The low-down

Okay, the basics–I’m going to answer them here and that shall be that. 

Right now I am in Tbilisi, in a Soviet-era hotel, with my fellow soon-to-be teachers. (whom I love.) We start training today, and in about a week we will move out to our respective regions, meet our host families, and start teaching! In the mean time is preparation on the language, history, and customs of Georgia. 

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(and now a story especially for Ms. Angie, who asked who the most interesting person I met while traveling was)

I flew to Houston with no incident, except that I was selected for the pre-check security line, and I am fairly certain that took longer than regular security. While in Houston, however, I had to exchange my United boarding pass for a Turkish Airlines boarding pass, and a few of us passengers were chatting in line. One lady was especially vocal, and being as nosy as I am, I listened in. Apparently she started a political party called Green Love, or something along those lines. But now she was en route to Dubai–and she was flipping out. She kept asking about coverings and being white and a woman, so I tried to explain that she was going to Dubai, not Syria. She would be fine. (the fact that her political views were anti-Arab may not go over so well.) That’s when she pounced on me, asking how I knew that or did I know anyone in the area that she could meet with, or what to wear. I wanted to introduce her to *the Internet*, especially Google, but I didn’t think that would go over well. From there we moved on, and had this conversation:

Sherry: What’s your name?

Me: Oh, I’m Mariah. And you?

S: Oh, huh. Interesting.

M:…

S: Do you know what that means? Or the origins of it?

M: Yeah, it’s Hebrew. 

S: haha. I have a story I have to share with you…later. I’m Sherry. 

M: Oh, nice to meet you. But now I’m curious as to what you know about my name!

S: Oh, well, it has Native American roots. You know, they call the wind Mariah….

                    –LONG pause–

S: That’s actually my name too. 

At that point I was finished talking to the political activist who lied to me, and flew on to Istanbul!