Weekend Shenanigans

So, last friday I ventured out into the world again leaving my small town behind for the big city, Tbilisi. I met Shawn in Kutaisi and after using "the nicest bathrooms in Georgia" at the McDonalds, together we took a marshukta into Tbilisi. It wasn't the most comfortable 4 hour ride ever, with teeny little seats and wide eyed children. This one girl, maybe around 7 years old, spent a good chunk of the way leaning over her seat with her face about 8 inches away from my face, just staring blankly into my eyes. Her parents thought this was totally normal. I thought it was creepy as hell. Anyways upon arriving, Shawn and I took a cab into the city and met up with Nathan (we were crashing at Nathan's ridiculously amazing apartment with an equally ridiculously amazing view) and Greta, who had arrived earlier from Keda. The four of us went out for dinner at a restaurant which apparently didn't serve almost anything they actually had on their menu.

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to meet up with our Georgian friend Tengo and his friends from the university to head to Martkopi Monastery. We had our own private marshukta and driver and all ten or so of us headed out to the monastery. On the way we had fun teaching the Georgians American tongue twisters "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" This one being the most popular and they did a good job with it! Along the way we stopped about a hundred times to pick up vegetables, meat, goods to make burgers with and of course lots of vodka. The monastery was beautiful! Inside we met a monk who lived there and he (with translation of course) spoke to us about the power of love and I lit a candle for my dad. The monastery was located at the top of a mountain so the view was incredible! We hiked up a steep hill to get the best view of the monastery below us. Stunning. But it was so cold and windy up there that I would have sold my soul for a pair of gloves. When the weather become unbearable we headed back down the mountain and searched for a good place to picnic. The driver helped us make a fire, and we all sat around it warming our hands. Except I got a little too excited and burned a hole through my shoes. awesome. After warming our hands up we feasted! The boys cooked the meat over the fire on spits and we made burgers and roasted kachapuri. Then we broke out the vodka and the toasts began. After we were all only slightly inebriated we played some games. A georgian game called "He or she does...." In which one person closes there eyes and the rest of us in the circle point to someone. Then the person with their eyes shut says he or she does... and then names something ridiculous. The person who was chosen then has to do the thing demanded of them. We had a few stripteases, lick the ground, dance on the table, dance for the marshukta driver, etc. It got pretty interesting. Don't worry, I got photos of it all, videos even! We spent a good part of the day feasting and drinking and playing games. When it started to get dark we got back in our marshukta and had a sing- along on the ride back into Tbilisi. 

Sunday wasn't particularly interesting, Shawn, Greta and I prepared to head back to our respective cities. Shawn and I did run into a fellow expat, Laurel, on our marshukta ride home which was fun. The 4 hour ride back was the usual-- the van reaching ungodly speeds and making whiplashing stops. Gotta love it.

Monday, I prepared for just a normal day at school. Which it turned out wasn't written in the cards. It was teacher appreciation day so after my first two classes at 11:30 the teachers gathered in the lounge for a feast. There was meat, eggplant, bread, jam, tomatoes, fruit, and of course lots of wine. Giorgi, the single math teacher, kept trying to sneakily refill my glass and I was like hey Giorgi, you know I can see you right? After every sip I took from the cup he was waiting to fill it to the top. We toasted again and again and after the lunch break my teachers insisted that I skip class and stay to drink with Giorgi. Matchmakers at it again. So by 4th period I was seriously bombed and Giorgi and I were actually bonding. Then at around 3 o'clock, presidential candidate, Giorgi Margevelashvili, came to Abasha to give a speech in the park. It was packed with Georgians, in fact I don't think I've seen this many people in Abasha ever. I had no idea what he was saying but the people seemed to like him.  An old lady in the crowd grabbed me and hugged me close, caught up in the excitement of the speech. Here I met up with my new Georgian friend, Davit, and after we went to the cafe and ordered food and shocker-- more vodka! I spent the rest of the evening with him drinking and eating kinkhali! Of course everyone in town thinks we are "sweathearts" which pleases all my teachers who are still so concerned with my single status. In Georgia, I should already be married and have popped out a few kids by now.....yikes!   It was super dark out by the time I walked home and I forgot my flashlight so I walked right by my house and after about two miles I was like wtf, where am I? Finally after about 8 different frantic phone calls with my english teacher I made it home safely. Anyways the moral of the story is: always bring a flashlight! Because when it gets dark here it gets DARK and I was bumping into rocks, fences, cows, etc. I've got the bruises on my knee as a constant reminder.

Today wasn't nearly as exciting, which was fine by me. The past four days held enough excitement (and booze) to last a lifetime... or at least until Friday. On Friday, Daryl, an expat from a neighboring village, is coming to Abasha and we're gonna check out the one sketchy little disco bar that Abasha has to offer. But that's a different blog post.

The crew

View of the Monastery