Today, I woke up this morning and I attended an early morning meeting of Japanese company. Today was like deciding on a policy for the study group. I asked questions in front of everyone about things I didn’t understand, but I was very embarrassed to show them the media I was making. I was also afraid that the language I was using was so extreme (I am very strict with myself, actually) that I was afraid that the member might feel bad to me. But that’s okay. It’s not good to pull away.

It’s normal for people overseas. I thought that Japan is too sensitive. Okay. The meeting ended like that.

I wanted to go to Mapshalia for dinner, so I was cleaning up when Greg came up to me and asked if I wanted to have coffee afterwards. “I’m off today, so I don’t have to stay at the hostel.”, he said. So I took it and we decided to go to the cafe together.

Greg and I go to a nearby cafe for a morning meal

The cafe was very stylish and very Christmas style. Red and cookie-colored cafe. Anyway, it was stylish. There is a stray dog lying down in the store. I have an impression that they has some stereotype of “dirty”, but they are not dirty at all. They are different from stray dogs in Japan. Everyone was giving him something kindly. So Greg and I talked for about 3 hours.

He is apparently in Georgia now because he is in the process of looking for a job in Europe. He’s studying marketing online at a university in Moscow, and now he’s making CVs, but I can’t believe all his work experience is in music or video, not marketing lol.

Me interacting with a sleeping dog nearby

So, I said, you are just like me. I majored in biology and bioinformatics in college, but now I am doing web design and web-related work, and I only studied languages in college, not passionate about biology. We are really similar, I thought. We do what we want to do and do passinoate about. Besides, he seems to be from the upper region of Kazakhstan, which is close to Russia. So the temperature is about -20 degrees Celsius right now.
He is a musician, plays guitar, sings, and his favorite thing to do seems to be video editing and video work. How wonderful, I thought.

Even looking at his Instagram, I thought it is really fantastic, a sense of style that only he could have. We talked for more than 2 hours at the same place. I thought about what to order, and since I was there, I ordered a coffee that was twice as bitter as espresso. Then, chocolate cookies. Greg had a small cake and a cappuccino. We talked about art together in a really relaxed way.

“What is your occupation?” I don’t like this question. Instead of saying “occupation”, I prefer “what do you do in life?”

I heard that he is not a professional in any one thing, but a digital creator because he does everything from video editing, filming, camera, photography, music production, guitar, vocals, and so on. I really think that’s a good point. When people ask me, “What do you do?, I always try to answer “My occupation is a human”.

Because if I say I’m a web designer, I close off all other possibilities. I don’t want to lock myself into one place. I can try many things if I don’t set only one. For example, if I say I am a human, I can try anything. That’s what makes it interesting. That’s the true way of human life, isn’t it?

Humans did not have occupations in the past. It is only now, with the development of civilization, that we have a profession as a strategy for procreation. That is all. That’s why, originally, “human” was the original occupation for all of us. Let’s have a bigger perspective.
He also taught me a lot about cameras. After all, talking to people is the best way to learn, to make friends, and to improve communication because listening to others makes them feel good. It can only be a good thing.

Elon Musk once said that he didn’t know anything about rockets, but that he gained knowledge by meeting and talking with people. That’s when I thought that he was talking about this.

Now, he really knows a lot about cameras. He adjusts the aperture value, shutter speed, and ISO sensitivity to take pictures. And his Fujifilm camera was so cool. I thought, “What a sophisticated camera with a flash!” I will have my own camera the next time I go abroad, and I will use it to talk to people on the street, take street photos, and communicate with them, and learn about the culture, and when I am done, I will get used to talking to people, adapt, and become more confident. And it shows on your face.
This reduces the chance of being ridiculed, and it makes you more confident. And that makes you more active, which ultimately helps you make friends. So the next time I go abroad, I’m going to pick up a camera and become a street photographer. I also got a lot of inspiration from Greg. He has really long hair, so he ties it up, but he’s really cool.

After returning to the hostel, ask him to share about his web site

Well, then I went back to the hostel and edited his website. His website was not SSL enabled, and the animations were flipped, which was not cool. So I did what I could to help him by giving him advice and making edits. I told him that instead of a gothic font, it should use a serif font, which gives a more luxurious feel, and that the animations should come out from the bottom, which gives a more luxurious feel.

Then we edited it together. I thought that since it was a no-code tool, it would be easy to edit, but I kind of didn’t like it. As a person who is used to coding, it was very hard to do. But I knew what it meant in an instant, and I was happy about that.

Looking back, I never thought I would be able to do web production. Life is strange, isn’t it?

I never thought I would be doing web production. Last year, I hadn’t done a single millimeter.
So I edited his website. The contact form didn’t seem like a good idea, so I thought I’d like to make one for him. I thought that when I have free time, I’ll make his website for him.

I also played the piano, because Moosica hostel has a piano, and I played Chopin’s Nocturne, the Turkish March, Queen songs, ABBA, and Christmas songs. I was playing a lot of Christmas songs, and I got so excited that I got loud, and Greg was filming me with his camera. I was playing a lot of songs, and I was getting excited and loud, and Greg was taking pictures of me with his camera. So I played some Cuban music, and he asked me if I knew any Italian music. So I played Felitita, and then I played a famous song from the opera La traviata. Then I played TicoTico. It was a little embarrassing, but I got used to it.

I really enjoy playing the piano. After I finished playing the piano, I was tired and decided to leave the hostel.

I walked outside by myself and went to a nostalgic ice cream shop

Then I finally had some alone time, and from then on it was my own time. I walked around the Freedom Square area by myself. Then I went to an ice cream shop that I had visited with Estere. I ordered a blueberry-flavored ice cream. It was 2.5 lari, or 150 yen. I couldn’t believe how cheap it was. And it tasted just fine. But it would make me fat. If I asked myself “if I would drink the ice cream when it is melted?” Of course not. Because it is a lump of sugar. But when it is frozen, people eat it. What a strange thing.

Then I bought some strawberries at a nearby supermarket and returned to the hostel. After that, I finished 50% of the coding for the last project of the year. But the gimmicks were too detailed at times, but I persevered! I sometimes feel like disgusting, but I persevere. I know, I know. At night, I went to Subway. It’s been a while since I’ve ordered and eaten there.

The dog is sleeping at the entrance to Subway and I can’t get in

Even then, I was working, but I couldn’t stay because the Indian guy sitting behind me smelled so bad of armpits. I knew I shouldn’t go to a 24-hour fast food restaurant. I should go there because people with smelly armpits never come to fashionable cafes. I mean, I don’t know if they are from India or Pakistan, but I wonder why they all smell like armpits. All the Indians I’ve met so far smell like armpits. I wonder if they don’t use deodorant.

I wonder if they don’t smell it themselves. I said in Japanese, “It seriously stinks!”, “Seriously, it’s offensive.” Of course, I was talking to my computer. I want you to do something about it. Is India such a country? I don’t think so. Depends on people. But it’s really hard for me who is sensitive to smells. I got sick on the way, so I left the Subway immediately.