The First Day

Due to the fantastic nature of jet lag, my body awoke at 6 AM this morning—unfortunately my mind didn’t wake up until much later. Despite the fact that the water in my shower was some sort of black sewage for the first 5 seconds, bathing did help me to rediscover my will to live.

Paul and I walked to the local money exchange to get Lari, the Georgian currency. Because my mind was still asleep, I left my passport at the exchange and didn’t realize it until I was a block away. Frantic, I ran back to reclaim it. I expected to do battle to get it back, but the people in the exchange were very kind and handed it right over. They didn’t even call me a stupid American!

Since luck was on our side, Paul and I decided to brave the local prodykti (mini grocery store). In Russia, prodyktis are truly evil places. Almost always the employees are mean and refuse to understand you. The Georgian prodykti is the opposite kinda’ place. Any attempt we made to pronounce things in Russian was met with delighted encouragement. We managed to buy all the necessities and it only cost us a mere 7 dollars.

After this success, we decided to brave the bazaar and buy cell phones. On the way there, the taxi driver educated us on how not to get our wallets stolen by Armenians—every ethnicity here claims that “the other guys” are the reason for crime...it’s kinda’ funny. Cell phones and SIM cards were plentiful at the Bazroba bazaar, and the whole process took us less than an hour due to the unfailing helpful nature of Georgians. We then headed back to our new expat friends to awe them with our autonomy.

Around 5:00, the Georgian kids of the family that picked us up at the airport randomly dropped by to take us sightseeing. They drove us to Jvari which is a 4th century orthodox church just out of Tbilisi. We then went to Mtskheta which is the original Georgian capital. There we saw Sveti-Tskhovili which is Georgia’s most famous church. Inside it is the tomb of Georgia’s first king. We then went to a nunnery where we got to stick our hands in the good energy dirt of a dead miracle-making saint’s grave. I'm not convinced I received any good energy, but at least I didn't explode in a firey ball of flame--something I'm convinced will happen each time I step into a church.

The countryside here is absolutely beautiful. There are rolling hills, wide rivers, and lots of trees and fields. Everywhere you look you see grape vines dangling with next years wine. The roads are quite bad, and the driving is definitely terrifying. But if you focus on the scenery and try not to notice that your car just nearly sped off a cliff, a drive in the country can be quite lovely.

After the sightseeing, we went to an outdoor café where we met our hosts from the previous night as well as many others. And then we feasted...

Once again, they stuffed us and got us drunk—so drunk that I was actually convinced to eat beef tongue salad. It’s not bad, really, but a little chewy. After dinner, one of the dinner guests took us on a drive around Tbilisi. We ended up at the restaurant/hotel Kopalo which has the best overlook of the city. There we sat on a balcony, sipped chocolate infused Turkish coffee, and discussed our plans for world domination.

I have never in my life felt more at home and welcome in a foreign country. For all you suckers slaving away in the cold country to the north (for those of you who are geographically challenged, I’m talking about Russia), pack your bags and head south to Georgia! I keep comparing this place to Russia—probably because I’ve been doing nothing but study Russia for the past gazillion years. But in all actuality, I imagine this place to be more like Italy…granted, Italy a few decades ago… Despite Georgia’s three civil wars, rampant political corruption, and a devastatingly bad economy, the Georgian people know how to enjoy life! And that, in the end, is the most important thing.

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