The past three days have been extremely hectic for my host
family. On Thursday I was informed that
my host brother, Mancho, went to Batumi and got married. For those of you that do not know what Batumi
is, think Las Vegas with a lot fewer strippers.
It is where Georgians, Turks, and Armenians go to drink, gamble, and
make poor life decisions. It is also a
favorite home to many TLG members being likened to Hotel California (you can
never leave).
Anyways back to my family.
I was in utter shock that Mancho got married, as I didn’t even know that
he was dating anyone. I have never seen
him talk to a girl that is out of school and out of his gym class. While I thought this was some kind of joke
the family was extremely excited, and preparations for the inevitable move in
of the wife began. Many neighbors came
to offer their support, and the main house has been undergoing some much-needed
renovations. Finally windows were put in
the last bedroom, and it was readied to paint.
Georgians are known as world-renowned painters, and I fully
believe that if they wanted to they could easily surpass the most famous
renaissance artists. I would classify
their painting style as a modern form of abstract art. They have an uncanny ability to miss large
paintable areas, and give everything around the area being painted a nice
speckled look. In fact I think that
these are the characteristic traits of a good Georgian paint job. That being said the floors of the great room
now have this beautiful blotchy look of dripped paint.
Amid all the renovations that have been happening at my
house, my family has not failed to celebrate the glorious occasion. Every night we have had guests over for large
feasts, however the most important guests (Mancho and his new bride) have yet
to appear to any of the festivities. I
am told that soon we will have a very large Supra in their honor, but in true
Georgian fashion I have not been told where or when it will be. Its ok I’ve learned to just go with the flow
and my family will make sure that I come along.
Friday night (last night) we held a supra for the brides two
sisters and friends from their village.
I was nominated to the highly coveted and illustrious position of
Tamada. Now this is a prestigious post
that comes with many responsibilities, the most important is always finish your
glass of wine to the bottom when you give a toast. I threw on my best Georgian accent, and
proceeded to make toasts to Georgia, the bride and groom, their families, god,
friends, random people in the room, and anything that seemed appropriate. My host dad loved my enthusiasm for the
position, and always encouraged another and another toast. It was a lot of fun to lead the room in the
toasts and of course prove to Georgians that Americans can in fact drink as
much as they can.
Today I woke up to my host dad taking shots of cha cha, and
in his words it was the best way to get rid of his hangover. More people have come over to fix up the
house, however the work has been sidelined by a chance to drink wine and cha
cha with Shaoloa. I will check in again
when I finally meet the new bride, and experience the wedding supra. My host dad mimes that there will be a lot of
dancing, and they all loved my dance moves at the last wedding (I think they
are looking for a repeat performance).
The only minus to the whole wedding scene is that once again the
marriage proposals have fired up. I am
now the only son in the family that is not married, and my village is
determined to have me wed by the end of my contract in December.
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