Dress right and know where you are

Kristen,

Here is the blog you harassed me to start. I'll try to stay true to updating it, documenting incidents of culture shock, language mishaps, inappropriate come-ons, etc. Maybe also stories of cute kids, new friends, and mindblowing scenery.

Right now I'm twenty-two days from Georgia. I have multiple To Do lists, and want to get started on every item on every list immediately. Number one on any list is, of course, learning as much Georgian as I can. Here's my name: აშლე ჭალლინორ. Gorgeous, isn't it? The Georgian alphabet has a hard "ch" sound, so maybe strangers will finally pronounce my surname correctly.

Second on my list is creating a wardrobe. My friend Carole, who is more of a fashionista than I am, suggested I "dress like a Frenchwoman" - i.e., have a small stable of classic pieces in neutral colours that can be combined into any number of practical and chic outfits. Based on the requirements for dressing in Georgia (dark, conservative clothes) this is my best bet. Plain blouses, long skirts, and a rugged pair of hiking boots will be my new style.

(I really just want to dress like Rhianna most days but have yet to find a workplace accepting of that).


I've already had one "Is Georgia in Europe or Asia?" argument with a friend, so to head off all others here are some cold, hard facts:

According to the National Geographic Society, the border of Europe follows the Ural mountains to the Ural River, and onto the Caspian Sea (the most beautifully-named of all the seas). This means that only 4 percent of Georgia's landmass is in Europe - therefore, it's an Asian country.

However, there are two caveats, both geographic and political. It used to be part of the USSR, which (along with present-day Russia) is a European country in Asia, to paraphrase Demetri Trenin. Georgia was in the southwest part of the country, an area historically influenced by Turkey and Iran but also by European Russia (Muscovy). Georgian politics today is almost entirely oriented towards the West, as the country seeks to enter both the European Union and NATO, and is currently a member of OSEC and the Council of Europe. So perhaps Georgia, too, should be described as a European country in Asia!

That said, Europe and Asia are one landmass, so it would make geographic sense to refer to the entire thing as Eurasia and be done with it.