Russian experiences in China

Hello!!
It's been an exciting week, what with the election and all. I had a very hard time getting work done but I think I did well on my test yesterday morning and am now ready for my weekend. We're going bowling in a little more than an hour which will be really exciting. I've been missing home a lot lately so I think bowling will provide a bit of that American lifestyle that I've been missing! And who can forget Raffie's great song 'I like to go bowling with my friend Burt'.
Besides the election this week was pretty normal. It has become extremely cold lately with last night getting down close to zero!! I've been slowly adding layers and layers of clothing and have now found that I can barely move when I get outside. Still have not bought mittens though.
Last week we went to the Russian area of town, which has also been turned into the tourist district. I think you can see some pictures of it on picasso (see the link to the right). Besides the colorful neon Chinese signs it really feels like you're in a European pedestrian walkway. Old architecture, spiraling towers and detailed statues staring down from the three/four story buildings. We decided to try out the 'best' Russian restaurant in town which was situated in a beautiful pre-war Russian building. Inside had a 1960s-bar and the waitresses were dressed in a strange almost Polish looking formal dress. When I asked them what they were wearing they explained that it was in fact Haerbin dress - which I guess is a mix of Russian and Chinese influence. Well I wouldn't be got dead in it... After walking past the bar we went up a staircase, the walls covered with old-timey photographs. The decor fit together really well.... until I noticed the huge fake tree that split through the staircase... I never have quite understood Chinese ideas of decoration, they always come off as being a littlle bit of an overkill. Well I guess I should explain that this is mostly in areas that cater to toursits - they must have a very skewed view of us.
Actually I'm finding this to be more and more true. For instance the few Muslims I've come across in China think that we equate Mustlim with terrorist - which is a pretty understandable viewpoint given our countries actions and the media coverage of America.
We finally ordered food at the Russian restaurant, and after all that fanfare I was quite dissapointed. The food would compare to a normal diner in the states. We had salmon that was overcooked and everything was doused in Mayonaisse!!
Ironically when I got to back to the dorm and went to make some coffee (Peet's!!!) I found some Russians (Palin would not have been happy) in our kitchen cooking up a storm. There were about 15 bottles of empty Haerbin beer but only two people in the kitchen.... but they seemed quite sober still. One of them was quite fat and the other lean very European looking, with a face covered in red pockmarks. The skinny one made the food while the fat one watched, ate and drank.... probably a common scenario. they offered me food and even Russian cheese - which also was not that good.... they seemed to like it though, and as the skinnier one continued to burn their potato and cabbage pancake-like mash I thought to myself 'I guess you like whatever you convince yourself is good'.