403 error. When I tried to open a work link from abroad, I was blocked.
Fourth day living in a basement in Tbilisi. In this room where no sunlight comes in at all, it's hard to feel the morning. I woke up at 11. Without the sun, my body doesn't register morning. I wake up naturally, but my body feels constantly tired.
Breakfast was a banana and leftover muscat grapes from yesterday. A fruit diet is good for the body. Still, grapes are really cheap in Georgia. It's a wine country, so they must have plenty of vineyards. Conversely, bananas are pretty expensive.
Working abroad
I tried to open the WordPress project link the client sent, but it wouldn't open. 403 error. Why?
I replied to the director, 'I can't open it.' While I was working on another piece of coding, the director called. Apparently there's a system that automatically blocks access from overseas.
So I decided to buy a one-year NordVPN subscription. Expense again. Damn.
After setting up the VPN, I was finally able to access WordPress. I completed some minor changes. Then back to another coding task. The designer is pretty strict, making it tough. But it can't be helped. If you keep complaining about things like that, the world won't keep turning.
The Georgian girl I met on Tinder
At 14:30 I was scheduled for a crucial project briefing. But it seems the client forgot, so it was rescheduled.
In the meantime, I was chatting on Tandem and Tinder, and met one person.
I matched on Tinder and we started by talking about 16personalities. She was ENSP, I was ENFP. We wondered if we'd be compatible, so we exchanged Instagram handles.
Then she suddenly directed me to her secondary account. Her main account and secondary account were completely different. The public and private sides were so different (lol).
But I was really happy. 'I actually don't usually reply to contacts from Tinder, but you seem like a good person,' she said.
She's a university student and a Java engineer. Apparently she works at a Georgian bank too. I thought, she's super elite.
We talked about wine and khachapuri. I said, 'I came to Georgia to experience your culture, khachapuri, and wine — I'm in the middle of an adventure now.' She replied, 'I used to eat khachapuri at home like three times a week, so I'm not that fond of it,' (laughs).
Of course. She's Georgian, after all.
She'd seen a bit of Japanese anime too. But I was surprised she didn't know Studio Ghibli. She knew Naruto and Death Note though. I've never even watched those for a moment (lol).
We talked on Instagram for about 30 minutes. It was fun.
At the end she said, 'It would be nice if we could go to a Georgian restaurant together,' and of course I said let's go! She would look up places. I was really happy.
She asked, 'Where do you live?' I sent a screenshot of my location and she said, 'You live in an amazing place!' But I replied that it's a basement with no light so it's very gloomy.
She apparently lives in a very rural area and said she could never live in the city center. Because many Russians are coming, finding a place is apparently difficult.
Walking through Tbilisi to McDonald's
Since the meeting was rescheduled, I decided to go to McDonald's.
I started walking through the city. Maybe I'm still not used to it; I feel nervous. Everyone really has serious faces, there aren't many people smiling.
Compared to Japan, Japanese people really seem to lack a sense of urgency — kind of carefree. But in Georgia, everyone walks with a face like they're doing their best just to live, not caring about others. Their walking speed is also really fast.
McDonald's uses touch-screen ordering. It's exactly the same system as in Russia. But the prices are different. I thought it might be cheaper, but it's not cheap at all. In fact, it was more expensive than in Japan.
For an L set — Chicken Filet, fries, and a drink — it's 15 lari (about ¥855). The weak yen's impact is huge. I was a bit shocked.
I put on my AirPods and walked home listening to music. There are quite a few young people, so I wondered if I could make friends. I truly felt how important people's presence is.
The familiar universal taste after a long time
I arrived home and ate the McDonald's. It was unbelievably delicious.
Chicken after a long time. Fries after a long time. Everything was tasty. Especially the fries were insanely good. It's a shame the staff seemed rushed so the portion was small, but that familiar universal taste really was delicious.
I thought I'd like to eat KFC next, so I went there that same day.
After eating KFC, I coded nonstop. It's tough, but I want to somehow finish it by tomorrow. Night fell completely, I drank yesterday's wine and then crashed.
