Sunday, August 12, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Lower Part of My Right Eye Keeps Twitching
I'll happily have a conversation about Libertarianism upon arrival in the US in a week with anyone who really wants to know what I was told, but not to take these comments as my own beliefs so they can argue with me... I am only relaying information.
I've been staying in the village the last few nights, trading around beds with different cousins. Today was spent peacefully reading an American book that I found at the American corner in the Batumi Public Library, interrupted by occasional conversations, meals, mosquito bites, and finally a ride into the city for suntanning by the beach. I chose to come home for a quick internet, as I spent yesterday evening by the beach as well, trying desperately not to get tan. Or pink.
I've been staying in the village the last few nights, trading around beds with different cousins. Today was spent peacefully reading an American book that I found at the American corner in the Batumi Public Library, interrupted by occasional conversations, meals, mosquito bites, and finally a ride into the city for suntanning by the beach. I chose to come home for a quick internet, as I spent yesterday evening by the beach as well, trying desperately not to get tan. Or pink.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Back in Batumi
There are too many things to explain about the Lessons of Liberty Camp, and it's too hot in Batumi for me to figure out which main points to share. Sorry.
I met a Peace Corps volunteer. It was good to talk to someone with a similar background having similar experiences.
I need to go back downstairs where there's AC.
I met a Peace Corps volunteer. It was good to talk to someone with a similar background having similar experiences.
I need to go back downstairs where there's AC.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Wedding
This is a picture of me and the bride and groom in the church. It was my first time inside a church, and it was beautiful. The wedding was eventful and also a continual reminder of cultural differences. I am particularly homesick for our cultural norms.
I'm heading off to a week-long seminar called Lessons of Liberty Camp. It will be in English and is mainly for young Georgians, but I'm exceedingly excited to learn about how Libertarianism could be implemented in Georgia.
Below is the schedule for tonight and tomorrow:
Lessons of Liberty Camp
Gonio, Georgia, July 16-23, 2007
SHEDULE:
Monday July 16:
6:00pm Greetings
6:15pm DINNER
6:45pm Announcements, group and class selections
7:00pm Skit on logic and markets by 5 Belarusians
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Tuesday July 17:
7:00am Study Hour--read class material
8:00am BREAKFAST
9:00am Whole Group: John Stossel Goes to Washington video-educational series
10:00 am Small classes:
Louis James--music library dealing with political topics
Sunni Maravillosa--pursuing personal freedom
Kevin Bjornson--Business English
Anna Tokar--discussion of 9:00am video topic
Andrea Fuchs--discussion of 9:00am video topic
Belarusian group discussion--bi-lingual Russian/English
11:00am Small Classes:
Louis James--music library dealing with political topics
Sunni Maravillosa--persuing personal freedom
Kevin Bjornson--origin and definition of "state" from Maine's "Ancient Law"
Anna Tokar--rational egoism theme from Rand's "Anthem"
Andrea Fuchs--illustrated version of Hayek's Road to Serfdom
Belarusian group discussion--bi-lingual Russian/English
12:00 NOON LUNCH
1:00pm Whole Group: Louis James lecture: Entrepreneurship and Investments
2:00pm Small Classes:
Louis James--discussion of 1:00pm lecture topic
Sunni Maravillosa--pursuing personal freedom
Kevin Bjornson--origin and definition of "state" from Maine's "Ancient Law"
Anna Tokar--rational egoism theme from Rand's "Anthem"
Andrea Fuchs--illustrated version of Hayek's Road to Serfdom
Belarusian group discussion--bi-lingual Russian/English
3:00pm Small Classes:
Louis James--discussion of 1:00pm lecture topic
Sunni Maravillosa--pursuing personal freedom
Kevin Bjornson--origin and definition of "state" from Maine's "Ancient Law"
Anna Tokar--Jonathan Gullible play rehearsal--"Escalating Crimes"
Andrea Fuchs--illustrated version of Hayek's Road to Serfdom
Belarusian group discussion--bi-lingual Russian/English
4:00pm Free Time
5:00pm Free Time
6:00pm DINNER
7:00pm Jonathan Gullible play--Tragedy of Commons--performed by Belarusians
8:00pm Free Time featuring discussion at campfire
9:00pm Free Time featuring disucssion at campfire
10:00pm Free Time featuring discussion at campfire
11:00pm Recommended Bedtime
Saturday, July 14, 2007
haircut!
I'm going to a wedding today. My hair has gotten a little out of hand because I haven't cut it since May, so I decided to go to the salon along with all the other girls and get a trim and style.
First of all, the dude cutting my hair had a mullet.
He started by cutting a lot of hair off-- a lot that I don't have. It ended up looking like Carol Brady's hair minus the gigantic mulletcurl. Most of the time I couldn't look at myself because I kept laughing.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Two things
There were two things that made yesterday very interesting:
Firstly, I bought a press pot for making my kinda coffee. This resulted in the over consumption of caffeine. Just like old times.
Secondly, we drove to my host mother's village yesterday evening for the birthday of her sister-in-law. On the way, I started to hear some talk of a drawing, but I couldn't quite make out what was being said. Then we drove off the main road and made a few turns, entering this open field with several large structures (kind of like big garages). There were people walking across the field toward one of the buildings, a mini-bus and taxi parked in front, and many people standing around and inside this building.
(My host sister Natia was driving, and when she got out of the car, the taxi driver congratulated/blessed her for being a female driver. Later she laughed about it because the only things taxi drivers usually say to female drivers are negative.)
I followed the other people into the building, where I found a bunch of people crossing themselves, praying and staring up at the wall. Up on what looked like the top of a greenish metal beam sticking out of the cement (or maybe it was a piece of wood?) was the face of Jesus. It was the standard darker shadow outlining his eyes, nose, beard and with long hair. I heard someone ask who'd drawn it. I didn't gather whether it was common knowledge that someone had drawn it or if everyone believe it to be a miracle. There was also supposedly a picture of Mary and Jesus on another wall, but I couldn't see it.
All I know is this: when I was doing a lot of figure drawing, I saw nude bodies all over the place-- in cracks in the pavement, in the bark on trees, in shadows on buildings...
I was surprised that no one said to me: "See Naomi! Now you can believe in our religion!" I guess they've realized I'm hopeless.
Firstly, I bought a press pot for making my kinda coffee. This resulted in the over consumption of caffeine. Just like old times.
Secondly, we drove to my host mother's village yesterday evening for the birthday of her sister-in-law. On the way, I started to hear some talk of a drawing, but I couldn't quite make out what was being said. Then we drove off the main road and made a few turns, entering this open field with several large structures (kind of like big garages). There were people walking across the field toward one of the buildings, a mini-bus and taxi parked in front, and many people standing around and inside this building.
(My host sister Natia was driving, and when she got out of the car, the taxi driver congratulated/blessed her for being a female driver. Later she laughed about it because the only things taxi drivers usually say to female drivers are negative.)
I followed the other people into the building, where I found a bunch of people crossing themselves, praying and staring up at the wall. Up on what looked like the top of a greenish metal beam sticking out of the cement (or maybe it was a piece of wood?) was the face of Jesus. It was the standard darker shadow outlining his eyes, nose, beard and with long hair. I heard someone ask who'd drawn it. I didn't gather whether it was common knowledge that someone had drawn it or if everyone believe it to be a miracle. There was also supposedly a picture of Mary and Jesus on another wall, but I couldn't see it.
All I know is this: when I was doing a lot of figure drawing, I saw nude bodies all over the place-- in cracks in the pavement, in the bark on trees, in shadows on buildings...
I was surprised that no one said to me: "See Naomi! Now you can believe in our religion!" I guess they've realized I'm hopeless.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Tbilisi by train
Hi. It's been a while.
I went to Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia) last Thursday for a few days because my host cousin Esma had to pick up her Dentistry certificate. She just finished school last month. Esma has an apartment there because she (and a other cousins) have studied in the capital for the past eight years. We stayed inside a lot because there was a ridiculous wind storm. I didn't mind because it was nice just as a change of scenery.
Tbilisi is like many large cities. It has a lot of people, lots of taxis, a McDonald's even. I enjoyed the independence of being alone in an apartment with someone my age. No one told me to dry my hair or wear slippers inside. We ate pilmeni (like a potato ravioli) a lot because it's easy to make- boil from frozen- and it's vegan. The religious Georgians are fasting right now for a holiday I don't remember.
The trip was full of really bad luck. We took the train there on Thursday morning. It's supposed to be a six or seven hour trip, but the train broke down twice and we didn't get in until 5:30 pm after leaving at 9:15 am. I just slept a lot and listened to the American/Georgian couple have arguments that they thought no one else could understand.
The next day we returned to the train station to buy our return tickets. There were many lines with about ten people in each, so I didn't think this was going to be a problem. No. That's wrong. It was a problem. Apparently, each person takes about five minutes to buy a ticket because the venders are slow as hell. Esma said it was because they don't know how to use the computers. Finally we got to the front of the line, and straight out of a movie, the woman slams her window shut and says "I'm going on my break." Okay, so there was a notice posted that she got her 20-minute break at 12:10, which it was, but it was so rude and she was so slow! We waited for the 20 minutes because it would have taken longer to get in a new line.
Then we went to pick up Esma's certificate. What a surprise to find that everyone in that office goes on break from 1-2 pm. So we waited in the building for an hour (it was cool inside and very hot outside) and talked to Esma's friends/classmates.
The next day we went out shopping for clothing for a cousin's wedding next week. When we got home, the weather turned from hot to crazy windy. So we were stuck inside and listened to music and ate the few potatoes that were left.
We took the night train back because Esma doesn't like wasting the day on the train. There are cabins with four beds- two bunks, kind of. There were three of us- me, Esma and her friend- so there was a random woman in the room with us. She seemed nice enough, even gave me a very hard peach to eat. It turned out she was a snorer. The air conditioning had been on, but some woman complained that it was too cold. So I lay in a jolting train for hours, not sleeping, sweating and listening to a woman sing, fart, whistle and gurgle through her nose and throat. At that point I had enough and climbed down very very carefully and found my backpack under Esma's bed and got out my iPod. It was the first time I've used it in Georgia and if that was the only time, it was still worth bringing. I slept for two hours.
So that was the bad luck, but none of it except for the snoring seemed so bad at the time, and seems like less of a deal now. I ate good fasting food, climbed on some old church ruins, met some cool people, didn't spend any money, and got to talk to Esma a lot, proving my Georgian language abilities.
I went to Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia) last Thursday for a few days because my host cousin Esma had to pick up her Dentistry certificate. She just finished school last month. Esma has an apartment there because she (and a other cousins) have studied in the capital for the past eight years. We stayed inside a lot because there was a ridiculous wind storm. I didn't mind because it was nice just as a change of scenery.
Tbilisi is like many large cities. It has a lot of people, lots of taxis, a McDonald's even. I enjoyed the independence of being alone in an apartment with someone my age. No one told me to dry my hair or wear slippers inside. We ate pilmeni (like a potato ravioli) a lot because it's easy to make- boil from frozen- and it's vegan. The religious Georgians are fasting right now for a holiday I don't remember.
The trip was full of really bad luck. We took the train there on Thursday morning. It's supposed to be a six or seven hour trip, but the train broke down twice and we didn't get in until 5:30 pm after leaving at 9:15 am. I just slept a lot and listened to the American/Georgian couple have arguments that they thought no one else could understand.
The next day we returned to the train station to buy our return tickets. There were many lines with about ten people in each, so I didn't think this was going to be a problem. No. That's wrong. It was a problem. Apparently, each person takes about five minutes to buy a ticket because the venders are slow as hell. Esma said it was because they don't know how to use the computers. Finally we got to the front of the line, and straight out of a movie, the woman slams her window shut and says "I'm going on my break." Okay, so there was a notice posted that she got her 20-minute break at 12:10, which it was, but it was so rude and she was so slow! We waited for the 20 minutes because it would have taken longer to get in a new line.
Then we went to pick up Esma's certificate. What a surprise to find that everyone in that office goes on break from 1-2 pm. So we waited in the building for an hour (it was cool inside and very hot outside) and talked to Esma's friends/classmates.
The next day we went out shopping for clothing for a cousin's wedding next week. When we got home, the weather turned from hot to crazy windy. So we were stuck inside and listened to music and ate the few potatoes that were left.
We took the night train back because Esma doesn't like wasting the day on the train. There are cabins with four beds- two bunks, kind of. There were three of us- me, Esma and her friend- so there was a random woman in the room with us. She seemed nice enough, even gave me a very hard peach to eat. It turned out she was a snorer. The air conditioning had been on, but some woman complained that it was too cold. So I lay in a jolting train for hours, not sleeping, sweating and listening to a woman sing, fart, whistle and gurgle through her nose and throat. At that point I had enough and climbed down very very carefully and found my backpack under Esma's bed and got out my iPod. It was the first time I've used it in Georgia and if that was the only time, it was still worth bringing. I slept for two hours.
So that was the bad luck, but none of it except for the snoring seemed so bad at the time, and seems like less of a deal now. I ate good fasting food, climbed on some old church ruins, met some cool people, didn't spend any money, and got to talk to Esma a lot, proving my Georgian language abilities.
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