Our first "Finnish" movie: Herra ja Rouva Smith

Went to the movies for the first time since coming to Finland. We saw Mr and Mrs Smith. We had no idea what it was about but seemed to be doing well in the U.S. so we gave it a try with Finnish and Swedish subtitles. Finland is by constitution a bi-lingual country with about 7% being native Swedish speaking. Little by little though English is taking over as the second language of choice and recently the Swedish exam was eliminated as a high school graduation requirement. Getting a ticket had a new twist for us. At the booth they had an electronic seating chart of the theatre and we selected our seat in advance of entering the theatre. About 15 feet away from the ticket booth another employee took our tickets which were like register receipts and scanned a bar code at the bottom. The seats were bigger than a lot of our multiplex movie theatres. Had a different design. It was probably ergonomic but we had a little bit of a problem getting comfortable. There was no concession stand but the ticket salesperson had a selection of candy behind her. It was a Thursday night and about 20 people attended. The movie was O.K. but if you haven't seen it wait for the rental to be available. The sign on the store beside the theatre means Eye Station--which reminds me of a service available at some places of business. Next to every counter where bank services are available there is a little display of reading glasses you can use if you've forgotten yours (or been too vain to admit that you need them). The sign says Rakennekynnet which means constructed nails. The price is 50 euros which is the summer sale price. Many prices go down in the summer because everyone goes away on vacation. For example, our hotel price when we go to zone conference is 25% lower in summer than other times, 79 versus 102. Anyway, apparently the cost of acrylics or gel nails is ordinarily 80 euros. I find that pretty amazing when income is considerably lower here and cost of living 30% higher according to some reports. Perhaps the cost of fake nails is what is driving the higher cost of living figure. With the current exchange rate that would be 96$ US. The days are starting to get shorter already, but not noticably. As we walked home at 11 at night there were people riding bikes and roller blading and you can sort of see by the pictures how light it was outside. On the missionary front we have 3 bona fide investigators but scheduling return appointments has been a challenge as everyone goes on vacation or to their country cottages during July.