1) I bought a copy of Hari Poteri da Pilosopiuri Qva, known to one billion other people as Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone. It was only five lari, so I thought if I could peel myself away from bootleg episodes of Lost season 4 for a few minutes, I could give it a shot. It boggles the mind to think of how many languages Harry Potter must be printed in if Pilosopiuri Kva exists, bearing in mind that Georgian is the 126th most common language in the world. I suppose a few of those more-common languages are without written form, so that reduces the translator's load somewhat.
2) My mp3 player has stopped working, much like the electronics of many volunteers. It seems that our laptops and iPods were not designed to be kept in 30-degree weather and subjected to flaky electricity. I pride myself in my non-iPod mp3 player, not only because it's smaller, cuter, and has FM radio capabilities, but because it was cheaper. Another difference from iPods-- its proprietary battery, that will probably cost me 1/4 the cost of the machine itself to replace. If I return from Georgia fat, it's the fault of my mp3 player for failing and leaving me psychologically unable to go running without music, and not the fault of all the calories I shovel down my throat.
3) There's no school Monday because it's Mother's Day here. In my sluggish winter inertia, I'm not only glad to have a break after missing 3 days of school last week, but also that I don't have to write a special Mother's Day lesson for each class. The Soviets had it right, though-- every year, Mother's Day is March 3rd. This has the dual benefits of making it easy to remember, as well as resulting in a day off work if it falls on a weekday. Anyone who's had Mother's Day sneak right up on them would appreciate a solid date, especially those like me who've had Mother's Day sneak right past them (sorry, Mom).
4) My sixth form student won 3rd place in Imereti for her creative essay in the Writing Olympics contest (see this post for tales from last year's contest, my directorial year). She wrote that she would like to be a bird so that she could see the gods, goddesses, and demigods in the sky. I'm curious to find out where she learned the word "demigod."
5) My friends Paige, Catherine and I-- with special appearances by serial blogger Ryan and serial source-of-information Seth-- had an impromptu America party in a conference room on Thursday after a visit to the Dollar Store in Tbilisi. The Tbilisi Dollar Store sells the same crappy things as an American dollar store does, but here it's like treasure. I don't mean the Georgians think it's treasure, because there's not usually many people there. I mean that we Americans think it's treasure. Our party haul included offbrand fig newtons, crunchy mini oatmeal cookies, offbrand Ritz crackers with fake cheese, and a 3-liter bottle of Dr. Stripes, a Dr. Pepper knockoff (or possibly, worse, a Dr. Thunder knockoff). When combined with doner on lavash from a nearby stand and Everlasting Gobstoppers from a care package from Ryan's brother, and when jealously hidden from the remainder of volunteers at the lounge, the result was a serene oasis of delicious American junk. And Turkish food.
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