Long time, no see...

I know it's been a while since I've written in my blog. And since then a lot of things has happened. Most I don't remember. Some I shouldn't write as it might be scandalous to do so. But I'll share some highlights of the month of August in Georgia.

August in Georgia is the hottest month of the year. It is also when nearly everyone has vacation and that goes for 90% of the PC volunteers as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately (depends on how you see things), I'm in the 10% that still have work. In fact, August is probably our busiest month, since that's when all the vacationers come to Borjomi and to hike in the park. Most Georgians don't actually go hiking in the National Park, but rather spend time in the city park which is where most of the Georgians congregate at night. Most are from Tbilisi. The real hikers and the campers are from Europe (mostly Israel and eastern Europe--Poland, Czech, Germany), and strangely enough, I have yet to meet a single American. I've met a few Canadians, but no Americans. Just a few days ago, we started construction in our office and so now its very load and dirty here, and I'm finding myself working from home more often. I'm already pretty unproductive, working from home just makes me more so.

I did some traveling in August as well. In early August I went with a few friends to Tbilisi to buy a guitar (which I successfully did, but have trouble really learning it since there are few videos online to learn the classical guitar, which is what I bought). I also went to do some sightseeing, and saw a lot of churches. In fact, Georgia is one of the few countries which religion has really blossomed and expanded in the past decade, as opposed to America and Europe. There was a huge church building boom, and I got to visit a lot of them. I stayed at this small hostel in the middle of the city where I met a lot of cool people. One of them was a Spanish guy that had an irish-english accent and an American who was a PC volunteer in Ukraine but now goes to law school in San Francisco. We partied the entire weekend, and as I recall, I did shots of Beer + cha cha in what I would best describe as sake bombs. What they consist of is a full cup of Beer, a napkin over the top of the cup, a shot of chacha poured through the napkin, then a quick chug of the cup. I had three. Another highlight of the night was me grabbing a bottle of water chugging it then spitting it up after realizing it was vodka. Well, that was what someone told me I did.... I can't recollect.

Later in the month, I also had the chance to visit Batumi. It's a very nice resort city on the coast of the Black Sea a few miles from the Turkish border. Lots of fun in the sun, lots of swimming and diving, and drinking and partying. Also went to a nice club that was the scene of a wild night. Lots of drinking and dancing for sure, but also an American pop-group on stage (ala pussy cat dolls) and a stripper on stage (strange for Georgia). Best part of the night though was dancing to American music for once and jumping up and down like and idiot, and of course fist pumping ala Jersey Shore. For those who live in the region (which is the majority of the G10's) I'm not sure how they ever afford anything else, since I would be so tempted to go out every weekend in Batumi if I lived that close. For me, it is a 5 hour trip and cost 17 lari to get there, not very comfortable and not very affordable makes that trip a rarity for me. Luckily Tbilisi is only 2 hours away. But I don't necessarily like the fact that I am in the center of the country whereas everyone else is in the East, or in the West. I'm not close to many people, so I only see people who come in who want to hike in the park. It's like living in America, and living halfway between work and play. Would you prefer to be a few minutes to work and avoid all that commuting 5 days a week, or would you prefer to be a hop skip and cab-ride away from many bars and clubs? I always preferred the latter since I don't support drinking and driving.

The last two weeks I've finally succumbed to some food poisioning and digestional problems. I know a lot of people have already done so, but 4 months in, I guess it was just my time. Fortunately I have cable internet in my apartment which allows me to download a lot, add the fact that I brought a bunch of media from home and have a guitar now, I'm seldom bored or have little to do even if I'm stuck at home. Very excited by the new Mad Men season, and of course looking forward to the Football Season. I suppose I can stream NFL games since I'm only 8 hours ahead of the east coast.

Borjomi in August was fun. The entire population seems to swell three-fold as tourist from Tbilisi comes. It seemed like I went out every night to go drinking and dancing with friends. Now, it's cooling down a bit and it seems people will be moving back to Tbilisi to resume their normally scheduled programs.

Diving in the black sea. It was a little frightening since I'm not a very strong swimmer and I barely made it back to shore. Fun times...

Sunset on Batumi.

The largest and newest church in Tbilisi.

Lots of weddings in the Church, especially on Saturdays. Apparently that's a prime wedding day.

Borjomi. Lights on and all.