nicknames.

I’m blessed with a very Dutch name. Even neighbouring peoples struggle to pronounce the long vowel. Luckily Art or Earth aren’t too bad as alternatives. In Russia Artyom did pretty well, and yesterday I used Bernhard. Aart should be it’s abbreviation, so this makes sense. 

I learned that Georgians are very familiar with the use nicknames, as they do similarly in Russia. There Aleksandr becomes Sasha, Konstantin Kostya, Pavel Pasha, Mikhail Misha, Aleksey Lyosha, Marya Masha, Sofya Sonya, Lyudmila Lyuda, Tatyana Tanya, Yekatarina Katya, et cetera. Last year I met two great Poles, with similarly abbreviated nicknames. Now it happens that most Georgian women are called Nino (not Nina!) or Maia, and most men listen to Giorgi. Maybe sometimes Tamar and Irakli. Nicknames are of great use here. 

Yesterday I moved into my new house. The English-speaking daughter of my land lady is called Nino, so I have to remember her surname. I won’t forget the nickname of her mother though: it is the same as my cat’s!

So here you get the view from my window. More photos, especially of the winter wonder Tbilisi will follow! I am blogging via the free city wifi Tbilisi loves you, by the way. To promote freedom of thought and communication the mayor initiated a city wide wireless network. Great!