Leo @Leo@tincanphone.club
Problem child #2
Joined Nov 2020
I spent most of the day drawing at a beautiful cafe made out of an old greenhouse in the middle of a park. Then Sophy and I went to a place called Fabrika which is old sewing factory that was turned into a bunch of restaurants, artist studios, and a hostel and I tried chacha which is a Georgian spirit made from fruit
@Baba thank you, some days are easier than others. But I've got a big team of people at home working on getting me back which makes it feel much better. (The trans clinic we go to is assembling a legal team for me, Elizabeth Warren's office even got involved!) I just wish it didn't feel like the end date keeps getting pushed back. It's looking more and more likely I will be here until next week as this weekend is Easter here and it's such a big deal that places starting closing for the holiday yesterday.
Yesterday we saw Sophy's friends, walked around a park, saw a church (a common theme of this trip), and Sophy cooked a traditional Georgian dinner (Satsivi with shoti, sulguni, and cucumber and tomato salad). Trying to make the most of my time here so I don't lose my mind!
Also all meals are a 2-3 hour affair minimum. I am enjoying the pace here (except when it comes to the police officers)
Tea with Sophy's friends Saba and Mari. Everyone in Georgia has a two syllable nickname they go by that ends with a vowel. So Sophy is actually Sopo here.
@ChrisFerris we get accosted by people to eat at the restaurants all the time here
@Baba exactly, I'm very lucky to live in a world with Google maps and taxi apps!
@Baba thank you, it was very intimidating! Especially because nothing about the language is recognizable! But the baths are a popular spot for tourists so they spoke English. I've also gotten very good at pointing at things and saying "madloba" which means thank you
Spent most of the afternoon fighting with the airlines but I was able to get a travel voucher to use once I get my passport returned! I will need to pay the difference but I do have travel insurance so I will try to get in touch with them as well.
Sophy had a work taking photos at a jujitsu tournament today so I had a solo adventure to the hot baths and then I met her at the tournament and we went to a fabulous puppet show!
@Baba it's called "harcho da arajani" in Georgia but known by its Russian name "tvorog y smetana" (cottage cheese and sour cream)
Today Sophy and I went to Mtskheta, a neighborhing city to Tbilisi. We visited two churches (but I only got a picture of one, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral), had some ice cream and coffee at a little touristy spot on the river, and dinner on a nice patio!
@ChrisFerris okay good to know, thank you
We called the police officer this morning and unfortunately got nothing helpful. The forensics on my gabapentin has not come back yet and only after it comes back does a judge decide what to do with it. Sophy said she'll talk to her aunt to see if we can start finding a judge preemptively so that it can get processed as soon as the test comes back. Either way it sounds pretty unlikely that this will all be resolved by my 6am flight on Monday so I will likely be contacting the airlines about figuring out the best way to reschedule my ticket when I don't know my return date.
I am being very brave about the food on this trip. So far the eggplants are the only thing I've turned down 💪🏼
Oh and the white stuff is called Elarij. It's grits mixed with sulguni cheese and is extremely stretchy. You use it to dip the chicken sauce in.
Dinner out for more Georgian food. In the far left is badrijani (eggplant with walnut), in the middle is Megrelian kharcho with nuts (its chicken in some kind of sauce), Ojakhuri (pork barbecue with potatoes which was my favorite). We also had Georgian beer which tasted like beer (so, gross) and pear flavored lemonade which was very sweet but it grew on me (unlike the beer which only got worse).
Problem child #2
Joined Nov 2020
