In the foreign community the country as a whole has been tagged along with Busan's phrase. I've heard over and over again, "this is Korea" or "remember this is dynamic Korea". The definition of dynamic is a very accurate account of my experience: Characterized by constant change, activity, or progress.
This is a blog entry about the constant change in places that change doesn't happen back home.
A common hobby of mine is looking at movie times on Thursday or Friday afternoon because I like watching movies and the movie theaters here are great. The seats are huge, they rarely show previews before the movie and you get to pick your seat when you buy your tickets, which means that movie planners like myself get great seats and don't need to arrive early!
Last Thursday I saw something that made me super excited! The animation movie Turbo was going to be shown in English AND in 4D. Most animation movies that come through Ulsan are dubbed in Korean so the little kids don't have to read the subtitles. 4D is the amazing crazy experience offered in Japan and now South Korea that includes a movie with 3D glasses and graphics but also has moving seats built with the capability to spray water in your face and air at the back of your neck. It is the full body movie experience. When I found out about the 4D option at the new theater in Ulsan I knew it would be something I'd want to do before leaving Korea but I wanted to pick the perfect movie so I wouldn't get sick or scared. Every weekend an action packed movie with fight scenes was offered in 4D until last Thursday.
I was so excited about the possibility of finally seeing a racing animation movie in 4D that I asked a bunch of friends if they wanted to see it with me. On Friday it was decided that I would buy the tickets online with my co teacher's help and we'd see the movie on Saturday. So I bought five tickets online and happily left school. Later that night I had a few missed calls and a text message in Korean. The only things I could read in the text were CGV (the movie theater's name) and 27 (the day we were going to see the movie). I sent the text to my co teacher and she told me the movie had been changed. I checked the movie times in the morning and saw that ALL of the Turbo showings in English were canceled. All of them. They just vanished even though they were there the day before and I had bought five tickets for the show.
I was speechless. I was shocked. I was angry. I was confused. I was a paying customer and my movie had vanished!
I decided to go to the movie theater and ask what had happened because I had spent a lot of money on those 4D tickets (each ticket is 18,000Won which is around $17) and I wanted my money back or switched to the only other 4D movie option, Pacific Rim.
My wonderful friend Meredith came with me and together we went to the counter and I showed the worker the text message I had received. She then had us talk to a different lady who seemed in charge and she explained that the movie had been changed and we could see it at a different time. I asked, "In English" and she sadly looked at us and said no. I then decided to ask if we could switch our tickets to Pacific Rim. She told us the first showing was at 9pm, which was fine with us since Turbo in English wasn't going to be shown until 8:30pm anyways. After she printed out our new tickets she told us that the movie was free. Free? Free. I asked, "my money will be on my card?" She said, "okay". I walked away with our "free" tickets surprised by our luck and confused by her "okay". I checked my bank account today and the tickets were refunded! I'll take a free movie any day.
The 4D experience was great. I was worried about Pacific Rim because I knew the movie plot was big robots fighting giant aliens that come out of the sea. There was bound to be a lot of seat shaking and water spraying. When we sat down in our seats an advertisement for 4D started to play and the chairs started moving out of control and all five of us couldn't help but make noise. My first thought was, "this is going to be a long movie". Thankfully the actual movie wasn't as theme-park-ride-crazy as the preview. In fact, I think the 4D added a whole new wonderful quality to an action movie (besides the water spraying in my face). We all enjoyed the movie and want to watch another 4D movie soon. I may never be able to go see another movie in America again (that's a lie - there are too many great movies coming out in November and December).
At the end of the day I wasn't angry anymore at dynamic Korea because, like they often do, things worked out.
Bless friends.
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