New Surprises!

A few new additions to my "If I didn't live in Georgia, I probably wouldn't have done that" list.

1) Ate Georgian barbeque. Great concept, interesting execution. Turns out that all of the pig is fair game - including the head. I haven't ever had pork jaw before; I'm not sure if I like it all that much. It's a bit surreal to be eating around teeth.

2) Had tripe soup. It's sort of a broth with chunks of meat floating in it. It's supposed to be a hangover cure from the heavens; I wouldn't know, because I wasn't hungover, but I suppose that being hungover would help it considerably. I don't think I would recommend it. Taste: Heavy on the garlic, salt, and watery 'meat' flavor. It's odd.

3) Went to a functional monastery. Vardzia is run by a working Georgian Orthodox monastery, which is located about 2 miles from it. My CHF office is running a Harvest Day festival, which is awesome, and the nuns are going to come with their handicrafts. They do some beautiful needlework and some nice beadwork as well. The monastery has been in operation for a significant amount of time - with a period of wierdness during the Soviet times. The church on the grounds is from the 10th century, and of course, it was used as a barn during the communist times. Where else should you keep cows? There were some beautiful icons in the naves, and reinforced my love of Georgian Orthodoxy iconography. It's Byzantine style, with exaggerated torsos, and deep, rich, primary colors. There's a dramatic beauty to it that I like very much. It also, however, reinforced how much I do not know about the rituals of the Orthodox church; for instance, you are not supposed to walk through the nave - which I of course almost did.

4) Ate broccoli! Delicious, delicious, delicious broccoli. Georgians have no experience with it - all of it is being grown by pilot projects from western NGOs. while I was at Tbilisoba, I was able to buy a kilo. It's really nice - tastes like home. :-)

5) Discovered that cheddar cheese here is 54 lari a kilo. To put this into perspective, expensive Georgian cheese is 7 lari a kilo. Ouch. And no, I didn't buy any. I wanted to, but then I realized that my discretionary fund for my month's worth of lunches was about 40 lari.

6) Learned about the fires from a call from Greg letting C know that they had safely evacuated. Completely freaked out - I spent all Tuesday reading about the fires. The Fark threads were actually really helpful in terms of getting information. I couldn't load the signonsandiego page - my internet isn't fast enough - so the text based posts on play-by-play developments were both touching, scary, and reassuring. I really haven't been truly homesick since I've been in Georgia - but I felt a strong panic to get home and make sure my family and friends are ok. There is a unique powerlessness to be 6000 miles away, and only getting trickles of news about people you know and love. Not a fan. I'm more than relieved to learn that the P's house is going to be okay, nd I think today sometime they'll be able to go home, thank God. Thanks to everyone who prayed for them! There are so many people I know who live in the big red zone of the fire and I'm still worried about them. I remember the cedar fire clearly and I know this is so much worse.

Everyone take care, and put out embers where you see them...