This afternoon the participants of Teach and Learn with Georgia got a personal visit from Mikhail Sakashivili, the current President of the Republic of Georgia. It was rather exciting, and seeing my friends was excellent as well.
The event was held at a night club on the Black Sea, and began late. In Georgia they operate on GMT, Georgia Maybe Time. It is a laid back culture. Mikhail spoke to us for about 30 minutes on Georgia's rapid growth and development, our role in Georgia's development, and then had to go on to do less enjoyable responsibilities. Several of the Americans commented how in the United States no President would ever do any event in the place we were at. It was not very secure. There were maybe 6 Georgian Secret Service total at the event. It was great. I was expecting a fiasco like when Laura Bush stayed at Zion Lodge and ate at the Switchback or when Dick Cheney gave the commencement address for my sister at BYU in 2007. Not so.
Anyway...it was a memorable experience. Mikhail stood about 6 feet from me the entire time, but he only shook hands with my friends sitting on the opposite side from me. Oh well.
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