Misha comes to town

On Monday we had lots of big excitement: the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, came to Akhalkalaki! He was working his way through the region to celebrate the grand opening of a new highway that connects our town to Tbilisi in a much more direct manner (the road basically cuts the travel time from 4-5 hours to just over 2). Several other new roads have recently been completed and were inaugurated by the president during his day in southern Samtskhe Javakheti.

Rumors in town that Saakashvili would be coming reached a fever pitch by Sunday night, especially since the town's municipality authorities began constructing a stage in the middle of the main road in town (this made driving and parking patterns even more interesting than usual for the two days). Everyone was saying that he'd come at 11am on Monday morning to give his big speech.

My classes on Monday usually begin during the 4th period at 11:15. Since I'd only heard rumors about the time of Saakashvili's arrival, I decided to head in to school at 10:30 to find out what the official policy would be on classes. As luck would have it, all lessons after 3rd period were canceled, so I got to play hooky. Sam, sadly, had to go to school because he began earlier than I did and his school decided not to cancel classes for the younger grades. So he missed out on some of the fun that I got to have.

I met up with my friend, Marianna, and we walked towards the main "square" (which is mostly just the main road in town, but is a little wider than the rest of the road because it abuts a parking strip and the stairs for the Culture House). I was really surprised a the police and security presence for the event. Usually, when they show Saakashvili on the news, it reminds me a little of governors in the U.S. Here he is, opening a new ice rink! Now he's kicking off the 10-year-old boys soccer game! Here he is, visiting a local winery! So I wasn't really expecting the security situation to be taken very seriously. In fact, they had cordoned off the area and had lots of police who were checking bags and patting people down before they let them in to the "secure" area. I got to play a fun game with a female police officer of taking all the things out of my purse and telling her what they were. ("What is this?" "This is my water bottle. It has water in it." "And what is this?" "This is a notebook." "And this?"That is a pack of tissues." It was a really great Georgian and Russian mixed vocab review.)

We arrived in the secure area in the square at about 11:30, which already meant that things were running behind schedule. There weren't too many people around yet, although it was clear that things were starting to get more crowded and the lines waiting to make it through the security check were monstrous. Marianna and I were there early enough, though, to get up right along the fence at the front, near the stage. We set up shop and waited, talking and enjoying the unseasonably warm November weather. I noticed that the stage wasn't really anything like ready to be soon holding a speech from a president, so I started to worry about how far off the rumors of an 11am start time were.

A big crowd turned out for the event


We waited.

And waited.

I made friends with the various older ladies who kept elbowing their ways through the growing crowd to claim their entitled spots at the front, causing ripples of laughter as I spoke back and forth with them, now in Armenian, now in Russian, now in Georgian.

A schoolgirl being patient and patriotic


We waited some more.

Finally, a van pulled up and started setting up speakers. Then the Georgian flags came out. Lucky for all of us (the crowd started really growing at this point), the sound tech guys not only brought their speakers and microphones, but also brought their finest collection of Euro-techno, which they immediately started blasting for our enjoyment. Maybe they thought they could appease the crowd with the killer beats.

Then we waited some more, occasionally covering our ears. One woman, next to me, put her arm around my shoulders so she could better lean all her weight against me to make the waiting and standing easier.

Finally, at about 3:00pm, all the secret service types and local government officials starting straightening their jackets, the members of the press ran to one side of the stage and a white SUV pulled up. Mikheil Saakashvili had arrived.

Making his grand entrance


As he took the stage, bounding up and fixing his always perfectly coifed hair, all the women standing around me exclaimed on how gorgeous he is. His wife was commented on as being "extremely well put together." He started his speech off in stumbling Armenian, reading from a piece of paper but doing pretty admirably over all, which drew lots of applause and remarks of appreciation from the grandmothers standing (and often leaning) at my side. His speech lasted about 10 minutes and was carried out in the clearest, most eloquently pronounced Georgian that I have heard since being here.

Giving his speech


As soon as the speech finished, he seemed to launch himself into the crowd, running through and shaking hands, waving and smiling and causing mass pandemonium as people of all stripes pushed against everyone to try to get a better view or to shake his hand or touch his hair, I'm not sure.

Causing a stir by diving into the crowd


His wife, the First Lady of Georgia just stood near the front, waiting for him to do his thing.

First Lady of Georgia, Sandra Roelofs



Then, just like that, they were gone. The white car that brought them took them away again and Akhalkalaki returned to a more normal state of affairs. But we had our big excitement for the day and it's given folks a lot to talk about this week!