Putin on the Ritz

*This portion of the post has been deleted*

And in other Georgia news, Russia has decided to send their ambassador back to Georgia (recall that Russia withdrew their ambassador after Georgia arrested four Russian spies last fall). Also, I was watching the news the other day and they interrupted the national news broadcast to cut to...live figure skating! Yes, a 17 year old Georgian teenager was skating in the European Figure Skating Championships in Warsaw. And, showing a replay after the commercial or the highlights during the sports section was obviously not acceptable, we need to cut away and see it live! She fell down. Yesterday's news also contained a 20 minute feature about the implosion of The World's Ugliest Building, located in Batumi right along the sea. We got to see the newswoman put explosives in place, wander through the building for the final time, and then we saw the building's demise from over 35 different angles. Of course, they brought Americans in to enact the explosion. It's good to know that when something needs blowing up, other countries know where to find the experts!

I was also in Istanbul recently. I will write about that when I can post pictures also, since I think it'll be better that way.

And lastly, congratulations to the eight people I know who got engaged in the past month. You make me feel like an old maid.