Our First Day

[Christina] After breakfast, Jibladze, Jacob, Allison, and I went to a nearby cemetery to leave some flowers at his Father's tomb. The cemetery itself was very interesting- lots of six-inch walls and very little foot space. After that, we went to the ethnographic museum, which was outdoors (cool). It was basically some replications of old Georgian houses (18th century onwards, I think), which were interesting and really different from what I'd expected. There was a huge difference in architecture between the Eastern and Western Georgians, with the Western Georgians building almost entirely in wood and the Eastern Georgians almost entirely in stone (though will very elaborate chimneys). Our guide was a tiny old woman swathed in a black shawl who spoke excellent English in a really endearing accent. One of the wooden houses was also home to about twenty cats, who apparently wandered all over the place. They were adorable and very friendly.

[Allison] As I look back on all of this, I realize how McKay-esque my mindset was ;D (for all you geeks out there). Yes, there were many, many cats. Many. And one dog. But no matter how much I may absolutely love our fellow felines and canines, all that was going through my head was, "GAH! MITES! BREATHE!" O_o (Okay, I've had a couple of run-ins with stray cats in my lifetime, all ending rather badly) ;D So I let the other two pamper the ones they could catch when I looked on joyfully and laughing, perfectly content and happy to watch their's and the cats' antics with my hands firmly planted in my pocket. The houses and the architecture were absolutely stunning, though. One of the last homes we went to had the most amazing roof. It was like looking up into a tightly compacted jenga funnel. I cast a bright ring of light in the middle of the floor and I could just see the shaoli fight scene play out in my mind; the warriors stepping from the shadows of the room into the white circle of light as the particles filtered through the air like a mysterious fog. So cool!

[Christina] After that, we went with Valeri (Jibladze's uncle) and Valeri's daughter Eka (also Jibladze's goddaughter) to eat soup-dumplings, which were the best. Eka, despite being all of seven, ordered a massive glass of beer and drank most of it. Then we decided to go see a newly built church in a different part of town. It's apparently the tallest cruciform church in the world, and it lived up to that title. It was very tall. And the grounds were impressive, and so were the steps and the view. We took some goofy pictures. When we got back to the apartment, we were absolutely exhausted and fell asleep on the couch(es). We woke up and had dinner, where there was lots and lots of wine, which was pressed on us with cries of "Drink, drink! You are in Georgia now, you must drink!" Mr. Jibladze tried to be repressive but failed utterly since we ignored him. At dinner, we met Sergo and Giorgi. Sergo was a very impassive police captain and Giorgi was a friendly, goofy giant.