To Batumi

It seemed that everyone in TLG Group 43 decided to visit Batumi before the weather got too cold for swimming.  The Kakhetians wound up being among the last to arrive; we got to Batumi just as everyone else was leaving.  I met up with Shelly and Kelsey Scuared at the American Embassy in Tbilisi (also known as McDonalds).  We tried to take the night train to Batumi, but they were completely sold out by the time we got to the station.  Instead, we took a marshrutka, and I was quite proud of myself for negotiating the fare down to seventeen lari apiece from twenty. 

Kakheti!  Represent!

After a very long, eight-hour ride in a vehicle that was not designed for anyone over five and half feet tall, we arrived in Batumi late Friday evening.  The taxi driver we met at the marshrutka station assured us that he would take us directly to our hostel and then, in typical Georgian fashion, drove around for a while asking everyone he passed on the street if they knew where the hostel was.  All the hassle, all the cramped spaces and smelly fellow travellers were worth it when we checked in the hostel and found tons of other people from TLG inside, speaking English. 

Intentionally blurry to protect the innocent.  You believe me, right?

Everyone had choreographed a dance to some ridiculous K-Pop song and ran out to a bar to show it off.  Sadly, I missed this amazing spectacle.  I tried to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi in the hostel, but my computer refused to connect.  These backpackers from Germany tried to adjust the settings on my computer so I could log on (and they could check their emails) but they couldn’t read all the English control panel settings. 

Yup, I'm that creepy person taking pictures while you brush your teeth

On our first day in Batumi, we walked the boardwalk with Sengka and James.  Becky met up with us for some traditional Georgian dancing lessons.  

We're very fast learners

We figured out how to order ice cream in Georgian, a major victory for our language skills.  I’m not sure if this giant squid mosaic thing is supposed to be a fossilized giant squid or a bar or an open-air restroom for the lifeguards (it was being used as the latter). 

It was too cold to go swimming in the Black Sea, but we splashed around a bit, just to say we had.  For dinner, we went to a restaurant that had advertised a traditional Georgian quartet performing in the evening.  It turned out to be drunk Georgian karaoke.  Very loud, drunk Georgian karaoke. 

Proof!

On Batumi Day Two, Kelsey and Kelsey and I went to the Batumi Botanical Gardens, which were lovely.  We had a bit of trouble telling the marshrutka driver where we wanted to go, but he gave us a tour of Batumi in Russian along the way.  The Gardens are immense, but very much like Maymont.  All the trees and flowerbeds had signs in Georgian, English, Russian, and Latin, giving the plant name and origin.  

It almost smelled like a real magnolia.  Almost.

There were different sections of the Garden for each area and climate of the world.  We stopped in the Japanese Garden for a bit and had a Nutella picnic.  At the end of the Garden, we saw a wedding party just outside the little café there.  I think they had come too have pictures taken, like people do at Maymont in Richmond. 

Japan, Georgian style

While we were in the Japanese Garden, we got a call from Tom and Ollie, asking how we were doing and saying how sorry they were that they couldn’t make it down from Samegrelo.  But look who we found in the hostel when we got back.  Wankers. 

Wankers.

Max and Jon joined us at the hostel for dinner, Adjarian khatchapuri and watermelon. 

It tastes much better than it looks.

So, when you get a bunch of Americans, Brits, Canadians, Kiwis, and South Africans together in a beach resort city, surrounded by casinos and bars, what do you think they do?  They go to the library, of course. 

No, really.  We went to the library.  For fun.

We went to the art museum, too.  The museum staff didn’t really seem to care how close we got to the artworks, even if we touched them.  (It wasn’t on purpose.  I promise!)  This painting there showed a fairly accurate depiction of everyday life in Georgia. 

This is what happens every day when I get back from school.

If Tbilisi was a strange jusxtaposition of space age super old architecture, Batumi was a strange juxtaposition of Technicolor opulence and poverty.  There were huge statues and grand opera houses across the street from crumbling tenements.  Massive construction projects next to people sleeping on cardboard in the streets.  It was like a thin veneer of new paint covering up everything unsightly in the city. 

Also, the fountain is lactating.  And they're building a ferris wheel on top of that other building.  Why?

The best parts about Batumi were the Gardens and the ability to speak English with other people in person.  I was able to sit at the table and tell stupid jokes about elephants with Tom and  arguing about whether something was a biscuit or a cookie with Ollie. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed being able to talk to people without struggling to think of the words and resorting to pantomime. 

Getting back to Telavi was more than a bit of a trek.  I was followed the whole way back by a Polish lady who had decided to host a psychologists’ conference in Georgia.  When I finally reached my street, Goga’s friends ran down the street after me, showing off the bits of English they know.  Little old ladies I’ve never spoken to before greeted me by name and asked me how I liked Batumi.  Then Maka made me tea and kartopeli salati, and all was right with the world.