After I'd gotten out of the bath and was fiddling with my phone, a young man came into the room.
He had the vibe of that actor from Fantastic Beasts. Cool, but his voice was very gentle. I had the instinctive feeling, 'Ah, he's surely a good person.'
He didn't stop from the very first words.
I immediately said, "Hello~."
It seemed it was his first time at a hostel; he was nervous and didn't know which bed to use. So I told him, "This one, this one, and this one are empty, so feel free to use whichever you like~."
That led us to chat by the beds for a long time. I mentioned I could speak a little Russian, but the conversation proceeded in English.
He told me about his hometown, Tver. Due to the situation in his homeland, he'd moved from Tver to Georgia. Now he said he lived a relaxed life with his wife in a small town near Batumi.
His wife is, astonishingly, a 21-year-old university student. And he is 32 years old.
No way. He looked about 26 or so. He's really incredibly young.
The secret to his youth was salad.
We started talking about food.
He believed carbohydrates weren't very good for his body and apparently had stomach problems, so he usually ate a lot of salad. He ate chicken and pork too, but his diet was basically centered on salads.
Got it. That's it. That's the secret to looking young. I realized it immediately.
If you eat greasy food, you quickly look older. But people who eat mainly salads really look youthful.
Then I was surprised to learn he was born in Latvia. When I told him, "I'm going to Latvia on the 17th," he said his brother knew Latvia well and recommended a castle near Riga.
Because of circumstances he couldn't stay in his home country and moved to Georgia. Now he said he had come to Tbilisi to renew his passport.
He also said he didn't like the Russian passport because it only allows visa-free travel to a limited number of countries. But he added that after staying in Georgia for a year, he could go to neighboring Armenia and then come back, so that's fine.
I couldn't help but laugh, thinking, 'Isn't that the same as Japan!?''
An architect, a kayaker, and a pianist
He was really laid-back and spoke so slowly that sometimes I found myself thinking, 'Hurry up already.' But I felt he was a wonderful person.
When I asked about his work, it turned out he was an architect. He designs houses and apartments and has over ten years of experience this year. He's currently a freelancer.
He also showed me his website. The portfolio was very beautiful, and apparently he made it himself.
Since I'm a web designer I said, "I can design your site~," and he replied, "I don't know how much you'd charge, but I'd like this site to be seen by more people." Thinking maybe he meant SEO measures, I showed him my portfolio and gave him my business card.
Moreover, he loved kayaking and had kayaked in the Arctic. He showed me those photos.
I also told him about my trip to Saint Petersburg—about Ruskeala and Sortavala. Back then it was so cold my hands actually froze.
We kept talking about things like that. As expected, just being Russian makes for so many topics, so it's really fun.
I was actually planning to work at night. But since I ran into such a nice person, we kept talking.
After a pause, I decided to sleep. He wanted to take a bath, so I showed him where to go.
It's encounters like these that make traveling abroad interesting.
He also followed my private account. That account had videos of me playing piano, and he said he also played piano as a hobby.
I really felt that when the vibe is similar, you end up having things in common.
The morning persimmon and the all-too-short farewell
The next morning, while I was showering and getting dressed on the bed, he called out, "Good morning."
And he gave me a persimmon.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of persimmons. But I decided I'd try to eat it.
Come to think of it, he said, "Fruit is very cheap in Georgia." That's true, but we also talked about how "watermelons are insanely cheap in Russia in summer." It's really like that.
He was only staying one night, so we said goodbye.
I met a very nice person. But one day is really too short.
If I have the chance to go to Georgia again, I'd like to meet him again. I thought it'd be nice to visit his home next time.
I'd be happy if we cross paths again.
