Feb 26 2011
Alas, winter has arrived in Tbilisi. Until about mid January we had sunny days with mostly warm afternoons. It was fabulous although it worried me about next summer’s water supply. Then it got real cold but we still had sun. Not anymore. It has snowed or rained everyday for a week. Last weekend we woke up to snow both days but it warmed up during the day so the snow melted. That is great around here because Georgians can’t drive on dry pavement so try to imagine what it would be like in snow or ice!
I have been gaining a few pounds so started walking this week to try ands shed the few before they grow into the many. One day I walked on neighborhood streets where I have not been before. I once again became aware of how ‘planning’ in not a word in the Georgian vocabulary. Streets curve around, up and over and end quickly. I went down three or four streets that ended within a block of their beginning but I couldn’t tell as they curved around and I couldn’t see the end. I was struck by the poor conditions of the streets. Many turned into mud tracks. Most had as many potholes as they had pavement. Sometimes there was more dirt than pavement. I saw litter reminding me of Sri Lanka. They do have regular trash pick up here but you don’t see any waste bins outside of residents’ gates. Most people run out when they hear the trucks and hand over their garbage. Often I would see a run down modest house right next to a giant McMansion built for a wealthy Georgian or for a member of the expat community who is working here and lives as though they were in their home country. Most Georgians live in unheated or partially heated apartments/houses because utilities are so expensive here. They don’t have things like thermal paned windows. Our exterior doors leak like a sieve.
Lala is the woman who is my friend Laurie’s housekeeper. Lala does a lot of sewing for us. She made a bed cover and skirt for us and is now making a second one. She is also making a carrying case for our massage table so we can give it to Maia ( our Masseuse) when we leave and Maia can do out call with a table making it much better for her back. As it is now, she bends over a bed to massage her other clients. Lala has no fear when it comes to sewing. She and Ron have worked closely on these projects and both have learned from each other. Lala tells us tales of the Soviet era when people didn’t have very much in the way of clothes and the clothes they had didn’t come is a variety of styles and colors. Lala made her own clothes and her office mates would ask her where she got her clothes.
I continue to be very annoyed with Georgian drivers and pedestrians. We call the pedestrians "Suicide Pedestrians" because they wait in the road for marshutekas or buses. They cross in the middle of a block rather than at a crosswalk with a light. They cross the street when the light is against them rather than with them. They wear all black at night and cross in the middle of the block where there isn’t adequate light to see them. You would see then right after you hit them. They don’t use the pedestrian underpasses or the overpasses. It is as though they don’t understand how dangerous it is. Georgian drivers are wild. They drive too fast, too close and totally disregard any rules. It is very common to see drivers run red lights, make illegal turns across multiple lanes of traffic, and drive on the sidewalk or to drive fast in reverse for a great distance. My all time favorite is drivers who go into the opposing lane of traffic, crossing the double solid line because they are in a hurry. Never mind that there is a car coming directly at them. They flash their lights to indicate they are more important than you and you should get out of their way even though they are in the wrong lane, your lane. Our friend Jock was driving us to the movie one night when this happened. Instead of getting out of the oncoming driver’s way, Jock held his ground and the other driver had to get back into his lane. We all had a good laugh on that one.
February 28, 2011
Today Ron gets to bring his ‘jeepi’ home. It has been at the mechanics, the body shop and the painters for months. I have lost count but probably about six months. Next an electrical guy will come and finish up some work then off to the top shop to install a new top. I think then there is some more mechanical work to be done before Ron can say it is done. Ron got so frustrated with the painter who promised the job would be done by Jan 28th that he decided to sell the jeep for parts. That seemed to light a fire under the painter’s hinny and he got it finished within ten days so it took almost twice as long as originally promised, two months instead of one. This has been consistent with every one who has worked on the jeep. Whatever time frame they give you should multiple it by a factor of two at least. The one exception was when he had the car totally rewired and the guy said it would take two days. It took three and Ron gave him a bonus. The man thought he had won the lottery! By contrast the paint guy said if he didn’t finish on time Ron could subtract 50 lari a day for everyday it was late. I think the painter owes Ron at this point!
Ron and I have trouble sleeping here and neither of us can figure out why. Ron had four bad nights this week and I tossed and turned last night until 5:00 a.m. Oy! Several of our friends say the same thing. Our street is mostly quiet so it isn’t that. It is truly annoying and very disruptive to a routine exercise schedule. I just cannot seem to exercise when I haven’t slept well.
We leave Wednesday night for Dubai. We are going with the Conlys who are great travel buddies. We will be there for five days and all of us are looking forward to warmth and sun. It will be in the high 70’s and low 80’s. I will wear sandals! And cotton clothes! Yippee! At the end of March we will go to Brussels where Ron has a meeting of all the US Treasury reps. We are going early so we can go to Bruges a quaint town now overrun with tourists. After the meeting we will zip down to Italy to see Jim and Jane Burke from Oregon who are house hunting. What fun!
Lately there have been lots of good English language films at our one theater that plays English language films. A group of eight of us frequently meets for dinner beforehand either at someone house or at a restaurant and then head off to the movie. It has been great fun to have a regular group. It will be hard to leave Tbilisi when the time comes as we have made many new friends here.
I have been gaining a few pounds so started walking this week to try ands shed the few before they grow into the many. One day I walked on neighborhood streets where I have not been before. I once again became aware of how ‘planning’ in not a word in the Georgian vocabulary. Streets curve around, up and over and end quickly. I went down three or four streets that ended within a block of their beginning but I couldn’t tell as they curved around and I couldn’t see the end. I was struck by the poor conditions of the streets. Many turned into mud tracks. Most had as many potholes as they had pavement. Sometimes there was more dirt than pavement. I saw litter reminding me of Sri Lanka. They do have regular trash pick up here but you don’t see any waste bins outside of residents’ gates. Most people run out when they hear the trucks and hand over their garbage. Often I would see a run down modest house right next to a giant McMansion built for a wealthy Georgian or for a member of the expat community who is working here and lives as though they were in their home country. Most Georgians live in unheated or partially heated apartments/houses because utilities are so expensive here. They don’t have things like thermal paned windows. Our exterior doors leak like a sieve.
Lala is the woman who is my friend Laurie’s housekeeper. Lala does a lot of sewing for us. She made a bed cover and skirt for us and is now making a second one. She is also making a carrying case for our massage table so we can give it to Maia ( our Masseuse) when we leave and Maia can do out call with a table making it much better for her back. As it is now, she bends over a bed to massage her other clients. Lala has no fear when it comes to sewing. She and Ron have worked closely on these projects and both have learned from each other. Lala tells us tales of the Soviet era when people didn’t have very much in the way of clothes and the clothes they had didn’t come is a variety of styles and colors. Lala made her own clothes and her office mates would ask her where she got her clothes.
I continue to be very annoyed with Georgian drivers and pedestrians. We call the pedestrians "Suicide Pedestrians" because they wait in the road for marshutekas or buses. They cross in the middle of a block rather than at a crosswalk with a light. They cross the street when the light is against them rather than with them. They wear all black at night and cross in the middle of the block where there isn’t adequate light to see them. You would see then right after you hit them. They don’t use the pedestrian underpasses or the overpasses. It is as though they don’t understand how dangerous it is. Georgian drivers are wild. They drive too fast, too close and totally disregard any rules. It is very common to see drivers run red lights, make illegal turns across multiple lanes of traffic, and drive on the sidewalk or to drive fast in reverse for a great distance. My all time favorite is drivers who go into the opposing lane of traffic, crossing the double solid line because they are in a hurry. Never mind that there is a car coming directly at them. They flash their lights to indicate they are more important than you and you should get out of their way even though they are in the wrong lane, your lane. Our friend Jock was driving us to the movie one night when this happened. Instead of getting out of the oncoming driver’s way, Jock held his ground and the other driver had to get back into his lane. We all had a good laugh on that one.
February 28, 2011
Ron and I have trouble sleeping here and neither of us can figure out why. Ron had four bad nights this week and I tossed and turned last night until 5:00 a.m. Oy! Several of our friends say the same thing. Our street is mostly quiet so it isn’t that. It is truly annoying and very disruptive to a routine exercise schedule. I just cannot seem to exercise when I haven’t slept well.
We leave Wednesday night for Dubai. We are going with the Conlys who are great travel buddies. We will be there for five days and all of us are looking forward to warmth and sun. It will be in the high 70’s and low 80’s. I will wear sandals! And cotton clothes! Yippee! At the end of March we will go to Brussels where Ron has a meeting of all the US Treasury reps. We are going early so we can go to Bruges a quaint town now overrun with tourists. After the meeting we will zip down to Italy to see Jim and Jane Burke from Oregon who are house hunting. What fun!
Lately there have been lots of good English language films at our one theater that plays English language films. A group of eight of us frequently meets for dinner beforehand either at someone house or at a restaurant and then head off to the movie. It has been great fun to have a regular group. It will be hard to leave Tbilisi when the time comes as we have made many new friends here.
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