I took the day off to sort out some logistic and accommodation issues. It's been so long since I stayed home during a weekday. It feels so different!!! I feel so lucky that we have a really nice flat that feels like home for all of us. I think if we didn't get such a nice place to stay in our journey wouldn't be as successful and easy as now. The feeling of having a home that 'belongs to us' in a new environment is so crucial and it surely killed a lot of stress we would've got otherwise. Hearing about the accommodation issues with other interns and international students, I really feel that we made the best decision in going ahead with this flat. Our landlord lady is definitely really helpful for us too. I love our Beijing home.
The four of us are really getting to know each other and getting used to have each other under the same roof. We all have very different habits and it's really interesting how we have to get used to each other and make the best out of our 3.5 months. Josi is still sleeping really late as usual. Even though she have to get up every morning by 8am at the latest for work, she still sleeps really really late! Sometimes I worry for her and remind her to go to bed, but then I realised this is her way of life and this is what makes her happy (not the staying up late part, but the catching-up with friends online part). Gerard also sleeps really late, watching Survivor online, and all sorts of TV shows. He knows pretty much everything about what's showing on TV and everything about movies. I really enjoy the time with my flatmates. My first experience flatting and sharing the same house with people outside of my family. This is really interesting and new for me and I'm sure it's the same for everyone else.
After making a massive meal for dinner, I decided to watch a movie at the night and Jordan joined me. Gerard somewhat watched the movie with us too when he came home later tonight. This movie is called 'Shinjuku Incident 新宿事件'. This is a movie directed by Er Dongsheng 尔冬升, leading actor is Jackie Chan and Jinglei Xu as the leading actress. The shooting began in November 2007 and was on screen in April 2009. The interesting thing is that this movie is not one of those typical Jackie Chan movie, there's no kong fu at all, but more of a story telling and artistic movie. Unlike his other kong fu movies, Jackie Chan actually 'died' in this movie! The charater that he's playing is not someone that have super power and never-dying body, hehe, that's quite new for Jackie Chan isn't it?
This movie talks about Jinglei Xu (acting as Jackie Chan's girlfriend) went missing after going to Japan as an international student. After many years, Jackie Chan came to Tokyo (illegally) to find her and eventually found out that she has already married to a gang leader in Japan. At the same time, Jackie Chan met another woman, played by actress Bingbing Fan, as the mama-san for a bar. Through the friends Jackie Chan made in Japan and became involved in the fights and incidents between gangs in Tokyo. Eventually Jackie Chan was leading the local Chinese citizens and gangs and fight against the Japanese gang.
The movie left a lot of thoughts with me. This movie is mostly about the tough times people have to go through when you just arrived in a new and foreign country. Although in this movie, Jackie Chan initially was staying in Japan illegally (without visas and passport), but the type and amount of work he must do everyday to just get a bare enough living cost was really shocking.
Sometimes we are forced to do certain things just to stay alive and sometimes we are just forced by external environments. Eventually when Jackie Chan successfully obtained a passport and PR in Japan, he immediately dropped out from everything that he was doing and left with his pride. This the beauty of human, pride. He started to have a really good life, but how long can he have that for?
Another beauty of the human race, friendship and relationship, these two are often the reasons behind a lot of our actions. He eventually went back to his old group of friends thinking he may have a little influence and bring them back onto the right track. This is really touching. He's really going out of his way, letting go what he already achieved, and going back to the past to try and save his friends. Then comes the dirty side of human, how much does friendship weigh? Is it really that precious? Maybe yes for some people, but for others, it can be an obstacle and rubbish.
That led to the end of the movie, everyone died, the good guy and the bad guys. What's left behind? I was left behind, sitting on the couch, thinking about this story, about how little and how weak humans are. An interesting movie leaves behind a trail of thoughts and imagination. What if? What if I'm in the position of Jackie Chan?
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