I have an apartment on the twenty eighth floor of a high rise apartment building in downtown Batumi.
I pay $429 per month for a furnished apartment and the landlord pays the utilities up to $30 per month.
January was the first time I went over the $30 for utilities. It was cold hovering just above freezing for two weeks. The apartments all around me are empty because they are still under construction or have not yet been sold. This means that they are not heated. Therefore my apartment is losing heat through the walls ceiling and floor to those empty apartments.
That said, the amount over was only $15.
I am retired and living on $1,600 a month combined SS and disability.
Out of that I also support my granddaughter who is attending college.
I look at the situation in the US in amazement. An apartment like mine where I lived near Longview, WA would cost as least $1,200 per month. Utilities would be extra and nothing would be left for me to eat.
I couldn’t afford to return to the US and if I did I’d be living in a tent under a freeway overpass somewhere.
Thank God I am where I am.
I walk on Batumi beach almost every day. The views are amazingly beautiful. The fact that I can rent reasonably leaves me money for entertainment. I can eat out where they have live music. I can attend concerts at the municipal concert hall. I have ridden the cable car and Ferris wheel.
I wouldn’t call it an exciting life but it certainly beats living in a tent under an overpass.
@MsTexasG So it looks like President Trump intends to end the Ukraine war in ten days. It will likely end in a flash. One that he won’t be able to take credit for because the moment he threatens Russia with his nuclear submarines. It’s Washington DC that will disappear in a flash. That radioactive dust circling the earth will be US!
A big shout out to the people who follow me. Unfortunately I’ve had to leave Russia. It became impossible to receive any funds from the US. I am currently living in Batumi, Georgia.
This is my family in the living room of my apartment in Kimovsk, Russia. I am a disabled Vietnam veteran. Seventy six years of age. My son Aleksandr (left), and my granddaughter Dasha (center) look in on me. Here, I had hoped to live out my retirement years.
I am decorating my living room with items that are truly representative of the Middle East.
I have a samovar from Tula, Russia. I bought it at a shop that specialized in samovar and was located in the Kremlin. My granddaughter helped me pick it out.
I have two Russian tea glasses with comemeritive holders.
I don’t smoke but I have a hookah. It is very decorative in bright red.
I have a porcelain fruit dish on a pedestal. It is a red and gold pattern.
I have a five branch candle stick for the center of the dining table. It’s useful when the electricity is not available.
I have two floor lamps. One is of Morocco design.
A print of a painting of a Venisen canal scene hangs over the sofa which is classical Georgian.
Three nesting tables and a coffee table and a large vase full of roses.
