I am going to complain, so skip this one if you want. The Caucasian Cooties are one thing, the gal dern bed covers are another.
Night after night I am in a wrestling match with this impossible"comforter". Comforter my a__.
It moves. Constantly. All night long I am in a leg-lock," joe-jitsuing" with this guy.
It is old, like every thing else in this place, and lumpy and it crawls. The lumps migrate to the edges, weigh them down and then cause the covers to crawl. It is very annoying. It is cold, the night noises are unfamiliar, and then to be constantly trying to outwit my covers is down right insane. I want tame, gentle, soothing, soft, luxurious well-behaved covers. It's all I ask. But it ain't gonna happen.
To whom should I escalate this complaint? My friends. You will pity me won't you?????
So I will continue on my nightly weight loss program and somehow I am going to get smarter. I thought about tying the vicious devil to the bedposts, but of course there are no bedposts.
I'm thinking about sending it to Emily Post School of Good Bedcover Behavior. If it does not pass which I doubt it will, I'm going to have it arrested by the Russian police, or even worse the Abkhazian militia. Now that's serious. I really hate to threaten, or to retaliate, but it is necessary. I mean this is not a preemptive strike, the covers assaulted ME FIRST.
Thugs, mafia. Tomorrow I will learn the Russian word for f'ing comforter, maybe it doesn't understand English, and if I threaten it, it will behave.........
Before going to bed tonight, I ask, in your prayers, you say "Thank you Spirit for nice covers, and may Genie's comforter be nice to her."
Nighty night.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
GRUD
You know how as kids we mixed crayons together to make new colors, and would make up new names, like rellow(red and yellow)? So it is with nature.
Colorodans know the color of of aspen trees and snow, the frosty color, seen from a distance while skiing. Beautiful. The frosty gray is a different color here. The ash and chestnut tees are dark, and the frost looks very different, more amber, lovely.
There are other colors, ones I've never seen before, even while mixing crayons. Abkhaz colors. The one most disturbing I call GRUD. It is gray and mud. I could call it MEY ( mud and gray), but that sounds much too pleasant. Grud makes me sad and mad. It is made of despair and blood. Grud is an unnecessary color. No one needs grud in their town, or in their lives.
Grud smells. The stench is frightening. It is beyond squalor, beyond revolting, repugnant.
I am a geriatrician, no stranger to bad smells, they come with the territory. No baby fresh fragrances on my exam table or in the nursing homes.
Today my experience of color went beyond grud. Gray, mud, anger, despair, blood were only the top layer. No utterances are sufficient to translate the experience, the reality of this 'living being' in the same universe as you and me.
There was not a reason to ask how? Why? How long? Just advance to the bed of this barely living being, then greet, pray, work. Depart. Find my sanctuary, my little room, and sob.
I will be returning next week, and the week after, until this being no longer breathes grud any more.
God help us all, pity us all.
Colorodans know the color of of aspen trees and snow, the frosty color, seen from a distance while skiing. Beautiful. The frosty gray is a different color here. The ash and chestnut tees are dark, and the frost looks very different, more amber, lovely.
There are other colors, ones I've never seen before, even while mixing crayons. Abkhaz colors. The one most disturbing I call GRUD. It is gray and mud. I could call it MEY ( mud and gray), but that sounds much too pleasant. Grud makes me sad and mad. It is made of despair and blood. Grud is an unnecessary color. No one needs grud in their town, or in their lives.
Grud smells. The stench is frightening. It is beyond squalor, beyond revolting, repugnant.
I am a geriatrician, no stranger to bad smells, they come with the territory. No baby fresh fragrances on my exam table or in the nursing homes.
Today my experience of color went beyond grud. Gray, mud, anger, despair, blood were only the top layer. No utterances are sufficient to translate the experience, the reality of this 'living being' in the same universe as you and me.
There was not a reason to ask how? Why? How long? Just advance to the bed of this barely living being, then greet, pray, work. Depart. Find my sanctuary, my little room, and sob.
I will be returning next week, and the week after, until this being no longer breathes grud any more.
God help us all, pity us all.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM
Dearest Sam, March 20th, ABKHAZIA,
Never a more cherished gift than you, when you came on this first day of spring, so tender and tiny and treasured. Never a more blessed beginning than the sweet days of March, the 88th year of last century.
But today the gift you bring is even more cherished, because the little soul who came to bless my life that beautiful spring day, whom I didn't know, is now a man I know well, who will forever bless my life, and those of so many others.
I am mother. You are son. Whatever, whereever, however we live our lives, these simple stones of truth are ours. And however our lives diverge, we meet in the meadow of mothers and sons, frolicking in wonder and blessedness.
I am happy for your journey. Yesterdays and tomorrows. YetI celebrate not the past nor the future, but this moment. Becuase, in truth, that's all that matters. And in this moment, I know of no more wonderful truth than that I love you.
I carry your bravado and your tenderness with in my journeys. I will use them to protect and to open my heart to others. I carry your wisdon, that of a 21 year old man, bold and brave, going into the world seeking , exploring, making a path only ONE can trod. I carry your anticipation of the unknown, the delicious destiny that is just out there, beyond your sight, my sight.
I don't give you words of advice this day of your manhood. I receive all of what I have given you, I take it into my soul, and let it bless me as I know it has blessed you.
Never a more cherished gift than you, when you came on this first day of spring, so tender and tiny and treasured. Never a more blessed beginning than the sweet days of March, the 88th year of last century.
But today the gift you bring is even more cherished, because the little soul who came to bless my life that beautiful spring day, whom I didn't know, is now a man I know well, who will forever bless my life, and those of so many others.
I am mother. You are son. Whatever, whereever, however we live our lives, these simple stones of truth are ours. And however our lives diverge, we meet in the meadow of mothers and sons, frolicking in wonder and blessedness.
I am happy for your journey. Yesterdays and tomorrows. YetI celebrate not the past nor the future, but this moment. Becuase, in truth, that's all that matters. And in this moment, I know of no more wonderful truth than that I love you.
I carry your bravado and your tenderness with in my journeys. I will use them to protect and to open my heart to others. I carry your wisdon, that of a 21 year old man, bold and brave, going into the world seeking , exploring, making a path only ONE can trod. I carry your anticipation of the unknown, the delicious destiny that is just out there, beyond your sight, my sight.
I don't give you words of advice this day of your manhood. I receive all of what I have given you, I take it into my soul, and let it bless me as I know it has blessed you.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Gifts
Some of you have asked if you can send me something, and if so how to do it, where, when, etc.
I have a PLAN. And for those ready for the adventure of sending via MSF mail, here's THE PLAN:
First of all WHAT do you send? there are two options:
1) Every so often, I will write about an item on the blog, on the last line, beside my signature, something like
"love you lots, roll of Charmin", or "see ya later, 32 bars of dark chocolate", etc.
Next to the words I will put either one star* (would love to have this - Charmin*) or
two stars**(am desperate, likely to perish if I don't have this - chocolate**). Simple enough.
2) You can surprise me
Secondly, How much to send?
MSF makes it quite clear the limit is 2 pounds, absolutely no more and preferably less. So, no 32 bars of chocolate**. Shucks. Small packages are great. No restriction on the number of packages, but here's the catch: every package will have to be carried to me by an MSF staff coming from Paris - it's called MSF MAIL.
So, here's how it works:
You package an item and address it to:
Doctor Genie Pritchett
Sukhumi, Abkhazia
Medicins Sans Frontieres
8 rue Saint Sabin
75011 Paris France
What happens to the package?
It will go to Paris, it will be opened in the mailroom at the MSF office. Every package is opened for security purposes. It will then be put on a shelf for other items going to Abkhazia and when the next person goes to Tbilisi Georgia, the package will accompany that person, in their carryon backpack or in their checked luggage. It will come to the MSF office in Tbilisi. Then once a week there is an MSF transfer from Tbilisi Georgia to Sukhumi Abkhazia and it will go via car with another MSF person. At the border the package will be transfered from a Georgian MSF car and person to an Abkhaz MSF car and person to be driven to Sukhumi, as long as there are allowed border crossings, which has not been a problem for the past few months. It will go to the MSF office in Sukhumi.
When I show up the next morning, someome will hand me the package and I will go WHAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! and ravenously rip the package open and sing the national anthem and jump up and down until I am told SHEVACHEROT. (stop)
So, how will you prevent sending duplicates, ie all of you sending me Charmin instead of chocolate?
I have asked Ballard to create a little spreadsheet and it will include the following items:
Item
Date sent from USA
Date Arrived in Abkhazia
Person
He will figure out how to post it on the internet. It is beyond my computer-capacity today. You can look on the spreadsheet, fill in the item, date sent and your name, and I will fill in date arrived in abkhazia.
We can see whose item takes the least and the most time!!!!!! A game. A miracle.
So all those interested, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!!!!
May the best man, woman, child win!!!!!
I love you all,
a small, pocket-sized English-Russian dictionary**
and more thanks than I can say in the space remaining.
gp
I have a PLAN. And for those ready for the adventure of sending via MSF mail, here's THE PLAN:
First of all WHAT do you send? there are two options:
1) Every so often, I will write about an item on the blog, on the last line, beside my signature, something like
"love you lots, roll of Charmin", or "see ya later, 32 bars of dark chocolate", etc.
Next to the words I will put either one star* (would love to have this - Charmin*) or
two stars**(am desperate, likely to perish if I don't have this - chocolate**). Simple enough.
2) You can surprise me
Secondly, How much to send?
MSF makes it quite clear the limit is 2 pounds, absolutely no more and preferably less. So, no 32 bars of chocolate**. Shucks. Small packages are great. No restriction on the number of packages, but here's the catch: every package will have to be carried to me by an MSF staff coming from Paris - it's called MSF MAIL.
So, here's how it works:
You package an item and address it to:
Doctor Genie Pritchett
Sukhumi, Abkhazia
Medicins Sans Frontieres
8 rue Saint Sabin
75011 Paris France
What happens to the package?
It will go to Paris, it will be opened in the mailroom at the MSF office. Every package is opened for security purposes. It will then be put on a shelf for other items going to Abkhazia and when the next person goes to Tbilisi Georgia, the package will accompany that person, in their carryon backpack or in their checked luggage. It will come to the MSF office in Tbilisi. Then once a week there is an MSF transfer from Tbilisi Georgia to Sukhumi Abkhazia and it will go via car with another MSF person. At the border the package will be transfered from a Georgian MSF car and person to an Abkhaz MSF car and person to be driven to Sukhumi, as long as there are allowed border crossings, which has not been a problem for the past few months. It will go to the MSF office in Sukhumi.
When I show up the next morning, someome will hand me the package and I will go WHAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! and ravenously rip the package open and sing the national anthem and jump up and down until I am told SHEVACHEROT. (stop)
So, how will you prevent sending duplicates, ie all of you sending me Charmin instead of chocolate?
I have asked Ballard to create a little spreadsheet and it will include the following items:
Item
Date sent from USA
Date Arrived in Abkhazia
Person
He will figure out how to post it on the internet. It is beyond my computer-capacity today. You can look on the spreadsheet, fill in the item, date sent and your name, and I will fill in date arrived in abkhazia.
We can see whose item takes the least and the most time!!!!!! A game. A miracle.
So all those interested, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!!!!
May the best man, woman, child win!!!!!
I love you all,
a small, pocket-sized English-Russian dictionary**
and more thanks than I can say in the space remaining.
gp
Buffs, Longhorns, BlueDevils
Dinner tonight with UN ex-military-peace-keeping envoys. Both here to mitigate, negotiate and pontificate with NGO (non-governmental organization) workers like me, the curiosities of the Russian, Abkhazian, Georgian "mess".
So here is the military-political-cultural scoop from as close as I will ever be to 'the source' in 100 words or less:
Russia set the stage by constructing railways in Abkhazia (and other activities) as early as last spring. Condoleza Rice, (remember her?) pleaded with the Georgians "don't take the bait the Russians are putting in front of you". The Georgians did not listen, and escalated minor skirmishes with the Russians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia late last summer. "These are Georgian territorities so stay away", Georgia said. Russia retaliated (all out nasty war as you recall) and made it appear as if the Georgians started the whole thing.
Georgia lost, against the Russian 'might'. Russia claims Abkhazia's independence, but really Abkhazia is dependent on Russia for economic, military and infrastructure development which is what Russia wants. Simple enough.
The curiosity according to UN lies in the lack of Russian accountability for their actions. No repercusions, no hand slapping, no sanctions from anyone (suggestions from the UN were banning them from the G8, freeze bank holdings.......).
Russian is likely to 'keep doing what they have been doing', ie keep areas such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia destabilized so that Georgia is unable to join NATO ( NATO will not allow any new members to be involved in border conflicts). This will ultimately collapse their ecomomy which was beginning to flourish prior to the war last summer.
In response to my question" how do you sort out the cultural curisosities, such as so many Abkhazians that are part Russian, part Georgian?".... like a cinnamon roll, once it is baked, it's hard to distinquish the individual ingredients.
The response was clever.
A few minutes before I posed the innocent question we talked about where we were from, sports, family and on and on......
Oleg, a Russian who immigrated to New Jersey with his family, went to the Air Foce Academy and now works for the UN and Mike, who grew up in Carolina, has a house and family in Hawaii and also works for the UN, said:
"So you say you are from Colorado but in truth you grew up in Texas, and if you had to choose you would choose the Longhorns over the Buffs in football, but really your allegences are with the Blue Devils in North Carolina, but for basketball". "Yes indeed" I say. Its sort of like that in Russian, Georgia and Abkhazia. A great big cinnamon roll. You want some?
We all self-define ourselves based on choices, and sometimes those choices are based on legacy or heritage or economic constraints and sometimes the choices are based on CHOICE alone. Some people have greater ability to choose because they CAN CHOOSE. Others self-define because they really don't know they have a choice, or they don't really have a choice because they are stuck with who they are and where they are economically, politically, geographically. A harsh reality in much of the world.
For me, the profound truth of who I am, who I can be and how my ability to choose and THAT I choose was made more clear tonight.
Choice, whether one can choose and then will choose often determines politics.
Hummmmm
Nighty night loved ones, g
So here is the military-political-cultural scoop from as close as I will ever be to 'the source' in 100 words or less:
Russia set the stage by constructing railways in Abkhazia (and other activities) as early as last spring. Condoleza Rice, (remember her?) pleaded with the Georgians "don't take the bait the Russians are putting in front of you". The Georgians did not listen, and escalated minor skirmishes with the Russians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia late last summer. "These are Georgian territorities so stay away", Georgia said. Russia retaliated (all out nasty war as you recall) and made it appear as if the Georgians started the whole thing.
Georgia lost, against the Russian 'might'. Russia claims Abkhazia's independence, but really Abkhazia is dependent on Russia for economic, military and infrastructure development which is what Russia wants. Simple enough.
The curiosity according to UN lies in the lack of Russian accountability for their actions. No repercusions, no hand slapping, no sanctions from anyone (suggestions from the UN were banning them from the G8, freeze bank holdings.......).
Russian is likely to 'keep doing what they have been doing', ie keep areas such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia destabilized so that Georgia is unable to join NATO ( NATO will not allow any new members to be involved in border conflicts). This will ultimately collapse their ecomomy which was beginning to flourish prior to the war last summer.
In response to my question" how do you sort out the cultural curisosities, such as so many Abkhazians that are part Russian, part Georgian?".... like a cinnamon roll, once it is baked, it's hard to distinquish the individual ingredients.
The response was clever.
A few minutes before I posed the innocent question we talked about where we were from, sports, family and on and on......
Oleg, a Russian who immigrated to New Jersey with his family, went to the Air Foce Academy and now works for the UN and Mike, who grew up in Carolina, has a house and family in Hawaii and also works for the UN, said:
"So you say you are from Colorado but in truth you grew up in Texas, and if you had to choose you would choose the Longhorns over the Buffs in football, but really your allegences are with the Blue Devils in North Carolina, but for basketball". "Yes indeed" I say. Its sort of like that in Russian, Georgia and Abkhazia. A great big cinnamon roll. You want some?
We all self-define ourselves based on choices, and sometimes those choices are based on legacy or heritage or economic constraints and sometimes the choices are based on CHOICE alone. Some people have greater ability to choose because they CAN CHOOSE. Others self-define because they really don't know they have a choice, or they don't really have a choice because they are stuck with who they are and where they are economically, politically, geographically. A harsh reality in much of the world.
For me, the profound truth of who I am, who I can be and how my ability to choose and THAT I choose was made more clear tonight.
Choice, whether one can choose and then will choose often determines politics.
Hummmmm
Nighty night loved ones, g
Bed Fellows
For 35 years I have shared comfort, wonder and surprise with my good bed fellow.
This morning a new expierence to ponder from new bed fellows.
You would have thought I would have waited to get to know the caucasian male species a bit better than jumpin' into the sack right away, but what the heck, it was HIS bed after all, or should I say THEIR bed I was sleeping in.
Yes, multitudes of males. Smaller than visible, but larger than microscopic, barely felt, were the wee little lads, having a party, not quite as loud as the party going on upstairs, but definately more remarkable - no markable on my skin. To no surprise this morning there are wee little bumps, I now refer to them as "love-bumps" on my not so discreet anatomy.
Be they mites, lice, Georgia-bugs, or Caucasian cooties, I've got 'em, or maybe I should say they've got me.
We will have to establish a perestroika today, as the russian-georgian invasion has just become quite personal. I believe this will be a territorial skirmish I will have to wage without assistance of military might.
A good scrub a dub dub is my armour today!!!!!!!!!!
This morning a new expierence to ponder from new bed fellows.
You would have thought I would have waited to get to know the caucasian male species a bit better than jumpin' into the sack right away, but what the heck, it was HIS bed after all, or should I say THEIR bed I was sleeping in.
Yes, multitudes of males. Smaller than visible, but larger than microscopic, barely felt, were the wee little lads, having a party, not quite as loud as the party going on upstairs, but definately more remarkable - no markable on my skin. To no surprise this morning there are wee little bumps, I now refer to them as "love-bumps" on my not so discreet anatomy.
Be they mites, lice, Georgia-bugs, or Caucasian cooties, I've got 'em, or maybe I should say they've got me.
We will have to establish a perestroika today, as the russian-georgian invasion has just become quite personal. I believe this will be a territorial skirmish I will have to wage without assistance of military might.
A good scrub a dub dub is my armour today!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
I am an OXKEY
An Oxkey is a beast of burden, something between an Ox and a Donkey.
Yes, I have left gay Pareeeeeee, and am now in grey Tbilisi.
With the extra 40 pounds of stuff on my aching back.
The grey skies of Paris matched the beautiful grey rooftops of the French architecture, you know, every glorious building in Paris.
The grey in Georgia is different, it is set in a backdrop of ranshackeled buildings, and skeletons of buildings that have been dead and unfortunately not gone for years.
There is 'spring green' landscape here, the kind of green that is dotted with winter brown. Sort of like a teenager with acne, some beautiful fresh skin, some yucky skin that will soon go away and give way to a youthful 'spring face'.
The mountains are WOW. In this grey-mist day they are ancient, strong, mysterious. Like everything they will change.
I am happy, getting ready to go for dinner with a team member.
So, I have arrived safely at this destination. I will be here for another few days, then to Sukhumi, my final home.
God bless each and every one of us today, all over the world.
Love, genie
Yes, I have left gay Pareeeeeee, and am now in grey Tbilisi.
With the extra 40 pounds of stuff on my aching back.
The grey skies of Paris matched the beautiful grey rooftops of the French architecture, you know, every glorious building in Paris.
The grey in Georgia is different, it is set in a backdrop of ranshackeled buildings, and skeletons of buildings that have been dead and unfortunately not gone for years.
There is 'spring green' landscape here, the kind of green that is dotted with winter brown. Sort of like a teenager with acne, some beautiful fresh skin, some yucky skin that will soon go away and give way to a youthful 'spring face'.
The mountains are WOW. In this grey-mist day they are ancient, strong, mysterious. Like everything they will change.
I am happy, getting ready to go for dinner with a team member.
So, I have arrived safely at this destination. I will be here for another few days, then to Sukhumi, my final home.
God bless each and every one of us today, all over the world.
Love, genie
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