September 20, 2010

Good lord, what the heck happened? It has been weeks since I have been able to write so I guess that means things are quite busy here. The best part was having my childhood friend Jimmy James Wall here for a week. What fun we had! He arrived on a Saturday afternoon from Atlanta. On Sunday we climbed into the car and Gia took us to Kazbegi. The last time we were there, the mountain keep going under cloud covers but this time it was visible the entire time. Gia had been through the town but had never stayed there nor had he ever gone up to the church above the village. Because of construction we had to hire a car to take us up to the village, get out and walk around the construction and another car picked us up and took us to the top. What a wild ride that was. Jimmy and I couldn’t stop laughing and the driver couldn’t figure out what was so funny. Gia was up front and Ron, JJ and I were squeezed into the back. It was impossible for three of us to sit facing the front so I was canted sideways and crushing JJ most of the way. We needed a chiropractor after the trip. The road was close to non existent with very sharp hairpin turns. Every time the driver got to one of these, he would gun the engine and roar up the turn. Sometimes he was talking on his cell phone or talking to Gia and not watching the road. Most of our laughter was pure nervousness that we would go careening down the mountain side.

We came home the next day which was Labor Day after a morning hike to a waterfall . On Tuesday Ron went back to work and JJ and I went to visit Maia, the felt artist who made our wall hanging. He loved her work and bought three of her pieces: two scarves which he is going to frame and a silk paper piece. On Wednesday Gia took us to Signaghi where we visited the museum and an art gallery where JJ bought some CDs of Georgian polyphonic singing. We stopped in a restaurant for lunch and purposefully chose a table near a fan as it was hot on this day. At one point I was quite hot and turned to discovered that a young waitress had turned the fan to face where she was sitting. I asked her to turn it back onto the main dining area which she did with a frown then proceeded to stand smack dab in front of the fan and dance with her back to us. Ha! JJ said she had raging hormones and the Signaghi wasn’t big enough for a girl like that!

The next two days we hung around Tbilisi and James offered us a thank you gift of one of Maia’s pieces of art so we returned to her home on Friday to choose a lovely little tapestry she had made entitled Cityscape, so perfect for two people who love urban scenes. We were sad to see JJ leave but are ever so glad for his visit.

During his visit I developed an awful cough so haven’t exercised or done any yoga for over two weeks. I have been to the clinic a couple of times and today got a cough suppressant which hopefully will give me some relief. In the meantime Ron has made progress on his ‘jeepi’. Did I mention that Ron bought a 1972 Russian jeep, referred in Georgia as a jeepi? Remember all nouns must end in a vowel so if it doesn’t they add an ‘i’. The majority of the mechanical work is finished after a month in the shop for what was supposed to be a two day job. Ron then hired an electrician to rewire the entire car and he got it done in three days working here in our garage. The man told Ron it would be best to work here as he would have constant interruptions in his shop and it would take longer. Ron was so pleased that the guy got it done in three days he gave him a big fat bonus and the guy couldn’t believe it. We can only hope the next three or four people who work on it could do such an efficient job.

Our language classes continue three times a week. We have learned a good number of vocabulary words but neither of us does very well with verb conjugations and the seven cases in this language and then there are all the exceptions to the rule so both of us are shy about speaking the language. I like to use a word or two with Georgians but rarely make a complete sentence. We love our teacher and enjoy conversations about our two cultures and differences. She is an open minded, bright, modern Georgian woman. She is expecting her second child in December.

Ron and I have a very active social life here, much more so than at home. Every weekend there are invitations to dinners, parties and the like. One of our friends has started a series called Fabulous Fridays where he talks restaurants into having a limited menu which includes a drink, an entrée and sometimes a dessert for 15 GEL. Rami started this as a way for folks at the embassy know about good restaurants but also so Georgians who work at the embassy could experience them also with the low price. Last week 120 people went to the Indian restaurant in our neighborhood that we discovered and had told Rami about. It is quite new and the manger was thrilled with the response. They had to turn 20 people away as they could not seat everyone. This Friday we are going to a restaurant owned by a woman from Oregon!

After about 10 weeks of near 100 degrees temperature we are moving into fall (we think) and it is now in the mid 80’s and a welcomed relief. Our asters are in full bloom and the butterflies love them. It is a double treat for us to have both the butterflies and the blossoms. My work is progressing. I will work the next three afternoons trying to complete a draft of our action plan for the next two years. I don’t know if I mentioned the rector of TSU resigned quite unexpectedly and now we have our second interim rector whom I assume will be appointed as permanent rector since he left the government as the Minister of Health. He left just in time as there is a big scandal about inappropriate awarding of a contract. Apparently the firm furnished ineffective immunizations. OY! I can only hope he is innocent. It doesn’t bode well for TSU if the guy is corrupt. The last rector was a champion as he eliminated the practice of students paying professors to pass them. A student could ‘buy’ any degree she wanted if she had the money. Needless to say the last rector was unpopular with those who benefited from the practice. I thought he was the greatest! A man with integrity is hard to find in a position of power.

We have plans to go to Yerevan, Armenia over Columbus Day weekend with the CLO. They have made all the arrangements so it couldn’t be easier for us. We are also trying to figure out when to go to Odessa/Kiev and most probably will go Thanksgiving week as there is a Georgian holiday also that week. We want to maximize our sight seeing in this part of the world while we are here as I doubt that we will return after our tour is finished.