By Laura

A Series of Letters.

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;
I carry them, men and women—I carry them with me wherever I go)

You road I enter upon and look around! I believe you are not all that is
here;
I believe that much unseen is also here.

From this hour, freedom!
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute,
Listening to others, and considering well what they say
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating

"Song of the Open Road," Walt Whitman

 

Dear Mom,

Anyway I am having lots of fun, but am a little disappointed that I have to live with this old woman....she makes Gramie and Grandpy look completely NOT controlling...when I am there (at the house...which is not very often because I am always avoiding it) she tells me how to do everything, like I don't brush my hair the right way, I shouldn't take showers, I turn the TV off the wrong way, I make my bed the wrong way, I eat my food the wrong way....AHHH it drives me nuts, and of course she can't really speak English so it takes her hours to say just a few words and she keeps repeating herself incessantly too....picture Grandmama trying to explain something in a language she doesn't know...and then she still is trying always to control me! Oh well i am trying very hard not to be annoyed with her but it is difficult, I try to be patient (not my best quality) and appreciative, but I feel like I am still creating some bad karma with the whole situation. She also doesn't cook very much food for us (because she is

an old woman-so she physically can't really cook) and so we aren't really getting to try good Georgian food at home, but luckily there are tons of nice people I have met that take me out to restaurants ...so I can't complain about that...I really am having a wonderful time despite the woman, so don't worry!

Dear Mom,

As far as the summer goes, who knows what will happen, I can always come back to Georgia as I have about six friends that have offered to find any type of internship that I wish and will let me stay with them...ah well I will see the what the future brings and not worry about it. I do know that I probably wouldn't make much money in Georgia, but it would be a good cultural experience and would probably help out my resume...I have a hilarious story about going to this "gender round table discussion about gender issues in Georgia" It was at the American Bar Association building and a bunch of Georgians and others came together to talk about the Georgians signing a CITDEL for the UN that requires gender equality. So they were also discussing the legal repercussions of this....anyway that is not my main point...the ABA is headed up by of course an American (who reminded me way too much of a smart version of Joanne Smith...not so much in stature but in personality, and a bit in stature as well...) she of course went to Harvard Law and had a daughter that graduated from Welllesley and she was the most awful person ever!! I hated her, she was so fake and annoying...and so anyway there were three of us from Wellesley and we were invited to sit in on the meeting (which was held in Georgian and Russian and of course this American lady doesn't speak either language and has to have private translator) and she always makes a huge deal at her office about making everyone wear really dressy clothes...so we show up (the Wellesley girls) and we didn't realize this was anything formal because our internships have been very informal....and we all had jeans on and dirty shirts and hadn't taken a shower in days...we looked awful. and this American lady made a huge deal about us in front of all these important Georgians and Russians and made us stand up and talk about why we were here and where we were from...it was hilarious because we looked so dirty and she makes such a big deal about dressing up...quite a funny situation.

Then afterwards of course she had to talk to us for hours about how wonderful she was, and all her fabulous accomplishments....what a thoroughly unpleasant lady! and she is representing America!! very sad!!!

more later!

Love Laura

Dear Mom,

Well finally I have some time to write you in peace and quiet!! I have been super busy here in Georgia and I am learning many many things, but I think I have made one fatal mistake, which is okay I guess because now I know much more about myself but it will make the last five days here sort of unpleasant I think...so any advice you might have would be welcome...

Okay here is the story..

I have been working at an NGO in Tbilisi that is working hard to combat corruption in all areas of Georgian culture, it is a very important organization and many of the best and brightest young people work for it. So I have met a group of about six or seven Georgians that I have been hanging out with all the time (because they all work at the internship with me) and then after work we always go out to eat and around the town and just generally have fun. I think they are all hilarious and really fun to be around and we get along really well, for example one guy Bacho only talks to me in Georgian because he is on vacation from studying in Germany and wants to speak as much Georgian as possible (even though he has fabulous English and German skills) he is hilarious, also there is a girl Kato that was a dancer for the Georgian national group for nine years and she is always making up dances to pop songs and teaching them to everyone...anyway they all really like me because I go along with them and like to listen to them speak Georgian and I talk to them using the few Georgian phrases I know ect...soooooo anyway my point is that so I sort of liked DUKE --whose actual name is Giorgi or the Americanized form is George (who also works at the same internship), so I went on a double date with him after we went out to eat with the huge group (another American girl went with Giorgi's friend Shota) and all was fine and dandy and I had a really good time. SO I was thinking you know Georgia is great I love all the people etc ect...WELLLL now Giorgi is completely obsessed with me and won't leave me alone, I keep telling him I am leaving in five days and so I don't really want to keep going on dates with him (especially because he is so obsessive now...unlike before) and now he thinks he is in love (but I think it is childish infatuation). I still have to go to work at this internship and his friends all tease him and they encourage going on dates, and they are really nice people ( i like hanging out with the friends) but I am feeling very much like I want to tell him off, but part of me is like, just deal with it for five days ...but I am very annoyed, plus if I tell him off I will sort of lose all the other peoples friendship as well...so that is why I think I should just deal for five days...plus there is this whole other aspect of Georgian culture that I could write about ten papers on, that figures into this whole situation...So anyways...the point is now I know not to show interest....hmmmm anyway...I really like Georgia that is for sure! I just don't like obsessive people, and you know me I really like to be independent and not be coerced into doing anything, so I feel like had things just progressed normally I would have actually liked him and considered visiting Georgia in the future but now I am like, I don't think so....but it makes me sad because I love all the people from the internship and I used to like Giorgi but now I am annoyed...

Okay anyway I have been having lots of good food and a really fun time besides obsessive people!

Hopefully I have time to write more!

Love

Laura

dear mom,

the shift key on this computer doesnt work so i cant put in any capital letters, anyway ...

okay funny and painful story about giorgi...so i have been taking your advice and laying low and not hanging out with the georgians as much but i promised them i would stop by on monday so i took another wellesley girl with me, ava and we talked with them for about two hours and then we both went home to sleep (around nine pm) i was fairly cold with giorgi and didnt talk to him much so i thought he got the picture...anyway so i went home and went to bed early cause i was tired. so at three AM in the morning the old woman i am living with (78) knocks on my door and says i have a phone call, so i am super tired and not thinking straight, cause i was sound asleep and i go and answer the phone and it turns out to be a girl from the group of georgians i was hanging out with and she tells me tolook out the window (i live on the third or fourth floor of an apartment building) so i look out the window into the parking lot of the apartment complex and what do I see??????????

i see giorgi standing in the middle of a ten foot by ten foot heart that is on fire. (like someone had put some sort of flammable material in a heart shape and lit it on fire) keep in mind he is in the middle of the parking lot....wow was i disturbed!! so i woke up the wellesley girl who lives with me (she is supernice and super understanding-named cora) and she calls giorgi's friend for me and tells him to leave...and that she was mad at them for waking up the whole household at three am. so the poor old lady doesn't understand what is going on....anyway cora and i left the phone off the hook until five in the morning so they couldn't call back. luckily the old woman's daughter (who speaks english) stopped by the house today and we explained to her about why their was a huge trail of ashes in the shape of a heart in the middle of the parking lot...she thought it was hilarious and promised to tell the guys to leave us alone if they called the house...she also said not to worry about it...well anyway, i am

not going back to that internship and am just going to hang out with the americans for the next three days and hope that i am not stalked anymore....

so that is my story i am sure i will think it is hilarious in a few years, but now i am sort of disturbed....

other than that I am having fun! don't worry about me

Love Laura

Dear Mom,

Thanks for all your thoughts and I do think that the whole thing is quite funny...as much as it is also not... I called Giorgi and told him to leave me alone for the last few days and I think he will. I am not going to go back to my internship for the last few days either, which kind of makes me a bit sad, as I would have liked to have said goodbye to all the good friends I made there, but I really can't go back there now. What I plan to do is get their email addresses from the other Americans that are going to visit them and then write them an email saying what a fabulous time I had, and that I am sorry I couldn't say goodbye to them. I feel like maybe I am leaving a bit of bad or unfinished karma in Georgia, but I am sure that later in my life it will resolve itself somehow, perhaps I will meet some of these people again. Other than that I have been having a wonderful last few days, the Americans all went to a Georgian folk music concert in an

absolutely gorgeous concert hall. Also I went to a huge market and bazaar today and looked around and had some more wonderful food. I talked to dad on the phone the other day and told him the story....hahaha anyway

I had an interesting dream where I had my Jade plant that I received when I started my freshman year at wellesley, and it had split into two separate plants (but was still in the same pot) and for some reason I had to give the plant away to someone, but I really didn't want to give the plant away, because I really like it. But I did give the plant away (I think it was to an older woman) and I was really sad about it. (Link to 11.21.04 article)

Well also we have no gas in our house for today and the next week or so because of some explosion on the boarder between Russia and Georgia (Russia supplies Georgia with gas and whenever Russia gets politically mad at Georgia they just cut off the gas supply) anyway our house runs the heat on gas, so we have no heat....about the only time I am not cold is when I am in bed, and I wear my columbia jacket around the house. Also we have no electricity in the house from eleven o'clock until six o'clock during the day...this is in the entire city (no gas at all, and no electricity during the day) so this makes it even harder for me to find an internet cafe...because a lot of them don't have backup generators. Well I am definitely getting the cultural experience here!! But seriously even with the slight inconveniences (also the fact that we have no hot water...which means no showers...i haven't showered in four days) I really really really do like Georgia, I like the people, the culture, the food, the town...just about everything! I feel like I have learned so much, all the inconveniences are definitely worth it!!!!

I will try to write again but I am not sure I will be able to...have fun! don't work too hard!

Love

Laura

Dear Mom,

Well you gotta love random power outages...my whole email got erased! YUCK! okay to type again...I am leaving Georgia at five AM on Saturday morning. I plan to get to Boston by bus (either greyhound or the Chinatown bus) with other Wellesley students. I don't think it will be difficult at all and should be between 20-40$ Tonight I am going to a big dinner with the Americans and tomorrow I am going to special Turkish sulfur baths, which are supposed to be perfect for meditating and bringing on an extremely relaxed state...hmmm maybe I will have some visions...I am really excited for that!

I am so surprised that Charles Gray asked about me! Did you tell him that I was in Georgia?? that would have been hilarious!

Because we have no gas or electricity I haven't washed my hair in five days and it is super gross, so I went to the barber shop and had it washed and trimmed for $3.50 (what a deal!!) and they guy did a super good job cutting it as well! so I am really happy about that!--a much better deal than the 60$ it costs in Boston to get a hair cut...plus my hair really needed a trim.

Well I should send this in case the power goes out again!

Love

Laura

 

dear mom,

well the shift key on this computer also doesnt work...so sorry no capital letters.

well i have been loving my last few days in georgia, and the turkish baths were wonderful and i finally feel clean

love
laura