Snobby Traveling

It is an Earth day today. We were asked to turn off the lights and I am using this dark hour to make fun of the travelling Georgians.

Two weeks ago, I was going to Gudauri. A woman climbed up and tried to secure marshrutka seats for herself and her “children”. Loudly, she demanded “lots of space. I have many bags, BECAUSE I AM GOING TO STAY IN GUDAURI—which, as you all know, is insanely expensive, hint, hint”. She mentioned: “I am travelling with 3 children” 5 times. I bit my nails, imagining a three-hour trip with small kids, when I saw a grown-ass teenage girls elbowing their way to the seats.

We got caught in the snow and we were forced to endure 1. Crappy, angry driver 2. The same 3 songs by “Blue” that the driver played for 5 hours 3. The “svetski” woman and her “svetski” “children”. During the whole trip, I rolled my eyes so much that I almost saw my cerebellum.

And how fun it is to travel with Georgians that are flying home! Once, they thought my friend was a foreigner and held the following conversation in front of him: “When we go back to Tbilisi, let’s say we stayed in a very nice hotel”, “Yes, let’s say that it was a 4 star, not a 2 star hotel!” “Let’s say we had caviar for lunch!” “Let’s say we had a Jacuzzi in our suite!” Then, they saw my friend’s Georgian passport…

Last year, I got stuck in the air/airport for more than 70 hours. I tried to hang out with my American and German co-flyers. Why?

--at the Trabzon airport, I sat down on the floor and got lectured about my ovaries

--at the Istanbul airport, bunch of overdressed ladies complained about “horrible service” and “awful airport”. Being completely satisfied with both (especially compared to Tbilisi Airport) I asked the ladies where were they flying from. They answered “Monaco” and put their noses up. I moved back to my German friend.

--at the Munich airport, a Georgian-looking group of girls in high heels and black dresses wandered aimlessly, until I explained to them how to register for flight. Then, one of them asked me “an intimate question”. She wanted to know if there is a bathroom in the airport. I told her that signs with a man and a woman on them usually signify a bathroom. She disappeared in one of them to put more lipstick on.

Georgian travelers are stuck-up, snobby, disrespectful and just intolerable. You’ll see men spending their last money on worthless duty-free items, just to buy more than their friend did; you’ll see women in fancy evening attire; you’ll see Ministers’ mothers coming back from Monaco; you’ll see drinking, yelling, loud men; you’ll see people criticizing everyone and everybody around them. But if you’re like me, if you do not blend in with the Georgian crowd, cause of your looks, your outfit, your manners, you can take your laptop, watch “the apprentice” and freeze your ovaries off on the cold floors of the airport…and snootily feel superior...

Hour’s up! Time to use electricity again!

pic: me in a Bangkok airport

About Japan and about Faith

I woke up determined to write a fun post. But as I scanned through news, I just lost it. I am at work, all alone; I came early to do some catching up. It is actually very weird, how silent it is here.

Japan is facing nuclear crisis. At the same time, those amazing people remain civilized, remain human. There is no rape, no stolen TVs, no fighting for food and water. It was reported that a queue was formed for governmental aid, right by a supermarket with shattered windows. Japanese stood in line, patiently waiting for the food from the government, and none of them, none of them thought of taking supplies from the unguarded supermarket!

Truly, that culture is fascinating and sometimes puzzling for me. How can people stay so well-mannered in time of crises? I couldn’t.

Direct opposite of “civilized” happened in Tbilisi. Some orthodox priest preached about angry and almighty God that punishes people for evil. You know, the God of Old Testament, who supposedly sits on a cloud and kills people he dislikes—because he is merciful like that. Who sends earthquakes in Japan, where, as the priest said, girls are selling their bodies to save money for marriage—because he is merciful like that. Who creates big waves of water to kill those perverted men and women that sunbathe naked--because he is merciful like that! And he will keep punishing everyone around us, except us, because we don’t have prostitutes, because we are saints, because we are bearers of great culture, because we are St. Mary’s country, because we never sin and perhaps, because we don’t live in an active seismic zone!

Something very deep broke inside me. I know that you shouldn’t judge the whole community just by one member. I know that all those brainwashed people that commented positively on that preacher’s speech do not represent every orthodox Christian in Georgia. But the fact that nobody reprimanded that priest, that he is still leading a church, affects me very much. This sermon is a lot more serious matter than stuff like priests attacking Halloween and banning Harry Potter. Cause this time, it is not about ignorance. It concerns people. It is about compassion.

This was the last straw. If being Orthodox Christian means saying that Japan got what it deserved, than I am not Orthodox anymore.

My co-workers start coming. I need to stop typing now.

pic: White is symbol of grief in Japan.

Conformity and Silence

I like to be liked and that’s a problem. Cause at the same time I am stubborn, opinionated and honest. Even if I didn’t believe that people should defend their values, I am too impulsive to shut up.

Today, I found myself torn between these two thoughts: should I behave like an average Georgian conformist or should I speak up and anger my boss? The case is, I was blamed for some minor thing—the other party lied—and when I tried to defend myself, my very important boss told me: “and you, you don’t say anything. I don’t like when people contradict me”. She left the room. I sat in shock. My coworkers stared at me. After conferring with my supervisor (who, as I found out, had already discussed the issue with our boss and confirmed my side of the story, but couldn’t reason with her either), I decided to let it go.

I really do not want stressful work setting. I don’t like conflicts. Generally, I find people to be reasonable, so why fight? I do engage in numerous debates and confrontations, because people usually are capable of talking with you without hating you!

My supervisor claims that if I bring up the issues, my boss will start yelling and will personally insult me. This could lead me to two options: 1. be yelled at and feel humiliated 2. Defend my self-esteem, swear at my boss and leave the job.

Have I mentioned that the girl before me resigned to save her dignity?

Further in my day, I got another proof that my rational explanation would be fruitless.

The result: I remain falsely accused; I feel sad, helpless and mad at myself. My boss is convinced that I am dishonest and possibly dumb. On the other hand, she’d think that no matter what I said.

Let’s see, what can I do? I know, I can complain on my blog and achieve nothing. Except maybe bore the readers. Oh well, now you can like me less. Cause I am a coward .

P.S. this really does not matter that much. But now I understand why most people in Georgia remain silent. Just…it never feels right to be like the most people in Georgia…

pic: me hiding and thinking

Disappointment

How can it be that every month, every single month, every 28th day of my cycle, I discover that I haven’t been drinking, have been eating healthy, have been fucking writing down my ovulation days on a cute calendar with kittens, to no avail?!
Why is that some woman get pregnant while being on pills, while using condoms, after having sex just once and I can’t get pregnant for 6 months?!
Planned parenthood my ass.
As you can see, I am mad.
Actually, I was going to write about marshrutkas, but I’ll just pout for a day or two and get back to you.