Today, I went to a Russian language club hosted by Vincent! I was very nervous because I had missed three French clubs in a row, and I had been sick for a long time, but he knows that there was a French club at another place last week, and I went there, but I didn’t know where it was being held, so I ended up going home.

I was very worried that he would make fun of me for being such a bum. So, the Russian club was held at Metis, which is relatively close to my house, about 15 minutes away. So I decided to go. I thought why not just speak in Russian, since it was an opportunity for me to speak not only French.

Upon entering the restaurant Metis, I found Vincent, the host of the event!

When I arrive at the restaurant, I check again. Outside the restaurant, I nervously looked at Facebook, as if to reconfirm that this was the place to be today, starting at this time, right? So, after confirming, I went inside. At first I thought the event would be held on the terrace, but the terrace was closed and everyone was inside.

The number of people was really small, maybe three or four. So I sat down. There I met again a Japanese guy who has been living in Georgia for 6 years, one person, who used to work as a Japanese teacher and then now works in a Japanese embassy or consulate. He was the one who greeted me in French and was really cool, like a diplomat. He and I suddenly spoke Russian. He can speak Russian, French, Georgian, and so many other languages that I really think it’s amazing.

I said what I could say in Russian anyway. “I’m traveling here now, working remotely at the same time, and I’m a web designer. So I’m a digital nomad!” I said something like that. And I didn’t know the word remote, so he said Udaljonna, and I was like, “Oh my God, I’ve heard of that! I had heard that before!”
It was really fun. I was reminded once again that this kind of environment is what makes you better. I thought that always getting out of your comfort zone and jumping into the unknown is very important for a truly human life.

So he asked me, “Why did you come to Georgia? I would start by saying that I love, love, love wine, and I heard that Georgia is the birthplace of wine, so I came here to drink wine. Then I wanted to eat real Khachapuri and Khinkali! I said. As we were talking like this, we decided to move to a different seat.

It was crowded with many Russians

Then more and more Russians came one after another, and Georgians too. There were so many of them. I was sitting near a guy from Novosibirsk, about 28 years old, I think. I was talking with him for a long time. I just wanted to ask him, “Where are you from?”, What I was doing at the university, how many years I had studied Russian, and I had studied abroad in Russia, and so on. We talked about all kinds of things. So he was very kind and smiling.

We talked about many things. But he and the guy next to him were both native speakers, so they spoke so fast that I had no idea what they were saying and could only nod my head, thinking that this kind of atmosphere is very important. Everyone was sitting around the table and talking happily, but I had no idea what they were saying. The person near me (sorry, I am not good at remembering names) asked me if I understood what they were saying. and of course I didn’t understand. But when I told him that “I don’t know, but I enjoy just listening to the words and the context like this”, then he smiled and said that “Yes, just by listening to the context, you can use this somewhere next time and use it on the spur of the moment.”
So I think this kind of thing is important.

I don’t know the Russian word for “tax return” indeed

He was really kind. Then, the person on my left started talking to me, and we introduced ourselves to each other. He asked me the same question, and I told him that I was currently traveling in Georgia. He asked me where I was going next. I told them I was going to Latvia, France, Czech Republic, and Japan. I tried my best to tell him in Russian that I had to file my tax return. Along the way, Vincent also helped me and translated “sole proprietorship” into Russian. So now he asked me, what kind of business do you have? I told him that I am a web designer and web creator, and that I was also in the business of exporting Japanese anime goods.

He was very cheerful and asked me to show him a website I had designed, so I did. I was a little embarrassed. Because Japanese commercial design is not so simple and a bit old-fashioned as overseas design. It was a little embarrassing to show them. But I decided to let it go. I mean, I couldn’t show them, so I showed them my blog site, which I am in the process of making myself. Then he asked me, “What is an anime figurine? I explained to him with some pictures. Vincent didn’t know the word “two-dimensional,” so I taught him. We enjoyed speaking Russian like that.

The guy to my left had a crazy high tension level and was quite a unique person

Then, the one on the left became very excited and asked about the cultural differences between Japan and Georgia, what is normal in Georgia but not in Japan, and “if the second sibling was a dropout, would the oldest brother help him?” or “How many years apart can siblings not get along?” and so on. He throw so many unique quetions at me for 20 mintes. I was very tired, but everyone around me was laughing all the time, and I kept thinking what a unique question it was, and I kept laughing too.

But it was really fun. I was really happy to see that everyone was interested in Japan. That alone made me really happy. I also wondered and asked some questions like “Which Khachapuri do you recommend?” Or, “I want to eat shkumerli. Do you know a good restaurant to eat it?” I asked him about that kind of thing. We talked like that for a long time, and I was really tired. So we took a break the whole time. Time passed for a whopping two hours, and I thought, “It really goes by so fast.
It seems that this guy is dating a Thai lady and she told me about Thailand. She said Phuket is not so good because it is very touristy and very expensive. So she told me that if I wanted to go there, she recommended a place on Phuket. She said it is very cheap and very beautiful. I would love to go there then.

We talked about such things. So they had to leave, so I had to leave too. The first person I was talking to, who was from Novosibirksk, asked me if I would come back next week. I said, “Of course, I’ll be there next week!” So I said bye bye. Then Vincent asked me if I am coming on Wednesday, and I said, “I’m probably busy, but if I can make it, I’ll be there!” Vincent said, “Well, if you get a chance, please come.”
So I went out and went home.

Today I met new people and discovered and learned a lot. It is really challenging to participate alone, but this is what you get used to. Everything is habituation. And this is what it means to be “living life”. I want to continue to constantly get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself a lot.