I love a good protest

I leave for Georgia in the morning. It's just shy of midnight right now, and I'll probably be waking up at 4:30 to pack and get ready. Should be a quick nap sort of night. Georgia is known to most of you for three things, Atlanta, peaches, and being that country that Russia invaded last year that somehow we Americans had something to say about it.

So what does this have to do with protests? The president of the country - reelected in 2008 with overwhelming support - is currently dealing with a crisis in his country. (Who isn't dealing with a crisis these days?) His though, is fairly different. The opposition parties, 13 of them apparently, gave him a 24 hour ultimatum to resign or else they would start holding mass protests. They claim up to 100,000 people will participate and they will not end until he resigns. They also mentioned something about shooting at government buildings according to Liudmila but I can't find that anywhere online. The protests have already started, but in respect to the holiday tomorrow - Palm Sunday - they are taking a break tomorrow. So yeah, I'm going to Tiblisi which is the capital when there are supposed to be thousands of people on the street protesting. Who knows if we will be able to travel the city to get where we are going, if anyone will be working, or what it will be like. Fun!

As for the fact that Palm Sunday is tomorrow, and yet it's Easter in North America, I've discovered that the western orthodox church apparently either uses a different calendar, or you could chalk it up to the fact that things are just backwards in Russia. Christmas is also celebrated on a different day - January 7th. This website gives a pretty good explanation of how and why this has happened.

http://www.erskine.edu/news/russia.4.12.01.html

While looking this up I also discovered this nugget of information: (courtesy of wikipedia)

"In Eastern Europe, Slavic countries have the tradition of Ded Moroz ("Grandfather Frost"). He is accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka ("Snowmaiden"). According to legend, he travels in a magical decorated sleigh drawn by three white horses, and delivers gifts to children. He is thought to descend more from Santa Claus than from Saint Nicholas, having been promoted by the Soviets as a non-religious alternative."