Paul Wasserman, SM 2014

Our first full day in Tbilisi! In an attempt to try and get to know Tbilisi better, I woke up at 8am and went for a run around the city. I loved doing this, just getting lost, running through small and winding streets and seeing things that I otherwise would not have seen on the main touristy avenues, which serve as a facade for Western visitors. I ran past the Public Service Hall where we would have a meeting later in the day. It was one of many new modern buildings, and the large white awnings which formed its roof looked like large mushrooms that sprang up from the ground. During my run it became quite evident that I stuck out as a foreigner. No one runs here, and yet here I was, running around in my high school lacrosse shirt, clearly with no idea where to go, and oblivious to all the traffic around me. I didn’t mind getting stared at; if anything, it made me feel more comfortable staring right back at them. There definitely is a Georgian look, but I haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what that is — I think it’s a combination of slightly darker skin color, dark hair, distinct facial features, and overall short stature. I ran past a number of schools as students were heading in, which was a great boost to my ego, as a bunch of girls stopped walking, giggled, whispered together, and pointed at me. I like to think they thought I was cute. A guy can (Georgian) dream, right?

Once back at the hostel, I showered and then headed to the supermarket with Zana to grab breakfast. The supermarket, recognizable by its logo of a squirrel, is two blocks north of our hostel on Rustaveli. In my short time in Tbilisi, I think the supermarket sums up Georgia. It’s located in a grand, majestic five-story building that looks like it could have housed a government agency or the Supreme Court. But the building is empty except for the supermarket that takes up the first floor. It’s an immaculate place, much nicer then the Stop & Shop in New Haven. There is someone continually cleaning the floors, something I’ve noticed throughout Tbilisi. The Georgians certainly love to keep their floors and streets clean. I quickly felt comfortable in the market, seeing juices, yogurts and other products that I had bought in Russia last summer. I bought a yogurt drink, a pastry and some Nutella, and I was ready to tackle the day.

With the rest of the group, we went to the top of city via gondola. We went to Narikala citadel, an old castle that overlooks all of Tbilisi. The city is nestled in a valley; on both sides the city quickly rises into the hills. From our vantage point, you could see the interesting melange of architecture styles, from the classic simplicity of the old buildings to the brand-new futuristic designs of the Presidential Palace, the theatre, the Bridge of Peace, and the massive mansion of the new Prime Minister Ivanishvili, which resembles Iron Man’s estate. It’s quite symbolic that the house overlooks all of Tbilisi and is visible almost anywhere. It’s interesting also that Georgians can’t stand when their police chief and other officials become rich off of corruption, but seem to revere Ivanisvhili as the true “Georgian Dream”, someone who went from the son of a rural farmer, to being worth over 6.5 billion USD. They take immense nationalistic pride in that, despite the fact that Ivanishvili made his money buying and selling properties in post-Soviet Russia.

After our wandering through the citadel, we returned home to change for our meeting with Tina Khidasheli, a member of Parliament who was part of the Georgian Dream coalition. She had been a Yale World Fellow, and focuses on anti-corruption policies. Her husband is also the speaker of the Parliament. We were quite excited to meet with her. However, when we arrived at the Public Service Hall, we were informed that Khidasheli was not in Tbilisi, and that we had no meeting. Luka was able to salvage the trip by arranging for a tour of the building, which basically serves as the one-stop shop for all legal services of the public sector. You can get marriage licenses, business registration, passports, visas, etc, all right here. It was a fantastic example of efficiency and modernism: the system even has a method that transports documents via tube transfer. According to our guide, the average wait time for an operator is only 2 minutes. But just as our guide said that figure, Giorgi overheard a Georgian leaving and complaining that his wait time for an operator was 55 minutes. The building also highlights the facade of Georgia. On the surface, the country looks to be headed in the right direction, with these brilliant innovations. But they seem more directed at impressing the West than anything. The guide noted that they had won a UN Public Service Award for this new building last year.  Regardless of motives, the building was innovative, and beneficial to Georgian citizens, who are called consumers by the administration – in an attempt to make the whole government run more smoothly and beneficially for its “consumers”.

After this, Zana and I wandered through Tbilisi, climbing up into the hills right by Ivanishvili’s house. It was good to see “typical” Tbilisi, which was still much nicer then I expected. It really reminds me of areas of Petersburg. We wandered around, drank a beer, and returned to the hostel to go with everyone to Luka’s house for a massive Georgian feast.

The Georgian saying that the “guest is like a god” really rang true. Luka’s family had spent the entire day preparing a magnificent feast for us. Over three hours we ate and drank Georgian wine. Giorgi played the role of toastmaster, running us through the series of traditional toasts for a feast like this. By 10:30 when we returned home, everyone was stuffed, drunk, and happy.