McDiplomacy

I'm not embarrased to say I have already visited McDonalds, mainly
because the first time it was not my idea but that of my Belgian
friend, Nicolas. Another one of my fellow foreign students here, Julia
(hailing from Germany) remarked that McDonalds is like the American
Embassy. How right she is, it sums up all the great and not so great
things about America; the success of the mediocre, catering to the
masses, plastic; but also, of course, consistency, accessibility,
equal opportunity, bright colors, happy meals. What can I say, I like
McDonalds and they are everywhere here, Russians love them and
tourists are comforted by them. Here a hamburger, six chicken
mcnuggets, and a coke cost about $3.40. And everything tastes just
like it does in any other McDonalds in the world. Except here you can
get curry sauce with your mcnuggets, and the pies are still deep
fried, not baked (I found this in England also). Here they know this
stuff isn't healthy, why make a pathetic attempt to make the pie
marginally more healthy by baking it, and in the process ruining the
taste? In this case I'm enjoying the "little differences" Vincent Vega
so eloquently spoke of in Pulp Fiction.

We traveled about 60 km outside of Moscow yesterday by rail to visit
Sergeev Posad, a city in which there is a famous ancient monastery,
with a large walled compound containing many beautiful churches and
other facilities. It receives many, many visitors - tourists and
pilgrims alike. Across the street from the monastery there was a
restaurant named "American Pie," which had a big poster from the movie
of the same name on its outside wall, facing the monastery no less. As
we were entering the the gates of the monastery, Nicolas joked that
maybe there is a McDonalds inside. Fortunately there wasn't, but after
we left the monastary and explored the town, what did we find on the
main street about a kilometer from the ancient holy place? A
McDonalds. It was a good thing we had already eaten.

We have just entered Russian airspace

I'm old enough to remember at time when hearing those words from the
cockpit of your airplane would be cause for panic. However, now it is
as normal as if the pilot said we'd crossed into the Mountain time
zone. Getting through immigration and customs was a breeze in Moscow
compared to Vladivostok three years ago. I don't know if their
procedures changed or if it is the universal difference between
operations in cosmopolitan and provincial areas. I was met at the
airport Friday night by a couple of people from the university, and
was joined by some Chinese students who are here on a similar language
training program. Whisked to the dorm at the university where I was
dumped off, relieved of my passport (so I could be properly registered
with the authorities) and left to fend for myself until Monday
morning, when I had to register in several offices and pay for my
dorm. Got familiar with the Metro (subway) on Sunday, when I managed
to contact an acquaintance who generously met me and helped me buy a
cell phone and set up service. Befriended a Belgian guy and Norwegian
girl as we went through the registration process yesterday at the
language school. They both speak fluent English, of course, which is
nice for me. Although I'm comfortable speaking Russian, it's far from
perfect and it's nice to have a break. I should mention how great it
is to have kiosks on every corner where you can buy fruit, vegetables,
bread, hot food, ice cream, and all kinds of water, juice, soda, and
beer. The Russians really know how to do some things well. For
example, when we were waiting at the airport for the Chinese students,
I saw a guy walking around drinking a beer, right in the terminal
waiting area. You can walk down the street here drinking a beer
without getting in trouble. I understand it's like that in Europe as
well. I'm not a big drinker, but I think that's plain cool.