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Georgian suitors (not all of them of course, but there's always something like trends...) are passionate and can go over the top at that, but there's a bit of a double standard regarding how they treat their own (pretty traditionally, at least it used to be the case) vs. "foreign" girls. Sorry to hear your landlady wasn't prepared for this turn of events and had to suffer. In middle school I was friends with a girl who was Georgian, Lali was her name, and she was very popular, perhaps the first girl to "wake up" our boys to the existence of girls, a coming of age thing. After the 8th grade the family moved back to Georgia, and some heart-wrenching letters followed -- Lali fell in love with an Ossetian (an ethnic and religious -- Muslim -- minority in Georgia) and her family demanded that she has nothing to do with him. It was a drama of many years that ended in their eloping I think and getting disowned by both families -- such a medieval story, I thought, so weird -- Lali was so modern, always on the cusp of fashion and trends... and voila.

There’s, just arrived, an Armenian shop in my street. It reminded me of Greece, especially the sweets sold. When I said so to the owner, she got very happy with me.

It's a fairly widespread sentiment in the former Soviet Union. I don't think the majority of the population got a good deal out of the break-up. Some left for greener pastures, a small percentage got rich, and a very small percentage got stinking rich -- but for the majority of ordinary folks it was just endless difficulties and complications and loss of whatever social safety net and a lot of new but not necessarily improved things that, once the initial excitement wore off, just felt alien and dystopian. That, of course, is not how "everybody" feels, and I don't really know the percentage of people who do -- but it is very, very common. Some of that sentiment is based in reality, some, in illusion that edits out the dark aspects of the past and preserves the rosier ones. I've been to all those places (except Nagorno-Karabakh, but I know what the conflict was about) -- the Caspian Sea is warm and always somewhat stormy because the wind blows relentlessly, Georgia is blessed with great climate and great soil and is home to my favorite cuisine in the whole world, Armenia is -- well, they tell the story there about how god sifted the soil through a fine sieve and made Georgia, and all the rocks left in the sieve, he threw across his shoulder to discard and that was how Armenia came to be. Azerbaijan is Muslim, Georgia and Armenia are Christian. Nagorno-Karabakh was an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory and a site of several wars over whose it is, the latest ending in Azerbaijani (backed by the West) grabbing control and kicking out the Armenians. The British Empire was very active in Azerbaijan in the early 20th century, due to wanting their vast oil fields around Baku. They even gained control of it for a while after WWI and established martial law. Then they were very active there before and during the 1917 revolution and the civil war that followed. But the Soviets prevailed back then.

Possibly far north in the Volga Delta and then into the Central Steppe area . But that general area , especially to the south and into Ukraine had some of the largest human settlements of the time .... vast ! yet little known as they did not 'classify;' ( in the resent past ) as 'civilizations' . New Research Suggests Ukraine May Precede Mesopotamia as Home of First Cities

You must have typed something into your search engine to get those pictures , so I am wondering why the question ? You could have just typed the question in and got a whole page of images of martial arts armor , for sale, in use during competition , in reviews . . .

I´m something of a bear myself and I have trouble with it; twinks, on the other hand, are inveterate repeaters.

same question for two deers

This bears repeating.

It’s odd to think that the Brits were still pushing their weight around less than 100 years ago. When you look at us now you have to wonder how that was even possible. Shows how mighty empires come crashing down - quite quickly and easily (a warning for America). I used to have a landlady who was besotted by a Georgian boy and used to go there to go ‘walking’ with him. He threw her over for a very young ‘doll like’ girl with whom he planned to have many children. She was devastated and her behavior became increasingly erratic. She is a fairly famous playwright and has a wiki page so I won’t mention her name. Looking at the map (in a very superficial assessment) Georgia, Armenian and Azerbaijan look like a fault line between the great powers of Iran, Turkey and the Russian empire. So probably not a restful place I would guess. My neighbour is quite fond of Putin by the way - so I guess he likes a bit of a strong man in charge.

If I understood him correctly he was full of praise for the USSR and how he could move from Baku to Ukraine. I have to admit a certain vagueness about the Caspian Sea, Georgia, Armenian, Ngoro Karabash (?) etc. I don’t think the British empire penetrated thus far - or was it part of the Great Game, not sure. I should brush up on my history. After all weren’t the Proto Indo-Europeans supposed to originate somewhere around there?

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There’s no point arguing with people that do not have the experience.

"knowledge" is intellectual "inner knowing" is NOT intellectual

inner knowing IS direct experience. not talking about "knowledge" there is a difference

inner knowing. i don't have a guru

Salam, nəcəsən? -- Hi, how are you? There's also "Salaam aleykum" used in Azerbaijan (though it may be more of a Muslim greeting), to which a common response is "Aleykum salaam." I think you may be dealing with a rather complex accent in the case of your neighbors (or not, depending on the family.) I've been to Azerbaijan at the dawn of my misty youth (as we say to mean "young and innocent and devoid of clear thinking"). Befriended some homespun drug dealers -- they were all law students, young sons of high-ranking Communist Party functionaries, who had this idea to turn me into their Ukrainian connection for distribution and explained how protected I would be from the law ('cause their fathers were the law and could buy the law anywhere) and how safe and profitable it would be. Lacking a knack for business, illegal or otherwise, I turned down the offer. But I did get introduced to ganja -- a rarity in our parts back then -- and it was hands down the best. They spoiled me for life with that first hit, it was so superior to anything I ever encountered since that I never made a habit of it. It turned the world into a cosmic comedy show, everything was funny, all of nature was hilarious... Maybe that's how gods feel about everything.

Thanks Nungali for the open road ride video! That put a smile on me face. Btw, some of that area looked pretty remote, with probably little cell phone service to call for help if one's bike or rig broke down? There are still quite a few places like that in the US but one needs to make decent preparation if going out into "boonies". (as in a dependable ride, some water, food, basic tools a full gas tank and appropriate clothing for the conditions) I've also found that some map apps can not be counted on 100% or to be very clear and could land one who knows where in remoter areas, or not even that remote of an area. For instance I pulled a family car and the father out of a snow drifted road with my old 4x4 one winter. The father somehow followed an app that took him, his wife and kids off the main highway onto a secondary road and then onto a gravel road (!) that had very little traffic where they got stuck for 2-3 days and freezing while staying inside their vehicle. Lucky for him a sheriff that patrolled that area now and then found them and took them into town. When they got to town they were helped out with a place to stay and food since they were almost broke. No way the guy had $1000-1500 bucks for a wrecker to pull his car out which is when a local volunteer organization which I know of heard about the situation and asked for my help which I was able to give. To top it off the father did not speak English and his wife only a slight amount; but fortunately my bilingual neighbor came along as an interpreter when we went to pull their car out. Speaking of the snow, the ice was even worse with spots where my 4x4 could hardly get traction, while I'm thinking to myself please don't also get stuck here! Things ended up fine and they soon continued down the main highway after saying a nice thank you.

salam nechusum or something

Ok that does sound amazing

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My Persian friend told me that's where ' Good Iranians ' go for 'holidays' ( to be naughty ) .

I got one of those ... not the Kwaka* (niiiiiice ! - by the way ) , but the home . parked at local shop having a drink , a couple of riders are refulling about to go 'up the mountain' one of the premier rides on the east coast . One of them, to me " You are riding light ! " ( no bags, back pack , no full riding suit ) "yeah ... I'm a local ." The look ! Gotta mate that rides and lives in the city - 40 mins of traffic and lights to get anywhere enjoyable . * mine ; But with lowered seat and hot dog muffler . TRy from 1:50 , going from the southern end of the plateau 'over the edge ' (down the mountain ) .

Hi Constantine , it seems we have some interests and practices in common , I highlighted them above .

Just found out the Ukrainian Russian I was trying to talk to is from Baku, Azerbaijan !

Ah, a lurcher. Welcome to the forum. @-ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ-

Any martial artist worth a damn does. Technically speaking, technique can allow you to outfight someone physically superior, but you're gonna want any edge you can get in a fight and technique alone will only take ya so far. Depends on the primary strategy you use, your bodytype, your age, your gender, and a number of other factors. The way I was taught is to assume whoever you're fighting is more skilled than you, armed to the teeth, and willing to die to take you down. Naturally, that usually isn't the case, but if you assume they have knives and/or guns then that changes how you train and how you fight.

In real life situation, there could be no lights, loud noise, glass on the floor, a few against one, bystander who may or may not be enemy, everything that can be thrown at you .... in addition to knives. Most martial arts cannot handle such and never trained for such. And theoretically, the use of the term self defense is to avoid trouble. In real life, the only chance to survive could be full scale surprise attack first. But one may have to end up in jail. So those trainings are useful but not justified to your whole life in perfecting them.

Wow, never seen a truck and trailers set up that long ------------------------------------------------------ ! As for back in the old days many of us were poor but still had a relatively good times (like in nature), and didn't have to concern ourselves with a lot of the stuff that is going on now, like almost weekly school and other random shootings that are horrific to the max!! Btw, now some of the powers that be want to turn teachers into armed cops at school without them being qualified as cops!! And that is partially on the gun corporations for pushing guns 24/7 to everyone for maximum profit, along with nixing lots of reasonable safety ideas and laws for civilian gun ownership....almost no one needs a 30-50 round magazine semi-automatic combat type gun at home that can cheaply be turned into near automatic! Except for maybe off duty swat officers or cops on call. Good God!

Its very important for self defense . No matter how much training you do , if people have been 'allowing' your technique in practice ... it might not work in a real situation . Especially so in defense against weapons , like a knife . Yeah, do this, do that, move here and there , it's all 'interesting dynamics' in training . In a real situation ..... grab a chair or something similar you can put between you and the knife . That was the worst thing my past 'instructor' would do ( I had to get out of there , he was really crap at some stuff and taught people crazy and dangerous stuff 'theory ' that never got tested ..... until I came along . Thank goodness for him we only ever trained with a rubber or wooden knife ! He eventually dropped a few of his taught techniques after those lessons . - a 'knife guy' will not thrust and leave his arm out there after you 'block' it and wait for the rest of some fancy technique . he will instantly draw the thrust back and slice your arm open with the blade on the way back besides , how ya gonna 'block ' this : .

" My hovercraft is full of eels ." PNG Pidgin is weird in that it developed from Aussie English , things like ; their word for themselves was 'boi' ( white fellas ; " Boy ! get my bag . Boy ! carry this box ." etc ) and , not being rude or politically incorrect at all ( I think political correctness is not a thing at all in PNG ) as its just words' ; That man broke something ( or did a process badly ) - Dispella buggerimup ( that fellow buggered it up ) And for someone that has a habit of doing that - Dispella , ime fuckimarse ( that fellow he is ......... 'constantly buggering things up ' ) here is my classic one .... I have put it up before , but it belongs here . I had been 'in camp' for about a week and a half ( with the Bundjulung blackfellahs ) , they maintain their language well and it is constantly spoken. Often at times in an English convo their will break into Bundjaung , sometimes it seems without realizing it . I am having a dispute with one of them , he is saying something exists or something is true and I don't believe him . Its a modern thing and it sounds like crap to me . Me ; " Nah ... doesn't sound true to me , I don't believe it ." Him : " Why you don't believe it ? I believe it its true ! You ..... you ! I don't have time for you .... ugogooglebro ! " Me: " What ?" " Ugogooglebro ! " " I'm sorry I am not familiar with that word what is it in English ? " " I am speaking English ! You *&x#x%F ! UGO GOOGLE BRO ! " .... ! OHHHHHHHH ' you go and goggle it bro ' . I YI YI !

true, and if we can't do the so called little things right then we we wont do big things well either...

.... " You been readin' yer 'fancy word book ' again ? " Me; " Do you mean the dictionary ? " " There you go again ! "

It is what he likes. He likes orange and you recommend an apple. Knowledge in internal martial arts, Neidan, meditation, philosophy, Yijing and Chinese medicine are helpful and useful but not necessary in the many Zheng Yi magical practices.