I'm gone again! here I am

in Geneva, which it turns out, isn't a place I am all that fond of. But, for those curious, here's a tentative itinerary for this round of adventure.

June 2nd-7th: Tbilisi
June 7th-9th: Tkibuli
June 9th-21st: Pankisi
June 22nd - July 3rd: Mestia
July 3rd-6th: Sighnaghi
July 7th-9th: Istanbul
July 9th-12th: Trabzon
July 12th-13th: Batumi
July 13th-August 1st: Mestia
August 1st-2nd: Tbilisi
August 2nd-9th: Chambery
August 9th: NYC

It's been a long, long, long time.

It is perhaps time for a revival. Though my blogging skills remain basic at best, I have got to get back into the habit, at least somewhat. I have my summer journey mostly planned out. It will look like this:


View Summer 2012 in a larger map

New York ---> Tbilisi ---> Zugdidi ---> Mestia, Svaneti; I will be helping at Nino's Guesthouse ---> Zugdidi ---> Tbilisi ---> New York

Dates: May 11th - July 3rd.

GRE ---> check.

PhD school in Georgians is becoming more and more of a thing.
I am writing a statement of purpose, even.

I am also a librarian now.
This is, to me, unsettling. In fact, I am hoping to go there and see what is happening because, apparently, Saakashvili is trying to make Svaneti a super tourist destination. This is bound to bring forth significant, probably irreversible changes. I am refraining from a value judgment. I just want to get there.

It is always scary to me, inevitably scary, when roads get constructed, hotels built, people shipped over for an exotic time in a remote part of the world. Why are we to simplify everything so much that so little authenticity remains? Why must we put our comfort above all else? Why must we be fine flying for ten hours, only to desire the same commodities as our homes provide, the same foods, air, drinks... how many times have I seen this happen? It will never stop, will it?

Project coming along. Should be done in something like two weeks.