Since I was in Tirana this week (more on that later) I decided to go and see a movie last night. I tried my hardest to convince everyone that I was with to come with me, but I was not going to be discouraged by the prospect of going alone. I wanted to see a movie and no one was going to stop me! It's not the first time that I've gone to a movie alone. It's not even the first time I've seen a movie alone in a foreign country. I don't really mind seeing movies alone, although I would of course rather see them with people. Mostly, I just want to be able to talk about the movie with people afterwards (and since no one else I know here has seen it yet, I won't be able to do that for several days). There are two theaters in Tirana. The one that I went to is the nicer, smaller theater inside the Sheraton hotel. The auditorium that I was in was tiny, only about 25 seats, but the seats were not just regular movie theater seats, but in fact easy chairs! It was definitely one of the most comfortable theaters I've ever been in.
The movie itself (Indiana Jones) was exactly what the film doctor ordered. Just enough silly and fun, almost believable (but not quite), Harrison Ford, good action, double crossing, bad accents and even aliens! I've been a bit disappointed with some recent similar style movies (particularly National Treasure- Nicholas Cage is no Harrison Ford, no way!), but the return of Indy was great and lived up to my action/adventure expectations (which are, truth be told, rather low- does it keep me entertained for two hours, did I laugh, smile and cringe a few times, did I leave the theater without a lot of lingering questions about the nonsensical plot?).
Anyway, I'm glad I finally saw a movie here and I enjoyed it, even if I was "All by Myself "(which actually came on the theater tunes while I was waiting . . . maybe they knew . . . )
I also got to eat Chinese food today in Tirana, which is another thing that was exactly what I needed. Sweet and sour . . .mmmmmmmmm.
6 comments:
Yay I'm glad you got to see a movie there! You're right, it's not an award winner but it must have been nice to be able to go and see it.
I guess it would be reasonable to assume that there is no theater in Peshkopi. Your postings keep causing me to compare our experiences with yours. Maybe I shouldn't, but unless you tell me to stop, here goes.
In Davao, there were two airconditioned, nice, clean theaters with an ice cream shop between them. They had first-run movies (sometimes even before they were released in the US - pirated). In our second assignment, Tagbilaran, there was a theater, but you needed double-bitted axes,gatling guns and dynamite to fight off the roaches, but there were good theaters in Cebu, 5 hours away by boat, so whenever we had to go to Cebu we would include a movie in the trip.
I go to movies alone if it's one your mom doesn't want to see. The last time was "The Great Raid".
Sometimes a movie, even watching it alone is exactly what you need when you living abroad. I think almost the only time I watch movies alone is when I'm overseas. But sometimes you just need that dose of being somewhere else and a movie like Indian Jones is perfect for that.
Was the movie in English or did it have subtitles?
Chinese food! I'm always curious how foreign foods manifest themselves in different countries. For instance, Mexican food in Scotland is very funny.
The movie was in English with Albanian subtitles.
About the Chinese food- it is funny, of all the places I've been (except maybe the Embassy residence- see 4th of July) that felt most like home, it was the Chinese restaurant. The place that served Mexican food was just not right (it's the cheese), but the Chinese food tasted like . . . Chinese food! With the exception of the fact that I didn't get a fortune cookie at the end, and that the waiters spoke Albanian, I could have been in Denver or New York or . . .
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