June 20, 2010
We left Tbilisi at 7 a.m. on May 28th and flew to Paris, expecting to have a two hour layover. Our plane from Paris was three hours late getting into Paris. We boarded at 5:00 p.m. instead of 1:40. We pulled away from the gate and stopped shortly afterwards. After a while the captain announced a problem with an indicator light on the rear door which is what had made the plane late to Paris. Unfortunately a caterer had opened the rear door that had been problematic in NY or where ever the plane had originated from. So we were struck there for a total of five hours. When they couldn’t fix the problem we deplaned as our flight was cancelled. Then we stood in line for two hours (after being up for 20 hours) in order to get a voucher for a hotel. We stayed at a Radisson near the airport and the advertised price was 400 Euros! Yikes! We got six hour sleep after having been up for 23 hours since we left TBS. We went back to the airport to see if we could get an earlier flight to Atlanta and on to DC where we were meeting our kids. Delta was wonderful and got us on a 10:40 flight instead of a 1:40 and they honored our tickets to DC which were the el cheapo tickets that if you miss your flight you are out of luck. We got to DC by 6:00 that night. I have no idea what time it was body time as we had passed through 9 times zones by then.

We spent Sat and Sun nights with David and Anne who have just moved to Silver Springs Maryland as David has accepted a position with HHS. We went to the zoo on Sunday and met up with Mark and Rachel. Afterwards we all went to D &A’s for dinner. On Monday we went to Centreville and spent the night with M&R. It was great to be with our kids and grandkids. On Tuesday night the kids took Ron and me to dinner at our favorite restaurant in DC to celebrate my birthday and Father’s Day. We got to sit outside and eat fabulous Middle Eastern cuisine. Yum

On Wednesday we flew back to Atlanta where Ron had arranged several site visits for the Georgians who are here with Ron to attend the Government Financial Officers Assoc conference. On Thursday they met all day with the county and I got to hook up with my friend James whom I have known since the 4th grade. He moved here recently from VA. What luck! He took me around to get some of my shopping done. Atlanta is a huge city and they have virtually no shopping in downtown. You have to go to the burbs for shopping. We visited the tiny shopping center that is located downtown and it is basically a food court with a handful of little shops. Useless given our needs. We will take Marta, the mass transit here, on Saturday to get the clothes we need at a shopping center north of downtown.

On one of my shopping trips I was buying a bath mat and was with my friend James aka Jimmy James. There was a woman walking through the bath department and exclaiming to her friend (this is the honest to god truth) “I need some new towels somethin’ terrible”. I looked at Jimmy who was suppressing a laugh and I said ‘can you imagine being a foreigner and hearing that and trying to understand what she just said?’

June 8, 2010
Ron’s meetings are going well and I have completed my shopping. Today Jimmy has arranged a massage for me. What a treat! I went to the Lenox Square Mall where I worked one summer as a gift wrapper and bought a pair of sandals. The mall was not recognizable. I managed to travel using Marta, their metro and was impressed with how easy it is. I was thrilled to see an old friend from high school who now lives in Atlanta. Nan and Jimmy are friends so he connected us up with each other. Nan took me to a medical appointment and out to lunch. She had us over to dinner one night also. It was so much fun remembering our days in high school.

Last night we were the dinner guests of some of the GFOA officials. All the Georgian delegates were invited. We went to a very nice French restaurant. I think I have mentioned how important wine is in the Georgian culture and how when having any kind of celebration Georgians have a toastmaster. Well last night Dato assumed the role. Most Georgian wine is homemade and has an alcohol content of 6%. The Georgians asked the waiter repeatedly to fill their glasses to the rim. Another custom is the toast master will drink his entire glass of wine for his more important toasts. Last night was no exception. Dato had consumed three glasses before appetizers were served. Anytime their wine bottle was empty the Georgians would shout to the waiter ‘more wine!’ Afterwards they went to the president’s suite of GFOA for more partying. We went back to the hotel and off to bed.

June 20
I failed to keep up with our trip. We rented a car in Atlanta on June 10th after Ron’s meetings ended and drove to South Carolina to visit my family there. We stayed with my sister and her husband. Toni, my sister, has lost 33 pounds and counting. She was diagnosed with diabetes and said no way. She changed her diet and eliminated sugar, white flour, white potatoes, etc and continues to lose weight. Toni has been overweight for many years so this is really great. Her doctor has ‘undiagnosed’ her diabetes. We have a hilarious evening on my birthday when Toni’s three kids came over and told lots of family stories. We were crying we were laughing so hard. It was probably my best birthday ever. On Saturday we drove up to my sister’s mountain cabin and on the way stopped for lunch. We ran into Nan from Atlanta who had been in Greenville on business. Too funny.

On Monday we got up early and at 7:30 started our drive back to Atlanta. We hung out at the airport until our plane left at 3:30 and flew to Paris. There we had a layover before flying into Tbilisi at 6:00 Tuesday afternoon where it was very hot and humid. We had a wonderful trip but it felt great to be back ‘home’.

We are now in the rainy season. Almost everyday we have a torrential downpour which is short lived but intense. We also get thunder and lightening. Yesterday as I was coming out of the subway, it was pouring so I waited in the underpass with many others for the rain to subside. I had planned to run by a small grocery store on my way home but couldn’t get across the street as water about four inches deep was coursing down the street. Perhaps if I had on galoshes instead of sandals I would have considered trying to get across the street. I gave up and came home.