I don't think Ray Charles had this on his mind when he wrote his classic song. But here we are in Georgia,a former Soviet republic. We got in this afternoon from Istanbul to a city under cloudy skies. We caught a taxi to our hotel in the capital city of Tbilisi. If, as Ariana has warned us, the ride was any indication of the rides we are yet to endure, then please pass me my bottle of nitro! It seems to be a European thing, and this eastern European country does not appear to be an exception, where drivers, especially taxi drivers, just move over into any other lane that they please to occupy whether or not the lane is occupied already. Oh well, white knuckle time here we come!
We've had a chance to meet and have dinner with a few of Ariana's fellow Peace Corps volunteers. They all seem to be a good group of educated people, she's in good company with them. Tomorrow we'll get a marshuka (mini bus) ride to the village where she lives. Her host family has been anxious to meet us and we are looking forward to meeting the family that has been so kind to her for the past year. We'll be doing some sight seeing around the north of this ancient country which is said to be the first wine growing region in the world, and we'll even probably get to see Russia!
