naqani

naqani! naqani!

i decided a walk was needed after finally sleeping a full eight hours, a shower, and eating a proper meal. i needed to see Tbilisi and clear my foggy jet-lagged head. Nagila recommended that i see the little park nearby. out i went. the only 'shoes' i have now that i can wear with skirts are flip-flops. unbeknownst to me , Georgians wear these only in the house. so i get a lot of stares at my feet. 'nice girl with beautiful clothes. why can she not afford real shoes?' i can handle the stares.

in the park, i immediately heard music, so naturally i followed the sound. Georgian rock music. quite a trip. unfortunately, i didn't have any lari to go inside the theatre and listen, but there were only men inside anyway. i heard enough from outside. i'm not skilled enough with words to describe the music, but it sounded something like 'mooo naaag naaaag. tsi tsi. moooo naaaag naaaag.' music similar to a US grunge rock band.

i followed the paths of the park to the people and fountain in the middle. along the way were teenage 'couples', families, tables full of men speaking about important things, typical park scene. there were tiny tables set up with little 'prizes' for sale. prizes=plastic junk made in china. popcorn was sold from the tiniest stand. in the middle of the park was a fountain. it was surrounded by a mini-fence, so no one played in the water.

after strolling for a bit, i decided to sit on a bench. approximately twenty-seven seconds later, a young man sat next to me, smiling from ear to ear, exposing a few missing molars. he quickly discovered that i was either a mute, or i didn't speak georgian. he thought this was hilarious, and continued speaking georgian. we finally discovered that we could have a little fun pointing at things, and exchanging georgian / english words. 'me tarzan, you jane' in Georgian translated to 'me Schmagi, you Lindsey in English. at first i thought his name was 'smog' and i laughed out loud, probably offending him.

there was an old woman in the park pushing a little cart around with what looked like a big cardboard box on it. 'naqini! naqini!' she sang. 'naqini! naqini!' i looked at Schmagi, 'what's naqini?' so he began calling 'naqini! naqini!' to the old woman, calling her over. i realized whatever naqini was, i would soon find out, and be forced to try some. the old woman excitedly pushed her cardboard cart over to us. she dug deep into the box and pulled out three different kinds of ice cream. Schmagi explained that i was american and didn't speak any georgian. she thought this was hilarious, and said all sorts of things about me, none of which i could understand. i ate my half-melted naqini, and realized this was my first georgian word. naqini! naqini!