Their house had only two rooms, a kitchen, and a living room. They paid quite a large sum for such a modest house, but due to the high influx of tourists, property prices had skyrocketed. Besides Pasha, there were about seven other people living in the house. They all worked for the same company in Tolyatti.

Pasha offered tea and cookies, to which I gladly agreed since I was quite hungry, and having something to eat would be helpful. The guys retreated to one of the rooms to discuss something. Pasha stayed with me, keeping me company. I shared a bit about myself and how I met Andrey.

After the tea, Pasha showed me to the second room with a folding couch and told me I could sleep there. There weren't enough beds for everyone, of course. The guys slept on mattresses they had laid out on the floor around the room. I had a neighbor on the couch, and there was another person on a mattress in the opposite corner of the room. There was no shower in the house, so I freshened up using the sink and went to sleep.

In the morning, I set out to find a place to buy a phone case, exchange money, and, of course, get a SIM card since I couldn't activate the SIM card I bought yesterday evening after crossing the border. It turned out that it was impossible to activate it without the SIM card box, which I, of course, threw away without realizing it would be needed.

I found a shopping center where I could find almost everything I needed, except for a favorable exchange rate. I left my passport with the girl who was processing the SIM card and followed the map to locate the nearest bank branch to exchange money. The first bank branch I entered turned out to be closed. The second one was open, but they didn't exchange rubles. I plotted a route on the map to another bank branch and set off on my way.

On the way, I had a conversation with an elderly Slavic-looking woman who asked me who I was and where I came from. We started talking, and I told her what I was doing here and where I was heading. She said she was also going to the bank to exchange tenge for rubles and offered to help each other. I decided not to refuse such an opportunity, and it would save the grandma from going to the bank. We completed the exchange at the rate shown on the internet. After thanking her and saying goodbye, I turned back towards the shopping center to retrieve my passport.

Having completed all my tasks, I called my brother on WhatsApp. After chatting for a couple of minutes, I told him that I had left the country and was currently in Kazakhstan. My brother asked me what I would do and what my plans were. Besides the small plan of reaching the city of Zhitiqara, where Masha and Andrey are currently located, I didn't have any other plans yet. I asked my brother not to tell anyone in the family about my departure for now because I planned to tell them myself when the right time came.

After ending the conversation with my brother, I called my sister. Our conversation revolved around the same topic as with my brother. I also asked her not to mention it to anyone for now, and my sister and I agreed that it wasn't necessary to directly tell our mother about my departure. My sister said she would talk to our mother about it and lead her to the decision that it would be good if I did leave. It was a reasonable approach because I wasn't ready to confess my departure to my mother yet and didn't know how she would react to it.

Upon returning, Pasha said that he had an acquaintance who could help me find temporary accommodation, and he gave me Igor's contact information. The guy was also from Russia, and he left on the first day after the mobilization announcement. He quickly found good people who could assist those who were hastily leaving the country. Thanks to Igor, I met Dasha, who allowed me to stay with her so that I could think about my next steps.