We all refer to each other using different names. My German friends call me Christoph. In English I usually introduce myself as Chris. Over in China some people know me as Leike, or rather: Laolei. And I like to imagine that my cats refer to me as The Fun-Thing™. Lately I seem to have acquired […]
When I was about to return to Tbilisi from Frankfurt, I felt nervous. Would my luggage be overweight? Had I forgotten anything important? Would I be able to catch my connecting flight? And, most importantly: would the cats still recognize me? A friend had been taking care of the apartment and of the cats for […]
When Babua finally decided that it was time to go I mustered all my strength. and then I gently placed him in his carrying case. We took a taxi to the vet. It was a warm day, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The vet, noticing that it was a bit difficult for […]
This is Babua. He is an old cat from the yard where I used to live. His body is black and skinny, his head is massive, and his eyes always look as if he’s angry. He got this name in February. Being a yard cat means that nobody knows exactly how old he is, but […]
It’s mid-December 2020, and Christmas is approaching. I’m still in Tbilisi, trying not to get a Covid infection. After doing alright during the beginning of the pandemic, Georgia looks pretty bad now. Oh, and the stupid Coke-museum remains nowhere to be found. Sometimes I look at what other travelers are doing on the interwebs, and […]
Finding people to adopt cats in Tbilisi has been difficult. There are just so many street cats here. Coco and Toto want to have a home, though. I have tried asking around, and I have tried posting on Facebook. There are specialized groups for this kind of thing. When a few people responded to my […]
I met Huihui on the fourth day of my walk, about eighty kilometers from Beijing. I was very shy and insecure about my project at that time, and I didn’t know what to expect from people. So when this stranger on his bicycle showed up next to me and started asking me questions (where are […]
Today Bobo was extra nice. He sat on my shoulder while I was making breakfast, then he came to sit on my lap, purring until he fell asleep. Meanwhile, his siblings and his mom had gone outside and found a place on top of one of the neighboring roofs. When I finally went out and […]
Funny how I have randomly ended up in a country that seems to be handling Covid19 pretty well, at least so far. Today’s stats for Georgia are: 721 total cases out of which 485 have recovered and 12 have died. Why the success? I think it comes down to luck and vigilance. Luck, because Georgia […]