So I feel really cynical these days. I am learning a lot about conversation, and dealing with people. I'm finding that some things are bothersomeand not worth dealing with - a feeling which in the past would have made me work harder to understand/fix the problem. Two things in particular are troublesome: First is studying literature... still not good at it. Second is meals: don't like big groups, and am not too good at singing. Supras (Georgian feasts) are sweet though, when there are more than a couple Georgians.

Been to a couple of these, we had one where we learned some Georgian songs from this singer. All Georgian singers smoke he said... gives the nice deep voice, LOL. And I saw Georgian dance for the first time. Really cool. the Georgians got in, for a little, then our girls, then Vince and Noel, who were pretty good. They must have learned and practiced at some point, but this trip we haven't done so at all. Nini and especially Mariam were amazing.

Another Supra was in Kaheti, a vallley in East Georgia. We stayed at a Bed&Breakfast. A friends of sisters was with us. He was cool. We ended up connecting over Iron Maiden, him being a musician. (The songs other countries think are really popular are often one's we've never heard of in the states, despite being by American bands.) The house was built round food: second floor was bedrooms on one side, and a huge dining room on the other. There were direct stairs to the kitchen on the first floor. Garden in back, roses and fruit trees in front. It was odd, because the city (Telavi) looked run down and gray, but then you go into the gate for this house and it was all green. Anyway, we went to a bunch of monastaries and cave cities from there, whihc were interesting, but are more picture things than descriptions. Girls MUST wear skirts, headscarves, and shoulder coverings. See the rest of OLEG's photo albums on facebook.

But what I enjoyed most is getting drunk with our host. Georgians are awesome to drink with. Most only know a little English, so it's mostly just repeating phrases, and having a sense of brotherhood. But communicating humor across language boundaries is amazing.

Last night, we went swimming in a lake, and then had a supra barbeque, with AMAZING pork. The singer organized it and his friends cooked. It was sweet. Last night, I learned some steps though, from a 21 year old teacher who is part of the Georgian Dance Company which travels around the world. I also learned that Nini and Mariam know him through that, and were part of the same company, explaining their dance skill.

As for the OLEG project itself, we were conducting classes for the last two weeks. They were St. John's style, on Parmenidies, Proclus, and Petrisi (a commentary on the former), and now Rustavelli's "Man in the Panther Skin" for the last week. It's literature, and long, so it was really hard. And the Georgians have studied it since elementary school, in a different fashion, so it got frusterating at times. But I hope I learned a lot about conversation. We had post class discussions over lunch (seminar was in the morning, so it was wierd) and talking about how conversation went seems helpful.

I'm REALLY sick of being ignored and misunderstood in general, and I'm finding that I cannot tell when I'm rightfully annoyed, and when I'm being annoying. The balance between being accomodating and holding my ground is hard to discover. But I did learn that the way I understand words is very different than most. I knew I thought different, but didn't realize that other people comprehended words in such a different mnner.

I only have five days left here, and I'm worried about further travels. It will be so different: going from planned, structured and paid for, to living by the day. I will be glad to get away from this group, even tho this trip has been nice.

Oh, and found a second set of contacts... knew I wasn't that stupid. Very useful for swimming.