That was a nice evening!

That was a nice evening! Three of us went out of town to a little lake up in the hills around Tbilisi. It was only about 15 minutes away from downtown, and has a little bar/restaurant and, during the summers, a discoteque. We were two midwestern yanks and one Georgian. We walked around this nice little lake and shot the breeze. Talked about the weather and other things of no consequence for a while, but soon we were all asking each other those burning cultural quesitons we had.

The one I remember in particular was asked by the Georgian. He asked how, given that people are so sensitive to sexual harassment in the US, do you meet people? I admit that I sat there slackjawed for a moment and wondered myself how we did it. The answer I gave is of no consequence, but I thought the question was great!

We spent HOURS in the little restaurant over a beer and some recommended Georgian food (highlight: chicken with way too much garlic, and mushrooms baked with butter, cheese and toasted onions). They picked me up at about 4:15 and didn’t drop me off until 11:30, so we covered a LOT of ground. What a great time! I love evenings like this where two culture can connect and see how similar and how different we are. Some things are just strange, some are so similar. THIS is why travel is important.