This week has been.

Dear all,

As stated in the title, yes, this week has actually existed. It is actually a great story, that I am going to save for when I can tell it in person, with all of my pointless hand gestures and loud repetition. Here are some of the highlights: A vampiric insane Bee, Bananas, Russian drugs, a witch trying to jumpstart me like a car, and shampoo. That is just a little taste of the most dramatic story you will ever hear. To make it better, see if you can't get me to eat some candy of drink some Fanta right before I tell it. It will be epic.

Anywho, Derek asked me in an email what I want when I arrive home. I know the answer to that like I know the stages of the Paleozoic. Really well. Just ask me. I want Whole milk, Salsa Verde Doritoes(The green ones :D), and dried pineapples ( I like the ones from winco, but I bet others are good too.). I have put a lot of thought into this, and so I will explain. There are so many insanely good things at home, all of which I have been deprived, I have gotten to the point where I have sort of just driven them from my mind. Not so these three things. The milk is because there is not much to have here. I have had fresh boiled milk twice (utterly deliciouse (bahahaha, that was punny)), and I tasted the horrifying terror that is the milk they sell here once and wanted to curl up into a ball, weep, and then die. It has added vegetable oil, so all it tastes like is drinking vegetable oil. So, I have been craving milk since my arrival. The Doritoes are another story entirely.

And here it is: My leprachaun friend was craving "crisps" (Silly leprachaun, they're chips.). SO we kept our eyes out for them. Eventually, we spotted some chips, there were even Doritoes brand and Lays for her! We were both so excited that we did not even quibble over the fact that we were paying a huge amount of money for the smallest bags of chips either of us will ever buy. They sounded like chips, the bags crunched like chip bags, and as we opened them, and got those first chips to eat, we could not have been more excited about it. And then: HORROR! Imagine my situation, all the signs were leading to a good chip, doritoes in a green bag, the correct shape and color, the appropriate amount of seasonings. I was ready for a reasonably tasty treat. Instead I got the worst chip ever. Think of the grossest chip you have ever eaten, multiply that grossness by the square root of poop, and you will have the taste of my chip. Then use that in a formula to derive sorrow in a situtation, keeping in mind my expectations, an you will be simply shocked. I was heartbroken, and I could not even bring myself to finish my miniscule bag of chips. I gave them to another friend, who laughed at my sad, sad situation.

The pineapples come from somewhere dark in my head that sometimes springs crazy thoughts on me the way a panther springs on a happy bunny in a meadow. I am the happy bunny, so I do not enjoy it, but, as the happy bunny, I am consumed by the panther and must there after follow its will. The panther this time is a deep craving for dried pineapples with my chips and milk. Let's all be grateful that the dark panther is usually only things like that, and not a deep desire to see all the men of the world noseless or some other such dangerous nonsense. My crazyness aside, both green doritoes and dried pineapple go really really well with milk, so I am ready for that when I get home. And thanks to this stupid post (and also to you Derek), those three things will be on my mind even more than they already have been. I will be home a little less than an exact week from this very moment! I love you all!

Katie

!!!! <-Jessica can tell you how that sounds. So ask her.

Dear all,

I have good news! Finally! I will be flying out of Tblisi insanely early on Wednesday the 22. I am scheduled to arrive home at ten thirty, home time, the same day. So, if everything works out, that will be about 29 hours from taking off in Tbilisi to landing in...SACRAMENTO!! They managed to take a hint (my hint being a very bossy and brisk email demanding that I not be flown into San Francisco, but instead to Reno or Sac), and are flying me to the perfect place! I still have not got the tickets, but I am glad to know when I am actually leaving! This means that I will have a short two days to cram in all the pre-Christmas awesomeness I need. The Muppet Classic Christmas Carol, for example. I have been positively dying to watch that movie. It is hard to get into the Christmas spirit over here, because the shops have not been bombarded with Santas, snowmen, and trees. I miss it. I also really miss the radio, with all the awesome Christmas songs!

I have an email in my inbox that has more info about my flight, but the format is all jankedy and this stinky little computer I am using can't open it. So, as soon as I have more info, I will put that up!

Anywho, love ya all!

Katie

PS. Beans is pretty much the cutest thing in any movie ever.

Pointlessnessery

Dear all,

I have not got much to say. There is really no point to this post at all. I have been having a lot of weird dreams lately, most of which have at least one character from home in them. I still have not gotten any info regarding my flight out of here, but given what happened when I came, I am not terribly suprised. As far as coming home goes, I am pretty much so super excited to see everybody again, that it is sort of pathetic. So, I love ya all, and I will see you soon!

Katie

Gary Pottery and Russian Cranberry Jam

Dear all,

I went to Harry Potter. It was awesome. That is one amazing movie. You know how I know it is so good?! Because even in Russian it blew me away. Yep, we saw it in Russian. There are no English screenings anywhere, of any movie. Not even subtitles. I learned some Russain words. I also learned that Russian does not have an H sound. Gary and Jermaiune and Ruun were the three leads in this movie. Luckily, I am so intensly nerdy, that I did not need to know what they were saying. I have read the book enough to know exactly what was going on. At some points, I think I even knew what they were saying word for word, when I combined my innate ability to remeber trivail things (like dialogue from random books) and my mad lip reading skills. I am excited though, because when I come home and see it in English, it will be like a whole new movie!

Anyway, that was last Friday, in Tbilisi. I had a really good adventure last weekend. On Saturday I inadvertently made a mortal enemy of a street vendor when I offered her to little for some cool felt slippers. Sorry Anika and Jess, but you won't be getting those for Christmas. In addition to all that good stuff, I also had a psuedo-Thanksgiving! Some of the volunteers got together and made what we could out of the little we have here. One magical guy managed to get his hands on what may just have been Georgia's only 17 pound butterball, and Christina managed to locate Russian Cranberry sauce! We had mashed potatoes, stuffing, and Khinkhali as well. There were a ton of people present, so most of us just got a taste of everything, but that was enough! Alone we could never have managed it, but together we made a pretty impressive dinner. There were also a bunch of Georgians and British people present, who thought we Americans were insane. But it was awesome!

Anywho, love you all!
20 days and counting!
Katie