Back to life, back to the interwebs.

So! Thanks to me realizing that Peace Corps sends necessary information via e-mail, I shelled out the 155 lari and got myself a high speed modem. Then, after the two free trial days, as I was left in a village with no bankomati (aka ATM), I scrounged enough emergency funds together to buy myself 45 lari worth of mono cards to make my monthly payment. Naturally, the cards were in denominations of 5 (this is a village--who's gonna get a 25 lari card?) and I had to go to 2 different stores to get them (who carries 9 mono cards at a time? Not a village store.).

Anywhoo, expect more regular updates.

It's 2:00 in the morning now. I've not been sleeping regularly for about a week now--either stay up late for this supra, or because I'm too excited by the prospect of online shopping I can't go to sleep. Not that online shopping is more practical than going to the bazari at Tbilisi, because who's going to ship to Akhalsopeli? It's just that I have an aversion to haggling, and I was not about to pay 90 lari for a pair of much-coveted grey suede boots.

Basically, life is good. I seem to have stumbled upon the luck of the mystical triad-- my host family is awesome, my main counterpart is a wonderful teacher and a great friend, and I have a picturesque view of the Caucasus mountains when I step outside my room.

Firstly, my general "routine":
-wake up
-run/yoga
-dress
-breakfast
-school
-coffee with teachers
-lunch
-lesson recap writing
-tea
-sereales (terrible latin american soap operas), kronika (news), Who Wants 30,000 Lari, Va Banka (Georgian Deal or No Deal), Geostar (Georgian Idol), Truth Time, etc. etc. (da ase shemdeg)
-tiptoe to the toilet
-bed

Twice a week or so is shower night, when we light the pechi in the bathroom for some hot water (if it's rained and there's water in the tub-- the system broke when we had a big storm and they haven't fixed it yet. More on that later.)

Weekends are usually spent traveling, the most recent of which was Erakleoba in Telavi and then Johnnyoba and Iliaoba in Kvareli. (the suffix -oba is used to create days of celebration. In conversation class, I made up shokolatoba--guess what that celebrates. Anyway, Erakle was superduper king man, and Ilia was a writer, a banker, a patriot, a martyr, and a saint from the nextdoor town of Kvareli. It was also Johnny's birthday.)

I'm going to label some pictures, maybe sleep, and be back for more.