As Damian would say, Nika gaprinda, Nika has flown back to Georgia this morning to get back to his studies for the final exam. Damian hasn’t asked about him yet, but I expect him to start looking for him within the next two days. That’s very sad to see the little guy missing his Nikapapa :-(
Hopefully Nika will give his exams and receive his documents without problems created by the “Georgian situation”.
I just checked www.civil.ge, still the same president, still protest rallies going on and on… Ucnobi, singer and brother of the opposition politician Levan Gachechiladze, is trying to mobilize the provinces for a “march on Tbilisi” on May 26th (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRXFossvLVM) Have I mentioned that I’m quite happy to be back in Germany?
My hometown Essen and my especially my quarter Kray haven’t changed a lot in the last years. As I’ve lived in Cologne for 7 years and then in Tbilisi for 2 1/2 years, I am something like a remigrant now.
Of course, after Tbili I noticed that the facades of German houses look very well-kept these days. When I grew up, a lot of houses still had the greyish tinge of the dying coal-mining industry, but by now the mines are closed and the houses are renovated. There is also more urban green, I think that’s very beautiful!
Teenage fashion in Germany and Georgia is quite different. The Georgian boys usually don’t use hair gel and consider it as more suitable for homosexuals. They like to wear striped shirts and sometimes beards or at least they shave once in a few days. There are some youths who attempt to be European-style punks or goths, but their outfit is extremely harmless for European standards. Nevertheless they are kind of suspicious for the keepers of Georgian traditions. Georgia is a country where it’s still possible to be a rebel just by letting your hair grow!
Estimated 70% of girls have very long hair with bangs (we call that “pony” in Germany), are thin and wear high-heeled shoes. I have never seen a Georgian girl with jogging trousers outside the house. Well, I’ve never seen a Georgian girl jogging or doing anything which diminishes your possibility to look elegant in public 
Kray is traditionally a worker’s quarter, now with a growing Turkish population. And, as I’m starting to get really tired, I’ll write about Krayian teenage fashion another time!
