An update

I haven’t posted much lately because I managed to forget my camera every time anything of interest was occurring. Sunday my friends took me to see a Georgian Orthodox church from the 5th Century, if not older, a few miles outside of Tbilisi. Albeit small and dark, it was magnificent, nested on top of hills (or maybe mountains?), overlooking a valley dotted with small tiny Georgian country houses. While standing on top of the mountain, it was extremely windy and I thought I would be blown away, past the cliffs, tumbling down into the brown river below. And there were rain clouds just touching the surrounding mountains, making the whole scenery even more impressive. The church, which was shaped like a cross, didn’t have much inside of it besides a small altar. There were some icons on the walls with tall candles in front of them. But otherwise, it’s was dark and scary since the wind kept howling. Also, the Orthodox priests or some sort of religious figures, were peering at the visitors as they poured over a book, making the setting perfect for a creepy movie set. And apparently, the church needs a lot of restoration work so pay for filming location may come in very handy for them!

Since it was freezing cold and about to pour, we returned back to Tbilisi for a nice dinner which was finished with a nice hot tea with red wine in it. It tasted a little strange, not exactly like mulled red wine and not exactly like tea. But it made me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. I am easy to please. Oh yea, I also got all the dirt on dating in Georgia. Apparently, Georgian men having fun with Russian women but marry Georgian. I guess there isn’t much dirt. But seems like perfect set up for Georgian men to me.

I can’t remember much of what happened yesterday – oh, yea, I met my friend’s friend who has been living here for about two years. We had beers and eavesdropped on the conversation between two German soldiers. I kept wanting to ask them how to say Georgia in German but never got around to it. There was also some expat teaching another newly arrived foreigner Georgian culture, language, and way of life. The conversation sounded completely ridiculous although I can’t remember what was said. I had a lot of beer.

And I think I have managed to find myself a lackey. I am almost settled for a dashing young Georgian lad who seemed to be terrified of me during our “informal” interview. But he works with IDUs and does outreach work in the streets. And he has a law background and has been working on decriminalization of drug use. He seemed to be in tune with things. Some of the other candidates were just ridiculous. One woman thought that the discrimination that sex workers face is being hired to have sex with one man but then being forced to have sex with several men. Not exactly what I hope to work on.

Anyways, I am going to Batumi by train on Thursday morning with my Georgian friend Nino. She has to do some sort of needs assessment for her NGO and I am going to meet with the Batumi branch of the organization that is helping me here. Batumi is, apparently, a nice resort town, a few miles from Turkey and it serves as a transit point for a lot of sex workers who go work abroad. It should be an interesting experience. And hopefully, I’ll be able to take a dip into the Black Sea. Or at least find out why it is called the Black Sea. We are coming back on Saturday so I will have pictures and maybe a posting. So keep your pants on.