a touch rustic

I don't want to make any sweeping generalizations about life in Georgia until we've been here a while--because I'm sure my views will evolve with time and exposure--but it would not be premature to say that life here is more rustic than where we came from. Two examples:

I have to preface the first by explaining that we hired a driver to get us around. It sounds posh, but really we just don't have our car yet and drivers here are affordable. Our driver, undoubtedly like many in the business, knows every nook and cranny of the city. The other day as he was showing us around, the baby got really fussy--he was hungry and we were far from home. We suggested he stop at any corner and we'd jump out quickly. He asked us what the baby would like, and we thought bread would be easy enough. There were numerous street vendors and corner shops available. He sped past what we thought were many perfectly suitable options and swerved onto a nameless side street, then pulled into an even more obscure alley. We thought surely it was too narrow for the car to even fit through, but that wasn't what he was trying to do. On our left was a cinderblock building with a rough-hewn window. He stopped the car, reached up to the window, tossed in a few coins, and a burly man inside handed him a piping hot, crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside, perfect specimen of bread.

This Yoda-shaped marvel, Shoti, is delicious and dangerous.

It was like a drive-thru, Georgian style, except he had to reverse his way out of the alley. Needless to say, the baby was satisfied (as were we, with our choice of driver).

Example number two: a friend of mine picked up some groceries for us the other day, including lettuce. When I went to wash it, I noticed that it was bound with a peculiar cord, and for a moment I thought an overly resourceful Georgian had resorted to a coated strip of wire to tie my lettuce.

I take dirt on my lettuce as a good sign.

But as I unwound the cord I discovered that it was in fact a flexible branch. Wow. SUPER rustic!

I love that my lettuce was tied with a stick.

And let me just add that this lettuce came not from a street vendor (that would hardly phase me), but from a shiny swanky western-style grocery store. No doubt this is just the beginning of the rustic delights Georgia has to offer.