12 June 2008: Georgian Treat

Today was a pretty run-of-the-mill day, which means that a lot of quirky, funny things involving cultural miscommunication and general ignorance happened, but I could never relate all of those.


Tonight, Brown treated us to dinner at a Georgian restaurant. What's Georgian food like? I took pictures! There were appetizers involving really yummy (really huge) bread, bean paste with pomegranite seeds, and eggplant rolls with some sort of scrumptious pasty goop inside. The main course was lamb. Sometimes I feel bad, but it's not my fault baby sheep are tasty. There was some strange juice I'd never had before as a beverage, and it was delicious.

I hope it doesn't bother anyone that I don't remember the name of the restaurant. Irina never missed an opportunity to criticize me for not knowing: "You really should pay attention to these things," but then I don't think that it's super important.

We were there for kind of a long time, which was fine except when people started smoking. (The hookahs at left were just for decoration.) I'm spoiled living in a state where smoking inside is illegal. And I'll be even more spoiled next year in a country with similar laws!



So it was around ten or so when I was on my way back to the apartment. This picture was taken between where I live and the institute. Yep, it stays light out super late.

No, I did not get shipped to Siberia. There's some sort of construction zone (surprise!) close to where I live. I guess they don't want people peeking inside. I just liked the juxtaposition of the sense of imprisonment conveyed by the bars and wire with the freedom of the sky beyond . . . ha, gag. Take that, artsy people.

My camera takes video! So exciting. This is what the restaurant looked like. Sorry it's so dark, but the restaurant was rather gloomy. Look at the bread on the table! And yes, that is a wicker spider web on the ceiling.