If you are looking for an interesting experience and aren't starving, the McDonald's in Oxford is great. Being one of the few food places open at 9:00, Rachna and I decided to stop in. I thought it would feel bit like home, like Starbucks does no matter what country you're in. I was wrong. Inside were at least 25 teenagers from who knows what countries,and they were all in line ahead of us. Behind the counter there were people of assorted ethnicities, all being led by one guy who yelled, maybe in English but who knows, whenever one of them had a problem. After about 10 minutes (no joke), we made it to the front of the incredibly slow moving line. Rachna went first, ordering a veggie melt sandwich from the deli menu. She asked if it was spicy, at which point the man had to leave so he could ask someone else, but he didn't really understand the answer, so the second guy came to help. They asked her if she wanted white or brown bread, to which she said wheat. Long pause...White or brown bread, came the same question. I said brown from the back and we moved on. Then she asked them if the sauce was spicy again, and the second guy said no but they could add chili sauce. She asked if it was vegetarian since she is a vegetarian. He said it was chili sauce. She asked if it had meat in it, and he said it had chili in it. finally, she gave up and paid for her sandwich with chili sauce, which I assured her was like thai chili sauce, and thus vegetarian.

Next, I ordered my chicken tikka sandwich. I was pretty excited they had this, but the guy didn't seem to know what it was, so he just repeated back a chicken sandwich. I said chicken tikka, with a bit more enunciation, and then I pointed at the sign. he turned to look. Some other guy walked by and said yes gruffly, as if to assure the other that they did really have such a thing. He typed it in and then said white or brown bread. I was ready so it was uneventful, but when he went to enter in my garden salad, he had to stop and stare in confusion at the screen. After a while he went to get help...........When he returned he told me they were running out, which I guess meant they were out, so I did not get a salad.

Rachna and I were shuffled off to the side to wait, and after a few minutes her sandwhich arrived, labeled both as a veggie melt and as chicken tikka. We opened it, but phew, it was in fact vegetarian. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. We waited for the guy to return from India carrying my chicken tikka sandwich. Meanwhile, we watched all the people behind the counter and realized that they all spoke differet languages, none of them English so far as we could tell. They couldn't read the signs, and when they asked each other for help they didn't understand the answers they got. We decided the problem was that we were speaking in accents from other places besided the UK, and so they didn't even have the comfort of the language they were trying to learn (the British can hardly understand us, actually).Then some guy wanted his money back (shockingly), which caused the guy behind the counter to call out to the manager for help, to which the manager responded by yelling at all of them in some other language. Meanwhile, the rest of the people in line stood there completely at peace with the situation, which did cause me to wonder about the general level of efficiency in Europe. If this had been America people would have been freaking out, complaining to their neighbors in line, some leaving in a huff of exhasperation. But no, everyont was OK.

At long last my sandwich arrived, and it turned out to be quite tasty. It even had yogurt sauce. Rachna and I had a good laugh recounting the whole thing as we walked home. I don't think I'll go there again, but it sure was fun.