GEORGIA

Gamarjoba,

I'm now in Tbilisi. We are staying in a hotel called the "Countryside Hotel" in the affluent parts outside the capital. We got in on Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by our country director, the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, and the Georgian Minister of Education. We were also all hounded by the media that were taking pictures and interviewing volunteers. There were also some G-9's that greeted us. We went to a restaurant to have a traditional "supra" (minus the wine) and Georgian food is AMAZING. There's this cheesy bread that is amazing!

Yesterday we woke up early and had breakfast then meetings ALLLLLL day. We also had our first language class where I learned some simple phrases. I have to practice rolling my r's and just about everything else. After dinner we took a walk down our hill to a "grocery store" and I decided to buy some Georgian beer to practice my "Gamarjoba", "ra ghirs", and "madloba" (Hello, How much is it, and Thanks you). Back at the hotel we played backgammon, checkers, spit, asshole and just hung out. A couple of us were up until 1AM practicing our Georgian with the hotel staff and sounding like silly Americans.

I have ALOT of pictures, and have essentially become to unofficial picture taker here. This title has also earned me the current front runner in the bet on who will get bit by a dog first (because I'm always running around getting good angles).

Anyway more meetings are in order. I'll write more later.