NOT SO GREAT UNDERWEAR CAPER

Georgia is a country of song and dance, ancient traditions, thousands of acres of vineyard, and incredible mountains... It's a spectacular country, but it’s an awful place to buy underwear.

But Georgia is where I find myself amidst a terrible and worsening underwear shortage. Quite stupidly I left a bag of dirty laundry at the hostel I stay at when I’m in Tbilisi. It probably looked like a bag of garbage and inside were most of my boxer shorts. When I returned the following week to claim the bag, it was gone, probably thrown out by the cleaning lady. I will not even entertain the notion that someone willingly stole my dirty underwear. That is just sick.

This has turned out to be quite tragic, particularly as the weather has turned cold and rainy and it takes days for my laundry to dry. As I type this, my four remaining pairs of damp boxers hang on the clothesline. I have two pairs of tighty-whiteys to see me through until they dry. The worsening weather does not bode well for a man in my predicament.

The underwear at my local bazaar all come in inane patterns and with drawstrings. They look like cutoff hippie pants that gray ponytailed men wear at rallies to legalize marijuana while they play with their twirling sticks and try to fend off another acid flashback. Then there are some wierd thongs for men that made their way here from Europe. I’m not a man of fashion, but I am a man of comfort and this underwear simply won’t do. Of all the minor disasters I’ve endured in Georgia this one... well I guess it’s not that bad, but I really would like some boxer shorts.

Thirty-one years old is kind of late in life to ask your mom to buy you some underwear. But is there any age when it’s okay to ask a total stranger to send you some, because that’s where I’m going with all of this. Perhaps some random reader will take pity on this noble volunteer. Wouldn’t that be a fun tax-deductible donation to explain to an auditor? “It says here you spent $30 on an underwear donation?”

According to the little map feature on the blog I have readers in Israel, Australia, Japan, literally all over the world. Not many readers, but still.

Seriously, will someone please send me some underwear? I hate to be a bother, but the sight of those four sad pairs of boxers dripping water as they hang on the clothesline is depressing. On one pair the elastic stitching has even come unraveled. Please send me some boxer shorts (waist size 32-34). Please. I’m begging you.

Ryan Nickum, PCV
C/O Peace Corps Georgia
PO Box 66
Tbilisi 0194
Republic of Georgia