apostnamedpudge

The story conitnues...

Okay to clarify a few things: I assume VCD stands for video CD. The movie that was on the previously talked about VCD was "The Temple of Doom."

She searches through two more possible selections. Both were the "Temple of Doom." She insists that one of these movies is the correct one. Eventually she checks some other VCDs. She pulls out one marked "Temple of Doom" and she puts it in the player. What do you know, this one has "Raiders of the Lost Ark" on it. it is even in English. Then begins the next trial.
"How much does it cost to rent this?" I ask.
Linda and the girl chatter.
"You give her ten now and when you bring it back she will give you nine back," Linda tells me.
"Ok, how long will I have it for?" I ask.
More chatter.
"Tomorrow you bring it back," Linda tells me.
"Tomorrow? I need this for two weekends. I need it for ten days," I tell Linda.
Chatter.
"Okay fine how much is it to buy the damn thing?" I ask.
"How much will you offer?" Linda asks me.
"2." I am little perturbed at this point. I don't want to pay anything for this piece of crap. It used, scratched and a pirate of a pirate. Two kuai covers the cost of the CDs themselves.
There is more chatter.
"She says 10," Linda tells me.
"Kiss my ass 10!" I respond. Ten is what I pay for a DVD no way in hell I am paying the same price for a lower quality VCD. More chatter.
"She says it costs 10 because it was copied from a DVD," Linda tells me.
"I'll pay ten for the DVD but not for the VCD." It was obvious that the VCD was taped from a dvd. When the first disk starts the DVD menu is shown for 30 seconds before the movie starts. The DVD menu does not look authentic either. So this VCD is probably a copy from a DVD that was copied from VHS. In other words P.O.S.
"She does ont have the DVD," Linda told me.
"Ok offer her five for the VCD," I say.
"I cannot, I already told her you would pay 7," Linda tells me.
"You did what?! I told you two and I was serious about that." In barganing you cannot drop below a previous price. Linda told her 7 outright. That meant her lowest counter offer would be nine. Fine lets go to another store. My head began to spin thinking about looking through more stores to find this movie. It didn't look like I was going to show this movie to SBS 4 anyhow. Next class was going to be the same kind of agony for me and my lazy ass students.
"Why can't I just rent the thing for 5 days?" I ask Linda on the way out. She translates what I just said in her head for a second and walks back inside. More chatter.
"She says you give her ten and you will get back five when you give back the movie on," chatter, "Tuesday."
"Okay fine."

NOw I finally have my movie. I should be planning my lesson but the whoel transaction for this movie was still bothering me.
"No way was I paying 10 kuai for a VCD," I told Linda.
"But if you buy the movie than no one else can see it," Linda responds.
"No one else has seen it here. I have not run into one Chinese person who has heard of Indiana Jones. Have you heard of him?"
Linda shakes her head.
"See no one. The movie was made in '81 and it didn't have the right label on it. That movie has not been rented here for ten years at least and thats if it has been rented." I was venting enough that I was beginning to feel better.

We got back to the school and I hooked up the VCD player to the TV. The girls tracked down a long enough extension cord for the whoe thing to work. I put in the movie and it plays for two mitues and then stops dead. I fastforward past the spot and the same thing happens five more times. I can't do this for class. I tell Linda about the situation and I tell her why I think its happening. The VCD player is kept on the same table where we put our chalk and the chalkboard erasor. There is a constant layer of chalk dust on the table and the player. I guess some may have gotten on the lense. I tell Linda to tell Tom to get the thing cleaned. I take the VCD home and watch the whole movie without stop on my VCD player. In the end I have to take my player to the school so that I can show the movie to the class.

So there it is. A small glimpse of life in China. Sometimes I just want to go on a serial slapping spree. However if I get into one altercation here with one Chinese guy it will wind up being an altercation with 20 Chinese guys. No one does anything alone here. Then the fight will be the fault of the angry foreigner and then Chinese jail and then deportation. So it goes. I am still alive but it is still the weekend.