In which I know neither Georgian and Abkhazian history and politics or how to speak Russian

Late last week, a group of women from Georgia (the country, not the state) and Abkhazia came to my office. It was interesting and I realized how profoundly ignorant I am about that region—discovering the vast areas of my inexpertise seems to be a theme of recent weeks.

It wasn’t quite as interesting for me as it could have been, as the lingua franca between the visitors and my coworkers was Russian. Listening to them speak, reminded me of the beginning of my time here, when I could only understand a few works per sentence, mostly English cognates.

I spent the hours of discussion straining to pick out the shared words between Serbian and Russian, trying to make sense of what people were saying. What I understood was quite interesting. People drew parallels between the breakaway Abkhazia region of Georgia and Serbia’s own Kosovo, discussing UN precedents, similarities and differences in the regions’ histories, etc. The women from Georgia did not support Abkhazian independence—many of them are ethic Georgian refugees from that region—while Women in Black supports Kosovo independence. It was interesting to watch the women from each group try to make sense of each other.

As I walked home that night, I wondered when—if ever—I would use my Serbian after my return to the US. It’s not much of a lingua franca.