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

Kinder Suprises are the neatest suprises.

Dear all,


They have this lovely sweet here, called a Kinder Suprise. It is German chocolate and I have been told it is very popular worldwide (except apparently at home). It is this deliciouse chocolate egg with a toy inside. As I am a very mature adult, I purchase one of these when I go into town. They are really just too cool for words. One of the toys I got is this little blue man that is holding a frisbee! Also he changes color in the sun. I ask you, could there be anything cooler?! I submit that there could not! Anywho, I just got word today that we should get out flight info by the end of next week, so I will start looking for it a week after that.

Hey, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!!!!!! I almost forgot! Here are ten things I am grateful for!
1- Kinder Suprises!
2- Warm socks!
3- My mom!
4- The internet!
5- The Scriptures! (right now I am reading in 3rd Nephi were Jesus vists the Nephites!)
6- Shelia Collins, Christina Peebles, and Jaime Mcllwraith!
7- Good long hikes!
8- Naval fiction! (It can be a bit violent at times, but it is good. I came across eight books for about 50 cents a piece, so that has been my reading material of late.)
9- Mandarins!
10- Last but not least, all my dear family and friends at home!

Love
Katie

* At the top it says that I posted this on Wednesday, but it is definetely Thursday here, and properly Thanksgiving. PS, give my love to the turkey.

I bought the greatest ever fingerless gloves at what appeared to be the worlds largest open air thrift store.

Dear all,

Really though, the gloves are great. I also got some great green knee high socks, some lovely maroon socks, and some bright yellow mittens that are pretty small, but I wear then anyways, because they are sooo yellow! If you did not notice the trend in my clothing purchases, it is warmth. I am so cold here! It is like all my blood has been replaced by ice! It is not even that cold, but my once majestic curculation is failing I think! Every night before bed I jog in place for a half an hour. If I don't I can't go to sleep because my toes do not thaw out otherwise!

Anywho, life is great. Last night I had this salt/cheese/salt/rice/salt dish. It was sort of like drinking a salt solution that had as much salt dissolved in it as physically possible, and then they put more junks of salt in it, for fun. Actually, that is what it was. I don't know if I have mentioned this, but Georgians really, really dig salt. They put it in milk. I am not kidding. My host dad always tries to get me to salt stuff. He also tries to get me to drink, all the time. Oh, they also put salt in their beers, and sometimes in the wine. I have a feeling that salt is the biggest industry here. After wine I mean.

I don't drink, ever. You would think that you would need to tell people that only a few times before they realised that you actually never did consume alchohol. But it just doesn't sink in. No matter how many times I decline some wine, saying that it is against my religion, or that I won't drink it, or that tiny gremlins will pop out of my forehead if I have a drop, they still try.

It is a lot of work declining some things here. I was rushing through a market in Tbilisi one day with some friends, on the way to the metro, when this rather frightening man blocks my path. He offers me some rotten looking fruit and seems determined to make me eat it. I declined kindly, saying, "ara, madloba" (no, thank you) and yet he persisted. So after a few minutes, I looked him in the eyes and almost yelled, "Me ar minda! (I don't want it)." After this senior creepy laughed and stepped out of my way. Thank goodness. But, since I had had to raise me voice to make him move, the entire surrounding area was now staring and laughing, suprised to see that such an obviously not Georgian girl was able to stand up to that guy. I was, needless to say, frazzled, and I was more than glad to finally get onto the Metro, where I had only to worry about small gypseys trying to steal from me.

Love you all!
Katie

PS: Georgia is the best country in the whole world. I learned that important fact from a man who has never been more than a twenty minute drive from the house where he was born. Just so you know.

I made a ghost out of a napkin to help me celebrate Halloween.

Dear all,

So, it is official! When I come home at Christmas I will not be returning to Georgia. I am excited but I also feel guilty, despite the lovely words of comfort from everybody. But, I am pretty sure my guilt will fade fast! Ok, so, I have just a few things to go over:

1) I lied a while back. On accident! the Lyrics to that song are "Pride is really falling, I'm proud that I'm not proud." I missheard. So Lynsey, dear, I am sorry. It is from an awesome song called "Here's to Now" by Ugly Casanova.

2)Turns out I only had one thing! Great!

Love you all and I cannot wait to see you!
Katie