I had a horrible realization on Tuesday. Mladost is ugly. Yes, the neighborhood I live and work is in ugly. And, somehow for a year this fact seems to have escaped me.

Now this has probably escaped me because I genuinely like living here.  My apartment is close to work, to a good grocery store, to the metro and the airport. And it's not as if I was completely deluded. I knew Mladost wasn't <em>beautiful</em> but I definitely didn't think it was ugly.

On Monday upon returning to Sofia and grabbing a taxi for what is usually a 10 minute 5 leva ride, I was comforted by how little things seemed to have changed. I had a lot of time to think about this because my normal ride from the airport turned into an excruciatingly long ride as we sat in stop and go traffic. I was comforted to find that my neighborhood, my apartment and my grocery store were more or less how I'd left them.

I am not sure who left dirty dishes in my sink for a month but that's another story.

But on Tuesday, that's when I was confronted with a shocking discovery. The McDonald's in Mladost got a face lift while I was traveling this summer. And it was upgraded from <em>just</em> a McDonald's to a McDonald's with a <em>McCafe</em>. Wow.

[caption id="attachment_3266" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Mladost McDonald&#039;s"]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01904.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3266" title="Mladost McDonald's" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01904.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

Now here's the thing, I've actually never been in this McDonald's.  <!--more-->

Nevertheless,  it's new modern-wooden exterior was a shock to me. Who decided that the McDonald's needed a face lift? The classic red and yellow color scheme has been replaced.  Too <em>fast-food</em> maybe.

Now is probably the time that I need to clarify something.  McDonald's is an institution in my life. We rarely ate there as kids. The only times I really remember eating there was when my desperate parents succumbed to the siren like draw of the golden arches and whispered the secret phrase: happy meal to us when we were on the 6 plus hour car ride to my grandparent's house.

However as an adult, it's existence doesn't much matter to me. I never go to McDonald's. I know. I'll give you a moment to catch your breath--<em>gasp, gasp</em>. Maybe I am not really an American? So that's that, the adult in my generally thinks that McDonald's is an appalling restaurant given the quality of their food but secretly the kid in me thinks that french fries and burgers taste pretty darn good.

Anyhow, I digress. Let's get back to McDonald's. I don't really see the point of trying to make a restaurant like McDonald's into something it's not. But of course, one can't tack on a McCafe to a normal red and yellow McDonnald's.  It just doesn't go.

[caption id="attachment_3267" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="McCafe in Mladost "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01906.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-3267" title="McCafe in Mladost " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01906.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>[/caption]

So now Mladost, has a shiny new-ish wood covered McDonald's complete with McCafe.The golden arches of the "M" more subtle than before and the name of the restaurant more understated in white.

After gawking at the newly refurbished McDonald's I realized that if the whole thing wasn't so silly and absurd, it might actually be nice.  Almost tasteful.

But this was also the moment that I realized how ugly Mladost is. This newly landscaped McDonald's seems to be an oasis in the middle of neighborhood composed of concrete and asphalt being invaded by hoards of honking cars, buses, vans and large trucks.  McDonald's actually looked pretty compared to Mladost.

I hated this thought the moment I had it.  But I couldn't shake it. Mladost is ugly.

The thing is, this morning I realized that while Mladost is not beautiful, it's also not necessarily ugly.  Mladost is real. Life happens here. Everyday. McDonald's on the other hand is fantasy.  It's selling a dream. When what you actually get are salty American hamburgers wrapped in paper and tucked into bags next to greasy french fries.  McDonald's is artifice while Mladost is anything but.