I Found Solace

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Tonight, a group of us braved the Chinese movie theater to see the new 007. This is a much larger undertaking than one might think.
First you get in line. Only to discover it's the wrong line. I still don't know what those people were in line for. Perhaps they reserved tickets online. But we got to move to the short line.

Then, our Fearless Leader took charge and told the nice lady behind the glass that we needed 6 seats. Unlike the US, they have assigned seating. So you can buy your ticket in advance and then go do something else, and then run back at the last minute and still be able to see the screen while sitting together. She moved the mouse around the screen, pointing at options, while he figured out what we should do and the rest of us stood there.

We each plunked down Y80 (a litlle under $12) and scored 4th row seats. All the further back seats were taken (presumably be the people in the long line) and we didn't want to sit in the nosebleed seats.
Then we went out to do some shopping. One girl's mp3 player had broken so we looked at new ones of those, and then we hit the toy store. They had Monopoly, Beijing Edition, regular edition but in Chinese, and some new electronic version that lets people in a cash economy use credit cards; I like the stack of $500s I can accumulate through the course of a game, personally. They also had some really cool lego sets, My Little Pony, Transformers, and some weird stuffed {creature of your choice} with the label on the box reading, "100% Recycled Awesomeness." I can't make this stuff up.

We headed back to the theater, since it was getting closer to movie time. With 15 mn to spare, we are too early and they won't let us in. This whole set-up is so backwards from what I'm used to in the US. In the States, you leave 1 hour before the show, arrive at least 30 mn before, stand in line for tickets while someone else gets snacks, and then make a dash for the theater to avoid the seats with the sticky floor or the whiney child a row behind you who will inevitably kick your seat the entire show.
I like China's version better. We had time for ice cream sundaes.

So eventually we are directed to theater 2, discover people in our seats, discover we are in the wrong theater and eventually locate theater 3. Unlike the US, they don't post the movie names above the doors.
While we were sitting for 5 mn and waiting, our Fearless Leader made the comment, "I hope this one is about China. I think we're due to fight China." I just about died laughing.

It's interesting to watch previews that all look very Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and realize that if you try to see any of them, you won't be able to understand what they say or read the subtitles. Every movie and TV show is subtitled because there are so many dialects in China. It would be like someone from Wisconsin meeting someone from Kansas and not being able to understand them verbally, but written would be a piece of cake.

The movie. All I will say is that I highly recommend it.
But if you haven't seen the one previous to this, see it first.
It's intersting to watch a film that is in English with Chinese subtitles. It's even more interesting to realize than where I'm used to them translating the Spanish into English on the bottom of the screen, it's in Chinese, and I'm relying on Spanish skills from 14 years ago. Ditto for when they tell you where Bond has escaped to now and I can't read that either? "Hmmm, it looks like somewhere warm.... but it's not China, uhhh, they're speaking Spanish.... okay, I've got it down to a continent," went through my mind at least once. Ok, maybe not quite that bad, but you get the idea.


The big teachers' interviews are here tomorrow. The ones for the permenancy tests. They have so much red and white striped "caution" tape up here that I felt like a gymnist trying to get up to my room tonight. I guess they really don't want people going in certain areas or disrupting the flow of things.
I think it's going to be crowded. I plan to escape early and run some errands before heading out for what I think will be a pretty cool day.

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Photos

Movie Ticket Stub
You've got:
The Title, Theater Number
Cost, no clue
A row of stuff I can't read
Date, Time, Seat Number

Comments

[Jim]

Stub
no clue=service charge stuff you can't read= Total____ Adult fare___Seat according to number. Good blogs, enjoy reading them.