-^-for posterity-^-

last friday we celebrated movie night. calling things a celebration evokes certain characteristics which in no way apply to our movie night. celebration means community, funny hats and smiles. celebration and mary poppins do not belong close to one another.

the night started smoothly enough; everything was set up when i arrived. the projector was in place, the dvd player was there and the benches were in nice rows. students started coming in about fifteen minutes early. then chaos ensued. the movie wouldn’t play in the machine. they tried and tried and i was sure we would have to run home and find a substitute. the movie was a pirated version of mary poppins. one can buy pirated dvds for only one dollar in saigon. quite a steal (pun intended).

eventually we figured out the problem. the man who was in charge of technology (who was, mind you, sporting a white shirt that neatly hugged his beer belly that carried the seal of the united states on it) had brought the wrong player. he brought a vcd player and not a dvd player. we all waited patiently for him to come back with the right player.

i gave a little speech at the beginning, got everyone to cheer and shout when i introduced the movie like it was actually something special. it began and i sat in the back ushering people in. mary poppins. i never realized what a strange movie it actually was.

the sound went off a number of times and we had to change the wires and stop the movie. everyone sat patiently. there wasn’t anything else going on in long xuyen on a friday night. the movie started back up and everyone watched the singing and dancing and loveable children say silly things.

the movie dragged on and on. i never realized out how long it actually was. i was overjoyed when it ended and i watched everyone file out. it’s a real sense of joy to see something you’ve worked so hard to organize come into fruition.

one person asked me as they were leaving if the chimney sweeps learned to dance because their lives were so hard. they actually believed that chimney sweeps normally pranced around on the rooftops of london. i tried, but couldn’t suppress a giggle.

it’s odd, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest that i’m not doing something fun or exciting on a friday night. movie night is much more exciting than anything else i would be doing. i remember a time in my life where there were exciting things to do on the weekend. it’ll weird going back to such a place. i wonder if it’s all still there.