Adjusting

We brought with us a little stash of what the boys call "home treats"--fruit snacks, blow pops, granola bars and such-- for times when the little folk need extra encouragement and/or something familiar. I have been pretty stingy with them, trying to make them last as long as possible, but we're getting to the bottom of the bag. Lucky for me, my kids have discovered:


Score for me--one roll of happiness only costs me one lari, and I will never run out of kiosks and stores selling these gems. We never buy candy at the grocery store at home, and it is truly amazing how motivating this candy is for these kids! Mentos are my new best friends.

As Luke put it this morning: "Mom, I have a secret. Mentos taste like home treats!"

I think we're gonna make it, folks.



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Infrastructure

In the last week:

We had no Internet on Monday. It was slow on Tuesday. Good for a few days, then completely out again Saturday night and most of Sunday, just when we needed it for conference.

Our gas got shut off. We called the landlord who called the gas company. According to them, they turned it off because we didn't pay our bill. Now, Paul moved into this place on march 12. They turned it off on march 30. We did not get a bill. Normally they stick it in your door, so we figured it must have blown away?Further investigation by the landlord reveals that the gas company left the bill at the neighbor's, so if we just pay the current bill it will be okay. I am wondering how leaving it at the neighbor's house makes sense, and how our bill was so overdue they shut it off after living here for only a few weeks???

Power has gone out 3 times. first time--a couple hours in the afternoon. Second time--from dinner time (just as we were sitting down to eat; thank goodness I'd finished cooking) until about 10:30 pm. Ate by candlelight and flashlight. So glad we brought our awesome solar charging flashlights. Third time was last night in the middle of the night until about 11 this morning. By far the most annoying: boys woke up cold (radiators are gas but the thermostat is electric) and wanted in bed with us. No showers (hot water is gas powered but electrically controlled) or laundry. No light in the kitchen; commence worrying about how long before food in fridge spoils. SO GLAD to have power back on. I'm seriously behind on laundry because it's been raining all weekend. Still raining but we are out of clothes so I'm washing while we at least have electricity. I only had time to do 3 loads since we only have so many radiators to dry stuff on...

Up until this point, I was really impressed with how well everything here seemed to work compared with our previous experiences in Russia and Armenia. This past week, tho, everything has sort of fallen apart, and 'm reminded how much of a struggle everything is here. It feels like they are fighting a losing battle.I don't know why it is so hard. Or why it's so much easier in the US. But I'm so grateful to know that it does work at home.

I am truly grateful for our great infrastructure.


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Field trip Friday

We're doing a unit on architecture at Luke's request, so today we went to the Ethnographic Museum, a collection of traditional Georgian houses from all the different regions of the country.

First we went to Turtle Lake, a nice little lake at the top of a mountain overlooking the city.


I was not expecting to see so many people out and "exercising", which seemed to consist of wearing jogging suits, stretching, and walking around the lake. In Liam's words, "mom! A girl with orange hair! And pink clothes!" I wish I'd caught her closer up. Even her shoes are pink.


The boys had fun at a slightly not up to code playground.


Close up of the swing "mechanism":




From the lake we headed up to the very top of the outdoor museum--a huge, square stone tower typical of the Svaneti region. This area is cut off from the rest of the country 7-8 months of the year due to mountain snow and impassable roads. Aren't they cool? We hope to visit in May or June.



We chose a beautiful day for our outing; the sour plum trees are all in bloom. It reminded me of the cherry blossom festival in d.c.






Then we walked down the mountain to see these awesome wooden houses. I wish I knew which regions they were from but there were no signs at all. I'll have to do some research. Here's one on stilts:



I love the pattern of the wood on this facade:



Liam carried those two rocks up and down the whole mountain.





We had a nice little rest on this porch. We couldn't go inside but could peek thru the square hole you can see in the picture below




And this is what was inside: stunning railings, arches, everything was gorgeous.



The carving was so amazing. Sorry the pics are blurry. I was holding a wiggly Jude and taking pics through that tiny hole in low light...


We ended our adventure--and perfectly avoided the rain--with a nice lunch at a restaurant about halfway down the mountain, in one of the old wooden buildings too. Mmmm freshly baked bread.


And lobio: bean stew in a traditional clay pot. You can't tell but it is boiling in there. Steaming hot deliciousness. YUM.


You probably can't read it but our glasses say "made in the USSR." awesome.


And the waitress came up after we had all our food and took Jude back and showed him to all the other people working there. He was a little uncertain at first but when we were done eating and she gave him back to me, he cried. So i guess he didn't mind being a celebrity.


A perfect end to a great day out!

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Ronny's pizza

We entertained Paul's study advisor over the weekend, and this is what we had for dinner: American style pizza. I'm not sure who Ronny is, but apparently he loves hot cars and fast pizza. And he delivers.


For about $30 we got two huge pizzas that we (read: everyone but me) have been eating all week. It was absolutely worth the money to have everyone fed and happy with no effort on my part apart from meeting the delivery guy at the bottom of our hill to show him how to get to our house.


It really was American pizza no compromise.


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Location:Tbilisi

What's for dinner?

I don't know what my problem is, but I am having the hardest time figuring out what to cook here! I could probably get most anything, but it is a major pain to haul it all home from the store (we live up a huge hill). I have all the staples but every day I look at my cupboard of rice, noodles, beans, flour, sugar, oil...and I have no idea what to make.

Plus I don't want to make stuff that takes a ton of dishes (I'm the dishwasher) or time (I'm busy hanging out my laundry on clotheslines).

But don't you love this? My fresh chives from the market came wrapped with a pussy willow branch. wrapped so well I could hardly get them out.


So. What do you cook that is easy and doesn't take a lot of ingredients? Please share!



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Location:Tbilisi

Six months old!

Jude turned 6 months old on Sunday. Love this boy!





Could someone feed him already? He is just wasting away.


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Going to church in Tbilisi

There are two branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tbilisi. I have only been to one of them, so i can't speak for the other one. In our branch, there are about 30 people, mostly men--totally different than the branches I attended in Russia-- full of women, old and young, and very very few men.

The branch president is Armenian (one of paul's mission companions btw) and the relief society president is Russian, but most of the members are Georgian except for a few americans teaching English or working at the embassy. thus, as you can imagine, Language is an issue. Mostly people speak in Russian (I'm doing a dance of joy, but its not so great for the kids or other Americans) and they have a headset for anyone that needs English. One girl that speaks all 3 languages translates and you can listen on a headset. If the person speaking is an English speaker, they will have someone translate into Russian. So, sacrament meeting is mostly in Russian, Sunday school was in Georgian with English translation, and relief society was in Russian with English translation. Paul said at least a third of the branch is Armenian, so they spoke to him in Armenian. Crazy. Four languages.

Nobody brings kids to church here. One girl came with her mom for maybe the last half hour of the last class, and she just stayed with her mom. Side note: she and Luke are exactly the same age, except Luke is one day older. We will have to bring a cake or something for their birthdays.

Anyway. About kids at church. Jude was doing some baby gurgles and chewing on his hands loudly before church started, and one of the missionaries said, "it's so great to hear kids at church again!" We feel more than a little conspicuous every time one of the kids makes a peep, but what can you do. They drop stuff. They don't sit perfectly still. Jude fusses. They are kids.

Primary consisted of a craft brought by the senior missionary couple and a little lesson from Paul while the kids played with toys. They have a nice little Primary room with a kids table and chairs, a rug, and toys. But it's pretty clear that nobody brings kids to church here. Maybe we can help with that. We will at least get them used to our kids!

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Location:Tbilisi