When I last met him, Zurab from Tbilisi was enjoying life after having recently quit his job. After his business studies in Tbilisi, Zurab found a job in the old industrial town of Kryvyi Rih/Krivoy Rog in Ukraine. A few years later, he moved on to the next post-Soviet industrial behemoth. He worked for a big steel concern in Karagandy, Kazakhstan – a seemingly bleak industrial city in the middle of the depressive Kazakh steppe, which is more famous for its sad history as a GULAG hub than for fun and opportunities. Zurab loved living in all these places and he is full of stories of the most outlandish adventures that few people could boast with living in such fashionable places like London, New York or Paris. Now he is back in Georgia hanging out with a multinational Russian speaking crowd from ex-Soviet countries. Commenting on Georgia’s geopolitical situation he said: “Small countries always get fucked. But the Americans at least talk to you nicely while doing so, while the Russians will hit you in the face at the same time.”