Yesterday was a wasted day with an annoying and strange experience with a potential landlord. With that experience, I wrote up a text to the agent that basically said that I was no longer interested in that apartment and that the landlord's lack of professionalism was a major red flag that put the idea of a tenant/landlord relationship completely aside. With a viewing today, in an old building that isn't the best and has a few faults, a quick agreement was made that it would be a suitable place to rent out. $400 a month in rent isn't too bad, with a mall right outside and plenty to do within the area. The landlord said she was renting the place out for her daughter who was trying to pay off some student loans, which seemed like a nice thing and took out the more nasty idea of renting something from some investment bank, instead renting from real people. With the contract sent and to be agreed upon, it means I finally have a place in Tbilisi to live. And now I can escape the uncertain troubles of hotels and Airbnbs which are barely useful and incredibly overpriced. I have been here for a few days now, and I have barely even had the chance to get ouside. I'm exhausted but in love with the city from what I've seen, and I have taken so few pictures around here that I'm actually really surprised given how many I usually take.
At one point today that exhaustion seemed to hit. I grew cold, dizzy, and nausea was intense. I realised that everything as of late had been so fast and chaotic that perhaps in that moment of realising things were working out finally, it all just hit me at once. Even typing this I still barely feel sentient. As if I could lay down my head and fall asleep right here on my laptop.
There was a brief walk outside though, one through the city in its most popular and touristic area. You could see how touristic it was, and it cemented the idea that the apartment chosen was a good place since the area is far from it and more residential, more a realistic place that doesn't hold the idea of the city just being a theatre, instead an actual place to live. In the Airbnb I'm now, it's clear that the locals aren't approving of it, you could see they're tired of the people coming and going, and it gave off a bit of an uncomfortable atmosphere upon arrival. And I totally get it. I understand the stress of living in a place that is riddled with tourists that just treat your home like a theme park. I roamed through the areas of blatant tourist traps, the areas that are clearly made to rinse the tourist of their cash, with annoying cafes and restaurants that hold the service people outside pretty much begging you to come in and spend your money.
I walked through this area quickly, not really paying attention to much. A lot of tourists roamed through this area. It seemed beautiful, incredibly old. But yeah, far too uncomfortable for me in the sense that I felt more like a tourist than someone that was aiming to live here for a long period of time, especially while running around with a camera around my neck.
I somewhat felt that way even in Armenia for the longest time. A lot of the city was void of tourism for the most part. Only as summer picked up and the heat grew intense that there'd be the odd day in which the city felt like it had some tourism, but for the most part it felt void of that. And I understood it given how small of a city it was and how void of life it tended to feel. Most of the time people assumed I was either Armenian or Russian as a result. Hearing English or even other languages in the street was often a rarity, to the point where I often felt like the only English speaking native there. Here within the first day I heard a mixture of accents, noticing just how popular of a destination Tbilisi really is. It's nice to some degree, but yeah I have noticed that there are certain areas best left avoided as a result of them being catered to those very tourists rather than the natives. But even so, it's nice to see so much around. So many unique things even if to some degree it does turn some parts of the city into an aspect of sheer amusement and entertainment rather than something of life. There's so much I want to see and try, so much to photograph. And it's so nice to know that soon I'll have all that time to do so. Knowing that the most stressful side of things is now over.
Yerevan was a place with a lot of identity, but it was in this weird state of constant development despite adding anything more to the city. It was fun to walk around, but sooner or later you came to this realisation that it held so little to it beyond the historical side of it all. It was a sad realisation to have, but I think that realisation that it couldn't be considered a long-term home resulted in this great move to come here, where things certainly do feel a lot more like my prior home, with the better affordability of things also.
And it's all so exciting. I'm already preparing to go somewhere tomorrow and really photograph for the day, to actually get out and have some fun finally. Perhaps I'll even take the drone with me! I miss being able to take aerial shots, and the city will look incredible, I'm sure.