Like most Saturday mornings I was up before dawn to catch the first marshutka out of Dodge. And as per usual I'm always standing in the early morning cold wondering if I've missed it or if it isn't coming; my fears are always unfounded, but will be there the next time too.

I arrive in Batumi and buy a ticket to Zugdidi and find out when the next marshutka goes there. It appears I've either missed the earlier one (shock) so I'm on the 11am one. I use this time to get my traditional cheese omelet and juice. I also download a movie that Mary-Kate wanted last weekend and I figure that'll do for a birthday present (the reason for this assembly to Zugdidi); I mean it isn't like I can buy things during the week.

Fast forward and I'm on a nice marshutka heading North to Zugdidi. It turns out the guy sitting behind me is one of my friend's host brother. I feel kind of jealous he has someone close to his age in such a close proximity to where he lives. He asks where I'm going in Zugdidi and when I tell him where he tells me to get off with him. I turns out that it was the wrong place, but he just wanted to get a beer. For fucks sake. I'm trying to explain to him and that I have a friend waiting for me, and I bet the marshutka would have ended up where I wanted to go.

I call my friend and try and give her landmarks of where I am. This would be a very easy game where I live, but apparently I'm by a bar and can see an Internet café is not detailed enough. Right after I see it I see her and she can't see me so it was kind of fortunate we were close enough to each other. We need to get me to a bank as I didn't do it in Batumi; it requires a bit of walking and I had enough for breakfast and transport to Zugdidi. So with the three of us together my new friend hails a cab for a three block walk and gets me to a bank.

We get money, find o fourth person and take him to a bar and proceed for a fun midday drinking session. Ludi (beer) is much more enjoyable than trying to down shots of tchatcha. I would be surprised if that stuff is under 150 proof. I think my new friend gets bored, or too drunk (he joined the table next to us to do tchatcha or vodka) and leaves during the third round. At least he got the second round I guess.

We leave there and I get to see the market. It floors me to see the various options available to purchase. A lot of it's the usual shit, but even that's more than I get back home. We hang around the market until the last guest arrives and the four of us do our hellos then make our way into a taxi to get to Mary-Kate's house.

We meet the family, we eat a lot of food and as per usual there's a lot of toasting of the gvino (wine). The food is great, not to mention warm which makes a pleasant change. Eventually we give in to fatigue and have a reality early night; a caveat of starting early I guess.

The next day is lazy. I check the All Blacks score, no surprise there, but to see the Kiwis had won the 4 nations was a bit of a shock, especially given the events of the last time I read about them. The day outside began after 2pm as we took Kyli to her Marshutka; Michael didn't need one as he lived in Zugdidi and I had already missed my one, meaning I was going to be there till Monday. For me to get back to my village is such a quick turn around once I get anywhere.

With the three of us we eventually found Michael's kind of girl friend and she wasn't well so we left them together and Mary-Kate showed me a bit of the city. The vision I had of Zugdidi was war torn, dirty and full of Russian troops; a picture that was painted by a friend who lived in a border where he could see Russian troops and his main nutrient was bread, which went with his beer ,or pivo; it's so close to Russia they use the Russian word over the Georgian one where he lived. In reality though, the place was really nice, it has fountains and amenities which are all well located. I stayed another night and again they filled my stomach easily; easy because it's shrunk a bit, but it wouldn't of mattered. I left my phone on the table and Mary-Kate thinking it was hers accidently fed the wrong PIN code into my phone to lock it. What a muppet. Oh well, no lasting damage.

The next day we got up, took the bus to school (no charge) and I get to join in for a lesson. I met some of the students, but I had a class change which denied me of being in two classes. Mary-Kate's school is smaller, a touch more run down, but it does have the advantage of smaller class sizes. It's way more manageable.

We took the bus in to Zugdidi (again no charge, like it's ludicrous to even think of attempting to pay) and made our way to the cell phone office, which unlocked it with no hassle and then made our way to the marshutka stop. Now here I am sitting in Batumi, having just had my usual omelet and juice and about to go back to an uncertain Merisi.

Wish me luck with that.