Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Rustavi: Appliances and a Miniature Church

I’m going to do an article on the Georgian laundering and household water management system in the future, but for now, I’m just going to talk about appliances and their costs.

The appliance issue first came to my attention as a result of a refrigerator issue in my hosts’ flat. In the worst of the heat upon my arrival, we had no operating refrigerator. That’s now been rectified, but it raised the question of expenses related to appliances.

Yesterday, I went to a supermarket/department store on Megobroba Street. I saw refrigerators, stoves, and washing machines for sale.

Washing machines

Ah, washing machines .... 



Washing machine @ 379 lari or 232 US

Washing machine @ 1029 lari or 630 US


Refrigerators.

 In the U.S., we have a good aftermarket for used fridges. You can get a decent, used, refurbished fridge for couple of hundred bucks. The guy who came to fix my hosts' fridge said a new one in Georgia costs about 1000 lari (about $600 USD). There didn't seem to be any wiggle room in his estimation, and I didn't get the impression there was a market for used fridges.  

Refrigerator @ 519 lari (about 319 US)

Refrigerator @ 1019 lari (about 623 US)

Stoves.

Stove @ 354 lari (about 217 US)


Stove @ 489 lari (about 299 US)
 
Stove @ 889 lari (about 544 US)



On my walk yesterday, I came across a miniature church - much smaller than this one.  It is on Megobroba Street. An adult could go into the church, but it would require crouching and scrunching.








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