I Don't Know Why You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

Like a good time travel film, this post starts with the pictures I took my first day in Satsulukidzeo and goes backwards to the end of my time in Tbilisi.

What up. You need to get in here? Too bad. I'm a fucking cow.

The view from my driveway.
My house.
Another view, from the road my house is on.

An epic fence in my neighborhood. Yes, that is a cow's (horse's?) skull hanging out in the corner.

Khoni, the closest town to where I live.

My host sister, Kristina.

Pigs roaming the streets of my village. At the time of writing this, I've already grown pretty used to seeing this. Cows too.

My school.

The courtyard in my backyard.

Check out that sweet hat.

Nkusha, the simultaneously the world's cutest and most spoiled child.

Stopping in the mountains on the road to Khoni.

Impromptu supra at a roadside cafe!

RUSSIAN CHOCOLATE, where have you been all my life.

Russian Pepto-Bismol, for the Russian chocolate after-effects.



Views from Bazaleti Hotel.

Argo.
Natakthari.
Destroyed khinkali.
Pre-destruction.
Khachapuri.
Another version.
A statue in Old Tbilisi.
Georgian lemonade, wtf.
Nabeghlavi, my preference for Georgian mineral water.

Borjomi, the competition.

First wine in Georgia. Not too shabby.

On the Banks of the Mt'k'vari

HELLO.

Fisherman.

Ek'lesia. (Church.)

George W. Bush Street. Funny story this guy from Ottawa told me about Bush St., in Georgia they will add a vowel, usually the -ee sound to the end of nouns that end in consonants. So Bush becomes Bushi, which according to this guy means 'asshole' in qartuli. Bushi. Good stuff.

Evidence of my travels! (I had to hand these in to the people running my program, who I presume use them like receipts, but I wanted to save them for posterity, as well.)

There's what I think is an electricity tower that they have on a hill somewhere to the west (at least I think so, it's in the opposite direction from where I saw the sun rise on my first morning here ), and at night it lights up. And the lights change in patterns, like those strings of Christmas lights that turn off and on in sync with music. It's like some sort of strange, beautiful post-Soviet Eiffel Tower. In the second picture I tried to catch both the tower and one of several very old churches that can be seen in the mountains on the edge of town [to the right, the one that looks like it's being lit from below]. Maybe not a great picture but a very cool view to have from my sast'umro.

Rustaveli Avenue, all gussied up for the holidays, presumably.

Tavisupleba (Freedom) Square, the monument to St. George.

The classiest McDonald's of them all.