Tom vs. The Kind Man

This isn't exactly anything bad, in fact it's very good, but I have to write this down before I forget. I was sitting in my neighbors house eating and practicing my Georgian when an older gentleman from Batumi comes in. He is going to be doing some work on my neighbors house in their village, and he came by. I spent some time talking with him and he started to say I really liked me and wanted to buy my a gift. I never met this man before, but I said "No, no, you don't need to do that." Well he did anyway, he bought me some bananas and chocolate.

Later that evening I found out that this man was homeless. He sold his house to pay for his daughters medical bills, his wife left him, and he has three children to care for. This man went out of his way to buy ME gifts. I was so embarrassed, but my neighbors assured me that it's fine, and the man did it because he liked me very much when I spoke to him in Georgian. Sure, sometimes you get ripped off on the taxi or marshutka, but this is Georgia, and this is Georgian hospitality.

This is a pretty common thing in Georgia. Most people will go way out of their way, and do it with a smile on their face just because they like you, or want you to be happy. Sometimes I forget this, and it comes off as annoying, but after this I just remember that most people would spend their entire life savings to give you what you what you need. It's something I'm not used to, and is incredibly awkward to deal with.

Sometimes receiving is harder than giving is definitely true.