City adventures

Wednesday's tasks:
-get to the cell phone store and get 1) a sim card 2) minutes added to Paul's phone 3) more 3G gig for the iPad;
-get lunch for everyone from McDonald's.

Which one do you think was the most daunting?

Walking to the cell phone store takes paul 20-25 minutes. Walking with Jude in the baby bjorn apparently takes me almost an hour. Granted, I had cute shoes on rather than tennis shoes, but still. blech.

Once at the cell phone store you have to take a number. It's like the DMV. a million people, only two people working at the windows, and several miscellaneous other employees busy doing things other than getting the line moving. Luckily I had A seat next to some nice female students who entertained Jude and taught me some Georgian words during the hour long wait.

Getting the sim card etc. turned out to be a breeze. The system is this: you pay $.80 for the sim card, then load it with whatever amount of money you want. Then whatever calls you make come out of your balance. It costs about $.12 a minute for local calls. Not cheap. I could call the US for only $.70 a minute...thanks but I think I'll stick to my free google voice number. I just had to give them Paul's number and they added minutes to it for me. The iPad sim works a little different, you buy 1 G or 5 G or whatever you think you'll use in one month. The data "pack" as they call it expires if you don't use it, tho, so that's kind of annoying. But it was just as easy to renew as the phones. You do have to go to a separate window to pay, but they all spoke at least basic english. Done and done.

On to Macdo. It is raining and windy and cold--my least favorite weather. I make my way to the bright haven of American cultural colonialism.


The menu has no prices posted, and there does not seem to be a dollar menu, and people do not wait in orderly lines but kind of mob the counter and elbow their way in when a cashier opens. No matter. Big Mac is big Mac, yes?

I order my food. The best was 2 "heppi meeli" for which i got to choose which toys I wanted--currently it's clone wars, and they have mini light sabers that actually light up!!! In color!!! Seriously. I would pay the price of a happy meal just for the toys. That's how cool they are. How come the happy meal toys in America are total garbage? But I digress.

So I pay my money, get my food, and wait for my change. And wait. And wait. The girl looks at me, I explain that I gave her 50 lari and it only cost 37. She checks the cash register receipt thing, then calls someone over. They discuss. I wait. I eat a few fries. I explain again: "I give 50, you give change." she looks at me and discusses with friend some more. I eat some more fries. She asks, "did you need something?" seriously???? Yes! My change!!! She goes to get someone, presumably the manager. I explain once again. The manager says, "yes, the thing is, she already gave you the change." I say, "no, she did not." she nods that she did, tells me to check my receipt (because that proves....???) which I do, then we all just look at each other.

At this point I'm out of ideas. It may be McDonald's but America it ain't. I have been carrying jude in the bjorn for almost 3 hours, and, more importantly, my fries are getting cold.

I say, "whatever. Okay." I think, "have a nice $8 tip for your ineptitude. Call me when you balance out your drawer and it's 13 lari over."

I take a taxi home for a little over $2. He makes me sit in the front (Jude in baby bjorn...) and the seat belt doesn't work. He waves it off, no matter. I'm too tired to get out and get another taxi. Again, my fries...

Finally I get home and we all enjoy a little taste of American fatty goodness. Only thing missing was the cheese, but I'm used to that. Even if the customer service is lacking, the food is the real deal. Big Mac is Big Mac is Big Mac. And thank goodness for that.

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