an apartment, temporary relocations, pending adventures, plus internet troubles and "the way things are done" in Georgia.

In Vermont there is a brand of coffee, which shall not be named, that has a slogan: "Relax, You're on Green Mountain Time." Here in Georgia, we're on Caucausus Mountain Time, and it's often a source of much grousing by your typical American, Canadian, European or Other business person/embassy official/tourist/innocent bystander who so petulantly wants things to either a) work, or b) get fixed. What they don't get, of course, is that they are silly people for wanting such things, and why can't they just make do with what they have?

Still, we persist. Which is why, despite the fact that the phones (and thus, the internets) cut out entirely two days ago, here I am, posting as always. Only, instead of doing it from our ever kind and generous host's house in Tbilisi, where there is wireless access to dsl speeds, I'm doing it from the cosy, yet slightly more rustic environs of Sighnaghi -- which has intermittent dialup access (as well as intermittent electricity, no heat [all the wood for the stoves are gone] and also no smog, no street traffic, and no insane barking guard dog next door). This may be a long post. What with the internets out, I've been saving them up.

First: the apartment. After a week + of staying with our ever-generous American hosts, (the husband, the wife, the ten year old girl) and feeling like, despite their protestations to the contrary, we weren't finding a place fast enough, we finally found a place. It was the first place we looked at. There will be pictures. I'll go into it in more detail later, but after looking at a couple places shown to us by americans, and then looking at a place shown to us by my professor, then scouring the internet and all the english-language papers to no avail, then seeking advice from everyone we could meet, we decided to hire a woman (friend of a friend--she's an awesome person named Nino) who actually spoke Georgian to look for places for us. After a week of looking she showed us four apartments. One had no hot water. One had hot water but no heat. The nicest one looked like a hobbit hole, and kept bumping my 5'7" self into various door jambs and ceilings. So we asked Nino to call the landlord of the first place we saw, and she did, and she made an offer, and now we have a three bedroom two bathroom two-story apartment with hardwood floors and a balcony. Hooray us! And on October fifteenth it will be ready. Hoo--ah. Well, some things are worth the wait.

Which brings us to the temporary relocations. What better way to await your fancy new digs in the city than by retiring to the country? So, as the lords and ladies of yesteryear did, now so do we. Plus, seeing as how K.'s mom Patty is out in Sighnaghi for the moment, and seeing as I can do the bulk of my work from anywhere, really (not always, but for the moment. Please don't send me home for that comment, kind Fulbright people) it seemed silly to keep staying with our incredibly nice hosts in Tbilisi, when we have family so close by. So here we are. For those of you readers who remember missives from my last visit here, I have to say that the house has gotten much more cosy and comfy, aided by the advent of near-constant electricity and a lot more furniture, as well as several more years of renovations. I mean, sure, we're on Caucausus Mountain Time... but after several years of renovations, things have to be at least a little better. -- there's a new ceiling in the kitchen, and the downstairs has been repainted.

Westerners are always in such a hurry.

Unfortunately we won't be moving into the apartment until the 21st. It's true, some renovations do need to be made -- fixing some plumbing and a broken shower floor -- but that should be ready by the 15th (At least, our landlady has assured us this will be the case, and since she's not getting rent until we move in, I'm hoping she keeps her word). What's keeping us for the final six days is that we're going on a trip. I don't know much about what it'll be like, but I'm looking forward to the prospects of both horseback riding and fencing, and I'm nervous about singing and dancing. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the quiet of the country, and look forward to relaxing, and writing some poetry.