I just got back from Abkhazia. Ask me anything!

[psychonaut]

No problem!

Oh, and regarding the economic situation, there’s one more very obvious thing that I forgot to mention: the utilities are notoriously unreliable.

The electricity often gets cut off for the entire night, and also at random times during the day. In fact, just two minutes before I was about to deliver my talk at the university (with high-ranking members of the administration in the audience, no less), the power went out. Everyone seemed to take it in stride and told me to just extend my introduction until the power came back on, and if that didn’t happen after ten minutes, to deliver my whole talk without slides. My interpreter had come prepared for this possibility by bringing a hard copy of my speaking notes.

The water also gets shut off quite often, sometimes unexpectedly at night and sometimes (with advance warning) for a whole day. Our Airbnb host in Sukhumi was good about letting us know when this was about to happen and had helpfully stocked the apartment with empty 5-litre bottles that we could use to stockpile water for washing and flushing the toilet.

All in all, the frequent planned and unplanned outages reminded me of North Korea. I remember fumbling around in the dark there in various hotels at night, and in one case in a big shopping centre in the middle of the day.

[Pleonast]

@psychonaut

At this same lunch I asked my hosts (all university staff) about the origins of the Abkhaz language, and they told me that it is most closely related to Circassian.

I’d forgotten (or never learned of) this language group. It’s from a tiny group of languages, remaining only in that region of the world, and barely surviving. Very interesting.

[jtur88]

In your early post, you mentioned that at one point you identified yourself as a journalist. Are you in fact a journalist, in any sense of the word? I learned early on to never imply such an association in a visa or entry submission. I always say “Farmer”.

[psychonaut]

I don’t see where I wrote that I was a journalist. Is it possible you’ve misread the post or did I make some horrible typo that I’m overlooking?

[Atamasama]

@psychonaut

At the first checkpoint on the Russian side, I was asked if I was a journalist. When I made a credible denial, we were allowed through to the actual Russian side of the border, where we had to get out of the car with all our luggage and then stand in line along with scores of Russian tourists.

You quite clearly said you were not a journalist. (Emphasis mine.)

[jtur88]

Sorry. “Credible denial” implied tto me that a credible statement is not necessarily a true one, and I apparently I remembered your comment in that light. As an actual journalist, I have often made that denial as credible as I could.

[psychonaut]

You’re welcome!