Aug 16 - Freedom, partial freedom.

I finally got to spend some time in Batumi. Since HM works there, Igot a ride into town with her. My plan was to meet up with S (and maybe some others) and go shopping and swimming in the Sea. HM’s plan was for me to get dropped off at her brother-in-law’s apartment, so that I could hang out and speak English with his 2 teen-aged daughters.
After a mid-morning snack (in the UK it would’ve been elevenses) we decided to go to the waterpark. It was me, I and K (HD’s neices) and N (a niece by a different sibling). Between my Georgian and I’s English, we arranged to pick up S on the way. So the 5 of us had only been at the park for about a half hour, when I (the one with the best English) decides to go home. Leaving S and me with the 13- and 10-year-olds.
There were some crazy waterslides at the park, including several where people went down on a mat, head first. There was even one that looked like a ski-jump that involved inner tubes. It was so terrifying to watch, there was no way my inner chicken would let me try it. So S and I decided to try the one that went around and around, rather than straight down. It was sketchy. The 12-year-old who was working there was more interested in texting than in doing his job. The second time I went down, the guy behind me actually crashed into me. And S almost hit the guy in front of her. That was also the last time we went down. We spent most of the time in the pool.
When we’d had enough of the water, we headed back to the apartment, where we met up with I, again. We went to the same café as HM and HD took me to when we were in Batumi last week. I ordered a piece of cake that was delicious. S was in heaven because she could get a cheesburger there. It was Georgian spiced meat and cheese, but she was still excited for something so close to home.
HM met us back at the apartment, and S came home with us. We spent an hour in the pool and then had a lovely dinner with HM, We hung out upstairs for a bit, and then joined HM and HD for a game of cards. They play a game called Joker and since neither S or I knew how to play, HM called over the guy from across the street to teach us (he speaks English pretty well). it turns out that the game ’s a little bit like "Oh Darn." But it was just different enough that none of my strategies worked. We had a great time playing, though and by the time we’d showered and got to bed, it was 2 am.