Fresh, Cheap Powda

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Originally uploaded by SethTri

This past weekend, Meg & I headed up to Gudauri to get some skiing/snowboarding in and just to get away from the city for a few days. We stayed in a really nice hotel, that included two meals apiece for pretty cheap.

The lift was a 5 minute walk from the hotel and the powder was awesome. This was the first weekend Gudauri had been open and they had about 2-3 feet of powder that had generally been untouched except for a few "groomed" areas. Saturday was spent getting my board back under my feet and playing in the powder with a few USAID guys I bumped into on the mountain. Sunday I put on the new splitboard got a few turns in with that, then split it apart and hiked up a bit. It's reasonably easy to take the board apart and make it into skinable skis, and I'm sure with more practice I'll get faster.

Once I got accustomed to the new board, it proved its value. Despite the split down the middle, the board does its job and keeps me on top of the powder MUCH better than my shorter resort board. In bounds the board doesn't respond as well, but a good portion of that is probably due to the fact that it's longer and I've pushed my center of gravity way towards the back for the powder. Skinning isn't exactly as fun as riding down hill, but it's certainly easier than hiking and being able to access untouched powder in the future will be great. That said, on Sunday we didn't need the skins to get to the powder, as they opened up the high lift and the steep, deep untouched snow was awesome.

Meg rented a pair of skis (for 30 Lari! Less than $20!) and skied the easy slopes for a while and felt pretty good about it. This place is a little over 90 minutes from home and will be a great place for most of the winter.

Here's a shot of the high lift, there are more shots on flickr that you can find by clicking on the flickr badge to the right.

Phone tag in Georgia

I swear. Someone has seriously got to teach these people how to use the phone. When you dial the wrong number, hitting redial, will likely result in the same. Wrong. Number. Also when the person on the other end of the phone call does not speak your language, continuing to talk in aforeign language will not change his mind to actually speak your language. To help clarify, let me give you and example of a series of phone calls I received from my friend at (899)751-394. (For those of you not in Georgia, that's +995-99-751-394. Feel free to give my friend a call. I hear skype is cheap.)

First call:
Me: Hello?
Him: Hallo?
Me: Hello?
Him: Hallo?
Me: I only speak english. Can I help you?
Him: Garmarjobat, goopity goop goop lots of Georgian here...
Me: I'm sorry, I don't speak Georgian, just English. Try again.
Him: (Lots of Georgian)
Me: Sorry, wrong number. (I hang up.)

10 seconds later. Same number. (Note: I've played this game before, so I'm getting better at it.)

Me: Domino's Pizza can I take your order, please?
Him: Vova? (more Georgian follows)
Me: Let me get that straight, you want a Pepperoni pizza and two cokes, is that right?
Him: Click. (finally)

10 seconds later. (Seriously, you can't type the number in that fast.)
Me: (Like Friend's) How you doin'?
Him: (Click -- I think he saw that episode.)

10 seconds later. (What does this guys seriously expect?)
Me: I still don't know Georgian. Wrong Number.
Him: Rattles off a huge line of Georgian.
Me: (Click)

10 seconds later. (This is costing him money by the way. Costs me nothing.)
Me: Sir, this is not your lucky number. You did not win the lottery. Calling again will not increase your chances.
Him: Click.
(FINALLY!!!!)


This happens ALL the time. And not just to me. I can't tell you how often I talk to people at work who complain about the same thing. None of us can figure out any explanation for why this would ever occur. It must be a Georgian thing.

Snow in Georgia

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Originally uploaded by SethTri

This past weekend, after unpacking the household effects for a few days and celebrating Thanksgiving with some friends, Meg & I went for a 2 hr drive north up to Gadauri to check out the snow. It turns out we didn't have to go that far. When we woke up, there was snow on our roof top and the foothills around town had about 3-4 inches on 'em! We still went for the drive though. (Secretly, so I could check to see what the ski resort was like and if they were open yet.)

The ski resort isn't open yet, but a couple more decent sized dumps will probably do it. They already had about 2 feet of powder, and I saw the chair lift moving. The whole region was super gorgeous though. I'm starting to suspect this winter might be a lot of fun.

We both got a nice run in on Sunday through the snow. For the first time since I got here, I was able to run 90 minutes and felt strong enough to keep running. I'm suspecting the arrival of the camelback and some nutritional products helped. Awesome, beautiful run.

I'll have to get some photos up in flickr, but for now, this is what you get. A quiet town along side a river in the mountains of Georgia.

Tbilisi Protests get Teargassed

Just in case you guys are hearing about Georgian politics, I thought I'd make sure everyone knew that we're fine and haven't had any real impact by the local protests. For those that may not have heard, there has been some protests against the government by the opposition for the last 6 days now. For the first time today, they got dispersed with teargas and water canons. You can read some articles on the Guardian the Herald Tribune or at the BBC .

For us, all is fine, just avoiding the neighborhood around the protests. More later, if we get a chance.

Just a Regular Tuesday Night

Last night Seth and I went out to dinner. It was a spur of the moment decision made by people every day but it turned out to be a great night in Georgia.

We had intended to meet some of Seth's colleagues for dinner, but when they canceled he came to pick my up at work and take me home as it was a rainy, chilly night. On the way home we passed a restaurant, saw an available parking space and decided to give it a try.

The place was small, and sparsely furnished with wooden tables and chairs. After several awkward instances of lingering at the door of restaurants we have learned that in Georgia, you always seat yourself, so we walked to the back of the room and found a table.

The waitress came over, spoke English and handed us a menu in English, a much appreciated gesture to these 2 tired Americans. They had beer on tap and the table behind us was crowded by a group of men who would spontaneously break into traditional Georgian song. It is difficult to describe this style of singing, acapella with layers of harmony, hauntingly beautiful. After their songs those of us sitting near by applauded or raised a glass in a toast.

The food came and it was delicious, roast pork, meatloaf stuffed with herbs and cheese with an over-medium egg on top and French fries! We ate, we talked about our day and told each other stories like any other dinner out.

One of the men at the table behind us got up to leave, apparently having had a few too many glasses of wine. He took a few missteps dropping his coat in the process. When Seth got up to help him he shook our hands and said "Nakhvamdis!" ("Good bye") We exchanged laughs and smiles with his table of friends. A few moments later the waitress came over with 2 shot glasses of Georgian whiskey and said, "I'm sorry but these are from the table behind you." We toasted them thankfully and tossed back the shot. After the waitress convinced me to have one more beer, "A small one!" We packed ourselves up and headed home.

When we got in the car I looked at Seth and said, "We just had a completely unplanned and fantastic night. You can tell that we are beginning to feel more at home here because nothing about tonight felt unusual or out of the ordinary, but when was the last time in the States that you went out to dinner, had the table behind you break into beautiful song throughout the meal while we talked and then bought us a shot?"

This night was a perfect example of the "Georgian hospitality" everyone talks about. It can take you awhile to find it, but once you do, you will begin to notice it in the most unlikely places and it will endear this country to your heart.

The Land of Big Dreams

Georgian claims ear-pull world record

Mon 29 Oct 2007, 15:16 GMT

TBILISI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgian athlete Lasha Pataraia might not be the strongest man on earth but he may have the strongest ears.

Pataraia believes he has dragged himself into the record books at the Alexeyevka military airfield near the Georgian capital Tbilisi on the weekend when he pulled a 7,734 kg (17,050 lb) military helicopter for 26.3 metres (yards) with his ear.

Pataraia, 27, encouraged by a crowd of his family, friends and supporters, attached one end of the rope to his ear while the other end was tied to the front wheel of the helicopter.

Followed by the cheering crowd, he pulled it for about 20 seconds, almost fainting after he finished.

Just minutes after setting a new world record, Pataraia told reporters he was already planning to set another record.

"It was very difficult, I was very nervous. But I hope in the future with both my ears to move a subject twice as heavy as this one," Pataraia told Reuters Television.

The organisers of the event claimed that Pataraia has set both the world and the Guinness record although a representative of the Guinness Book of Records was not present.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Rules of the Road

You've all heard the stories, one of the charming idiosyncrasies of living in Tbilisi is the appalling driving displayed by the locals. You hear the jokes and wise cracks and think, "They're bad drivers, I get it, so are half the people on the Beltway." Oh, but you don't 'get it.' In an effort to broaden your cross cultural understanding we have compiled the following list of driving guidelines (because in Tbilisi, as in hashing, there are no rules.)

The Traffic Circle


Unlike the in US, where it is taken for granted that drivers approaching a traffic circle understand that they must yield the right of way to the traffic that is already in the circle, Georgian drivers approach traffic circles with a level of stammering discomfort similar to a guy at a party who reaches for the last beer only to brush the hand of the most beautiful girl in the room who is reaching for the same beer. The exchange goes something like this:

"Oh! I'm sorry, did you-"
"Oh, I didn't-"
"No, please. I can get-"
"No, no. It's not a prob-"
"I insist. Please, it's on me." (attempt at 'charming')
"Well, alright."

Now replace the beer with honking horns, the brushing hands with screeching tires, and the polite insistances with halting brakes and you have the dance that is the Georgian traffic circle. The exchange goes something like this:

"Is he gonna go or not?"
"Don't they know they have the right of way if they're in the circle?!"
"They're not going to move, just go."
"WAIT! WAIT! They're going!"
Hoooooonk, honk, honk.
"Freakin' Georgian drivers."

Lines Are for Beginners

One of the first things we noticed about drivers in Georgia is that no one seems to believe that the lines painted on the road are meant for them. Cars are constantly pulling out into on coming traffic to get around the rare driver who is not treating his commute to work like a drag race, only to squeeze back over the line an instant before what would surely be a fatal head on collision. What may appear to be a 2 lane road to the Western eye will be transformed to a 6 lane super highway by Georgian drivers. Silly girl, that's not a shoulder. It's a bus stop/parking space/passing lane.

The lack of attention paid to obvious traffic markings is not an original or rare complaint among Westerners here. A few weeks ago Seth and a couple other guys were joking about it over lunch and decided to ask a local "What gives?"

"The lines?" he asked. "Oh, those are just for beginners."

and that's no lie.



One Way, Schmun Way

How many times have you found yourself face-to-face with a one way street that is the only thing standing between you and your destination? "Damn!" you think, "If I could just get down that street!"


Well in Georgia, you can! Corporate monkeys sitting around their conference tables brainstorming solutions to the recent fall in profits could stand to take a page out of the Georgian Drivers Manual (excuse me, I just snorted Diet Coke out my nose at the thought of such a tome.) These people invented "thinking outside the box."

The street you need is one way in the opposite direction? No problem, simply make sure that your car is pointed in the correct direction and then throw it in reverse. Proceed to weave in and out of the oncoming traffic and feel free to honk at any inconsiderate drivers who wont get out of your way. I mean, after all, you're the one who has to drive looking backwards over your shoulder. Surely they can avoid you while looking straight ahead!

Do You Speak Horn?

In Tbilisi there are 4 forms of communication: Non-verbal, spoken, written and horn. Americans, listen up! We have been underutilizing that soft, squishy area in the center of our steering wheel for too long! Gone are the days when honking your horn meant "Hey watch it jack-ass!" or "Oh my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE!" Leave it to the Georgian driver to once again open your eyes to new possibilities.

In Georgia, honking one's horn is merely a form of communication, with different honks conveying a veritable cornucopia of meanings. For example:

a short, non-aggressive honk = "I'm in your blind spot. Don't move, I'll pass you in a second."
a long, protracted blast with no break = "The light is about to turn green, why are we still sitting here? Go already! I'll pass you in a second."
2 short honks followed by a moderate blast = "Good morning Giorgi, my wife tells me that your wife is pregnant. Congratulations on your fertile seed! I'll pass you in a second."

We hope that these simple guidelines will enhance your future travels.