Sept. 7 - Playing hooky

I wasn’t the only one who got to play hooky today. W got the day off and E (from NZ) decided that she wasn’t going in either. The more I hear, the more it seems that I’m the only one of us who has a co-teacher who’s willing to let me participate in the planning part of this program. Even if we don’t get as much done as I’d like, I know that I’m actually useful and not superfluous like many of my collegues.

So with the whole day stretching ahead of me, I was lazy in the morning. I checked my e-mail and updated the blog. While I was working Bebia came in my room to tell me that the family was going to Batumi. I thought she’d just meant for the day, but it’s 10pm and they’re still not back yet. Now, I figure that they’re staying with my HU. Sure is quiet, though.

Once I had myself up and moving, I headed into Kobuleti to meet E. I was hoping to take the bus down the mountain right to the resource centre (ERC), where we were meeting. However, as often happens in Georgia, plans changed. There was no bus in sight (in spite of me waiting over 40 minutes), so finally one of the neighbours came out and flagged down a passing car to take me to the bus station. It seems that this is an acceptable way to travel, here.

From the bus station it’s about a 20 minute walk to the ERC, but I met J (he runs marathons) on my way and he decided to join me and E on our adventures. First, we did some recon on the building with the "Cinema" sign on the outside. There is no other signage and all six doors that we tried were locked. So it looks like the cinema really is just for show. Then we met E and headed into Batumi. Sadly, both K and A declined our invitations to join the fun.

In Batumi we walked along the coast a way I’d never been before. There was a huge cruise ship in harbour and we toyed with the idea of just getting on and going where-ever it would take us, but the others were stopped by their lack of passports, and I didn’t want to go alone, so we kept walking. Gradually we meandered our way around to the Lit café, where we hung out eating cake until W joined us.

We all chatted for a while, before time began to press in. My goal for the day had been to get a haircut, so I left money for my bill and got ready to go. W also needed a haircut, so he came with me (to the salon beside the café). The woman who greeted us was really nice and through a combination of my Georgian and gestures, we came to an understanding. I got a shampoo, trim and blow dry for 10 Lari. (For those of you counting dollars, it’s a little more than $5) And I’m really happy with the results. W’s buzz cut looked good too.

When the hair was finished, I headed back to the coffee shop and our small group had expanded by three. In addition to J, E and W (whose hair was finished before mine) I found C (Utah), I (Phillipines) and D (older lady from U.S.). I squeezed in on the couch and we all had a good visit.
We split up when some people were making their ways home and I ended up by myself hunting for the electronics store, because I feel it may be time to replace lappy. They didn’t have what I wanted, so I made my way back to the marshrutka stand and then home. I did pay for a taxi to get back up the mountain today, because I didn’t want to wait for an hour to ride a bus that already had 4 or 5 small children on it.