased to have the exposure. A number of people took her card.

It was a fun day. Ron and I worked like a well oiled piece of machinery getting ready. We truly enjoy working on things together and have a good rhythm as a team. Clean up is the same way. It goes easily and quickly. Must have something to do with having been together for so many years and enjoying each other’s company. It helps that neither of us likes confrontation or fighting so we rarely have anything that we disagree over. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a loud noise and considered getting up but fell asleep before I managed to crawl out of bed. Turns out someone must have been mighty mad or drunk as they completely wrecked our very strong steel gate. It will still be able to keep people out but I am not sure it can be opened for large deliveries. Because we have these incredible security lights that light up the street for a couple of houses in each direction, we have to assume the driver was drunk as you can’t miss this gate. We reported it to the Embassy. Our contact said it will probably be a landlord issue. Who knows what that will entail?

Last night we attended a concert sponsored by the Polish Embassy. The program featured two Russian pianists who were playing Chopin’s first and second concertos. It was a great program. The conservatory was filled to overflowing. I would guess there were fifty people standing throughout the evening. Georgians seem to love the arts. We met in Old Town, Ron walked from work and I had Gia take me there. I went early so I could explore some of the shops. Old Town is being revitalized and it a very attractive area. No gray concrete apartment houses here. Instead there are charming colorful rehabbed buildings. It has some good restaurants and neat shops, galleries, etc. We had a great meal at the French restaurant where we dined a few months ago.

Today is March 2 and the plumbers arrived shortly after the satellite dish guys. Our boiler needed a new water pump which was installed today. We now have a new satellite dish so we can catch the news. I have no idea what has been going on in the world for the past week. I missed the Olympics and I am sad about that. I love watching the Olympics. Such is life. After they finished up I made a quick lunch then walked to the other end of Lvovi to see where the IWA coffee is being held tomorrow. It is at the Dutch Ambassador’s house as his wife is a member. It is a huge and gorgeous place and I wanted to make sure it was within walking distance. It is a perfectly beautiful day today so when I got back home, I took a dining chair, a small side table and my homework outside on the front porch and spent an hour writing questions for my assignment. Elza has busted us for being so lazy lately and told us we need to be speaking Georgian more. So on Saturday night while dining out and last night we spoke Georgian to each other for about five minutes. We have been remiss with our drills although we do our assignments.

Tomorrow is another Georgian holiday so Ron has the day off. We hope the weather holds and plan to have a play day after I get home from the IWA coffee at noon. We want to either walk up to Lisi Lake above our house or go to the botanical gardens. Anytime the weather is pleasant Georgians pour out of their dreary apartment houses and sit in the parks, or on all the benches that are downtown. I am the same way here. I look for reasons to go outside. Our house is quite nice but there are no windows on the right or left side of the house and relatively little light from the north side, making the house darker than I like. Fortunately we have had many more sunny days here than we have at home in the Greyt NW!