in the snow and imagining

A snowy week it has been, and lonely. I have been so socially committed this week that I have not had any time to be alone, to think, to imagine. Being around so many people reminds me of people I love, people who know me, and without time to imagine their lives, to imagine myself with them or around them, I have been alone even amidst everyone.

Perhaps it seems paradoxical to be most lonely when most social, but that’s how it has seemed. I think the key is imagination time. Without it, and without it’s ability to vitalize my experience of the world, people, and memory, I am a robot acting out the daily rituals of existence.

Snow is unusual here, but brings nostalgia of home for me. I have wandered the streets taking pictures of children playing in the snow, of old buildings as they strain to stand another year; indeed many of them look close to crumbling. Luckily, the children have been awake to me this week; I played with both two-year-olds, Luarsab’s daughter Elene, and niece Lizzi.

Mostly I play with them with my eyes as they tell me stories and beckon me to go with them to imaginary playrooms, then they bounce around on my lap as I talk with Luarsab, or tug insistently on my sleeve until I have listened to their secret about the teddy bear (I learn sometimes what is being said if it is so funny that Luarsab translates).

I was also befriended by a little snot-nosed nine-year-old in the Old City who orchestrated a grand photo-tour of the neighborhood for me one morning when I was early for language lesson. He quickly learned my knowledge of Georgian but easily prattled on about his life and the neighbors, asking me simple questions now and then. As I went into my lesson I realized I probably would have learned more wandering around for another hour with kid Giorgi.

What have I been doing? Language lessons three times a week, two major services on Saturday and Sunday, with a rehearsal during the week and an extra three hour Vespers service last Monday for Saint Davit. Chess on Sunday nights, Foreigner’s Choir on tuesday nights, rehearsal Saturday morning and Friday evening for special trio songs I’m working on with Carl. Several people in the expat community, not to mention my language teacher, have been leaving, necessitating making an appearance at this or that bar to bid them farewell (the young EU expats seem to go out every single night for some occasion or another -I am always trying to find new excuses not to go out). Karate twice a week, mondays and thursdays. Last Sunday the seven hour service in Sameba Cathedral, followed by the Superbowl which we stayed up for until 6am.

Friday there was a meeting in the Patriarchate: Divine Liturgy and Vespers/Matins will be served in Sameba every day and they need six small choirs to sing the services. Luarsab and I have found a bass, and we will be singing the Cathedral services on Friday-Saturdays. We will add new members and work on learning unknown variants to hymns from Saint Kereselidze’s large collection of saved chants. Very exciting!