turkey to georgia to turkey again

It is past 7am now, and i walk into the smallish terminal. Otogar bus terminal must be one of the largest in the world, but this one is quite small. It seems to only service buses going towards Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Walking into the area, 2 groups of men appear. One from each group grabs an arm, and i become a human tug-of-rope. I’m not amused, but my angry-painful reaction seems to amuse them. I look at the info i wrote down from the internet. It says Maghogdomlu and Metro are the two better choices. They were probably correct on “Metro”. But the Metro office is not open, and one arm is taken by this Maghodghomulu or whatever guy, so i buy a 40usd ticket and go out trying to lay flat in on the sidewalk in front of a mosque for an hour, then sightsee a cool, old neighborhood that i remember from 3 years ago, then lie on some more cement by the sea, then back to my bus departure at noon. I’m tired. For some reason, nearly all the companies’ buses leave about the same time.

Some young Azerbaijani man sits next to me for a while and talks mostly interestingly, but i can tell he is not listening to anything i say. Fortunately some lady gets on and takes that seat, relieving me from answering the same question more than 2 or 3 times. This guy is a “Muslim”, but likes to talk dirty, and even says he’ll “kill me” jokingly of course later. I’m not amused, and tell him that God will judge us for every word that comes out of our mouths. He makes new friends and leaves me alone the rest of the ride. The traffic jam out of Istanbul is huge, and we have the longest wait to toilet break i’ve ever had on a long-distance bus – 5 hours. Seeing the “Welcome to Asia” sign after we cross the Bosphorus Bridge makes things interesting for a while tho. I listen to Japanese Revelation on my camera to use the time wisely, but at this stage, i’m mostly droning/dozing/zoning.

The peepee tax in Turkey is the highest i’ve seen anywhere in the world – 1ytl which means around 65cents usd. Usually i wander around the 20 – 30 minutes that comes with every rest stop while everyone else is eating and smoking, and “learn the neighborhood”. I do pay the fee when nature so demands once, and see that there are no gold-plated faucets even at that price (no toilet paper either). Bus stop food is extremely expensive, and i’m glad i’ve stocked up on bread and cucumbers from Romania, and i still i have some 6-month old raisins and crackers from Japan 🙂

The Turkish immigration was so professional, i was hoping that Georgia would have made some progress too in the last 3 years, but it was not to be. We were herded like cows into a little area where the guard opened the gate to let whoever could push thru the hardest, then he shut it again. Of course this instigated several shouting matches. I was to learn that Georgians love to shout and get angry, making me think that the nasty arguing i saw on tv in America was much better, in that it at least was almost never seen out in public – ha! I mean this as no offense to my Georgian friends, but i found out that Georgians are generally among the rudest and crudest people on the face of the earth (that i’ve met anyway). They are very friendly when they are friends, but in general, and it can be seen by the way they drive their cars, they have no concept of “do to others what you want them to do to you”.

One other interesting thing that happened at immigration, is that the officer leading everyone into the “waiting pen” checked my passport, and then announced to everyone (i guess) to let me go to the front of the line because i’m American. Most of the people opened a path for me to go, but a few shouts were heard, and i was making my move to go to the side at the end of the line, so that ended that incident, but it made me feel good to see that someone at least respects what the US has done to help their country. While traveling, it was kind of spooky to be seeing place names that were in the war with Russia last year. We crossed one bridge that looked like a temporary affair. You could see a broken-down one next to it. My bus-mates told me that the US had brought in this temp bridge for them. In that same town (Gori), you could see rows of newly-built block houses. They are for the refugees who fled the fighting.

The lady next to me lets me call my friend, and he picks me up at Ortachala bus terminal in T’bilisi, and saves me from some tout who is mad at me because i’m not interested in buying a ticket to Trabzon. He takes me to his flat, marking an end to my 61-hour journey. Whew! Perhaps i dozed 5 or 6 hours during that time. Thank you Jesus for keeping me safe, and mostly sane. And please don’t let the rumours be true that Russia is planning to attack this country again next week!!!

About 80% of the whole reason i came is to see my friend. I’ve been very interested in coming again ever since talking with him on skype last year while in Malaysia, and learning that he is wanting that close walk with God like he had when i was here 3 years ago. Unfortunately, most of the time is not used to talk and pray and study about getting right with God again, and partly i wonder why i came here. We finally do get to have a deep conversation 2 or 3 times while here, and i pray the words i could speak were uplifting, pointing him to Jesus. He treated me well, being over-cautious that i find the SDA mission headquarters etc.

The first Sabbath here is at the Georgian-speaking church, where i see quite a few people i met here 3 years ago. Seems the main mission church has split into Russian-speaking and Georgian-speaking groups, which is better for all i guess. In the afternoon i go up to Kajori with my friend’s family. Kajori is a summer-resort place, only about 30 minutes up the big slope from T’bilisi, but probably about 600m higher, and about 5C cooler 🙂 The quiet and coolness finally puts my alpha waves back in sequence 🙂

My friend works on Sabbath now, and not because he “has” to either. He let me have worship on Saturday evening, and i tell the “Elephant” story i learned in Thailand, which everyone, especially the 4 kids, seem to enjoy. After the closing prayer, his wife and he both are a little red-teary-eyed, and he translates to me that she believes God sent me there to help their family get right with God again. I sure pray so. But as i will repeat many times while here, it takes one step at a time. Rather than wait for some “life-earthquake” to come into your life forcing you to make drastic changes for the better, it is best to make a daily step in the right direction, doing everything you know God wants you to do, one thing at a time. Each day that goes by knowing that you are disobeying God’s will, you are making it that much harder to return to God in the future.

We take a hike up to an old, broken down fort on Sunday. When i say old, i mean maybe 1,000 years old. That’s old. I refuse to climb a metal staircase that has a place where 4 stairs are gone. If i slip, at the best i will fall about 20 feet and break a leg. It isn’t worth the risk, altho the others with me think i’m a bit of a scaredy cat. That’s fine with me. Oh yes, one thing that is a bit nice here, is that almost everyone think i’m around 30 – 33 years old – ha! I do meet one man later who i think is about my age, and am surprised to hear he is just 30! In pictures too, you will be hard pressed to find people with the corners of their mouths turned up. The men drink a lot and worry, and the women drink a little and worry, and everyone smokes – a sure recipe for a short life. While at the fort, we have a Bible study – the 3 of us. The other friend is the elder of a church who used to be a pastor. We talk about several things, and i’m very happy to hear that “unconditional love” has not made inroads here yet, and that they believe too that the Sealing is future, the 144,000 is literal etc. He told me that he is cautious with American “missionaries”, because many of them come with strange things. We have a little dissonance with the term “doctrine”, with many questions if it is “official” doctrine. I don’t think he ever did understand that “doctrine” usually has the meaning of “teaching”. But the most troubling thing, was the sense of distrust. Perhaps i did come across as someone “telling” them something. That is correct. I was trying to, in a very short time, prevent strange doctrines from coming in his church, and to show them some things that are “leading-edge” in prophecy study, hoping that they will catch fire to want to study more too. But the strangest thing, was that i was told that a bigger problem than this “unconditional love” doctrine, is the new direction of the Russian and countries under Russian influence, to make a church a “temple”. It seems they want some big structure, and are against small house-sized churches, but i may have lost something in the translation. Well, everyone is free to believe what they want, but i can tell you, this is not a world-church problem at all. This highlights the problem that i see most everywhere, even in rich countries – the less you have seen or study about the outside world, the more you think that your immediate surroundings are the most important thing in the world.

Most of my time at his place is spent on his internet. Someone in their building has purchased internet, and they split it among 4 or 5 families, each running a wire to their respective flats. This is sweet for me, but it has pretty much killed off all the internet cafes. I can’t imagine living like he has – 25 years on the 9th floor of a crumbling building, but this is life. There are many buildings that are hollow in T’bilisi. It is hard to tell if they are going up, or coming down. The cause, i’m told, is what i suspected – there was a huge boom, and then when the financial collapse started, everything stopped. Still tho, this is the region for unfinished buildings, as there are many that are 4-5 stories high, just a concrete skeleton, and have been that way for 5-10 years.

The Metro is classic Soviet style – huge with no maintenance, dank and dirty. Fortunately they have police stationed in every station now, so knifings and stuff that i heard was quite common 4 or 5 years ago is very rare now. The 120 decible sounds inside the cars are still very much evident tho!! How can people put up with this every day, i don’t know. If i lived here i’d have to wear earplugs ‘n ride. At least it is still cheap – 40tetri (25cents).

I find the SDA Mission Headquarters office in Isani easily. God has somehow worked it out so that all the church leaders from the 3 countries in the newly-made Trans-Caucasus Union are here, so i can see the very nice Azerbaijan Misison President, and have a nice 5-minute chat with him. I wait an hour or so, and the young man translating the Armenian 1858 Great Controversy arrives with the Armenian group, making me very happy 🙂

On Thursday i’m invited to go “hiking”. Sounds great. We catch a bus from Didube station, and take about a 30-minute ride out of the city. We follow a potholed road for a few minutes, then just start, well, “trekking” would be a better word i think than “hiking”. Hiking usually involves a trail in my experience, but after following a cow trail for a few seconds, we just start tramping off and up the meadow-lands above T’bilisi. It is grand, except that it is raining. After a while, the squish-squish in my shoes gets uncomfortable, but this is hiking! I brought everything with me for a 4-day absence, which means all my important stuff, including my computer, so i’m a bit laden down. The other 3 members of the group are surprised at the end of the day to learn that i’m not really younger than they are, as they thot (the one saying this is 31!) haha. I can imagine they thot i was a softie from America who doesn’t know the “rough” life. hehe. That was fun. It is true that after about 4 hours, i’m tired enough to tell them to go on with their “down a steep ravine” thing. One slip, and i’m in the hospital, as it is around 30feet down, and the trail is slippery too. I spend the time while they are away sitting on a rock under a tree, enjoying the tinkling of the cow bells, and the splendid view of the fields with the men mowing hay the hard way – by hand. Oh yes, the cute dog at the little shelter that jumped to get the bread thrown him was fun to watch.

My friend somehow finds out there out in the middle of nowhere, and takes me to a different friend’s marriage reception, and then he goes on. This friend was the SDA English Language School director when i was here 3 years ago, and is one of those that i have prayed for every nite since leaving here. Now it is his day to get married! Actually, they signed the papers today, but the main event will be Sunday at the church. I feast and feast, gaining strength Some of the relatives are not Seventh-day Adventist, so there is the usual drinking and dancing, but much less than at most parties of this nature. He takes me to his flat where he lives with his mom, and we enjoy deep talks about spiritual things. It is great to see him read a chapter in the Bible every morning.

On Friday we go to the market together to buy food and supplies for his wedding at the church on Sunday. It is fun to buy 15kg of nectarines, 4 big watermelons, tons of cheese, etc. Fruit is so cheap here! I got 3kg of little peaches for 1lari (60cents). If i had wanted the big, juicy ones, i could have gotten them at 60cents for 1kg. Apricots too at the same price. And all the little herbs at 6cents a bunch – it could be a dream to be a vegetarian here 🙂 Of course tropical fruit is almost non-existent, with bananas being 30cents each!

The following Sabbath is spent at the Russian-speaking church. The church seems very cold, with no one welcoming me or talking to me even. Then, out of the blue, the pastor asks me to come up front and give a 2-minute talk about what i’m doing with the Great Controversy book! Wow! That was a big treat 🙂 After that i sit behind the Filipino couple, and listen a bit to the English translation. Georgian SDA church starts around 10am, and ends at 2pm, making “lunch” more of a “supper”, but everything works out fine.

Sunday is the big day, and the wedding goes off well, except it starts quite late. Time is on a different scale than in Japan or Western Europe, and no one seems to notice much. After seeing the newlyweds off, i go to a room directly above the church. They’ve kindly let me stay, and i enjoy talking with the guardman. He seems grounded in the truth. The kitchen cook is insistent that i eat with them for every meal, and she doesn’t accept my protest, so i enjoy the good food. She accepts my offer of a Georgian 1858 Great Controversy when i leave. I have a wonderful talk with the former Azerbaijan Mission president too. He has just been elected the new president of the Georgian Mission, and i tell him a bit about why i’m here – to help my friend. He prays with me, and even offers to go visit him, but i tell him it is not quite time yet. That desire to be a good shepherd for the flock tho is wonderful, beautiful to see.

While at the mission headquarters, i talk with the publishing director and his wife. They misunderstand me at first, so we find a translator, and they show me that the 1858gc books are being stored nicely, and that some have been distributed/sold. More could be done, but with no one here to make that a focus of their work, the books are not going out as quickly as they could. Oh well, i pray that the Lord will move on peoples’ hearts to spread these precious books.

My last week in Georgia is spent mostly uneventfully, with the last Sabbath being at the Georgian church again. After the sermon, i give a study of the 1858gc – chapter 37. I told before that i would do chapter 30, but having read this chapter last nite with my friend, and feeling how powerful it was, i decide to do that in the church too. Plus, it is shorter, and i know the people are hot and hungry. Our study goes pretty well, but seeing how the thing that causes the most intense discussion/questioning is how the wheels on the cloudy chariot look, it is driven home again how “technical” this group is. The scholarly knowledge is there, and is important, but the heart-felt desire to be with Jesus, to be like Jesus, it seems to be lacking.

In the afternoon we drive up to Kajori again, and my friend spends the rest of the day working on his car. As before, the coolness and quietness makes my sleep very comfortable. On Sunday i teach English a little while to 2 of the 4 kids. They really enjoy the songs, and one girl even writes all the ABCs. We have a Bar-B-Q, and in place of the fish that everyone else is having, i have 3 green peppers and 2 tomatos skewered on a steel rod – yum yum. After a game of dominoes, and a short story about Zaccheus and wanting to see Jesus, we drive back down into the city. That nite we have our deepest talk about where we are headed in life, and how to get back on the narrow path etc. Along with the prayer for my friend with the Union and Mission presidents, this is the highlight of my whole trip. May God continue to work on my friend’s heart, until he returns to the Lord with all his heart, soul, and might. He says that is exactly what he wants, and i just pray he starts making the steps back – one at a time.

Monday i leave. The black man at the Mahmut bus company is not here today. He is the reason i chose this company, as he was not physically grabbing me like the native Georgians were when i came a few days earlier to buy a ticket. We even had a chat, and even prayed together. But he is not here today. OK. I do some more 3D tutorials on my computer, and then wait. And wait. The sign on the bus says “11:00”. My ticket says “11:30”. We finally leave a little after 12:00. This is Georgia. For some reason the ticket price has been fixed by the government at 50usd to Istanbul. That is high. Really now, an airplane would be cheaper. But alas, there is no discount airline in Georgia, altho one is kind of started up. Anyway, it doesn’t go to Istanbul, so this bus company is getting over 2,000usd for this one trip. There is a huge confrontation in the terminal before we leave, and it even starts getting physical. I hate this mindset. When one of the contestants walks by me, i smile and lift up the corners of my mouth with my fingers. He smiles a bit, and the decible level goes down for a few minutes. Finally, after it is all over, the police show up. About that time there is some man coming thru the bus asking to look at tickets. Now the bus-lady has already checked all of us, so what is this about? He says something to me a couple of times, and the man next to me tries to interpret, but i can’t understand. I have a sinking feeling that he is asking for a bribe, but after smiling and looking dumb for around 30 seconds, he looks angry and moves on.

This bus is completely full too, like when coming. The bus-lady is not very friendly, and no one tries to talk with me, even the young man next to me who is studying English. Immigration getting OUT of Georgia is a big hassle, with the officer making me wait around 45 minutes. She finally comes back, stamps it, and hands it back. I’m not amused. I ask what the problem was, and she doesn’t seem to want to answer, but finally says something about they had to “take it to the lab”. I told her that i will be writing a email to the Georgian ambassador to America. Really now, if there is a problem with the passport, do when coming IN the country. Doing that when going OUT is just nonsense. The Turkish immigration is very smooth, with even the young lady with the white gloves giving out little “no swine flue” (i guess) stamps, giggling when she see she has an English speaking customer. They let me in on the same 20usd visa i bot 3 weeks earlier, so i don’t have to pay anything to get it stamped again. We arrive a little before noon, which makes me wonder why the trip takes 29 hours going east, but only 24 going west? Do buses go faster following the earth’s rotation? Is there some kind of “bus-stream” pushing them along faster going that direction? The cigarette smoke from the drivers makes me a bit headachy, but i’m glad to be safely in Istanbul again.

After getting out, i walk with all my stuff over towards Sultanahmet. I’m looking for a cheap dormitory room for one nite. It was a bit farther than i thot, almost 30 minutes with all my stuff, but i find the bath house at Cemberlitas station, and go down the street a little and see a familiar sign – Cordial House. This is where i stayed 3 years earlier. They give me a dorm bed for 9euro, and after a lunch in the park and a shower, i catch a few winks. The internet lists many agencies for Air Arabia, so i find one easily. AirArabia wouldn’t take my credit card info on the internet, and not even when i did the whole process over the telephone with the headquarters’ office. But the agency uses their credit card system, and i’m not even too worried about the 40usd fee they tack on for their services. At 275usd, it is still nearly 50% cheaper than the next cheapest thing. I walk around a while admiring the old stuff, and seeing how trash accumulates around that old “stuff”, even when it is 1,500 years old. Some people appreciate history, and some don’t i guess. But is all the same in the end i guess – dead. I sit a while on a bench, and some guy comes up to me wanting to polish my tennish shoes. I smile and say “no”, but he asks if he can sit, and of course i say “ok”. He shows me some coins from different countries, and i give him one Romanian coin. He then says he must brush my shoes as a gift. I’m leery, but finally give in. He brushes with water a bit, and then starts talking about how many Turkish Lira i will give him for it. I get angry, and grab my shoe back. “You told me it was a gift!” “We will all be judged by God for what we do.” He says “You are a bad man”, and walks away. Aaargh. I despise this kind of “money-grubbing”. If you want money for something you do, say so. But don’t try to be friendly, all the while lying to me.

I find wi-fi is available for free at my dorm, so i enjoy getting caught up on things before going to bed. When entering my room, a woman peeks from behind a guy in his underwear on the bed next to mine. I really don’t need this. I pay them no attention, and they talk and whatever for awhile, and after self-consciously praying, i crawl under the extra sheet that i picked out of the maid’s closet in the afternoon. There are 8 people in the room when i wake up in the morning. Everyone is very quiet, and i can tell foreigners, because they are polite. Nice. Even people hold open doors for others sometimes!

The next morning i leave at 11:30, and walk down toward the Eminou ferry to Kadikoy. On the way i pass a vendor selling postcards. The price? 6 for 1euro. I tell him that they are 5 for 1 lira (1/2euro), up at Hagia Sophia. He smiles and says to keep it quiet and i can have 5 for 1lira too. I don’t like it, but go along. It pains me to hear some lady just off a tourist bus ask, and he tell her 6 for 1euro, and not blush at all. What kind of conscience lives with that? The ferry ride is exhilarating, taking 20 minutes to go from Europe to Asia. The other side is not tourist area at all, and i have trouble finding my bus, but it comes, and fortunately is an ekspres bus to the Sabiha Gokcen airport for only 3.5lira (2.30usd), much cheaper than the 10euro shuttle van price, and with the ferry ride thrown in, a much funner way to go! Count on a little over 2 hours from Sultanahmet area, and 5ytl including the ferry ride to get to Sabiha Gokcen (pronounced almost “Gokshen”) airport.

So that is where i’m at now, having been using this computer near an electrical outlet for over 8 hours now. I’ve seen many people come, and many go. I’m amazed at the way people dress and look for a Muslim country. Really, nearly all of these people would not look out of place anywhere in Europe or America, except that most of them are more decent. There are a few dark-skinned Turkish people, but the vast majority fit in with the above two named areas with no problem for what i’m seeing. Of course to be taking a plane instead of a bus may mean they have a bit more income too. My plane leaves at 1:55am, so i will have been here 12 hours by then i guess. I finished up the long tutorials on how to use Bryce 3D software, and now i’m wondering what to do next. So that’s why i spent almost 4 hours typing up this long post!