Ins Kino

Day 13 (Sonntag, 28.Sept.08)
Today, Haile Gebrselassie set a world record in the Berlin marathon. I watched it live on TV and then in the afternoon I went down to the finish line where there was a street festival.



Also, today I went to my first movie in Berlin.

I saw The Baader Meinhof Komplex. It wasn’t very good. But my experience makes a good example of how difficult it can be to get by in a foreign country.

First of all, the nearest show was at 17:15—great, I have to do math to figure out when the movie starts. Fine, no big deal, subtract 12, that’s 5:15 pm. OK.

So I want the 17:15 show. In German that’s siebzehn fünfzehn. Oh wait, they don’t say that. They say Viertel nach Siebzehn, ‘a quarter after seventeen’. OK, I’d like to see the quarter after seventeen show.

Then I was thrown. The cashier asked me something and I said “I didn’t understand that.” She repeated herself: “Packett oder Loge?”

So I’m totally lost. I’ve never heard either of those words before. What’s more, I can’t even imagine what she’s asking me. I told her what show I want to see, what could possibly make any difference now? I’m obviously not a senior citizen. And she didn’t use the German word for student, which I always remember since it’s Student.

“Was ist das Unterschied?” I asked, ‘what’s the difference?’ She told me one is in the front and it’s 10 Euros, the other is in the back and it’s 9 Euros. Or vice versa. I'm still not sure. Here’s a picture I later took of the seating plan.



I kept my answer simple: “Neun.” That means nine, as in 9, as in, I’d like to pay only 9 Euros, please. That’s not to be confused with nein as in ‘no’.

I still don’t know which costs more, closer or further. In a theater you want to sit in the middle, so it seems like a really dumb way to price discriminate. And anyway that’s exactly where my assigned seat was—row O, seat 14. Right in the middle.

So then she did ask me if I was a student. I told her I was. Then I remembered I took my student ID out of my wallet to keep it with all the papers I need at the registration office tomorrow.

Sorry, I said, I don’t have my ID. Then it’s nine Euros, she told me. How much would it cost, I asked, if I had my ID? 1.50 Euros less. Good to know, because 9 Euros is really a ridiculous price for a German movie.

Then, finally, I got my ticket. And I found my seat.



Also, there was a full 30 minutes of commercials and previews before the film started.

The film itself stars Moritz Bleibtreu, the guy from Run, Lola, Run. It takes place mostly in Berlin in the 70’s and focuses on a group of East German terrorists. It had a gritty, French Connection feel to it, but the drama was too uneven, and there was no psychological depth. Perhaps that's because Andreas Baader, at least according to Jean-Paul Sartre, was "incredibly stupid" (yeah, that's right, I'm citing Wikipedia).

Afterwards I had a hell of a time getting home. The train stopped five stops before mine.

And the conductor got off.

I wasn’t expecting that.

I was listening to my headphones (Mozart!) not paying attention and the next thing I knew, I looked up and I was the only one on the train.

It would be an hour before I got home. But first I would get on the wrong train and then on the wrong bus and then finally I would get back to the train stop where I first had to get off.

I find myself wanting to take a picture of myself every time I'm about to have a meltdown. It helps me regain my perspective.



By the time I finally got to my stop, I felt, for the first time in two weeks, happy to be home.