Hanging in the Caucasus

Hello! It's been a long time. I'm hanging out in Batumi right now, in a hot, smoky internet cafe. I've been enjoying the city, walking around with S, trying to find her a bikini as well as the Stalin museum, which has been shut down. It's a much more walkable town than Tbilisi, and reminds me of Yerevan. Ice cream is a popular treat, and as my friends and I were patronizing a soft-serve joint, one ordered chocolate, one ordered vanilla, and I wanted the swirl, so I said "byelii i shokolad" but the attendent didn't understand, and just gave me vanilla. Our comerade, B, who didn't know any Russian, simply pointed at the lever in the middle. "The power of pointing!" she said. It made me feel stupid. She always one-ups somebody...and the way she talks about herself tends to sound pompous. But I admire her, she's a good spirit.