Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Update from Brongolia

Is Monbrolia a better word? I don't know. But this weekend I had a brotastic experience.

We were walking up to the Zaisan memorial, a wonderful Soviet construction with views of the whole city, when Kevin says "Hmm, I wonder what Blue Ribbon beer is. Probably some cheap crap from China." And I'm like whaaaaat? And he points to some umbrellas that say PABST BLUE RIBBON. And then I hyperventilated a bit. When I came to, I quickly explained to him that no, Pabst Blue Ribbon is not Chinese, and no, it is not crap, but yes, it is cheap. Figures a Columbia student wouldn't know about the beer of America's heartland. Anyways, we made our way over to the umbrellas, which were in the corner of a parking lot in front of a giant golden Buddha, an appropriate place for these holy icons. And there were some sketchy guys grilling meat. We approached them cautiously, but lo and behold, they were not Mongolians, but Uzbek kabob vendors! Oppressed minorities in this hostile country, they were more than happy to talk to some friendly Americans. Alas, they didn't have the nectar of life itself, but they obliged me with a picture in front of the umbrellas, and we thanked these Uzbek broskis by buying some of their overpriced and undercooked meat.


And then we saw a wonderful Soviet mosaic. God I love the Soviets.


Broski update: I saw the guy again last night! In a different place! With kabobs but no PBR, and we had a little broski greeting session.


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