How To Open A Bank Account in U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank

18 February, 2017 | Doing Business | 149 seen

Long story short - after the long and painful check operations, originally sent from the U.S., and redemption in Georgia (or probably in any country except USA), which takes at least some 40 working days and huge bank fees for check procedures - I decided enough is enough, I'm going to the United States and I will open a bank account there, in order to receive direct payments to my bank account instead of checks.

Yes, there are companies in U.S. which sends checks instead of direct payments for international partners, Amazon Associates, for example

If you are looking for a way how to open a bank account in the USA without actually visiting USA, this guide is not for you, as to make it work, I actually visited a Wells Fargo branch in Manhattan, New York City.

Now, the U.S. has been on my radar since 2012, when I first headed there to scout my options on how to incorporate a LLC there. I didn't incorporate after all, though made another trip in 2013. As it might happen when you explore the World around you, and if you look around and listen, you will start notice some things. And so, during last 4 or 5 years I have heard many times that non U.S.…

My Start at Investing on Mintos Peer to Peer Lending Platform: Depositing Funds

17 February, 2017 | Peer to Peer Lending | 43 seen

I first heard about Mintos.com peer to peer lending platform at the start of 2016, later that year I decided to give it a try, as I was looking for investment opportunities especially in Georgia.

Back at these days Mintos operated already in Georgian lending market. I even made an article later that year, see: Invest in Georgia - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending - Mintos.com

Both individuals and entities can invest through Mintos. Individual investors must be at least 18 years old, have a bank account in the European Union or third countries currently considered to have AML/CFT systems equivalent to the EU, and have their identity successfully verified by Mintos. At the moment, US citizens or taxpayers cannot register as investors at Mintos.

Affiliate link here: Signup to Mintos.com here. By using this affiliate link for registration both you and I will receive — 1% of our average daily balance which should be paid in 3 installments for the first 90 days.

Unfortunately, or for good, it took me some 8 more months before actually starting investing in peer to peer using their platform. The…

When Foundations Crumble - Home Remodeling

16 February, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 9 seen

When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3

Today was meant to be an easy day, we had to continue foundation works, pouring in concrete, nothing complicated in fact, just a manpower to carry gravel with wheelbarrow for some 100 meters from the pile to the concrete mixer. I had two workers helping me out today, what could go wrong?

It was planned some visitors will arrive in the evening and we will grill some meat and look on overall progress of home remodeling. 

See: Home Remodeling - How It All Starts

Work in progress

Author of this blog standing next to the concrete mixer.

And then it happened:

Rock fall on the foundation

A minor landslide and rock from the old foundation felt in the free flow. Concrete was still fresh  it was just a matter of removing that rock and making sure there is no more landslides around foundation

Somebody had to remove that rock

Visitors arrived but I was still busy managing rocks out of the foundation.

Central Park, New York City

15 February, 2017 | Tourism objects | 17 seen

Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with about 40 million visitors yearly, also it's one of the most filmed locations in the world.

Central Park should be on every travelers, going to the NYC, bucket list, I first visited it in the Spring 2012, and was really amazed of an elegant urban/nature solutions in the middle of... New York. At the end of 2016 I had a chance to visit New York again - this time I was prepared with a tripod and camera.

Central park in New York city

Originally park was established in 1857 on 778 acres (315 ha) of city-owned land. 

Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1962. The Park, managed for decades by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Park's…

First plants for Rock Garden

13 February, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 4 seen

Last summer we not only concreted a lot and demolished walls, but planted some plants and trees in the surrounding territory. 

See: Planting an Apple Tree (Doch Melbi / Daughter Melbi / Дочь Мелбы)

After we shaped a little bit our rock garden it was time to plant first plants.

First plants at rock garden

For the record - thyme and rosemary

Short Day Trip To Kiev, Ukraine

12 February, 2017 | Travel guides | 10 seen

Long story short - we had a chance to spend in Kiev couple of hours, during our latest flight Tbilisi - Kiev - New York city, after our flight was delayed for about 10 hours at Kiev's Borispol airport we decided to use these hours by exploring Kiev, instead of waiting at airport's transit area.

Out of the airport terminal at Borispol, there are buses taking passengers either to Kharkivksya or Vokzalnaya. The ticket prices are really cheap there. Since we didn't had any clue which station should we go, we asked just a bus going to the city center. We were taken to the Vokzalnaya from which we took a taxi and headed to the Khreshchatyk street to try some Ukrainian cuisine, see the Maidan square. At the end We did some metro ride to the Kharkiskaya station, from which we were taken back to the airport.

Despite harsh weather (end of December 2016) I really enjoyed Kiev and was surprised to see that city is not at all expensive (taxi's, metro and even meal on central street were under USD 10). Amazing. Kiev - I will come back for more, most probably during Summertime.

Shaping Rock Garden

10 February, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 11 seen

It was on the same day when guys and I demolished walls and poured in concrete for home foundation, while the better part of me, decided to shape a little bit rock garden we recently formed from stones used at cowshed's foundation, during pond excavation works. See: Building a Rock Garden and Pond Digging - Part 3 - The Result

The idea was simple, we are looking to plant some flowers and plants into rock garden, we should make a good soil there, and also we should give some shape and trails inside, so we could enjoy our evening coffee's while sitting on the rocks and watching amazing sunsets, probably playing with cats. See: Red Sunset in our Rock Garden - Cool Evening Mood and Cats on The Rocks

We agreed to lay film on the ground and at some of the parts of rock garden add gravel (the same we are using for concrete) while in other parts (flowers and plants) the soil from pond. It was just a matter of some 50 wheelbarrows (both gravel and soil) and we got something like this:

Gravel for rock garden

Smaller stones are used to shape outer borders of rock garden. For the record, in Spring we still had a…

Independence Square in Kiev

9 February, 2017 | Tourism objects | 17 seen

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (literally:Independence Square) is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine.

One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchenko Raion. The square has been known under many different names, but often it is called simply Maidan ("square").

I had a brief chance to visit and make one photography of Kiev's Maidan Square at the end of 2016, during unplanned short Kiev city tour after our flight to NYC was delayed for about 10 hours at Borispol instead of waiting at airport's transit area for our flight we opted to have some Kiev tour. At that included a trip to the heart of Kiev.

So here I was, for the first time in Kiev, standing in front of Maidan Square. Weather was cold and I really didn't wanted to take camera out from my backpack, but after all I made one shot here:

View of Maidan Nezalezhnosti from Khreshchatyk Street

Since the start of Ukraine's independence movement in 1990, the square has been the traditional place for political rallies, including four large-scale radical protest campaigns: the 1989 student "Revolution on Granite…

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi

8 February, 2017 | Hotel reviews | 55 seen

Located at the base of Kazbek Mountain in Stepantsminda Village, 7 km from the 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church, Hotel Kazbegi features a lobby bar with a library (I even got local Georgian Forbes magazine in English) and free Wi-Fi.

We booked our stay at Rooms hotel Kazbegi in the middle of December 2016, and were accompanied by friends of us, who luckily had a ground transport and were able to take us there, as speaking of public transport, I have no idea is it actually possible to reach this place (probably by some marshrutka). Anyhow, seems Rooms Hotel is mostly visited by those who have a SUV car and who can afford to spend about USD 120-150 per night in a hotel. 

Although as stated on hotel's booking.com page:

Kazbegi bus stop, offering a link to Tbilisi, is 10 minutes’ walk from Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, and Tbilisi Airport is 185 km away. A shuttle from the airport to the hotel is provided at surcharge. 

For our 2 night stay here we spent about USD 300 + some USD 50-80 at hotels lobby bar. I decided to come here mostly for one reason - to make some photography, which I did:

View towards mount Kazbek and…

Let's Keep Demolishing Walls, Construct Foundation From Ceramsite Blocks And Pour In Some Concrete

7 February, 2017 | Home Remodeling | 12 seen

Yeah, let's do that - another day on steroids from my home remodeling adventures during late Summer 2016 (August)

Frankly speaking, by now, browsing through the images from last Summer works I'm getting a little bit dizzy - it looks way too dramatic.

On the other hand, we already had experience and knowledge about demolishing walls, see: Remove a Wall to Finish Foundation Concreting, also constructing missing foundation from fibo blocks, not to speak about pouring concrete footing. 

Today I had two guys helping me out Uldis and Guntars. We did a lot today.

Demolishing log wall

Just look how enthusiastic this guy seems.

Now the bad thing, at this part of house we were missing foundation completely,so it was tricky to demolish walls without having some ground support, but we still had to pour in concrete footing, on which later to add fibo ceramsite blocks. We did a footing thing a few days ago for the part were log wall is hanging in the air. See: Fall Through The Ceiling, Dig a Trench Around Foundations, Stone Wall Concreting. 

Idea for…

Hiking trails near Turtle lake, Tbilisi in Winter

6 February, 2017 | Outdoor Activities | 14 seen

I'm fond of hiking/trekking trails near Turtle lake in Tbilisi, I have done several routes, with my favorite being unaccessible anymore after the Tbilisi flooding in June 2015.

See: Failed attempt to complete Tskneti - Turtle lake hiking route

Now, since it was about a year since our latest hiking activities in Georgia, on a lovely's Sunday morning (February 5, 2017) we decided to catch a taxi (see: How to Get around in Tbilisi by Taxify (Taxi Mobile Application) ) and head to the Turtle lake and let's see. I was into a photography mood, so I packed a new backpack I ordered recently from Amazon to store gear and of course a tripod. I decided to go with a HDR and panoramic photography today, also made few short video clips.

Hiking trails in Tbilisi in Winter

God's path is untraceable! Today I met an American teenage girl in the middle of nowhere (trails around Turtle lake in Tbilisi) being able to speak 6 languages (English, French, Russian, Hebrew, Georgian and even Megrelian). About two years ago I met on the same trails a Russian American speaking Georgian. Holy trails.

Some outpost from the past

…

Tasty Ukrainian Cuisine on Khreshchatyk street in Kiev

5 February, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 19 seen

Wow, my first (yet, only one) Kiev restaurant review and I can't remember name of this place.

Shame on me. On the other hand it was not planned to make any Kiev restaurant reviews this time, as we were having just a layover flight in Kiev before departing to NYC. See: About Tbilisi - Kiev - New York Flight by Ukrainian Airlines

Unfortunately our flight was delayed for 10 hours and instead of waiting at Borispol's airport transit area we opted to have some Kiev tour. At that included a trip to the heart of Kiev (at least I think so)

As Wikipedia have helped me to learn more now, we were wondering somewhere around Khreshchatyk (central street) in Kiev. And it was just that time to start looking for authentic Ukrainian cuisine, quickly we found ourselves in one of the backyards of beautiful Khreshchatyk street and noticed following entrance (at that stage I thought there is written name of this place)

Restaurant in Kiev

Seemed very Ukrainian for us and we decided to enter. This was a good choice.

Ukrainian traditional cuisine

Mmm, the stuff I like and often feature at food…

Cafe at Hotel Mate in Khulo

4 February, 2017 | Restaurant reviews | 5 seen

I just love those small roadside cafeterias and cafe at Hotel Mate in Khulo (region of Adjara in Georgia) is just another great discovery. 

Hotel Mate is located in the center of Khulo in front of the hospital up the hill from central road. Address: 1 Davit Aghmashenebeli st, Khulo

​

Hotel cafe in Khulo

The food served at this cafe is just delicious, let's say made with countryside love.

Traditional Georgian meal - Ostri

Ostri is a hot, spicy beef stew that is very popular in Georgia, both as a home prepared meal and as a dish in restaurants.

A Perfect Harmony

3 February, 2017 | | 7 seen

It was on a still and tranquil evening after a hard work day on home remodeling - for the record, today was one of the toughest days in my constructors career as we faced some really though obstacles to overcome.

More about that, learn in this article: Fall Through The Ceiling, Dig a Trench Around Foundations, Stone Wall Concreting

In the evening, during sunset, I took camera and decided to document overall progress both of house and surrounding territory. I made just some random shots, not thinking much of scene or composition, when suddenly realized objects been captured to the SD card for some reason forms harmony - they duplicates and reflects. An idea for Piece of Life article born - A Perfect harmony

Overall scene in the front of house

Summer dinning table outdoors placed in the meadow, grass just mowed, some aac blocks in the background, a grill, pond and a veggie garden.

A pair of shovels

For no reason they were propped against wall each to other. 

Two hay forks

Seriously? I didn't even know we have these.

Mowed grass

Almost…

Kyiv-Passazhyrskiy Railway station

2 February, 2017 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 20 seen

Kyiv-Passazhyrsky, also called just as Vokzalna, is a railway station in the capital of Ukraine, Kiyv (Kiev)

The Kiev Metro station Vokzalna is adjoining the complex, constituting the station's main intersection with city transport. The Kiev tram terminal Starovokzal'na  (the terminal for Kiev's High-Speed Tram line) is also adjacent via a passageway.

I had a chance to spend here some 5 minutes, during our latest flight Tbilisi - Kiev - New York city, as our flight was delayed for about 10 hours at Kiev - Borispol airport we decided to use these hours by exploring Kiev, instead of waiting at airport's transit area.

Out of the airport terminal at Borispol, there are buses taking passengers either to Kharkivksya or Vokzalnaya. The ticket prices are really cheap price. Since we didn't had any clue which station should we go, we asked just a bus going to the city center. Bus driver told, we must then go to the Vokzalnaya. Latter turned out that this railway station is not at all located in city center, but some 7 km from it, though from here it is possible to take a metro ride to the…