Soo it's been a crazy week. Finished up in Georgia and moved thru Turkey. Istanbul is really nice, and I've only been here for less than 12 hours. But more on that later.

As contacts are good fro swimming, glasses are not. In the continuing saga of my poor eyesight, I lost my glasses this time. We were in Guria, Nini's mom's village, and I had just got up when people decided to go swimming. I ran along. There were places to jump from up high, but you had to cross the river first. Glasses don't stay on well, suffice to say. They got pulled off and I lost hope, the river running fast enough to give me trouble walking (I'm not vry goodwith river, never dealt with them at home. I sat on a rock wondering how I would get thru the nites in Europe, God forbid losing another contact. Well, miracles happen. As I sat there, people were milling about, apparently looking for my glasses. Georgians have good eyes. One girl managed to pick them out of the bottom somehow. They must have been caught on a rock... I still can't believe it. Anyway, this situation must have weakened them, as I woke up yesterday to put them on and they fell apart at the bridge :( Now I need to find tape, both for that and for War & Peace.

That was part of the Western adventure. We had first gone to Gelati monastary and Academy, the namesake for the school we were setting up. We went with a marshutka of Georgain students as well. This was a pretty place. There was an archeological excavation of underground tunnels, which were not known about when the group went last year! Afterward we went to Batumi to see a concert and dance. WOW! Georgian dance I knew was awesome, but man this was crazy. You know my dream of a fight set to music? Got it. Swordfighting, knife throwing, leaping high in crazy positions, superfast leg motions... all there. No (enforced) rules in Georgia, so there were people filming the show. But this is an example of where digital technology is merely advertising (as all should be - movies are a problem...) Seeing a video of this compares not to the experience. ( We had some difficulty finding our seats, so Nini's mom did some yelling, and all worked out :) Anyway, it was amazing.

Guria was about "chilling out," but this was difficult with the group. Before the concert we had gone swimming in the Black Sea, jumping off a huge pier. I have difficulty with jumps. Bellyflopped on a flip, and royally messed up a swan dive. At least I'm amusing. Forgot sunscreen, so most of us got burnt. The "beach" was smooth black rocks. And again, Zula (singer guy) showed up and cooked fish for us, the next nite he came to Guria. odd connections, since we had just met him the week before... he must have really liked us.

I'm learning to deal with missing conversation going on around me, especially since I can't understand the language. I think this will help my English interactions, since I am catching myself doing it even to English speakers when i can't hear them... sometimes. Tho English has been so rare outside of that group that I kinda want to hang onto every good word I can. In Istanbul there's plenty.

I really developed an appreciation for Mariam on this trip. She's smart, assertive and won't take bulls***. She puts on a farce too. I didn't have too favorable of an impression at first, unlike most of the rest of these people, but I think that's good. I do the same thing, kinda (being offputting at first)

That was Georgia. From Guria, Acacia, Vince, Charmaine and I went back to Batumi, and marshutka'ed to the border. C and I paid for a bus to Trabzon, then ran thru customs without getting passports checked, so before the bus took off, we had to g back and get the stamps. A&V took off hitchhiking, and we didn't see them again. Trabzon was pretty, and we had great food and cheap hotel. Walked around and drank coffee the next day, then caught a bus to Ezurum (C got harassed by Turkish guys). Arrived midnite in the rain... luckily a Turkish lady offered a ride with her boyfriend to a hotel, and helped us get some food. Ezurum was a real city, so not too interesting, and got a train out (40 Lira for a comfortable seat)...

It was 35 HOURS!!! to Istanbul. Nice scenery: Turkey is amazing. I felt like I was back a century: slow train, lots of tunnels, through mountains and countryside. Slept the nite, and tried talking to Turks, but very difficult. So nice, tho... they fed me and we laughed together. Met a Pakistani student before Ankara, who came up offering his English skills (YAY!), and sat together halfway to Istanbul, when he got off. Another Turkish kid (23) hung with us too. Pulled out my cards, and he showed me how to play Pisti, a sweet 2 player game, then I taught them poker... hard w/o money. (he got good, or lucky). Learned the Turkish symbol for friends as they got off: pointer fingers extended; rub them together.

Arrived Istanbul shortly before midnight, and wandered around looking for the hostel district (no one knew where it was) and some kid (26) helped me out. Turns out train station was on the other side of the city, across the sea. By ferry, easy (found out later), but ferries don't run late. So he came with me to find it (albeit a little addled after a nite out, but didn't show it): dolmus to taxi. Taxis are expensive. I've been very lucky when it comes to connections. Two hours later I had a bed in a good hostel, and now I have a group to go around with, who have a plan.

This post was really hard to write, as I'm sitting at the hostel's (Sultan, pretty nice) outdoor cafe eating breakfast - was talking to 2 Danish girls :) and now a Scotsman, a Maylasian, and Englishman, and they finally started to play backgammon, ending the engaging conversation, and I'll be with them for the day.

Time for a shower...