Trippin in St Pete

[2tallbill]

Learning Georgian is vastly more difficult than learning Russian
(and learning Russian is very hard!) Here for example is the
Georgian alphabet


They have three main languages in Georgia and they use the same alphabet.
Their letters are equivalent, sharing the same names and alphabetical order
and all three are unicameral (make no distinction between upper and lower
case).

The imaginary Georgian girl will be called Sally. Since I haven't met any Sally's
from Georgia it's easier to imagine that Sally is imaginary.

Gamarjoba = Hello
Gagimarjos = hello (what you say back to someone saying hello)


Rogar khar? = how are you?
Kargad = well or good bye
Kargi = good
Kargod = well
These are good responses to Rogar Khar


Me var Billi = I am Bill
Me mkvia Bili = my name is Bill

Nakhvamdis = good bye

Ki = yes
ara = no
an = or
ki an ara = yes or no
Xom = ok and sometimes yes
Xo = ok
gasagebia = I see
You won't be using gasagebia a lot  :chuckle:

Ver gavige = I don’t understand
Bills most commonly used Georgian phrase

Gmadlobt = thank you
Madloba = thanks
arafris = u r welcome,  or not at all

shavi chai = black tea
minda shavi chai = I want black tea

Kochagh = molodetz (Russian word) = good boy / girl  or atta boy
Have success = carmatebas gisurveb!

mshvidobiani dghe = peaceful day
(as in "have a peaceful day" )

ghame mshvidobisa good night
dzili nebisa  = sleep tight (approximately)
tkbili dzili = sweet dreams

nichieri = capable
It is a compliment to be called nichieri

Var = you
medzineba = i am sleepy
how much does it cost? = ra Ghirs?

[2tallbill]

Some advanced Georgian for lovers


If I know what love is, it is because of you.
თუ მე ვიცი რა არის სიყვარული, ეს შენი დამსახურებაა
Tu me vici ra aris sikvaruli, es damsakhurebaa.

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop.
სიყვარული იწყება ღიმილით, გრძელდება კოცნით, მთავრდება ცრემლით
Sikvaruli itskeba gimilit, gdzaldeba kocniT, mtavrdeba tsremliT

My love for you will never break.. even when i'm old and gray!
ჩემი სიყვარული არასდროს დაიმსხვრევა, მე მეყვარები მაშინაც როდესაც ვიქნები მოხუცი და ნაცრისფერი
Chemi sikvaruli arasdros daimskhvreba, me mekvarebi mashinac rodesats viknebi mokhuci da natsrisFeri

Love at first sight is possible, but it pays to take a second look.
სიყვარული ერთი ნახვით შესაძლებელია, მაგრამ ის მოითხოვს (სიტყვასიტყვით: უხდის) მეორე ნახვას
SikvaruliaearTi nakhvit shesadzlebelia, magram is moiTkhovs (literally: ukhdis) meore nakhvas

[2tallbill]

Sandro has some additional information about Georgian languages posted
here http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=17626.msg396583#msg396583

[SANDRO43]

I'd say that the Georgian script is the lesser difficulty of the language, it's very orthographic (accurate in its representation of sounds). A major problem is that it is not an Indo-European language, and therefore its structure is rather alien to us .

[Faux Pas]

Bill
We know a Georgian couple that lived in our same town prior to our last move. Ironically enough we moved into the same neighborhood. The wife spoke good English and the husband, not so much. I found them to be truly some quality folks. Very gracious and generous. Good people. They reminded somewhat of Italians. Even when they were having normal conversations among themselves they were about 6 octaves above everyone else and looked mad. If one didn't know better you'd think they were about to kill each other.

[Anotherkiwi]

They have three main languages in Georgia and they use the same alphabet. Their letters are equivalent, sharing the same names and alphabetical order and all three are unicameral (make no distinction between upper and lower case).

Do Redneck and Hillbilly count as separate languages in Georgia? 

Oh, sorry, Bill - you meant the OTHER Georgia! 

[2tallbill]

Do Redneck and Hillbilly count as separate languages in Georgia? 

Oh, sorry, Bill - you meant the OTHER Georgia! 

Not a true story
My teacher was giving us a spelling test and told us to spell rat.
Little Johnny said is that rat/mouse or rat/now ?

[2tallbill]

Bill
We know a Georgian couple that lived in our same town prior to our last move. Ironically enough we moved into the same neighborhood. The wife spoke good English and the husband, not so much. I found them to be truly some quality folks. Very gracious and generous. Good people. They reminded somewhat of Italians. Even when they were having normal conversations among themselves they were about 6 octaves above everyone else and looked mad. If one didn't know better you'd think they were about to kill each other.

They have several throat clearing noises in their vocabulary. One of the worst is
Kho which means OK. The K is silent but tells you to pull phlegm up from your
throat. Watching a beautiful girl say it 20 times on the phone to somebody else is
NOT appealing in my opinion.

[2tallbill]

I'd say that the Georgian script is the lesser difficulty of the language, it's very orthographic (accurate in its representation of sounds). A major problem is that it is not an Indo-European language, and therefore its structure is rather alien to us .

The girl that I was coming to visit was an English teacher and her sister was a Georgian
language teacher (who knew 3-4 dialects of Georgian) and they said that nobody but
babies could learn Georgian. They were very impressed that I was giving it a try.

[SANDRO43]

They have several throat clearing noises in their vocabulary. One of the worst is Kho which means OK. The K is silent but tells you to pull phlegm up from your throat.

Reminds me of Arabic with its 3 different Hs, the 3rd being REALLY explosive as in:

حرب  (harb=war)

[2tallbill]

Secret Agents

I told you that I started a MySpace page with over 1100 FSUW, of which 99 were Georgian
girls. Since I had found this beautiful blue eyed woman to pursue I enlisted the help of
many of the other girls to help me with my quest. I called these girls my secret agents.

They would help me do all kinds of different things. The Blue Eyed girl had a sister
Gvantsa who was every bit as beautiful as she was and I would ask her to help me
with a surprise or something and at least half the time Gvantsa helped me create a
surprise and the other half Gvantsa would instead pull a practical joke. Back in those
days none of the online translators did Georgian and none of them would do it in
transliteration which I could then repeat.

So I would have Gvantsa help me with the translation to transliteration. I would write
a little poem in English and Gvantsa would translate it to Georgian in Latin letters.
I would write "Your eyes are like deep mountain lakes of water on a cloudless day" 
and she would translate it for me to say "Anna has a funny nose reminds me of a
garden hose"  and then When I got Anna on Skype I would tell Anna about her nose
in Georgian.
 
Although it was very funny, I started getting other MySpace friends to help me
because they wouldn't change the words or pull elaborate tricks on me. There
was also a girl named Alenika who I knew from LuckyLovers.net and another
forum. She helped me get a nice flat at a good price and helped with some other
local arrangements. We were virtual friends.

[2tallbill]

I left Portland Oregon on Tuesday at 10:35 am and arrived beaten and battered
at the Tblisi airport at 2:45am on Thursday  All flights into or out of Tblisi arrive
or leave sometime around 3:00 am. I crossed 12 time zones and had been traveling
for 2 1/2 days.

I arrived at my apartment at about 4:00 am, even though I was tired beyond words
to describe,  eventually (I am guessing I went to sleep around 5:00am) and I woke
up at 10:30 am Thursday.

I had a bunch of things to accomplish
I bought some water, toilet paper, cheese, bread, milk, cereal, tea, juice, etc.

List that I can remember
Exchange some dollars for Lari
Find an internet cafe

I bought a cell phone NOTE this is a three step process*
1. You find a phone store and buy a phone.
2. You find a sim card store and buy a sim card
3. You buy prepaid minutes to use the phone

You thought you could go to one place in Georgia and get all three of these things?
ha ha ha ha ha ha  :chuckle:  don't be silly, why would you wish to do this?

The phone situation seems to be more complex than I could figure out. Just because
you dial a girl on the phone and she answers while you are in the US does not mean
you can dial the same number and expect for it to be connected while you are in
Tblisi. Some of the numbers have to be changed I hadn't learned which numbers or
how or why but I am on the case and will report my findings.

I have tried to call my secret agents and have been unsuccessful so far. (I reached
only one)

I walked up and down the hills enough to run a mountain goat into the ground.


* When you ask why they are not all three Phone, Sim Card and Minutes in the same
place they act as if you are asking why they don't sell aftershave along with spare
airplane parts, maybe traveling 11 time zones away* and lack of sleep, and fatigue
are contributing to my lack of understanding. 

[2tallbill]

Hot and cold running water are often taken for GRANTED* in the West.

Today the Hot water came from a kettle on the stove and the cold water came
from a tap on the shower. Over many trips I have worked out a system of getting myself
semi presentable when one of the following is not available.

1. electricity (shave with care)
2. hot water
3. no water (can you say moist towlettes?)

Today it was no hot water. I boiled a pot and kettle on the stove, and took it into the bath with me.
 

Pre shower: Prepare a number of cups of hot tea to fortify oneself internally
Then did a "Navy" shower routine
1. get wet
2. soap up
3. rinse
4. dry off quickly

I use the hot water for soaping up and rinsing of vitals (family jewels etc)
and cold water for washing hair and limbs and any place still soapy when the
hot water is gone.

Post shower routine another cup of Joe and I am good to go (black tea in my case).




* Today I was reminded once again that Grant and Ed (the founding members of Granted) were in fact  sheep buggering bastards difficult gents.

[AC]

2tallbill,
I find it amazing that you travelled so far, I am assuming in the cattle area of the plane (and not first class) and that you are so tall (IIRC 6' 8").  It must also have been a real hassle for such a big guy to function in some of these "apartments" which as most of us know are usually quiet small.

[mhr7]

All flights into or out of Tblisi arrive or leave sometime around 3:00 am.

It's an odd airport. Not very busy at all during the day but between 7pm and 7am the place really comes alive.

[2tallbill]

2tallbill,
I find it amazing that you travelled so far, I am assuming in the cattle area of the plane (and not first class) and that you are so tall (IIRC 6' 8").  It must also have been a real hassle for such a big guy to function in some of these "apartments" which as most of us know are usually quiet small.

I'm only 6' 7" (201cm) I've ridden in business class a few times when I had enough
miles for the upgrade. I've never paid for the enormous upcharge. If I can get an exit
row seat for the over the water part of the trip then I am golden (I get it about half of
the time)

[2tallbill]

Here is the entrance to Bill's sophisticated Georgian bachelor pad and the nerve center
for Georgian romance operations.

[2tallbill]

This is the street that I lived on so I took a photo of the street sign. Everyone recognized
it when I asked for directions.

[2tallbill]

The toilet ran a zillion gallons and hour just flushing all the time. So I took
that back off and I could see that all the parts needed for the toilet to work
weren't present. So I turned off the water in the back and I would turn it
back on when I needed it. I told the land lady about it but if I were to measure
her concern on a scale of 0 to 10, I think this problem would rate a .005 which
is significantly less than a one.

[2tallbill]

This is the entrance to the bachelor pad.



A couple days after arriving it became apparent that I had once again traveled to
meet a girl who liked me very much but wasn't romantically interested in me. It
came as a bit of a shock, and I was terribly disappointed and frustrated. I went
to a bar and had several beers pondering how I would once again have to start and
how all the talking, letters and Skyping for months had led to nothing.

Everyone, myself included will tell you not to get too emotionally involved before
you meet. Yet I managed to do so anyway. So once again I gave myself a pep talk,
and I will go out, smell the flowers, taste the food, explore the history and culture
and become a tourist in this beautiful city, then go to the internet cafe and start
writing girls to see who I could meet.

[2tallbill]

I often take photos of my surroundings so that if I get turned around I
can find my way back. So I took this photo



Later I would discover that every third corner looked like this 

[2tallbill]

A street artist selling his wares.

[2tallbill]

One of the garbage cans outside seem to have a small fire going on inside it.
It didn't bother any of the locals so I didn't let it bother me either.

[2tallbill]

Near the center

[2tallbill]