Today as I was walking home (look!, I'm writing a blog about something that happened recently, instead of several weeks ago!), I thoroughly undressed one of the repeat offenders who routinely yell "chineli!" at me and other nonsense. As I addressed him in very firm Georgian, he recanted everything he said and I had him back-tracking on his statements. However, honestly, I didn't take pleasure in half-way yelling at a 12-year-old Georgian boy. He's not the only one who does these things, but it definitely reminds me of why I want to move closer to work. My one-hour walk home definitely affords people the opportunity to stare and yell things at me.
In thinking about these incidents, I often consider how much safer Georgians have it (especially in a village, which Borjomi is not). First I think to myself, how often do they see me walking by that they aren't used to me by now, then I think to myself, how we Americans think of staring at someone as rude and why we don't usually do it. Looking back at my own childhood, I'm reminded of incidents of my precocious nature and how that got me in trouble. I remember flashing a light into a car once, and the driver of the car in return pointed a gun at me. I was only 6, but I definitely stopped flashing flashlights at people then. I also remember staring at people in my youth, only to be yelled back at in very aggressive terms like "what YOU looking at boy?!" or the equally aggressive stare-down plus head nod which usually, in my experience, is a precursor to a fight which usually involved guns or knives and unequal amount of opponents. I guess growing up in Echo Park and East Los Angeles is a lot different than growing up in Georgia. Although I guess if I grew up here, I would probably be worried about the Russians invading again.
Now, to distract you from this serious post, I would like to show you a picture that has me cracking up every time I see it:
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