Shakespeare in Korean

We didn't do what we planned this weekend, but we had a whole lot of fun doing it. We weren't feeling up to our usual weekend getaways, whether it be hiking through the hallways of underground shopping malls or hiking through scenic landscapes. We were both feeling under the weather on Saturday so we made our way to Seoul and went to the movies for the first time. Most theatres in Seoul have a few English movies playing along with the Korean ones. We chose The Merchant of Venice. I don't know if this is a new release back home, but it's the one with a very old-looking Al Pacino playing a very hairy Shylock. Sometimes doing things here seems almost like at home, but there is always a few Korean twists thrown in; the movie theatre is no exception. First of all, the line-up for tickets looked like the lines you see for rides at Cedar Point or Disneyworld. It never ceases to amaze us how many people are in this city. It took about 20 minutes to get through the line and when we bought our tickets we were given assigned seats, as if we were going to a Broadway show or boarding a plane. The only showing we had time for was almost sold out, so our seats were 4 rows from the screen, but it didn't seem too close at all. Was this going to be a movie without buttery popcorn? No way. We got a popcorn/soda combo at the concession stand. But Koreans can't just give you the fluffy goodness of yellow-stained popcorn, they have to throw in a side order of fried squid with the combo, which we declined.

And then, of course, for the movie itself there were Korean subtitles across the screen. (Quick Korean lesson: the Korean alphabet is called hanguel and it has 10 vowels and 14 consonants. Unlike the Chinese language, where each character has a specific meaning, hanguel is a true alphabet, just like the Roman alphabet, and each letter has a sound. As long as you know the alphabet, you can sound out written words. In theory, at least, but white people have a difficult time being understood. Even though we think we're saying it exactly like it should be said, we're usually wrong.) I would love to meet the guy who's in charge of translating Shakespeare's diaolgue into hanguel. This is a job for one hell of a dedicated linguist. It's hard enough for English speakers to understand some of the words that are no longer used in modern English, so how in the world can they be translated into Korean? It boggles my mind, which was one reason I was surprised to see a full theatre of Koreans watching a Hollywood remake of a Shakespeare play, but they seemed to get it. At least they laughed at the same parts we laughed at, because even amongst the gory proposition of a pound of flesh and the serious theme of Jewish persecution, there were some comedic lines, as Bill is wont to do.

We enjoyed our first experience so much that we went back on Sunday. This time we saw Stay. This was a wacked-out movie with Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. Too bizarre to even get into. After that it was only 3:30 and we didn't have plans for the afternoon, so we decided to stay and see another. Most people veg out infront of the TV on weekends, we were literally vegging out in the cinema. The next movie on the agenda was called Goal. This was a great inspirational sports story about Santiago Muncez, a Rocky Balboa for the soccer world who goes from the barrios of Mexico to England's professional soccer league. It was so touching at the end that Jenn cried. So we spent a good chunk of time at the cinema this weekend and had a blast; I know this is not the adventurous behaviour that Michelle likes to hear about from the globe-trotting Jennifer and her trusty sidekick, but hey, everyone needs down time. Maybe this is what we'll be seeing on our next trip to the cinema. Coming in December.