Perfection in a nutshell

This weekend was fairly uneventful yet looking back at it, I wish I had my camera to document it. I need to get me one of those camera phones, dammit!

Friday we went to a birthday party for a friend’s son. The son asked for a water gun and it turns out that it’s somewhat hard to find a water gun in toy stores in Tbilisi. Until you look for it at the Bazaar or the Bazroba as it is called by the locals. Friday afternoon I met a friend, who was working on an article for a local magazine, for coffee. After coffee, he decided to skip work and took me to the Bazaar which is located on the other bank, across the river, near a train station. That place is ridiculous. You can find anything in the world there – from bras to instant ice-cream (yea, I don’t know what that tastes like) to loofahs to tea pots. There is no real organization to the Bazaar, you just kind of wonder around until you find what you need. Oh, I almost forgot, I spent about two weeks looking for gift wrapping paper in the downtown area and look and behold, there was tons of it at the Bazaar. Actually, let me take that back, there is some organization to the Bazaar, there is a food section and then there is anything-goes section. The food section is where I wish I had my camera, we chatted with a lady who was selling cow snout, brain, and tongue. All these delicious sounding cow parts were laid out on a butcher-type table in little pools of blood and whatever other cow part fluids with flies buzzing around. It was slightly gross and most definitely not appetizing. The lady was telling me different ways to cook the brain, including a basic sauté, cutlet style. I will be glad to part with this information with anyone who requests it, especially Jeff P.

Then there were mounds of flour. Huge mounts. With old ladies perching on high stools, waving us over to buy some flour. I bought wild strawberries instead.

I had a tough time with the water gun since my friend requested that I bought a “quality product.” What is “quality” in Georgia? I am not sure. But since the friend was working, it was up to me and my other friend to pick one. So we examined our choices and after lengthy discussions of what a seven year old kid would like, I decided to pick one of the largest ones, the kind that apparently squirts water up to 35 feet. Or maybe meters? I can’t remember. Anyways, it turned out that the water gun was almost the size of the kid and upon receiving it, he immediately filled it with water and proceeded to happily squirt his gigantic, hairy, bear-like dog. Which lead to his mother getting upset and hastily removing the gun.

The birthday party took place about 30 minutes outside of Tbilisi, in a little summer house located in the mountains. It was a really beautiful place where it is generally much cooler than in Tbilisi. And it’s been hot here, so hot that I try not to leave the house as much as possible. The hosts brought khinkali and khachapuri and cooked shashlik. I ate tons, it was delicious. Mmm, shashlik. By the way, for those who don’t know what is shashlik, it’s basically marinated meat, cooked on open fire. It’s your basic Georgian barbeque.

As I am typing this, there is a news report about Japanese tourists who come to Russia to garden. Apparently, land is expensive in Japan and many of these Japanese tourists used garden when they were young so this brings back pleasant memories. The report was wrapped up with an interview from the owner of the land who said that he was happy that the Japanese dug out his potatoes so he fed them with dark bread, salty fish, and vodka.

What else, Saturday was a lazy day, I ate some Adjaran khachapuri (this is the kind looks like a boat and it’s filled with cheese, runny egg and lots of butter – it was that kind of day). We also went to see the film “Tbilisi, Tbilisi” which was written and shot here. Looking back at the film, I am not sure how I feel about it, it tugged at the strings of the movie goers’ hearts as it took place in Tbilisi right after the war in Abkhazia. It showed the poverty and the humanity that was, and in some parts, still is present in Georgia so in some ways, it wasn’t imaginative or drastically different from other movies that portray a similar situation. Yet it had some witty dialogue which I felt showed well Georgian sarcastic and dry humor.

Sunday I met up with a couple of Americans and after having drinks at an outdoor bar owned by a German, we wondered across the bridge to the Kazbegi brewery. Kazbegi is a region not too far away from Tbilisi and it is also the name of a local brewery which makes pretty decent and cheap beer. Once you arrive to the brewery, you can buy a container from one of the old ladies to have it filled with fresh, cold beer. We also bought some fish. Then crossed the street and sat by the river bank, drinking and munching. Eventually we joined a group of old Georgian geezers who told us dirty jokes and promised young Georgian women for my male friends. Before we joined the geezers, I swear, some Georgian guy was trying to sell me his kid. The kid was really cute, about 5 or so, with huge eyes, but having a variety of things going on in my life, I decided not take him. Besides, the cost was a little high as well, I don’t have 10K laying around. I am sure I could have bargained but I didn’t want to be tempted. Needless to say, I got really trashed, we stumbled back, caught a marshrutka to Saburtalo, our hood, and ate a pizza at our local pizza joint that’s run by some Georgian dude who employs really cute English speaking waiters. Ah, drunken flirtation. Then I got home and passed out. Now, that’s a perfect, not so eventful weekend!