The Chronicles of Stacefly . . .: Lost in Translation . . .

Rainy day in Beijing. Perfect day to explore.

I got off the subway and my handwritten notes said to go left, then right. But that made no sense in real time once I was standing on a busy street corner.

When you come out of subways here, there's always a bright street map, but you guessed it, only Chinese writing. Pedestrians who walked past me saw the look of desperation in my eye and turned away.

Shit.

Map on my iPhone, cross-referenced with the map on the street, don't add up.

Then I saw a Starbucks. i.e.: Salvation! Their cheery employees generally speak English. I almost ran there.

Only at this one, NO ONE SPOKE ENGLISH. Great.

The best the store manager could do, was to help me log-on to their free wifi. In China, to use Starbucks’ free wifi, you have to put in your Chinese phone number to get an access code to log on. Only I don’t have a Chinese cell phone. I am still using my American phone, which is racking up charges by the second. But that’s a different blog entry.

So, cool, he put in his cell phone, got a password code, and he got me on.

And I bought a coffee. I didn't want one, but got it anyway to show him my gratitude. I ordered a tall drip from a young pimpled-face cashier, which was murder trying to get him to understand. Then I asked for cream, and another worker put whipped cream in the coffee with a bright smile. Thanks. But yeah, it was turning out to be that kind of day.

I tried to Skype my Hubby to make me feel better.

But the wifi didn't work for me. Not on my iPad, not on my iPhone. Ugh. Yet all the Chinese on their Chinese phones were texting and googling away.

:-(

I sat by a window feeling frustrated. I'm a planner. Purposefully. So this type of mishap doesn't happen to me. After being mad for about 2 minutes (felt like an eternity) I surrendered. Whatever. I’m lost. I will sit here until either the wifi starts working, or until I get hungry and need to start searching for food.

Just freakin' chill and look at the view. You're in Beijing, after all.

And then it started hitting me. Details to the screenplay I eventually have to write based on my research here. Sweet Baby Jesus. I think I have a story.

Well, I sorta of knew my story before I got here, but now... I know, that I know, the story.

Nice. Thanks, Starbucks.

Later, on the way home I took a new direction and stumbled upon an IMAX movie theater.