Friday, November 25, 2011

Have You Ever...

This will be a short little blog.  I was thinking about a month ago that I had experienced quite a few new, interesting (or humorous) things here that likely many of you have not experienced (as many of these are noted, of course, precisely because I had never before experienced them in all my life in America).  This is the culmination of all those little jots here and there over the past month:



Have you ever...


...had to walk through a flock of turkeys to get to the bathroom at school.  (This one is a fairly common occurence for me.)

...had a flock of geese hiss at you as you walked to school or Church?  (I didn't even know they could hiss.)

...had to eat bread every time you ever sat down to eat, period?

...seen two monasteries, an ancient king's castle, a seminary, and a metropolitan in one day?

...been repeatedly, if mildly, irritated (though you do get adjusted to it, to some extent) at extreme over-hospitality (forgive me, host family and other Georgians, but you worry too much)?

...used an appliance where the plug is two bare wires?

...drank a liter or two of (strong) wine all at once out of an ox or goat horn?  (It hasn't happened to me yet, but I've seen it, and will bet it happens to me before I go on break in December.)  [I can now note in irony that on the same day I wrote this one, I was offered a goat horn.]

...seen a real live shepherd tending his flock (and had to avoid hitting said flock while driving to town)?

...been in a country where it's rude not to say hello when you see someone, but also rude (or "not beautiful," as my host sister explained it) to say hello to someone more than once in a day?

...had tarragon-flavored soda?  (It's quite good.)

...had to bundle up the most before getting into to bed (i.e., so that you could convince yourself to get up in the morning)?

...seen seven chickens sitting on top of each other in a tree (for warmth)?

...had a cake with onion as the flavoring?  (Surprisingly, very delicious.)

...had pigs feet? or lamb vertebrae (you eat them like ribs)? or chicken butt?  (The last two were quite good--pig's feet, pig skin, et cetera, however, is a bit too chewy, gelationus, and tasteless for me.)

...had candy with only two ingredients:  grape juice and flour?

...seen a banana tree with snow on it?  (And remember, this is November--a few weeks ago, it was still growing fruit!)



Anyway, those are just a few things that caught my eye as a bit odd or strange--you may or may not find them humorous, but some of them certainly made me step back and chuckle.  Of course, the really hilarious things are culture differences, trying to communicate when you each only know a tiny bit of the other's language, and so forth--but most of those, you just have to experience for yourselves.


In Christ,
Teopile/Theophilos Porter

2 comments:

  1. I think you'll find that that isn't irony, but actually just pure coincidence.

    Hope you're doing well.

    Ross

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  2. Yes, but it's not what one would expect--if it hadn't happened to me yet, and I'd only seen it happen once, one would think that it would be an uncommon occurrence, and not expect it to come up often or quickly. Hence, it being opposed to the expected, I think one could justly call it ironic.

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