Keti is getting into the groove of things....

Dear all,

I have finally devised a system. That's right, I really have. I will bring my flash drive down to the school, load all the emails and things that you send me, so that I can peruse them more freely at home. I will then write my replies, and bring them back to the school to load onto the interweb machine! Look at me, making a plan and stuff! Plans! Yeah!

So, my sweet sister, (Who has yet to email me about her life. (Come down to it, neither of my fair sisters have emailed me anything...(Hint: Anika and Jessica you should both be ashamed of yourselves.))) sent me a hearty complaint of my lack of details as to my exceedingly boring day-to-day (count for count my details are beating your Anika. Katie: a few, even if it is not enough for you vs. Anika: none, zip, nada) life. So, I will try to be better about writing things that will bore you darling people to tears.

Today my alarm clock went off at 7:45. I was terrified by the noise and flailed around in my bed for about thirty seconds before I remembered what, who, and where I was. After I figured out that the horrible sound was emanating from the small black plastic thing next to my bed, I punched a button, and fell back to sleep. Ten minutes later the same thing happened, minus the terror. I lay in bed for a few seconds, working up the energy to fling half off my body off the bed, and try and kneel next to it. I succeeded in the end, and started praying. I woke up about seven minutes later, slumped over and decided that I would have to stand up, or I would just fall asleep on the floor. By Providence alone, I somehow ended up standing. I reached out for my glasses, and grabbed my brush instead. So I brushed my hair. I thought that everything seemed too fuzzy, so I reached up to clean my glasses. But they were not in their proper spot!

"Oh no!" thought I, "what has happened?" I turned around, and in surprise, snatched my glasses up from the vile desk that had some how removed them from my noggin (or so my still 87.3% asleep brain thought.). I put on some clothes. My ginormican brown skirt, my green belt (to hold that brown skirt on; it looks silly), and a Patagonia shirt (in part to hide the totally ridiculous belt thing I have going on.) I put a clip in my hair that I was proud to see was brushed, and walked into the wall. I stood in a stupor for a while, then managed to find the door, open it, and exit the room. I wandered into the bathroom, events occurred, and I walked out. Then I meandered back into my room to throw a few things into my bag, and wander back out again. I walked out the front door of the house, and then walked back in, through the living room, into my room, and got my phone from the recesses of my bed. It was dangerous. That bed has some magic, or maybe chloroform, that wafts from it. Getting to near it makes you yawn, then close your eyes, then want to jump off the Sears Tower, to see if you can fly. That last one is actually a dream I had, meaning the bed makes you fall asleep. I was trying for a joke.

Anyway, I went back outside, slipped my feet into my Chacos (I love my chacos more than I love chaco tacos, which is a lot.). I walked to the gate, went through it, then walked to the end of our driveway. Then I tightened my chacos. I don't know why, but I always wait until I am at the end of the drive to tighten them. I am going to go ahead and make up a reason: I do this so that the chickens, who are at this time generally taking a morning bath in the ditch, can view and appreciate the beauty of my shoes. Then, I walked to the school. It is a really lovely morning walk, just long enough to really wake me up. I went into the school, and began a futile search for Jana (I have no idea how to spell her name, that is a vague guess sort of thing.) who is one of my co teachers. I was under the impression that I was supposed to teach a class with her in the first period. I was wrong. Having no other classes, I went back home. Once there, I told my host parents that I would be "depriving myself of their company so that I could make the journey unto the shining city of hot springs." I actually said something that translates into roughly "I go Tbilisi today marschutka alone for until Sunday." It makes about that much sense in Georgian. It works.After that I ate food. It was awesome. I had bread, stewed tomatoes, potatoes, and water! It was so good! Not kidding. I like food.

After that, I went to my room and packed and fixed up my ipod. I was all ready to go, walked out the door, walked for about ten minutes, then realized that I had no idea what my pin code is. And as I was down to my last few Lari, I needed that information, badly. SO I walked back to the house. Some of the old men I had floated past (I was listening to Beirut as I walked, and could not help but float.) laughed at me as I marched sullenly back to the house. My host parents laughed when I walked in the door and told them (I have become quite an actress and am adept at conveying messages through the movement of my hands and eyebrows.) that I left something. I went to my room, found a number, and walked back out. My host Father drove me to Sachkhere, so I did not go back and wait for the now missed Marschutka. Today was the first time I have ridden in a car that was not older than I am, and also the first time I have seen a Georgian put on a seat belt. Good thing, because he was driving down an almost dirt road at about a gajillion miles an hour. I found a bus to take to Tbilisi. It was leaving in ten minutes, so I ran to a shop and bought some sweet bread, ran to another, and bought some chocolate, and ran to a third and bought some peach juice boxes. Set for the ride. Yeah. I got on the bus, and off we went. I ate a bun, drank a juice box, put on my sunglasses, and passed out. It was awesome.

I came back to earth about two and a half hours later, in Tbilisi. I got on the metro (I have never been on any metro before coming here, other than the MRT in Singapore, and it was awesome. There are these escalators that are miles long. They kinda freak me out.) and rode away. After a few minutes I realized I did not really know where I wanted to go, so I just hopped off at a random stop. Then I walked down the road. I had gotten off the metro in what turned out to be the swankiest part of town, so I wandered down a street of really expensive clothes and shoes. I walked, and walked, and lo and behold, there was a completely recognizable landmark. I knew where I was!

I wandered a bit more, and then wandered to another Metro station. I jumped on (40 tetri per ride. That's about 24 cents.) and rode to the top of the circuit. Then I got off again. It was cool. I got to ride another one of those wicked cool escalators. When I got out, I went to this sweet awesome second hand store that I found last time I was here. I got some shirts. I tried on about seven, and bought two. Then I hopped on a marshutka I thought was the right one, and it turned out to be! Yay! I did not get murdered!I came to this place where I have been for a while, and started to write this insanely long thing. Then I continued. And now I am stopping. Goodnight!

Love,

Katie "The juice-box drinker" Mitchell