After the horrible tragedy that was Katy Perry's E.T. music video, I have been a little bitter. I mean, Cort and I spent a lot of time excited to see that video, and I even remembered to watch it THE DAY it came out.... and then it was awful. Just terrible. After that I've been kind of trying to block it out of my memory, so I didn't even realize she was coming out with another video. And honestly, if I had known, I probably wouldn't have thought it was worth it to use up my 1gb of internet for this month. But... my dear friend Kate back home sent me the link on my Facebook, with a caption that said "Hanson." I was like, huh? Hanson? If Hanson is involved I HAVE to watch it. I'm actually surprised I didn't even know Hanson was going to be in one of her videos... this shows how hard I've been trying to limit my gb usage online. I haven't even been opening their newsletter e-mails or going to their website at all (umm yeah, I'm a nerd). But anyway... I just have to say KATY PERRY HAS TOTALLY REDEEMED HERSELF!
Showing posts with label Pop Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pop Music. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
A L
Living in a village there's not much to do. I don't really have any friends; I don't feel like hanging out with my 10 year old host sister.... So, I am left with a lot of free time to ponder the important things in life and evaluate my own beliefs on certain subjects.
This is how I ended up Googling Adam Lambert for a good hour and a half today. I was sitting in my room, minding my own business (so to speak, I don't think anything is "my own business" when I'm online), clicking on links left and right when somehow I stumbled upon something to do with Adam Lambert. Of course I knew who he was thanks to Yahoo and all the weird press that goes along with American Idol (even though I'm pretty convinced that show has been dead for like 8 years now), but I've never really even heard him sing. Anyway, coming across him today I wondered briefly why I have basically ignored him for the past couple of years. I mean, he basically is everything I could ever want in a person. He can sing (apparently) and is a good looking and incredibly flamboyant gay male. The fact that I have never looked him up before is absolute ridiculousness on my part. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love people like this. Needless to say, I decided to start from the beginning of the Adam Lambert saga and watch some of his American Idol performances. Yep, he has a really good voice and was a nice change from what I remember most American Idol people being like (I don't usually admit this, but I did in fact watch the first two seasons of the show; my excuse is that I was in jr high).
Next step, Wikipedia. I read the entire Wikipedia page for him. I just had to make sure he didn't have any glaring defects that couldn't be accounted for by metal psychosis or extreme alcohol drug use (because if he wants to be a rock star, this can be overlooked). Basically he seemed like he had a pretty normal life, and then after a week at Burning Man and doing mushrooms he decided to audition for American Idol. I don't know what the hell type of person goes to Burning Man and comes back with a revelation about American Idol. But this weird connection alone makes me feel like he is a decent person. The entry basically ended on a note about his Finnish boyfriend, so I had to Google that guy and make sure he was acceptable. He seems fine (based on appearances alone).
I guess it's kind of ridiculous that I had to get a background on the guy before I even thought to look up his actual music. But I'm kind of glad I did, because if someone doesn't seem like a complete douche from their Wikipedia entry, then I'm likely to be more open minded to their music. For example, Ke$ha's Wiki entry is incredibly ridiculous in my expert opinion. I feel like the entire article is an attempt to justify her status in the music world. Rather than just being factual and informative, there is a definite sense that whoever wrote it knows she's hard to take seriously. Here is a quote from her Wikipedia article: "Kesha has also expressed frustration at the double standard for the objectification of women in music. Thus, in songs such as "Blah Blah Blah" and "Boots and Boys", she makes it a point to sing the same way men traditionally sing about women." I'm finding it a little over the top that someone is needing to add this to her Wikipedia entry. I don't know, maybe I'm just a bitch!
Back to the point. Next step was watching all of Adam's (now I'm on a first name basis because I've got a good history, therefore we are BFF) music videos. I don't have any idea of the chronology of his singles because I skimmed over that on Wikipedia. I don't like dates! But the first video I watched was "Whataya want from me." And while that was loading (because it takes forever to load videos on my crap Georgian cell phone company mobile internet modem) I lurked a few pages of his Twitter. Looks like he is on there A LOT. Which means he's probably just as boring as I am on a regular basis. I decided to "follow" him on Twitter... and I'm PRETTY selective about who I follow. So that means I'm opening my heart to this fellow... unless his posts get annoying, in which case he will be axed! The video loaded and I watched and enjoyed it immensely. He looked really good and although his acting seemed pretty shitty, I didn't even mind! I think that most pop stars usually have at least one good song, so I needed to put it to the test and watch all of the videos.
Next up were "For your entertainment" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsPFDzAGb4A) and "If I had you." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmXQFwlD7vk) Both of which I am completely obsessed with now. I'm turning fangirl on this guy at the most rapid pace I've ever experienced. I'm actually kind of ANNOYED at how much I love these songs and videos. First off, with both of them I was a little unimpressed by the lyrics at first, but then suddenly I had a change of heart and thought each song was the best thing since sliced bread (which is something I could go on a tangent about as well, because I haven't had any in so damn long). Not to mention his wardrobe in both videos... I'm dying. That's how pleased I am by his clothes. In "For your entertainment" he is wearing a ton of leather, including a h studded and spiked shoulder pad thing on his right shoulder. I'm in love. I want one and a good excuse to wear it. In the video for "If I had you" his hair resembles a strange bird's feathers and his outfits are completely absurd. Everyone is dressed crazily and dancing in the middle of a forest. Adam's make up is the cooler and crazier than usual. I'm impressed. His leather spike and studden jacket in the parts where he is wearing white pants is AMAZING. I haven't been this jealous of a studded spikey thing since Britney's jacket in her video for "Till the world ends" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzU9OrZlKb8). His videos are like a mix of trashy Ke$ha and Lady Gaga or something. But he's a guy. And super hot. I'm definitely in love with him.
My research is complete. I have "liked" him on Facebook.
As I wrote this, it also occurred to me, that this is the exact reason that I will probably never have a boyfriend again. And we thought it was bad that I liked Hanson so much......
This is how I ended up Googling Adam Lambert for a good hour and a half today. I was sitting in my room, minding my own business (so to speak, I don't think anything is "my own business" when I'm online), clicking on links left and right when somehow I stumbled upon something to do with Adam Lambert. Of course I knew who he was thanks to Yahoo and all the weird press that goes along with American Idol (even though I'm pretty convinced that show has been dead for like 8 years now), but I've never really even heard him sing. Anyway, coming across him today I wondered briefly why I have basically ignored him for the past couple of years. I mean, he basically is everything I could ever want in a person. He can sing (apparently) and is a good looking and incredibly flamboyant gay male. The fact that I have never looked him up before is absolute ridiculousness on my part. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love people like this. Needless to say, I decided to start from the beginning of the Adam Lambert saga and watch some of his American Idol performances. Yep, he has a really good voice and was a nice change from what I remember most American Idol people being like (I don't usually admit this, but I did in fact watch the first two seasons of the show; my excuse is that I was in jr high).
Next step, Wikipedia. I read the entire Wikipedia page for him. I just had to make sure he didn't have any glaring defects that couldn't be accounted for by metal psychosis or extreme alcohol drug use (because if he wants to be a rock star, this can be overlooked). Basically he seemed like he had a pretty normal life, and then after a week at Burning Man and doing mushrooms he decided to audition for American Idol. I don't know what the hell type of person goes to Burning Man and comes back with a revelation about American Idol. But this weird connection alone makes me feel like he is a decent person. The entry basically ended on a note about his Finnish boyfriend, so I had to Google that guy and make sure he was acceptable. He seems fine (based on appearances alone).
I guess it's kind of ridiculous that I had to get a background on the guy before I even thought to look up his actual music. But I'm kind of glad I did, because if someone doesn't seem like a complete douche from their Wikipedia entry, then I'm likely to be more open minded to their music. For example, Ke$ha's Wiki entry is incredibly ridiculous in my expert opinion. I feel like the entire article is an attempt to justify her status in the music world. Rather than just being factual and informative, there is a definite sense that whoever wrote it knows she's hard to take seriously. Here is a quote from her Wikipedia article: "Kesha has also expressed frustration at the double standard for the objectification of women in music. Thus, in songs such as "Blah Blah Blah" and "Boots and Boys", she makes it a point to sing the same way men traditionally sing about women." I'm finding it a little over the top that someone is needing to add this to her Wikipedia entry. I don't know, maybe I'm just a bitch!
Back to the point. Next step was watching all of Adam's (now I'm on a first name basis because I've got a good history, therefore we are BFF) music videos. I don't have any idea of the chronology of his singles because I skimmed over that on Wikipedia. I don't like dates! But the first video I watched was "Whataya want from me." And while that was loading (because it takes forever to load videos on my crap Georgian cell phone company mobile internet modem) I lurked a few pages of his Twitter. Looks like he is on there A LOT. Which means he's probably just as boring as I am on a regular basis. I decided to "follow" him on Twitter... and I'm PRETTY selective about who I follow. So that means I'm opening my heart to this fellow... unless his posts get annoying, in which case he will be axed! The video loaded and I watched and enjoyed it immensely. He looked really good and although his acting seemed pretty shitty, I didn't even mind! I think that most pop stars usually have at least one good song, so I needed to put it to the test and watch all of the videos.
Next up were "For your entertainment" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsPFDzAGb4A) and "If I had you." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmXQFwlD7vk) Both of which I am completely obsessed with now. I'm turning fangirl on this guy at the most rapid pace I've ever experienced. I'm actually kind of ANNOYED at how much I love these songs and videos. First off, with both of them I was a little unimpressed by the lyrics at first, but then suddenly I had a change of heart and thought each song was the best thing since sliced bread (which is something I could go on a tangent about as well, because I haven't had any in so damn long). Not to mention his wardrobe in both videos... I'm dying. That's how pleased I am by his clothes. In "For your entertainment" he is wearing a ton of leather, including a h studded and spiked shoulder pad thing on his right shoulder. I'm in love. I want one and a good excuse to wear it. In the video for "If I had you" his hair resembles a strange bird's feathers and his outfits are completely absurd. Everyone is dressed crazily and dancing in the middle of a forest. Adam's make up is the cooler and crazier than usual. I'm impressed. His leather spike and studden jacket in the parts where he is wearing white pants is AMAZING. I haven't been this jealous of a studded spikey thing since Britney's jacket in her video for "Till the world ends" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzU9OrZlKb8). His videos are like a mix of trashy Ke$ha and Lady Gaga or something. But he's a guy. And super hot. I'm definitely in love with him.
My research is complete. I have "liked" him on Facebook.
As I wrote this, it also occurred to me, that this is the exact reason that I will probably never have a boyfriend again. And we thought it was bad that I liked Hanson so much......
Friday, April 15, 2011
Morning of Love Day
I've been having a rough few days. I guess I've just been feeling really irritated for no apparent reason. I guess maybe it's because we just hit the two month mark of being here... many of us in my same TLG group have been feeling this way as well.
Earlier in the week I agreed to go to my 7th grade student, Nazi's house. She is the same girl who started texting me and giving me letters a few weeks ago. I was pretty nervous about this because her English isn't the best, but I figured it would be fine and I ended up having a really good time. She lives with her mother and her brother who must be in 2nd or 3rd grade. Her father lives in Russia where he works. This is a common situation here. Many of my students have one or more parent living in another country because it is very difficult for them to find jobs in Georgia. Nazi's family was really welcoming and fun and I had a great time. They took me to two nearby monasteries that I hadn't seen before, and also to a park in Telavi that I didn't even realize existed. They didn't really know much English, but I had my phrasebook and that helped us a ton.
After we went out, we went back to their house and ate and drank beer. I think Nazi had a bit too much to drink and she was a bit clumsy and hilarious. They put on music like Ke$ha and Britney Spears and Eminem and were trying to get me to dance, but I really didn't have enough to drink to feel up to dancing in the living room with two of my students. It's so funny, because in the US this would not be acceptable. Not only because these kids are so young they couldn't be drinking anyway, but also because I'm their teacher and that would be inappropriate.
After dancing for a while, the neighbors invited us over. I already knew them because they are friends with my host family and god parents of Tiko. So we went over there and I showed them pictures on my facebook (they don't have FB) and we ate ice cream. Also, I thought for some stupid reason I knew how to play dominoes so I agreed to play with the neighbor man, Gia. But as it turns out I really had no idea how to play except for the part where you have to put down a domino with the same number of dots on it. So everyone had to help me because I was like an idiot, but I ended up totally winning.
After this we went back to the house and I watched part of a really strange movie (i just googled and it is called Twin Sitters http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122768 ) dubbed over in Georgian. Then we went to sleep.
This morning they really didn't want me to leave. This seems to be a recurring problem here. When I go somewhere people don't want me to leave and try to convince me to stay longer. I guess I didn't really have a good reason for wanting to leave, like I'm not busy until almost 2pm today, but I really wanted to go home and get ready and change my clothes before my classes. They seemed pretty disappointed and I felt a little bad, but I did tell them I wanted to leave this morning around 11.
Nazi gave me a gift for Love Day, which was a little bunny stuffed animal and a card she made. She's such a sweet girl. Also, yesterday her and her friends gave me another card they had made me. And she gave me like three pairs of earrings for no apparent reason. I guess they were from her mother as well. I felt so weird about taking them, but they insisted. I just feel so bad taking gifts because I know most people don't have a lot of money and I really don't NEED more earrings. It's very sweet though. I love the people in Georgia so much for the most part. They will do just about anything for you and to show you that they care about you. I guess in general they just seem so generous; it's unbelievable.
So Love Day is off to a good start. Soon I will go to my lesson. We will see how it goes because it's pretty hit or miss sometimes. But then it's the weekend! And I was invited to a birthday party tomorrow night (the man I was playing dominoes with), and on Sunday morning TLG is taking a bunch of us to Gori to see the Stalin Museum and then go to a cave city or something..... and then, Wednesday night we go to Tbilisi and Thursday morning we go to ARMENIA!!! YAYY!
Earlier in the week I agreed to go to my 7th grade student, Nazi's house. She is the same girl who started texting me and giving me letters a few weeks ago. I was pretty nervous about this because her English isn't the best, but I figured it would be fine and I ended up having a really good time. She lives with her mother and her brother who must be in 2nd or 3rd grade. Her father lives in Russia where he works. This is a common situation here. Many of my students have one or more parent living in another country because it is very difficult for them to find jobs in Georgia. Nazi's family was really welcoming and fun and I had a great time. They took me to two nearby monasteries that I hadn't seen before, and also to a park in Telavi that I didn't even realize existed. They didn't really know much English, but I had my phrasebook and that helped us a ton.
After we went out, we went back to their house and ate and drank beer. I think Nazi had a bit too much to drink and she was a bit clumsy and hilarious. They put on music like Ke$ha and Britney Spears and Eminem and were trying to get me to dance, but I really didn't have enough to drink to feel up to dancing in the living room with two of my students. It's so funny, because in the US this would not be acceptable. Not only because these kids are so young they couldn't be drinking anyway, but also because I'm their teacher and that would be inappropriate.
After dancing for a while, the neighbors invited us over. I already knew them because they are friends with my host family and god parents of Tiko. So we went over there and I showed them pictures on my facebook (they don't have FB) and we ate ice cream. Also, I thought for some stupid reason I knew how to play dominoes so I agreed to play with the neighbor man, Gia. But as it turns out I really had no idea how to play except for the part where you have to put down a domino with the same number of dots on it. So everyone had to help me because I was like an idiot, but I ended up totally winning.
After this we went back to the house and I watched part of a really strange movie (i just googled and it is called Twin Sitters http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122768 ) dubbed over in Georgian. Then we went to sleep.
This morning they really didn't want me to leave. This seems to be a recurring problem here. When I go somewhere people don't want me to leave and try to convince me to stay longer. I guess I didn't really have a good reason for wanting to leave, like I'm not busy until almost 2pm today, but I really wanted to go home and get ready and change my clothes before my classes. They seemed pretty disappointed and I felt a little bad, but I did tell them I wanted to leave this morning around 11.
Nazi gave me a gift for Love Day, which was a little bunny stuffed animal and a card she made. She's such a sweet girl. Also, yesterday her and her friends gave me another card they had made me. And she gave me like three pairs of earrings for no apparent reason. I guess they were from her mother as well. I felt so weird about taking them, but they insisted. I just feel so bad taking gifts because I know most people don't have a lot of money and I really don't NEED more earrings. It's very sweet though. I love the people in Georgia so much for the most part. They will do just about anything for you and to show you that they care about you. I guess in general they just seem so generous; it's unbelievable.
So Love Day is off to a good start. Soon I will go to my lesson. We will see how it goes because it's pretty hit or miss sometimes. But then it's the weekend! And I was invited to a birthday party tomorrow night (the man I was playing dominoes with), and on Sunday morning TLG is taking a bunch of us to Gori to see the Stalin Museum and then go to a cave city or something..... and then, Wednesday night we go to Tbilisi and Thursday morning we go to ARMENIA!!! YAYY!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
In my brain, with Justin Bieber
Every night since I've gotten here I've had strange dreams. Like even stranger than normal.
I may have mentioned that I've had Justin Bieber stuck in my head since Saturday... And once I think it's out is not. I'm walking around with my brain just saying "baby, baby, baby, ooh" over and over and over again. It's enough to drive a person insane. It probably already has. Anyway. Last night I finally had it out of my head (it was replaced by Katy Perry, another singer who is constantly stuck in my head), but I woke up this morning after just having a dream that Cort was in a classroom carving "baby, baby, baby" into a desk with one of his students. And now the song is in my head again.
Today after school my co-teacher, Nona, took me into Telavi with my laptop to bring it somewhere to have it fixed. This somewhere ended up being at a random man's house where he asked me if I am a beginner at computers and then started criticizes how my anti-virus is out of date and then looked at my iphone at scoffed at how I never update my applications (but seriously, I never even have wifi and my ATT is turned off). So anyway, I left my computer there and he is going to delete everything off (he seemed surprised that I only had him save one 5gb file of photos and nothing else), and then reinstall everything. Hopefully it works! Oh, he also was dissin' me for not remembering my itunes password. Turns out I do remember my itunes password and I just forgot that I knew it. I'm not a complete failure!
After this, Nona and the other teacher who came with us (she doesn't speak English) went to a cafe where they bought me coke and french fries and cake. All of which I ate. And it was a massive plate of fries, and a massive piece of cake. I am seriously stupid.
I may have mentioned that I've had Justin Bieber stuck in my head since Saturday... And once I think it's out is not. I'm walking around with my brain just saying "baby, baby, baby, ooh" over and over and over again. It's enough to drive a person insane. It probably already has. Anyway. Last night I finally had it out of my head (it was replaced by Katy Perry, another singer who is constantly stuck in my head), but I woke up this morning after just having a dream that Cort was in a classroom carving "baby, baby, baby" into a desk with one of his students. And now the song is in my head again.
Today after school my co-teacher, Nona, took me into Telavi with my laptop to bring it somewhere to have it fixed. This somewhere ended up being at a random man's house where he asked me if I am a beginner at computers and then started criticizes how my anti-virus is out of date and then looked at my iphone at scoffed at how I never update my applications (but seriously, I never even have wifi and my ATT is turned off). So anyway, I left my computer there and he is going to delete everything off (he seemed surprised that I only had him save one 5gb file of photos and nothing else), and then reinstall everything. Hopefully it works! Oh, he also was dissin' me for not remembering my itunes password. Turns out I do remember my itunes password and I just forgot that I knew it. I'm not a complete failure!
After this, Nona and the other teacher who came with us (she doesn't speak English) went to a cafe where they bought me coke and french fries and cake. All of which I ate. And it was a massive plate of fries, and a massive piece of cake. I am seriously stupid.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Viva Forever
I just thought I'd mention that one time I got into the car and my host-father was blasting this
Monday, March 7, 2011
Weekend in Tbilisi
On Friday, approximately 14 of us TLG 12ers met up in Tbilisi! It was awesome and definitely a much needed bit of freedom from village life. Plus, I cannot emphasize enough how great it is to be around people who understand what I'm saying after being around people who can't speak more than a "good morning" in English for the most part.
So we all checked into Tbilisi Hostel, which I thought was a great place. It was fun and I liked how it looked. The showers weren't exactly warm, but it's Georgia, and a hostel. It isn't surprising.
Summing up my weekend in keywords (I like to do this apparently): vodka, beer, rum, Buddha (but not spelled that way), smokers, food, sunlight, English, confused, street dog, pop music
Friday night we went to a place called buddha bar, but it wasn't buddha like buddha. i don't know how it was really spelled, someone just told me it wasn't spelled "buddha." We were taken to this place by a guy named Anik or something who we met in the hostel. He was in TLG group 2 or 3 or something. He seemed to feel very good about himself for being in TLG for so many more groups longer than us. Anyway, he took us to this place and it was small and full of smoke, but also full of English speakers! I was very excited by this. Half of the group left after like 2 min and went back to the hostel because it wasn't their scene I suppose. I still love you guys! Even if you didn't stick it out at the weird bar! :) The ones of us who stayed... had fun. I drank rum and coke because that's like the only thing they had. We danced a lot... to great music such as "Hit me baby one more time." There were a lot of trips outside to the alley next to the bar. The end of the night is kind of a blur. It took us a while to leave because everyone kept forgetting things inside of the bar. Then it took a while to round us up and get into a cab. Helene and I were distracted by a street dog, which we should not have been petting. But it was so adorable......!!!! I probably ended up asleep by 5am or so. This was after the other tlgers got mad at us for being too loud in the hostel when we came back. And apparently some random guy barfed in one of the hostel rooms, but not in mine, thank goodness.
The morning didn't feel so good... But a bit of asprin helped. We sent Andrea, Shannon and a few of the guys we met the night before out to buy us breakfast. They came back after a ridiculously long time with some kachapuri... Big surprise. But it was good and filled me up. I took a cold shower, and spent a lot of time basking in the sun in the porch of the hostel. It was the most beautiful day I had seen in a long time and I was very happy to be with my friends and to see the sun. We listened to some bad 90s music on my phone, along with some good 90s music. We went to a little tiny cafe with a really sweet owner. Wandered around a bit. Took the metro to the main part of Tbilisi where a cop got mad at me for taking photos of a building... apparently because the president's motorcade was about to come through, but I didn't know this. Afterward, a police stopped traffic so that four of us girls could safely cross the street. (We must have looked clueless). We wandered around more and ended up getting some delicious street food that was probably the closest thing I'll get to a burrito while I'm here, but was actually nothing like one really. Then we got some amazing ice cream and ran into Tony. The rest of the group was at the KGB restaurant so we went and said hello to them but then headed back to the hostel because Shay was feeling like she might barf. She didn't barf, and instead suppressed the nausea by... drinking vodka?
We met two Germans in the hostel and they hung out with us in our hostel room and we all drank vodka and or wine and listened to Daft Punk among other things until it was time for us to go out. We went to a bar that seemed pretty far away, and it seemed to be someone's birthday party when we got there. There were people wearing face paint and party hats all over. The toilet was up higher than the rest of the bathroom... like you had to climb up 4 stairs to get to it. We got ahold of some of the face paint and drew cat nose and whiskers on ourselves... well, Helene and Shay had someone GOOD do their face paint. Lydia, Anita, one of the German guys and I just had the crappy cat whiskers. Then we went to a restaurant and got way too much food (we kept ordering thinking we had eaten it all, but more was still on it's way). We also ran into some more TLG people, like one of the ones that came and spoke to us during orientation about their experiences. When we got back to the hostel, Helene asked if we wanted to hang out with her in the kitchen so Shay, Anita, cat whisker German and I went down and we all sat on the floor in there talking about gassy water and Helene's water bottle cow that the hostel owner was rocking like a baby talking about how he will be a good father someday. Then we went to our beds.
The next morning we had to wake up kind of early and get all our stuff together. We said goodbye to each other at the metro station and then got on our marshutkas to our various areas of Eastern Georgia. On the ride home I sat next to Cort and we listened to pop music on my ipod to try to drown out the bad music the bus driver was listening to... except for of course when "My heart will go on" came on in the marshutka and we had a sing along until the bus driver got annoyed and switched it off. The Georgian countryside is starting to look quite beautiful now that it isn't so snowy and foggy and I could actually see it. I felt very happy sitting there with Cort and looking out the window and listening to music. I think I even told him that I was very happy. I am lucky to have made such great friends over here! And to be in such a beautiful place where I am experiencing things I never would have expected to in my entire life. I am very happy to be alive.
So we all checked into Tbilisi Hostel, which I thought was a great place. It was fun and I liked how it looked. The showers weren't exactly warm, but it's Georgia, and a hostel. It isn't surprising.
Summing up my weekend in keywords (I like to do this apparently): vodka, beer, rum, Buddha (but not spelled that way), smokers, food, sunlight, English, confused, street dog, pop music
Friday night we went to a place called buddha bar, but it wasn't buddha like buddha. i don't know how it was really spelled, someone just told me it wasn't spelled "buddha." We were taken to this place by a guy named Anik or something who we met in the hostel. He was in TLG group 2 or 3 or something. He seemed to feel very good about himself for being in TLG for so many more groups longer than us. Anyway, he took us to this place and it was small and full of smoke, but also full of English speakers! I was very excited by this. Half of the group left after like 2 min and went back to the hostel because it wasn't their scene I suppose. I still love you guys! Even if you didn't stick it out at the weird bar! :) The ones of us who stayed... had fun. I drank rum and coke because that's like the only thing they had. We danced a lot... to great music such as "Hit me baby one more time." There were a lot of trips outside to the alley next to the bar. The end of the night is kind of a blur. It took us a while to leave because everyone kept forgetting things inside of the bar. Then it took a while to round us up and get into a cab. Helene and I were distracted by a street dog, which we should not have been petting. But it was so adorable......!!!! I probably ended up asleep by 5am or so. This was after the other tlgers got mad at us for being too loud in the hostel when we came back. And apparently some random guy barfed in one of the hostel rooms, but not in mine, thank goodness.
The morning didn't feel so good... But a bit of asprin helped. We sent Andrea, Shannon and a few of the guys we met the night before out to buy us breakfast. They came back after a ridiculously long time with some kachapuri... Big surprise. But it was good and filled me up. I took a cold shower, and spent a lot of time basking in the sun in the porch of the hostel. It was the most beautiful day I had seen in a long time and I was very happy to be with my friends and to see the sun. We listened to some bad 90s music on my phone, along with some good 90s music. We went to a little tiny cafe with a really sweet owner. Wandered around a bit. Took the metro to the main part of Tbilisi where a cop got mad at me for taking photos of a building... apparently because the president's motorcade was about to come through, but I didn't know this. Afterward, a police stopped traffic so that four of us girls could safely cross the street. (We must have looked clueless). We wandered around more and ended up getting some delicious street food that was probably the closest thing I'll get to a burrito while I'm here, but was actually nothing like one really. Then we got some amazing ice cream and ran into Tony. The rest of the group was at the KGB restaurant so we went and said hello to them but then headed back to the hostel because Shay was feeling like she might barf. She didn't barf, and instead suppressed the nausea by... drinking vodka?
We met two Germans in the hostel and they hung out with us in our hostel room and we all drank vodka and or wine and listened to Daft Punk among other things until it was time for us to go out. We went to a bar that seemed pretty far away, and it seemed to be someone's birthday party when we got there. There were people wearing face paint and party hats all over. The toilet was up higher than the rest of the bathroom... like you had to climb up 4 stairs to get to it. We got ahold of some of the face paint and drew cat nose and whiskers on ourselves... well, Helene and Shay had someone GOOD do their face paint. Lydia, Anita, one of the German guys and I just had the crappy cat whiskers. Then we went to a restaurant and got way too much food (we kept ordering thinking we had eaten it all, but more was still on it's way). We also ran into some more TLG people, like one of the ones that came and spoke to us during orientation about their experiences. When we got back to the hostel, Helene asked if we wanted to hang out with her in the kitchen so Shay, Anita, cat whisker German and I went down and we all sat on the floor in there talking about gassy water and Helene's water bottle cow that the hostel owner was rocking like a baby talking about how he will be a good father someday. Then we went to our beds.
The next morning we had to wake up kind of early and get all our stuff together. We said goodbye to each other at the metro station and then got on our marshutkas to our various areas of Eastern Georgia. On the ride home I sat next to Cort and we listened to pop music on my ipod to try to drown out the bad music the bus driver was listening to... except for of course when "My heart will go on" came on in the marshutka and we had a sing along until the bus driver got annoyed and switched it off. The Georgian countryside is starting to look quite beautiful now that it isn't so snowy and foggy and I could actually see it. I felt very happy sitting there with Cort and looking out the window and listening to music. I think I even told him that I was very happy. I am lucky to have made such great friends over here! And to be in such a beautiful place where I am experiencing things I never would have expected to in my entire life. I am very happy to be alive.
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