Professor Coughing Whoop

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Professor Coughing Whoop

Tuesday, July 04, 2006 Watchtower Tourists
Watchtower Tourists
A little necessary backdating. We're actually back in Englewood now, convalescing from the timezone displacement, or the "dire and ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythm." A quiet July 4th is a perfect time to upload some of the photos and start to put this blog to bed. I've had a chance to adjust back to living here and it's good to be back (though there are some things about pop culture I didn't miss). After our last post describing our time in Batumi, we had two short weeks bookending a weekend before departing. Both of our research schedules made it difficult to take much time off for touristing, but to leave the country without returning to Kazbegi would have been unacceptable.

The Georgian Military Highway (საქართველოს სამხედრო გზა/Военно-Грузинская дорога) extends northward from Tbilisi toward the Russian border. Having been up and down it twice, I am fairly certain that the "high" in "highway" refers strictly to its altitude and not its speed. Leaving third gear was a very rare occurance. It's said that German POWs paved the mountain sections of the road during the GPW, and if that is true, little care for the road has happened between then and recently. There do seem to be recent improvements comparing our 2002 experiences with this year's journey, including some guardrails and paint. The pothole count does not appear to have diminished, however. With some new friends, we took a marshrutka

Marshrutka en route for Tbilisi
Originally uploaded by Geir Engene. north with only one beer stop for the driver (this was good news). We found a nice homestay with a Louiza (Lonely Planet overlists her rate) as a base. The place was not far from the townsquare, though there are not many places without a stunning view of Tsminda Sameba church (Google Maps satellite view). On Saturday, we hired a driver to take us to Sno, a village south and east of Kazbegi. With some lunch and water we set off on foot for Juta, which is quite proximate as crows fly, but it is uphill. Once Juta was in sight, we scrambled and scrounged for a good lunch spot, dined, napped, and earned sunburns in the thin air. Judging by the "road" serving Juta, citizens of Juta probably do not see non-Jutinians between Halloween and Easter. A dead plow with tractor still attached sat apparently where it had died in the winter randomly along our path. Tbilisi's car alarms, buses, honking, World Cup goal scoring responses, and construction banging impelled me to find the quietest spot in the mountains, and I was lucky to find an entire weekend full of quiet spots. Wind and water (as well as Luiza's roosters) were the only noisemakers. Oh, and the noise of a digital shutter made a little noise too; I probably took a gig of photos, some of which are on Flikr. To get back to Kazbegi, we simply turned around and walked downhill, where our prearranged driver found us outside of Sno. We found the watchtower near Sno's center (featured in the top photo). After sundown, we made a poor choice--instead of having our homestay host make us dinner, we thought the town's restaurant (note lack of plural) would be ok. No. Kazbegi restaurant review aside: Never, ever waste your time, money, or culinary energy eating at the nameless joint housing the crap purveyors on the south side of the townsquare [lat 42.657476 long 44.640595]. Yeck.



Falls
Originally uploaded by jeremytoday. On Sunday, we found the same driver and his red Niva to take us up toward the Russian border (somewhere near here I think, I lacked a GPS) to take in a tall waterfall. It required a little scrambling, but the view served as a more-than-suitable reward for the effort. More merciful mountain quiet followed before we headed back to Kazbegi to find our Lada driver who would take us back to Tbilisi. That drive was nice as we were able to stop for mtsvadi (done right), and then at the Ananuri church/fortress.

That left us with four business days in Tbilisi to get it all done. Asking some of the expats who were around for the event, I found that it did not take much effort to find the general vicinity where an assassin thankfully failed to kill Bush and presumably Saakashvili. It happened in Freedom Square, or Tavisuplebis Moedani (née Lenin Square), the city's cultural center of gravity, their own Times/Trafalgar Square, near the seats of government for state and city and the border between the older and newer parts of the city. It's the obvious place to hold a rally with a crowd. I'm not sure exactly where the grenade landed, but most accounts have it near the new hotel. Now, there's a fountain being built in the center. So, clearly, it's no Dealey Plaza, but not many Americans can say they've been to the site of an attempted Bush assassination. Speaking of Bush hating, America is not terribly popular in the world lately, but Georgians hold generally much warmer regard than Eurofolk. There's even a street named after W in Tbilisi--I seriously doubt there is a Rue de Bush en Paris. Not a little money goes from US taxpayers to this small Caucasus state, but it's clear that the relationship between the US and Georgia is based on more than money and military training, or so I think. Georgia's a largley lovely place full of some great people who are slowly shaking off the burdens of history. While I don't see it getting a "1" from Freedom House anytime soon, I do see a future with some better roads and inroads, which will be nice in some respects, but it will only encourage those pesky tourists--so consider seeing it before then.

Thanks for reading, friends -jeremy margin-top: 0px;"> No Smoking
Originally uploaded by jeremytoday. Last weekend, I traveled by night train down to Georgia's southwest port city, Batumi, to meet Julie and her assistant who had already been there for the week. Batumi's character charms visitors with its climate, slower pace, color, and water. All accounts suggest that the place has improved dramatically in the past few years, but it has always attracted Georgian and foreign tourists if for no other reason than its beaches. We were here in 2002, albiet briefly, en route to Tbilisi from Turkey, and the city seems repaved, repainted, and more welcoming. Batumi is the seat of Adjara, a region that has transitioned from autonomous mildly separatist region into distinctive nonseparatist region since the Rose Revolution.

It is worth noting that Georgia as a whole rests at the faultlines between the religious and political tectonics plates that collide in the Caucasus. Sunni Turkic influence from the southwest, Shia influence from the southeast, to say nothing of the predominant Christianization--coupled with the political forces: Soviet puppeteering from Moscow in the 20th century, Ottoman conquest around the 16th century, and the ubiquitous heavy hand of the Romans.

Evidence of the conflicts is not hard to come by. Since the Soviet collapse, the Caucausus have been home to ethnic and political division, all-too-often contested with Kalishnikovs. Even before the forced Soviet harmony of the 20th century, the mountainous region, riven with secluded valleys and isolated plateaus, was a messy melange of language, ethnicity, tribe, and tradition.

Adjara has traditionally been contested territory. It was most dominated by Georgian Muslims before the cracked veneer of the ostensibly atheist Soviet papered over latent religiousity. Christianization has been robust since Georgian independence however. A single official mosque (i.e., government approved) still stands in central Batumi, though reportedly 175 unofficial mosques exist in the region. The actual number of "Adjarans" (i.e., Georgian Muslims) remaining is unclear. Adjara's absconded former leader, the indefatigable Aslan Abashidze, was even whispered to be Muslim. If you want to know for sure, he's in Moscow.

In short, if Georgia is at the center of large exogenous forces, Adjara is one of the pinch points. This fact thankfully does not detract from Batumi's pleasantness however. Cafes and restaurants line the port, and mountains ring the entire area, providing a asthetically pleasing spot to sit back and enjoy your acharuli khachapuri, shashlik, or Argo.

That Roman influence can be seen quite vividly south of Batumi very near the Turkish border. A cabbie-turned-tourguide spirited us away from the port along the Black Sea coast to Gonio-Apsaros, a not very ruined Roman fort ruin. The outer walls and even some of the clay plumbing system stand more or less intact, and because it's Georgia and not some stiflingly safe Western country, you can climb up the railingless steps and tiptoe on the tops of the slick ramparts.

Batumi's beach, pictured below, is very peculiar in its beauty. There is some black sand, but the beach is principally made of not-uncomfortable stones. These stones create an audible curiousity as each wave recedes back the sea: the sound of thousands of small stones tumbling over each other for a few moments, repeat ad infinitum.

This upcoming weekend: Kazbegi

Next week (and our final week): A brief investigation into the precise location of the attempted assassination of President George W. Bush in 2005.

For those seeking a red tweed update, it is here, but it has been much to hot to don.

posted by JMT at 8:47 AM 0 comments

Saturday, June 10, 2006 Back in Tbilisi
Georgian Church at night
At right is an image I captured on the northeast side of Tbilisi on a recent eating foray. The culinary object of our search is often Khinkhali, Georgia's national dumpling. I've had them kosher, goy, and store-bought, but all have been delicious. Georgia is historically known for its wine in the post-Soviet world (especially now since Putin is trying to twist Georgia's arm with a boycott), but I find myself seeking out and enjoying the foods while accepting the beverages. Georgians practice quite a ritual with the dumpling's consumption--it must be done by hand and its "stem" left uneaten. The dumplings, if made well and not overdone, perfectly seal in the broth and pork inside, though suffering through the minor mouth burns seems to constitute part of the fun.

To be enjoyed

We have now had a chance to settle in and find routines in Tbilisi. Julie's days are certainly occupied by her extensive field work--she works almost ordinary hours. Evenings, more than not, have been dominated by an aggresive expat social scene. Tbilisi certainly has a lot going on in general, but Julie enjoys wide and deep connections to many expats and Georgians. She was here on Fulbright in 2002 for the year and has successfully stayed in contact with many others studying (and working on) Georgian politics. In other words, we have not been for lack of academics, journalists, NGO-types, etc, with whom to imbibe Georgia's most prolific beer.

Our stay is about a third expired, and we still have much to do, professionally and touristy. I lugged my laptop along with some odds and ends to take care of. A tech came by and installed DSL for us the other day (the Zarqawi hit I discovered on drudge), which obviously facilitates getting some work done.

posted by JMT at 3:21 PM 4 comments

Thursday, June 08, 2006
We have arrived. Julie and I made it to Tbilisi on Wednesday early morning last week, and after three nights crashing on a friend’s floor, we have found an apartment in the Saburtalo neighborhood, sharing with an expatriate journalist from New York. We experienced an exhausting journey here, but we could not resist a day in London. Our flight gave us a 13 hour layover in London (not a lot of flights in and out of Tbilisi), and we could not imagine sitting in Heathrow perusing soccer magazines and drinking airport coffee for that long, so snuck out and took the Piccadilly line to Holborn for some breakfast and British Museum. After calories and caffeine from Prêt a Manger, we took a look at Eagle House, the reincarnation of the flat where I lived in 1994. Holborn has a much more polished appearance than it did twelve years ago. Glassy and steely office space has replaced the slummy pub that closed early, run down flats, and occasional bums.


(click us for self indulgent video)


The British Museum has also radically transformed itself since last I saw it. While its pride and joy are of course still there, the famous Reading Room and internal foyer got a massive face lift in 2000. We perused the reading room where the curators offer research computers that can index the museums holdings using what they call Compass (artifacts and art, but not books). The fact that we had not slept in over thirty hours was starting to catch up with us, a point made obvious by Julie’s accidental nap at these computer terminals. I am confident she was not the first scholar to nap in the British Museum’s Reading Room.



After recaffination, we walked down to Covent Garden then west to Trafalgar (Nelson and his column were sheathed in a refurbishing lattice of scaffolds and plastic) were I enjoyed the quintessential British meal. Then we sauntered down Whitehall to Westminster Cathedral (it was just closing), so we tubed it across the river so Julie could see the Shakespeare’s Globe. They are currently offering “The Edges of Rome,” rotating between the four Roman plays, including of course, Coriolanus (“Name not the god, thou boy of tears!”).

Exhausted, we struggled back to Heathrow and redid the check-in rigmarole. There was some confusion as to the terminal out of which we were to fly, as the signs indicated which terminals corresponded to which destinations. Unfortunately, we assumed that Georgia was included in “Other European destinations,” a choice we probably should have guessed was wrong. Georgia is rarely characterized as Middle Eastern, sometimes European, and sometimes Asian—so there was no telling, really.

The Foundation generously sent a driver to pick us up at the airport. We walked around Tbilisi all day, joined up with some expats for Georgia’s second-most famous cuisine, kinkhali. Since then, Julie has really hit the ground running on her research, and we moved into our apartment a couple days ago. More later.

posted by JMT at 4:37 PM 1 comments

Sunday, May 07, 2006
We're Going to Sakartvelo. Also known as Georgia. While dodging bird flu and other minor irritations, we hope to accomplish some social science and touristing in this stunningly beautiful land. Stay tuned for images and impressions.

(If you wanted to recall our last foray toward these longitudes, there are still remnants of our Syttende Mai (May 17) through July, 2004 trip on the old blog.)

posted by JMT at 6:30 PM 1 comments

ContributorsJMTpreggersphd Links Google News: Tbilisi Wikipedia's Georgia Entry Civil Georgia (News) The Messenger (News) Previous Posts Watchtower Tourists No Smoking Originally uploaded by jeremyto... Back in Tbilisi We have arrived. Julie and I made it to Tbilisi o... Were Going to Sakartvelo. Also known as Georgia.... Archives

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