Boyfriend and I have just moved to Batumi, Georgia (Not the one in the US of A darlings but the teeny-tiny, gorgeous little country bordered by Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.) in August.
Traditional Georgian hat - looks like sheepskin, smells like sheepskin - eewww!
The best way to describe why we moved is because why not.
We discovered Georgia by looking at a world map and saw it only on Google before deciding to move - true story :-D
Just like those joyrides in water parks where you free-fall via trap-door, splashing through ink-black darkness on a slide and into the twilight zone not quite knowing what to expect, life is just more fun that way :-D
So a few of my friends have asked me recently whether life is as joyous and idyllic as I share on FB.
It is - mostly.
Here is a small slice of our new life from August that illustrates when it’s ‘mostly’ and when it’s not.
Hunting for the ideal city in Georgia
We decided to have a look at the most probable spots we might want to settle into long term by taking a tour of the most appealing cities.
Our criteria: That it be green, peaceful and not too close or too far from a reasonably sized (as in not too big) city.
We started off in Batumi, then went off to Tbilisi, Borjomi, Ureki and ended up back in Batumi (which we had had our hearts set on from the start anyway).
This post is about Borjomi.
Also referred to by myself and Boyfriend as 'The city that chewed us up and puked us out like bad curry'. Feel free to replace the word 'puked' with another one that sounds just like it ;)
Read on to see how a string of things went totally wrong, with some things in between going quite right in the yum-yuck-yum sandwich of life.
Marshrutka - the way to go (literally) both within and between cities in Georgia. The trip from Tbilisi to Borjomi took around 2+ hours and cost 5 Lari (2.5 USD). See why we dig this place?
Borjomi
In typical fashion, I leave things to the last minute and book our room in an Airbnb homestay in Borjomi the night before. I'm not terribly familiar with the workings of Airbnb and press 'instant book.' This is supposed to just book the room without asking the host.
I'm assuming that if the room isn't available the said host wouldn't enable instant booking.
I'm also familiar with the phrase about how assumptions are the mother of all you-know-what-ups. I'm the Pollyanna type.
Ooopsie :-D
I believe you Airbnb!
Optimistically en route to our booked room in Borjomi, this is the view.
We see a bird and rabbit in a cage. Separate cages, just to be clear.
I love how Boyfriend always stops to talk to animals when we see any. I love how he gently holds bugs that scare me at home and releases them back into nature, always chit chatting with them on the way, "Hey little guy, what are you doing here? You'll like it better outside." I love how he makes me feel like less of an alien on this planet. But that's a whole different story.
We make friends with the bird and rabbit, the latter one which we both agree is actually quite happy being where he is.
The roads and houses are not marked very clearly but after bouncing around like a ping-pong ball we find the house by asking another homestay (most places are homestays in Georgia) about where this place is.
Streets of Borjomi
En route to homelessness in alien lands
This marks the beginning of a string of boo-boos.
(Even writing about it now is giving me a sense of nerves and a bad feeling in my tummy - funny how memories are stored physically too and every time you retrieve them your body presses the same buttons all over again. Breathe Miss Binky :-D )
This is how it was...
- We ask the 2 ladies in the homestay for the address.
- They can't speak English much (very common in a lot of places here) but try to convince us to stay with them instead.
- The place is far, far from ideal and I might have stayed there in my dreams (the nightmare variety).
- We explain we have pre-paid and they tell us if there is no space there we must return to them. They begrudgingly walk us there. If commodities had feelings they'd be feeling like I am at this point.
- When we get there we are met by the mother of the host girl on Airbnb. One reason we picked this place was because the listing said they spoke English. The mother doesn't speak a single word of English and the daughter is not home, not even in the city actually, and not picking up her phone.
- We are new to the culture and new to the 'heated discussion' ways of the land. There is now a lot of heated discussion going on between the ladies who brought us here and the mother. Boyfriend and I cleverly figure out that we have encountered a problem. We are both the calm type so this is definitely alien territory.
It's starting to get a little distressing now as I absorb others' feelings very, very quickly and the things I am absorbing are the dollar signs on the other two ladies' eyes, the fury of the mother at the whole situation and her daughter and her projections towards us as huge inconveniences.
It would have been easier if we hadn't pre-paid on Airbnb, but we have, so the twirl and walk away thing isn't quite an option. I just want to lay my bags down somewhere safe and relax at this point. (As well as hide under the table, my fingers in my ears, singing 'Baa baa black sheep' :-D )
Angels everywhere
Then magical intervention!!
My absolute favorite high school teacher in Dubai, Ms. McMahon, climbs down the stairs with her strawberry blond hair, soft brown eyes and angelic energy and comes to us to see if everything is okay. Except it wasn't her. But if she did have a Georgian twin, this would be her. (And it would be quite weird too as she's Scottish.)
I believe that the magical behind-the-scenes forces of this life we live in speaks to us in many ways. Seeing a 'familiar' face eased my heart and mind and I took it as a sign that help was at hand when we needed it and things were going to be okay.
'Ms. McMahon', fluent in English and Georgian, sat with us and translated everything. Tensions eased. I told her she looked like my favorite school teacher. She smiled sweetly...
The daughter finally picked up her phone and apologized telling us she never received the booking message and there was no space for us. She agreed to refund the money we paid. We felt we could trust her...
The mother apologized and gave me a kiss, I gave her a hug. We bid the other ladies goodbye and thanked them for guiding us there. We said we might return but we would look around a little for a place to stay.
Life gets better... for a while.
This is when things started going good again. For a while.
Always a good idea to reach an unknown city early in the day so you have time to deal with things like this without worrying about it being midnight.
We stroll along and find a pretty park to sit in. My important job is to ensure the safety of our possessions (ie. sit on the park bench with our suitcases) and Boyfriend's job is to tour the little hotels and homestays nearby to find us a place.
Copied and pasted from my Facebook status about that day:
"The park was small but delightful. I was sitting opposite a man who was selling toys. You could throw darts at some balloons and you won cuddly toys if you popped them. There’s nothing like watching the joy of a child that wins a toy. Then I was thinking I should get my iPad out and at least learn the numbers in Georgian but remembered Boyfriend had my iPad with him. Then a lovely granny sat next to me with her toddler grandchild and started counting the numbers on his little fingers to teach them to him: erti, ori, sami… She had wonderful energy about her. I was thinking how the whole park actually had amazing energy to it then I saw that behind the toy seller was a little church. Places of worship always have a way of soothing like that. I think the suitcases and myself must have sat in the park for a good 2 hours or so with Boyfriend coming back ever so often with reports on what was, or more like, what was not available."
Did you know bloggers can time-travel? Here I take you a day ahead in time to show you the church. Magic!
But some things we cannot control: The power was about to run out on my phone (which is very capricious by nature and perpetually on PMS mode, sometimes working, sometimes not, depending on how twisted her humor is at the moment). I only had a few minutes.
It occurred to me to just check booking.com. I always listen when things 'occur' like that. One quick look and I found a place that seemed to have vacancies and was also in a place called Likani which is just a few minutes away from the city and in the arms of the forest. They were also allowing reservations without pre-payment and the pay was a fair price 'for a room for 2' it said.
YAY! Or so we thought :-D
We arrive at the place and a lovely old lady, turns out to be the owner's mother, greets us with a smile. I'm finding it's not much in their culture to smile so we feel like we've struck gold.
Through very limited communication I try to reconfirm the place and the price. There is some confusion but I show her the reservation email with the numbers on my almost dead phone and she smiles and says 'Ahhh, okay, okay.'
Without further ado, here is where we ended up.
Our 'Room for 2' was actually a room sandwiched between 2 other rooms.
So to get outside we actually had to walk through either one or the other room that was attached to ours. Or jump out the window and break something :-D.
Feeling safe now, even if the door has no key!
No key, no locking...
Here's the room we had to walk through to get outside as that's the side the 'kitchen' and bathroom was. Most of the houses here are old Soviet style buildings, very spacious and have rectangular rooms. We found most only have the 1 shared bathroom which would most likely be outside.
Note the door to the right of the photo.
The route to the bathroom outside was via a room full of strangers. So the pressure was on to not have to pee-pee in the middle of the night.
The door you noted to the right there is to the left here.
The view ahead of me. Quite a sweet garden. To the right, you see the little roof of the shared bathroom.
To my right side on this deck is the 'kitchen.'
Boo-boos begin again
So the day after we check in, I am in 'kitchen' washing our coffee cups and I get a feeling of complete dread and a thought hijacks my mind.
This is strange and comes out of nowhere as I was actually quite happy there. The thought screams, "I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!!" in highly dramatic hyperbole.
It doesn't come from a logical place, just from the depths of my gut.
At that precise moment the owner who we'd met the day before, a young dude of about 30 something and tall (and quite good looking I might add - I'm very happily loved up but the eye sees what the eye sees), comes to us and tells me that we are staying there for the wrong price.
We have seen this happen a few times in Georgia where people, especially taxi drivers, will agree to a certain price then get angry and pretend you misunderstood them and try to double their price, all the while screaming and trying to intimidate.
He's not screaming at this point but sounds quite cross. I tell him I confirmed everything in writing with numbers with his mom the moment we came in and he says she didn't understand.
Boyfriend, who's not too patient anymore with this recurring trend here, tells him what he is doing is just wrong, agreeing on one price and changing it the next day. I give him many options, one of them being us leaving if this is a problem. I hate fighting over anything. He is clearly agitated but says we can stay for tonight and tomorrow but we have to leave the day after.
The weird feeling in my tummy returns. I'm realizing how much my sense of safety I associate with having a roof over my head...
Anyhow, time to explore and look for alternatives again. We meanwhile decide to also explore the city as much as we can to see if this is the right place for us.
The 'kitchen'. And in the sink is our most precious item - our little Ikea coffee maker. Yes, just like a child, we travel nowhere without it because, well, coffee!!
Exploring solutions as well as Borjomi.
On the upside, on the outside, just 5 minutes walk away.
Try it! Really does feel good.
You can also explore Borjomi on horseback. Next time we are there, my photo view will consist of the back of a horse's head, two horse ears followed by gorgeous hills. Dreams first, reality second loves ;)
I know - I should'a sat on the left. I read your mind?? Maybe you read mine... ;)
Look! I'm a levitating human stop sign!
En route to the Borjomi Central Park.
Boyfriend LOVES to climb things. He's like a 6 year old kid: Fearless and completely ignorant of the dangers of gravity - which is probably how humans first discovered flying... Hmmm... Anyhow, I could read his mind trying to size up if he could somehow go all the way around on this. When he said, "Bet you're happy I don't have a skateboard now," he was TOTALLY right (gulp!).
Borjomi Central Park
It's huge, gorgeous and is known for its sulphuric spring water.
Borjomi Central Park - they actually have some pretty lovely trails and you can pitch a tent and stay overnight.
Famous Borjomi Central Park. This is where they dispense their famous sulphuric tasting water (for free) and thus the crowd there under the dome. Boyfriend liked the taste. I didn’t like the taste because I didn’t like the sound: ‘Sulphuric water’? Yuk!
Off the beaten path in Borjomi
I wasn't too happy here because Boyfriend was trying to drag me through every single non-existent trail, over rocks, boulders, rivers! He is never one to stay on the beaten track and likes to make life up as we go along, like yours truly, but my usually annoyingly happy, adventurous mood was a-swinging that day making me feel very unsettled. So GRR!
In our relationship, whenever Boyfriend offers to take a photo without me asking this means, 'I know you're mad. I come in peace.' One of those rare moments pictured here :-D
Into the wild we go. Him ahead, with a cheeky but loving smile, and me following, trying hard to frown. I'm a rookie frowner.
But the further we go the more magical it gets reminding me why I love the road less traveled.
Thank you, Boyfriend dearest. I will continue to be a sweet little brat whenever I don't wanna do something but I will always be the first to admit it when your idea was pretty awesome.
Does Mother Nature make you cry? It does me. Its beauty often touches me so deep that I get tears in my eyes...
Reishi mushrooms!!! Hippie equivalent of finding treasure.
We get kicked out of our homestay! Homeless again!
After a soothing day in the forest we are back in our homestay. I know they offer breakfast for a fee and I want to generate some extra income for the homestay just to make the atmosphere a little better.
I tell the owner's son I would love to have some of mama's breakfast the next morning. His energy was dark when I approached him and I thought this peace offering of breakfast would have calmed the waters.
His words slap me in the face as he tells me his mother will not cook me breakfast but I am welcome to make my own food, adds, not sweetly, that check out is at noon the next day (I thought we had another night there but it was probably a blessing to be outta there) THEN goes on to imply that I was lying about the pricing of the rooms!! I'm stumped! I tell him I don't appreciate his approach to this whole situation but that we will be very happy to leave.
I'm amazingly calm though. I know not to take this personally.
I always think people see people as they are, not as you are. I know this had nothing to do with me.
Solution - as well as a few other things - found!
So off we go to explore the hood for another homestay.
Along the way we find a downed airplane!! We come up with numerous stories about why it went down, why they didn't pick it back up, if it was haunted, tried to see if we could see any ghosts.
The 'downed airplane' turns out to be an aged bus that was doing what humans do and gardening during retirement (as in the owner parked it in the garden when it got too old :-D ) - thanks for telling us Natia!
We also come across Natia, a very sweet Georgian girl, whose parents have a homestay in Likani a little further than ours. They are, unfortunately, fully booked but I do get the details of their homestay in case we need it in the future.
Click here for the details of their homestay.
The lovely Natia - photo used with her permission, of course. She reminds me of my Samira and this makes me a little sad as we haven't spoken for a while and I'm missing her.
We actually do find another homestay that we like - it has both the bathroom as well as the kitchen indoors AND it has a door that actually locks, key and all! These things have suddenly become luxuries. Well, for our budget that is :-D
We return to our keyless homestay.
I'm further amazed by the sense of service this establishment has when the mother comes to us later at night and asks us to make the payment right then as if we were going to disappear into the midnight!
I'm trying to keep the peace but, of course Murphy's law kicks in, and we don't have the sufficient amount in Laris and they don't accept cards - oh drama!
Angel Boyfriend hears about this.
Angel Boyfriend isn't happy.
Angel Boyfriend calls the owner (who isn't around at the time) and tells him we will pay when we are leaving, like everyone else.
The mother has meanwhile stopped smiling.
You know that feeling when the person you love stops loving you back (OUCH!!)?
Yah, it felt a little like that because I really liked her.
As one should do in those you-lost-that-lovin'-feelin' situations, I accept it, I let it be...
Going through every room, down the stairs, through the garden and into the bathroom has become an arduous task - I feel so very unwelcome!
I bump into the mother on the way and we exchange a few gestures (since we don't speak the same language) and - dear GOD - I realize that her smile has disappeared not because she hates us but because she is so saddened by the whole situation. This breaks my heart to no end! I give her a cuddle to speak the universal language of love and we understand each other. We are at peace me and mama, bless her.
Suddenly everything feels very different. How a little bit of love changes absolutely everything, even if the problem isn't solved.
Always see the signs and then always listen to them!
Our departure the following morning is civilized. This place seemed to have good reviews on Booking.com.
Mostly.
I wonder how much of that is due to people like me who always think twice about putting bad reviews if it will affect someone's bread and butter.
I think the success of an establishment in the service industry does surely depend on how well situations are handled in good times, but especially on how they are handled when problems arise. That's where true art lies...
Our gazillionth homestay in 3 days. I'm pretending to watch the river as I force Boyfriend to take a photo :-D
We check into our new place. The family who run it are quite lovely. This is where we stayed.
We are in our room, finally at peace. We discuss looking at some properties, some land. We've been so busy dealing with drama from the get-go that we haven't had a chance to do what we actually came here for!
We talk about signs, the negative events surrounding us from the second we arrived...
"Do you think this is our forever home? Do you feel that?" asks Boyfriend.
I feel the question, I feel the answer. I say, "No".
"Shall we leave Borjomi tomorrow?"
"YES!"
"Shall we go to the forest one last time?"
"YES!"
Return to Eden
Off we went one more time into the arms of mother nature to explore one of the trails in the Borjomi Central Park.
Definitely more jovial today :)
We tried to make like good hippies and meditate on this spot but then a family, all 3 generations, appeared on the other side of the river and made a very noisy, drama-filled crossing. They did reach the other side. We did not reach nirvana.
It's quite rewarding to take the hike in the Borjomi Central Park, which takes a few hours, up and get rewarded with a healing, magical sulphuric bath... If you don't forget your swimming costumes... Anyhow, this is where the Tsar used to have his home apparently.
Sulphur baths in Borjomi Central Park.
On our way out of the park. Another fellow cat-lover taking her kitty for a walk.
Black, white, feral, lion, tiger: To me, all cats are a good omen. Loved this little one with its collar, hanging out with its awesome owner like a dog :-D
Speaking of felines being good omens, we come home and we find not one, but two little kittens inside our shared accommodation!
Now I know the universe is smiling kindly on our decisions.
We hit the road and leave Borjomi behind the next morning.
Happy ending in Batumi
And we all end up where we are meant to be...
A few more weeks and adventures later, we now have a place we can call home <3
Thank you GOD!!
PS: It's apparently usually the host's job to call Airbnb for refunds. The host girl asked me to deal with it instead (I think she didn't want to run up her phone bill calling the States). I decided I would do this for her. Result: Airbnb not only gave us excellent service in refunding our money but also a little token of appreciation as a gift.
PPS: It hadn't occurred to me to check the confirmation email from booking.com at any point since the problem seemed solved then irreparably damaged again so quickly and suddenly. Clearing out my inbox later, I discovered the email and went "HAH!" when I saw in black and white that it said 'Economic room for two' for the price we agreed on. Scrolling down, in the fine print, is where I saw the words 'Maximum 1 person' - whatever the hell that means in the context for a room for 2! I checked their listing again on Booking.com just as I was writing this post to see if anyone had a similar experience to ours and saw that they are no longer listed there. I don't quite know what to make of that but it is what it is...
PPPS: You really read this far?? THANK YOU - I really hope you enjoyed it! :-D
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Original post: http://happyhipi.com/being-homeless-strange-new-country-nightmare-borjomi-georgian-adventures/