#7- Dr. Pepper and 007

So the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, opened up here on Thursday. Usually the movies here open later than in the US, but for some reason this one opened here a week and a day earlier. We decided Friday that we wanted to go. Usually you can reserve your tickets online and even choose what seats you want. But for James Bond, they changed it. You had to buy the tickets. Not wanting to rack up all kinds of international fees, and currency changing fees on my credit card, we decided just to take the day out and cruise around the local mall, Aupark.

So we got to Aupark around 1:00, and the place was getting jam packed. We proceeded upstairs to the movie lobby and purchased the seats we wanted. By this time it was lunch for us and we were hungry. So we headed over to the food court and we had trouble deciding what we wanted. Originally we thought about McDonalds because we hadn’t had it in about 2 months, but we ultimately decided against it since I can eat all the McDonalds I want next week when I go home. We almost went for some chicken wings at KFC, but again, we decided against it.

Finally we stopped at a German schnitzel place. I ordered some chicken cordon bleu, and she ordered čiernohorský rezeň. What is that you ask? Well regular rezeň is basically either a fried piece of breaded chicken or pork fillet. Add the čiernohorský to the word and it’s fried in something like beer batter, rather than normal breading, and shredded cheese is sprinkled on the top. It’s delish! Rezeň is the Slovak word for the German food, schnitzel by the way. A lot of people surprisingly mistake schnitzel for being some sort of sausage. But nope, that’s not that case folks!

So anyway, my point in all this is that as we were about to order, I looked over in the refrigerator and saw a beautiful bottle of Dr. Pepper! I know, I know. What’s so exciting about that Sean? Well you see, I’ve been outside of the US for 3 months, and Dr. Pepper just happens to be my beverage of choice. Oh, and they don’t have it here. So when I saw that bottle I told Deni, “It’s Dr. Pepper, we’re getting it!” So of course we did and we enjoyed a tasty lunch with the sweetness that is Dr. Pepper. So since this was a German place, I expect that it’s the reason why they had it. I will keep my eyes open though.

So later on in the evening, we went back to the movies and proceeded to the concession stand. They were offering some James Bond combo so we bought it. It was a small nacho and a half liter can of Heineken for 79 Slovak crowns. That’s somewhere around $4. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve never been able to go to the movies and spend only $4 on a snack and drink. So anyway, we saw Bond, and it was good. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad, just good. I’m not going to give a complete review of the movie but I did think the action sequences and fights were pretty good. I just don’t think it lived up to Casino Royale though. I guess that’s typical with sequels. I just felt like it was missing something and it just wasn’t as exciting. However I still think Daniel Craig is an excellent James Bond and I hope they can pump another movie out in another 2 years because I’m very interested in where they will take him next.

So that’s it for now. I’ve still got a lot of catching up to do, but that will probably have to be put on hold since I’m going home on Thursday. So I’ll probably won’t write until December. See ya then!

#6- Halloween

Hey there. I hope everyone had a happy Halloween. Unfortunately they don’t really celebrate Halloween here in Slovakia. I found that a couple clubs were having Halloween parties with mask contests, and some of the stores sell fake plastic pumpkins, but that’s pretty much the extent that they celebrate. November 1, or All Saints Day is a much bigger event for Slovaks. On this day everyone goes to the cemetery to visit loved ones and they put flowers on the graves. It’s not a celebration at all actually. It’s really considered to be a very sad day. And to make it worse, it’s filled with traffic everywhere you go because everyone is traveling to other towns and cities where their loved ones were buried.

But anyway, I was driving a long in the smartie on Thursday afternoon, and I heard an advertisement for Palace Cinemas. They were having a special scary movie night in celebration of Halloween. And the best part about it was that all movies after 10:00 pm on Friday only cost 1 euro! They had movies starting as late as 2:00 am.

We didn’t like the choice of scary movies they had that night so we decided to go to Max Payne instead. I had mixed feelings about whether to see it or not, so since the prices was so cheap, we just went for it. So the first interesting thing about the theatre that night, was there was a small party in the lobby. They had a live DJ blazing some electronic dance music and the place was extremely crowded. I almost didn’t want to see the movie anymore because I wanted to stay out in the lobby. The second interesting thing to note is that they have a bar in the lobby if you feel like drinking. Or you can buy the Slovak beer, Zlatý Bažant, at the concession stand. This isn’t just something for Halloween by the way. But particularly that night, I think they made all their money on alcohol considering the ticket prices were so low.

The third and most interesting thing about that night was that I have never gone to the movies and seen drunk people. But there were plenty of them that night. People were drunk before the movie even started. Some of them were even obnoxious, but fortunately, once the movie started, everyone calmed down. I thought it was hilarious though. It’s a sight I don’t think I’ll see back at home. Max Payne was extremely disappointing but at least it didn’t cost much. But as the movie ended and we walked back out into the lobby, I enjoyed listening to some more music before going home.

I’ve still got a lot to catch up on from the past few months, so stay tuned!