and again the signs

...and found nothing. During that time, I managed to go to a café and have a coffee with a bun. I came back, and they were still sorting things out. They let us sit in the car while they kept discussing something among themselves. The Uzbek chose the right moment and tossed some small metal part out the window — that's where what they were trying to find had been hidden. After that, one of the traffic cops came up to us and started asking for a bribe of 200 rubles, saying they'd let us leave right then. Or, as he put it, they'd start tearing the car apart and keep searching until they found something. The cop gave us time to think, stepped away from the car to his partner, and our Uzbek, after a moment's thought, hit the gas and we drove off from there, leaving the young cop standing there waiting for his money. )) We arrived in Sochi late in the evening — at 10:30 PM. I said goodbye to the Uzbek; he turned out to be a good guy. He gave me some parting advice, saying I could reach out to him if I ever needed help. We exchanged numbers, he drove me right to the guesthouse where I'd already booked a room, and we said our goodbyes. Gena, the guesthouse owner, met me. I settled into the room where a young couple from Saint Petersburg had been living — they'd stayed exactly one week. Now I live here.

AND AGAIN, SIGNS = Day 41 =

During the day I went looking for work. I chatted with Gena in the yard of the house; he decided to help me out with the connections he had. Across from his house lives his friend Sergei, who has acquaintances at two organizations in this city where it would make sense to get a job with long-term prospects. First he took me to one company; there we found out they weren't hiring. Then we went to the second place, where I was immediately thrown off by a sign I simply couldn't ignore. We were walking down the hallway on the second floor, where the HR department is located. And as we approached the door, a dissatisfied man came out — apparently an employee — and shouted, "lousy." Just that one word. But it stuck firmly in my subconscious, and deep down I already understood that this place wasn't for me. As for the employer, the bosses I'd met really wanted to hire me. Every one of them. But I refused. And I made the decision to go back home to Siberia…