Georgia: Travel guide, visas and free housing · 2026

UUSAblogi · Oct 5, 2009Read

If you are going to the USA for the first time, you must visit Washington!!!! In the morning we visited museums because they close at 5 p.m. And from 1 p.m. we went to the Capitol. Art Museum - 41,500 works. An amazing story happened to me!! While walking near the Capitol, a young American, about 24 years old, approached me. He introduced himself, said he was a correspondent for the Washington Post newspaper, and immediately apologized for accidentally overhearing my phone conversation and asked if I was from Russia after my affirmative answer. He asked a few questions about the war. The correspondent asked: "Why is Russia bombing South Ossetia? Isn't its own territory enough for it?" I explained to him that he had inaccurate facts and that it was Georgia doing the bombing, and that Russia, on the contrary, was helping the residents of South Ossetia as much as it could. It's true, all the channels were saying what a bad Russia it is, and they weren't telling the truth—they were silent!!! The journalist took a few photos, thanked me for the interview, and told me to read his article on the front page of the Washington Post.

UUSAblogi · Oct 2, 2009Read

Yesterday was my first day at work.... You ask how I got there? Like a three-day horse ride—that's me!!!!!! First, I walked for 25 minutes. They explained it to me, of course... But I still turned the wrong way immediately, but Aunt Lena saw me from the window and started shouting—LENA! Where are you going???? The other way. Thank goodness my hearing is fine.... Then I went the right way.. By the way, I had to be at work by 11. I left at 9.... I'm walking, and all around are houses like in the movies.. You could take a photo of every single one!!!!! And squirrels and chipmunks are running and jumping everywhere! Seriously! Really! I'm walking.... I got to some intersection and thought..... I went left.... Correct. Then I crossed a bridge and didn't remember where to go. A Chinese woman was sitting in a car... I asked her... She told me.... I keep going.... I turned where she said, and then another intersection... She didn't mention it... so what to do? A guy is running by.... I ask him, and he says to me—I am from Georgia! I don't know! And I think to myself—What a fool!!!!!! Then I asked another one... He was a local.... So I reached the tram station... To buy a ticket. HMMMM! Thank goodness, a worker there was helping everyone.. And he helped me. 3.40 for 2 rides... I get on and ride to the RESERVOIR station.... And there I need to find another tram line. I was on the D, but I needed the B later... I go to look... I went in one direction.... And there was line C... I asked a guy, and he said everything was in the other direction... He was right.... I'm walking, and on the way, there's a black guy.. Sorry! AFRICAN AMERICAN! I'm politically correct now too... And he says to me—Hi! Sweety! UGHHHHHHHHH! I got away from him as fast as I could... Then I asked 2 more people and finally reached my line.. I sat down and went.... I got out right opposite the pharmacy... My crazy trip ended.. And I arrived at 10:50..... Today I'll leave later, now I know the way.... I hope....

Gguest_16006Oct 1, 2009Read

The end. Thank you to everyone who voted for me and read all my work; I hope it was not only interesting but also useful. Thanks to you, I won an iPod, and a special thanks to the organizers for providing the prizes! It took me a while to get around to announcing that I have stopped blogging. I am posting everything else on my VKontakte page; those interested can find me there. Thanks again, and wishing you all the best experiences!!!

Gguest_16006Oct 1, 2009Read

Today my arrival got a little bit closer. Today I went to the airport to change my tickets from October 1st to September 5th. Air France was flying from Atlanta, so I had the opportunity to exchange them directly with them. I got up early, left (the trip took over an hour in total), and arrived at 11:30. At the information desk, I found out where to go. Unfortunately, the Delta employee couldn't do anything for me and sent me to my airline's office, which was in some cramped little room and staffed by only one person. Everything would have been fine if he didn't start working at 2 PM. I had to walk around, drop off my resume for a job, and come back again. In line (1 person ahead of me), I met a Romanian guy; he had missed his flight yesterday through no fault of his own and was in a big hurry to change his ticket since he only had one hour left. We got to talking, and I found out that one of his favorite writers is Dostoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov), Turgenev (love lyrics), Gogol (I told him about the second volume of Dead Souls, he was quite surprised), and Pushkin. Since he needed it more than I did, I decided to let him go ahead; it only took me 8 minutes, and I also helped him, I'm incredibly pleased with myself. I acted smartly in Moscow - I had reserved my seats, so no difficulties arose, I paid $40 and the sticker with the flight change ended up on my ticket. So, 5th New York, 6th Paris, 6th Moscow!!! And then, and then wild pleasure from everything I was missing, and finally, I will see YOU, whom I miss even more than any things... I arrived home only by 4 PM and Sasha immediately suggested going to the mountains. There, carved bas-reliefs of presidents awaited us, a mountain we would climb, as well as a half-hour laser show. Since it was Friday, 5 o'clock, everyone was returning home from work, and we had to get quite nervous because of the traffic jams, although we arrived in 20 minutes. Entry costs $8, and in principle, you don't have to pay for anything else. We left the car and started climbing up (see the photos in the album). We climbed for about 30 minutes, the height is about 800-900 meters. Especially for Americans, there was an "ala McDonald's" establishment at the top, where one could restore "lost kilograms," which many were doing. At the very bottom, we walked around a Wild West-style town, and then headed to the mountain, under which the show was supposed to take place. In general, Americans are used to comfort: if they go into nature, say, in a "mobile home," there are parking lots where you plug it into "outlets" and charge it; if you go into nature, there is a special place for a campfire, barbecue, etc.; if you go fishing, it's in a pond where this fish has already been released. It's the same here - they brought mattresses, folding beds, portable refrigerators, food for an unknown number of people, pillows, in general, everything to feel not in the wild, but on their own lawn. The show lasted about 30 minutes. I liked the beginning and the ending. At the beginning, it was about what a glorious state Georgia is, the ending was the American anthem. In the middle, they showed some birds with eggs, a sponsor's advertisement (cows advertise a chain of chicken bistros, so the cows were in the roles of Jack Sparrow, Jedi, Gone with the Wind, etc.), about how the devil wanted to claim Georgia. All in cartoon style. Everything ended after 10 PM, we got home by 11 PM. In general, these hikes are great, you climb up, over the rocks, I jumped there like a little lamb, my roots "played up." And in the evening, when it's quiet, the moon is shining, you are sitting on the top of a cliff, the lights of Atlanta stretch out below you, countless forests, fields, you can see a horse riding from a nearby town, you think: "Oh my! Such beauty, it's so good, and why isn't that person next to you with whom you would be ready to sit here all night? Why are you sitting alone?" I really liked my day, I can say for sure - it

Gguest_16006Oct 1, 2009Read

No matter how hard it was today, I got up at 8 a.m. Why? Well, what about the Lokomotiv vs. Spartak match? Can't forget about the home club! They played great, controlled the match, and were leading 2-0. But whether they got overconfident or just relaxed, the match ended 2-2. Those Spartak guys barely scraped by on luck, what a shame! The rest of the day wasn't particularly notable—121 clients, discussions with Helber about the same old thing; he agreed to give me Brazilian coins in exchange for rubles. If only I could find someone willing to exchange, say, 1 ruble for 1 dollar. And why not? Where else would he find rubles? There was a funny moment. Our air conditioner started leaking, and of course, I was the one who found it. And naturally, I didn't just find it, I "stepped" right into it. I was walking with meat, looking all business-like as usual with my standard smile, thinking about my own stuff, and suddenly—hop! Imagine the letter "g"? Well, I did something similar with my legs and slid across the water on one boot. My face, as they told me later, showed so much surprise that you couldn't look at it without laughing. Thankfully, my taekwondo-karate training didn't go to waste; I kept my balance and successfully "slid" right up to a stunned client. Later, David asked what happened, to which I replied: you know, it's been my lifelong dream to get on the ice, on skates, to feel like some kind of figure-skater-snowboarder, so I decided to make it happen. After getting home from work, we headed to the store at 1 a.m. because I have a full workday tomorrow and wouldn't have been able to go shopping. Anyway, we got back at 3, I got a free coupon for a "healthy lifestyle" (bought Activia), and collapsed into bed, feeling nothing.

Gguest_16006Oct 1, 2009Read

Yo! I've been here for 3 weeks! It's crazy! A month is almost up, so it's time to sum up some intermediate results! Today my peaceful sleep was interrupted by shouts of "hey." It was Sasha. "Come on, let's go!" "Where?" "To Downtown." Everything was so mysterious and unclear, as if we were plotting a revolution. It turned out we were going to the Coca-Cola museum. We were there for about 2 hours, I spent $15, and drank a lot of different colas from all over the world (Russia, of course, wasn't there). But first things first. Coca-Cola was invented by an Atlanta pharmacist, John S. Pemberton, in 1886. Since then, it has continuously conquered its position all over the world. In the very first hall, we were greeted by Coca-Cola advertisements from different years, the oldest being an image of a bell calling to drink "this" for 5 cents in 1886. Next, we were treated to a cartoon ad (Happiness Factory), the same one that Coke is showing on TV now with various little monsters. A funny, cheerful cartoon about what happens inside a vending machine. The main message is that Coke is great, we all love our jobs, we are part of a whole, and we put our soul into every bottle. Next was the lobby, where you could take a picture with a polar bear (cool job, you just sit there, open your mouth, and everyone is happy), which I did; I'll post the photos and videos later. Then came the history of Coke. But it doesn't take up much space, mostly pictures and videos—you need more entertainment, and boring history "doesn't fly." On the other hand, you don't learn much about the drink because you get distracted by all sorts of other things. After that, they showed us an assembly line, kind of like a real one, like they have at their factory. Everyone's attention was drawn to a camera that everyone was looking into (I made a couple of faces for a police file) and taking pictures. The second floor was a 4D cinema (we were given fancy glasses, look in the album) about the 4 secret ingredients of the drink's success (sugar, cocaine dust, a little oil, charged water). Seriously, right? I wouldn't have believed it either if they had said that. They didn't. It's simpler—a unique taste, a convenient bottle, wide popularity, and, of course, us. It was great; during the screening, the chairs shook, water poured on us, springs hit us from behind, we jumped up, and the kids in the hall almost peed themselves. After that, we had to see Warhol and his perception of Coke and, of course, try all the swill that this company produces around the world. There were 5 columns (Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, North America), and at each one, you could try 6-7 different flavors. Some were outright swill, some were actually not bad (I liked India, pineapple-nut flavor). In the end, I grabbed 3 bottles of Coke, which made them look at me scared and say—you can only have one. After that, straight to work. The day was very slow, 77 people. I had to draw slips of paper again, and this time I drew before our boss, so he went home because the remaining one was marked. The day was a bit "smeared" by the manager, David. Some homeless woman dressed in rags started jumping around outside the window, and he says to me: "Oh, Nikolai, your girlfriend is waiting for you there!" Ugh, I got so worked up, my eyes probably became so angry that he was a bit stunned and immediately said: "I'm joking, I'm joking, calm down buddy!" "I think you should go out to her, she's waiting for YOU after all," I told him. "Come on, everything is fine, it's just a joke!" Well, we don't have a good relationship with David. Well, at least he rarely comes to see us, so I only see him about 3 times a day.

Gguest_16006Oct 1, 2009Read

Today I went to 4 places regarding my potential second job. It's a question - I kind of need it (to cover the trip costs), but at the same time, I'm just not feeling it. I understand, maybe these are excuses, maybe it's just laziness, but I really don't want to work 80 hours a week. Maybe the fact that my parents aren't pushing me, I have enough money, and I'm feeling a bit under the weather plays a role, although I definitely won't cover the trip with just one job. Anyway, if something works out somewhere, then we'll see. Today was the busiest day I've ever seen - 201 customers! Most likely, it's related to the closing of the advertising convention, so everyone came to us. On the other hand, the Microsoft convention started, and some Russians even came in. Naturally, I took care of them more than the others, they're our people! They left their business cards, saying, 'call if you decide to.' Now I'm full of anticipation, what if?))) At the end, the day was spoiled by 3 moments. When you clock out, if tips come into the register, they are distributed among those remaining. Therefore, they often rush everyone to 'clock out.' Today David was the manager (the one I dislike the most), and he forced me to 'clock out' when there was still a large table (=> big tips), and the head waiter said that this table was 'for him.' Then I put a plate on the tablecloth, David immediately said it was clean and I would dirty it, yet he went to eat on the tablecloth himself. In short, I wasn't very happy with that today. Actually, subconsciously comparing Atlanta and Syktyvkar, Atlanta and Moscow, you come to a few conclusions. In the first case, Atlanta definitely wins; I understand people who have only been to Syktyvkar and came here, it seems like paradise to them. Many people ask me - why don't you go anywhere? Because in Moscow I can go anywhere and it will be much more pleasant and interesting for me than here. Compared to Moscow, Atlanta is a huge village, calm, quiet, but a village. It lacks that 'fire,' that 'pulsing vein.' Live in Moscow, feel its spirit, and this Atlanta will be like Zimbabwe to an American. People here have almost everything, you work for 2 months and buy yourself a new car, you don't have to prove anything to anyone, just live like everyone else. For me, it's better in Moscow - you have nothing, you can't do anything easily, you have to hustle and spin. People here are too 'full' of the good life, they practically don't need anything, they don't strive for anything. But try to survive on a pension back home, try to live on a scholarship for more than a week? They just won't understand you here. And those who stay here, as I understood, are either those who have little future in Russia (to put it mildly, those who don't bother with studies, work, etc.), or those who purposefully want to leave Russia (marriage, out of complete adoration for America, some dissatisfaction, inability to realize themselves). Maybe I'm wrong and even mistaken, but this is my opinion, I've expressed it. Anything can happen, maybe life will show the invalidity of my conclusions about the cities, maybe on the contrary, it will prove that I was absolutely right. We'll see, we'll read these notes in 10 years, maybe I'll be Nostradamus?

Gguest_16006Oct 1, 2009Read

Today is Monday and I have another day off. Many of the Russians from our restaurant are off today, by the way. We went to the store and the vegetable market. Their market is a large number of stalls under one roof, where you take a cart, pick what you need, and pay for everything at the checkout. In short, it's not a market in our sense of the word, without the "hey, beauty, want a peach, don't you need a hat at a discount?", even though it's run by Chinese and Koreans. I bought local peaches (99 cents a kilo), grapes (99 cents for half a kilo), and garlic (1.35 a kilo). Then we went to the store and bought everything else we needed. I thought about going to check on work, but I laid down "for a bit" after lunch. "For a bit" turned into 5 hours, so now at 00:53 I'm sitting here writing about my day. As you noticed, it wasn't rich in events. The only thing is, I'd like to reflect on a certain topic. Very often, all troubles or "temporary difficulties," as I call them, pile up on us all at once, growing like a snowball. However, it also happens that just when they seem to have passed, almost gone, they suddenly arise from where you least expect them, and what seemed excellent to you is no longer seen in such rosy colors. In general, living in Moscow, a dynamic city with broad opportunities, you try not to perceive these "bullets of fate" as "wounds," thinking of them as "scratches." It's easier to abstract yourself, forget about these "misfires," and keep moving forward without paying attention to them. But not all wounds can be called scratches. I've said it 30 or 40 times in these months that we are all different, unique. Sometimes it's very difficult to endure, to listen to someone, to put up with the nonsense or rubbish they are spouting. I behave that way myself and carelessly offend a person, sometimes causing pain. It's good when, before acting, you ask yourself: why is he behaving this way? What happened, what went wrong for him, why is he acting one way or another? By asking myself this question and sometimes finding answers that aren't very pleasant, I started thinking: how often, in a fit of anger, rage, irritation, misunderstanding, or sometimes insane joy, can we say what has been boiling inside us (absolutely not because of this person) and lash out at whoever is in front of us? Why do we do this? A complex question that everyone will answer in their own way. But we must always understand. Understand and value each other. We don't have that many people who care about us. Not many for whom our fate is important. Let's not behave like balding people: the fewer hairs there are, the more significant the remaining ones become. When there are almost none left, a person decides to get rid of the last ones, simply because they look bad, wild on a bald head. When there is hair, he doesn't think much about it - one more, one less, however, if one falls, another will fall too. So let's value each other and stick together, there's no other way.