Budweiser Mickey

We all went to Hard Rock Cafe for breakfast this morning. I couldn't believe how cold I was. I think its just perception, since I didn't feel nearly that cold for the rest of the day. I was wearing everything from the long underwear to my wool scarf. HRC was located on Arabat street, a sort of sleepy tourist trap with old pre-revolutionary buildings lining it. Had some retched cappuchino, and then we had fun watching three people dressed in cartoon outfits. There was donald duck, some other character, and mickey mouse wearing a budweiser jacket. Had a really mediocere breakfast burrito. I guess I've just been spoiled in the US. When I first came here I was struck by how difficult life here was for an expat, with the language barrier, traffic, etc etc. It's nothung but a constant struggle. But I thought back to Living in Beijing and Singapore, and I remembered that when you are the new expat, you just take it all in stride because theres nothing else one can do.

We took the metro to the Tourist market afterwards. It was a themed market, with a ticketed fare, sort of like the a Russian Rawhide. There's wooden russian towers everywhere, and the ticket collectors wore traditional russian costumes. Vendors inside sold the classic tourist stuff: Pirated DVDs and CDs, Nesting Dolls, fur hats, laquered boxes, etc. I bought a Russian army cap. A man came and drew a quick sketch of me in charcoal, so I bought it for about ten bucks. It was overpriced, but oh well. We left after dad complained he couldn't feel his toes. I was getting cold too, and although the market was huge, it was variations of the same junk.

We took the metro to Gorbushka next, a sprawling complex of three massive multifloored warehouses, each floor crammed with tiny stalls crammed with electronics, celll phones, stereos, appliances, laptops, and flatscreen TVs. It's pulled straight out of a William Gibson novel. Also crammed full of people. Every stereo is on, and every screen is filled with movies, so its quickly overwelming. I actually got lost at one point, had to go to the outside, and find my way back by walking around the building back to the original enterance. After a few hours, Taylor bought a stereo, and we carried it back on the metro.

For dinner, we went to an Azerbaijani restaurant, and I got some steak peices. They were alright, but nothing spectacular. The table next to ours had a whole roasted lamb. We drove home and then watched The Incredibles. Tomorrow I'm taking a metro tour.