Coming home (kindof)

Tuesday was rather absurd. I said multiple times (and in multiple languages) that we should spend the day walking around the city and head to the airport around 6 to catch our 11 pm flight. Eka was having none of it. We had breakfast at our hotel and then went out to the Spice Bazaar. We went out walking a little bit in the morning. I wanted to walk around the Golden Horn, but Eka complained that she had finished her shopping and so wanted nothing more from this country. Sooooooo we walked for only an hour. She wanted to go back to the hotel around 11 am, and I protested so we ended up sitting on a bench in front of Hagia Sophia for an hour.

I’d love to sketch a comic strip about what we observed while we were there. There was this really fat cat on the bench across from us, and people seemed to love it. First, a man came and sat next to it, petting it while he eavesdropped on the man next to him. Then he left and a girl ran up to hug the cat. The cat ran away to a man who was messily eating corn-on-the-cob, but the girl followed. She picked it up and carried it back to the park bench, where she continued to hug it. When she left, a food-cart worker gave the cat a pretzel. Then a very large couple sat down and the cat sidled up next to the man until it was under his elbow. The man was less than amused until his wife noticed the cat and scooped it up like a baby. Then he asked us to take a picture of the three of them. The cat stalked birds and pretzels as it was stalked by giggling girls and long-haired guitar players. What a saga!

We went back to the hotel around noon. We spent an hour drinking coffee there and then went off to the airport. That journey took 1 hour and the last of our Turkish money. We then had 10 hours to wait in the airport. I had a book, but Eka had nothing. I also had my laptop, an apple, and such exhaustion from last night that I was able to nap. Eka complained about having so much time, and I almost took out more money so that we could eat something or drink something or just do something other than sit at the gate. But then I remembered that we were wasting what could have been an extra day in Istanbul sitting in an airport because she couldn’t be bothered pretending to be interested in a new culture…so I didn’t take any money out. She sat and was bored; I read and was bored. It was ridiculous. Guess I deserve it for not standing up for myself and insisting we spend the day in the city. Oh well.

We got to Tbilisi around 6 am and I'm not proud to say that I then slept until 2. We went out for dinner with Eka's friends, but we didn't stay out too late. Then the next day (yesterday!?!) we left Tbilisi at 6:30 am and were in Oni by 1. I met up with Alex, who told me that Giorgi has gone off to the military but that he would be happy to race horses with me today. So today I waited...but he didn't come. I got a lot of writing done, but now I'm not allowed out tomorrow because the house needs to be cleaned for a New Year's party. I explained that a friend may bring a horse tomorrow because he couldn't today. Maguala said that if he didn't come today than I don't want to ride horses with him. I guess she has a point...if I was a Georgian girl looking for a husband it would be smart to play hard-to-get. BUT I'm not. I just want to race horses, even if the boy whose borrowing the horses from his cousin isn't sure exactly what day/time he'll come. Ummmm...Happy almost New Year!