Not the Georgia in the United States . . . they’re in Tbilisi, the capital city of the Republic of Georgia, in the incredibly beautiful, wild Caucasus Mountains.

But not all ten of the Feenstras — just dad Arend and the two eldest daughters, Cora and Ariana.

Don’t ask me why they’re taking this four-day jaunt, leaving the rest of the family behind on the farm — that hasn’t really been explained, except for some hints by Arend about visiting friends, doing some shopping, and some “farm stuff.”

I’ve seen four videos so far. The first consisted solely of the agony of getting from Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, to Tbilisi, Georgia — first by plane to Moscow; then by Metro from one airport (presumably Domodedovo, though that wasn’t clear) to another (Vnukovo); then, after several hours of hanging around the airport without sleep, on a 1:00 a.m. flight to Tbilisi, where they finally arrived at 5:00 a.m.

Interestingly, their Russian “migration cards” were taken from them at Vnukovo Airport, presumably because they were leaving the country. They are expected to be given back to them on their return from Georgia; but since, at this point, their journey hasn’t ended, it remains to be seen how seamlessly that will work.

After a few hours of sleep at their hotel and a hearty breakfast, they were off on their first shopping trip. And that takes up the entire second video. Really.

*. *. *

Day Two of this mystery excursion was spent trying to find shoes for Arend at the East Point Mall. His old shoes were apparently wearing out, and he’s been unable to find his large size 46 (U.S. equivalent, I believe, is around 15) anywhere back in Russia. I have no idea why he can’t order them online the way they seem to order everything else, but that is something else left unexplained. In any event, 1,007 air miles seems a long way to go for shoes.

And after visiting half a dozen or so very nice sporting goods and shoe stores in Tbilisi, including Skechers and Levis, he still came away empty-handed.

I haven’t been in Tbilisi since 1988, and I was fascinated to see how it has changed from a charmingly provincial, old-world city to a modern one offering every convenience imaginable. There were no shopping malls, in the contemporary sense, when I was there; no Western hotels, no high-end Western stores, no Yandex car service (similar to Uber), and no Western fast-food establishments. The trade sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine do not affect Georgia.

One thing that hasn’t changed is — as described by Arend — that Georgians are very much night people. In the daylight hours, the shops and restaurants were nearly empty of customers. But at night, the city comes to life, just as I remember it . . . in fact, even more so.

*. *. *

Okay, it’s Day Three, and I’m still waiting to find out what they’re doing here, other than shopping. Today’s video consisted of a tour of yet another shopping mall, this one called Carrefour, which Arend compared to the Lenta mall in Nizhny Novgorod.

After a lengthy . . . really lengthy . . . excursion through a home goods store, during which we were treated to a price comparison for everything from dishes to a Samsung smart phone (the equivalent of CAN$1,600, or roughly US$1,100 – 1,200), his conclusion was that prices seemed to have increased since they were last in Georgia a year ago.

But again, I was pleasantly surprised to see the availability of goods, both Western and local. In 1988, I was quickly surrounded by a group of women at an open market when I took a pocket pack of Kleenex from my purse. They had never before seen a “handkerchief that you throw away,” as I described it to them.

Welcome to the 21st Century, Georgia.

*. *. *

Day Four’s filming began with lunch at a restaurant that had been a favorite of Arend’s when they lived in Tbilisi for three months before reaching their Russian destination.

This was followed by a visit to an ancient castle by a vineyard, that — quite frankly — looked totally boring. I recall my long-ago visit to the ancient capital of Mtsxeta, which would have been much more interesting for Cora and Ariana . . . but I wasn’t in charge of planning their trip.

*. *. *

After four days of filming, I still have no clue as to the purpose of this latest Feenstra adventure: not the main purpose, nor why the two girls were dragged along, nor who arranged and financed it. But I do have some thoughts.

The recently installed sixth President of the Republic of Georgia is Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former professional footballer who ran as the sole candidate in 2024 in a highly-disputed election. His political stance is decidedly anti-Western, and massive demonstrations in Tbilisi have voiced the people’s concern about his government’s increasingly Russian-style actions.

Perhaps the Feenstras’ trip is just one more Putin-directed propaganda piece — taking advantage of their social media popularity — designed to promote Russia-Georgia relations, while at the same time demonstrating the family’s freedom to travel outside of Russia despite their “temporary residency” status.

It’s all rather strange, but I believe there is at least one more episode coming up. Perhaps then our questions will be answered, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I don’t believe Arend has found shoes yet.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
3/21/25