It's been so quiet here lately... Is anyone reading this at all?
I'm feeling lonely, I guess.
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I've just posted a Global Voices translation on the Russia-Georgia cold war circus - here. Crisis, I mean.
Had a masochistic kind of fun working on it.
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My very first memories are from Georgia: we were there in the fall of 1977 - I was almost 4 then. I swear I remember Tbilisi stone buildings, and the grape leaves covering our hotel's wall, and my father's friend Otar's big belly and his red polo shirt, and then we adopted a kitten in the seaside Lesilidze (that's Abkhazia, right?) and named him Katso, thinking it's the Georgian for "a friend," and I remember him sleeping in my mama's lap on the flight from Adler, and he lived with us in Kyiv for the next 16 years, and died Nov. 23, 1993, when I was in the States for the first time, and I grieved his death a lot, drank heavily for about a week even, despite being underage, and I still miss him, and then a Tbilisi Armenian classmate of mine, a refugee here in Kyiv, laughed really hard when I mentioned the cat's name to her, explaining to me that Katso meant something like 'a stud' - something like muzhik - in Georgian, not the innocent "friend" and not so fitting for a neutered cat...
I'd love to travel to Georgia again one day. And it's such a pity what happened there in the past few decades, and what continues to happen...
Still reading...always reading...keep up the excellent work. God Bless, Matt
ReplyDeleteI read everyday, as a matter of fact I read more than one time a day. Great work . Thank you!! Cheers Patrick
ReplyDeletePrivet Veronica,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading this blog and the new Work Log. I really enjoy the translations. I greatly value it.
I also did enjoy Mishah's photos and try to read the script. I don't think the house with the wooden features that you photographed is beyond repair. Of course I can't really tell.
I'm saddened that people are parking on those sidewalks. That is such nice pavement and those cars will destroy it over time. The sidewalk should be for people.
keep up the great work!
I read your blog everyday! Thanks for letting me copy the pics of the hospital. Politics aside, I always like to hear about life in Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteTerri
Hello,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know, I read your blog frequently. Though I'm an American who's never visited Ukraine, I've been following events there for the last couple years and this blog has been a really good place for me to find out perspectives on both major events and everyday life. Thank you for the time you put into it!
Steve
to put it in geek terms, your blog is at the top of my "blog folder" on my browser link bar. that's true status in my little world. keep up the great work which i know can't be easy at times considering a baby in the house. thanks. petro
ReplyDeleteI'm also a regular reader - it certainly is a shame aboutt Georgia in many respects. I remember visiting Novyi Afon and Batumi years ago. It's painful to think of them as battlegrounds these days, poster children for Putin's imperial ambitions.
ReplyDeletei'm here too. . .
ReplyDeletei like your thoughts/reflections/stories from your soviet-era upbringing/experiences. . .
and the rest of what you write about. . .
Good memories - very impressing told. And I love your Blog. More please!
ReplyDeleteregards from Germany now, rapho
add me to the list of frequent visitors.
ReplyDeleteyour perspective is not offered to english speakers anywhere else. i assure you, the time and effort you put into this enterprise is very much appreciated.
I'm reading too. Everyday. Thank you for writing. it is always very interesting to me. I feel like I'm sort of in mourning and like a zombie lately with what is happening w/ Georgia and then waking up today to this news about Anna Politkovskaya. Makes me not want to leave my apartment for some reason. Just too surreal.
ReplyDeleteKeep writing. I'll keep reading and try to comment more.