Three items. Or: Hm, really that first part did a pretty good job of explaining the pertinent components of this post.

Item one: I believe that, before now, posting a comment required one to have a Blogger account. This may be the reason that Ruth is the only one who ever comments. A more important reason might be that nobody cares. But I prefer the former reason. And I have fixed it. So, whoever you are in New Zealand, comment away. Reveal yourself, and describe what it's like to talk to a hobbit and all the dirty secrets you know about Australians.

Item two: I have a new task for the loyal readership of this blog, whoever you are. With the aforedescribed dot on my webcounter map in New Zealand, there have now been visitors to this blog from five continents (Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, and the Australian continent of which I believe New Zealand is a part, for those of you who were geography majors). That leaves Antarctica and South America. I will temper my grand global ambition enough to admit that the frostbitten scientists at the South Pole probably have better things to do than visit my blog (like set up a website to sell the rare penguinskin coats they delicately sew by hand in their free time), but my new goal is to have someone visit this blog from South America. I don't know anyone in South America, but I am sure you do, friends. Get to it! The first person to woo a South American will get a hearty virtual pat on the back from me. Or, more likely, from some guy I know, because I'm too busy for that sort of thing.

Item three: The larger-than-anticipated readership of this blog does indeed intrigue me for reasons beyond fake embellished-for-humor's-sake narcissism. I may not get Huffington Post numbers, but to be fair I don't write biting political commentary like today's top post, which is entitled, "Why I Hate Animal Lovers." So I've decided it's only fair to provide more actual content if people are legitimately interested in this country and in this experience, in the sincere hope that people will be so moved, informed, and enlightened that they'll tell all their friends to start coming to this blog, so I can turn this blog into an advertising cash flow. Ha ha! Just kidding (you think)!

That said, here are some of the topics on which I will be writing lengthy expositions in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully there will be accompanying pictures when circumstance and internet connection allow:

• Georgia, the country (part I): Geography (Or: Cauc-Ask-Us About Our Verdant Hills)
  
• Georgia, the country (part II): Geopolitics (Or: It's a Russian World, We're Vladimir-ly Living in It)
• Georgia, the country (part III): Recent History (Or: The Rose Revolution -- Like the American Revolution, But More Colorful)
• Georgia, the country (part IV): Current Issues (Or: Hero or Saakash-villain?)
  
• Georgia, the country (part V): Guria Region (Or: Chokhat-aren't We Awesome?)
• Georgia, the country (part VI): Food (Or: You'll Never Guess What's For Dinner!)
• Georgia, the country (part VII): Marshutkas (Or: It's Okay, I Wasn't Using My Thigh. Feel Free to Sit on It for the Next Five Hours.)
• Georgia, the country (part VIII): Language (Or: You've Got to be F$%^$ing Joking Me.)
• Peace Corps, the life (part I): The Basics of PC/G (Or: Acronyms Are Fun!)
• Peace Corps, the life (part II): Money (Or: I Cannot Afford to Pay You The Equivalent of Three Dollars For This Item.)
• Peace Corps, the life (part III): The Rules (Or: It Is Against the Rules For Me to Tell You About the Rules Unless I Consult With My Program Manager and Sign Six Forms)
  
• Peace Corps, the life (part IV): Being an American in a Foreign Land (Or: You Know I Can't Make Money Appear From the Sky, Right?)
• Peace Corps, the life (part V): Being an American in a Georgian Household (Or: The Benefits for a Male Volunteer of Developing World Gender Norms)
  
• Peace Corps, the life (part VI): Georgian NGOs (Or: How to Solve Economic, Educational, Environmental, Cultural, and Democratic Problems With Enough Time Left In the Day to Make Fake "Most Wanted" Posters About Your Coworkers)
• Peace Corps, the life (part VII): The Hard Parts (Or: You Think You Have It Tough Now, Just Wait for February, Dude)
• Peace Corps, the life (part VIII): The Benefits (Or: Would You Rather Poop in a Hole or Spend Ten Years Paying Off Student Loans and Working as the Assistant to the Regional Manager in Charge of Font Selection?)

I would like to mention, first, before my Peace Corps superiors have a heart attack, that any segments touching on politics or current events will be told from an entirely third-person perspective, with no personal opinions intervening whatsoever, because this is not allowed (oh, you will enjoy the entry on Peace Corps rules!). I believe that doing it in this way makes it acceptable to present what is going on here for people who might be interested (especially considering that Georgian geopolitics have actually been in the American news cycle briefly on a couple of recent occasions). I would like to mention, second, that if there are things I have forgotten to make into a category and/or that you are particularly interested in, please let me know. I am beginning to take the Peace Corps missive to inform Americans about our host country more seriously, recently, both because I think that more people should at least consider doing this, and because this region is becoming a major player in a rapidly complicating geopolitical situation. So it would be good if people knew more about it than I did before Peace Corps sent me here (to be fair, knowing where Georgia is would be more than I knew about it before I got the invitation). Also, poop.

Whew! I almost went an entire paragraph talking about serious things without saying anything immature! That was a close one, friends. I'll be more careful in the future.