harry potter and ditching class

So, I have a confession to make. Brazil is turning me into sort of a bad student. Well, not bad, maybe, but worse than before. I say that because, out of the three days we've had this week, I've only attended the afternoon portion of school once. On Monday most of the Florida kids were still in Rio, and the six of us who were at school and were in the advanced class decided to go to the Mercado Central instead of class in the afternoon. It was a lot of fun, and a very productive trip too - I bought some blue honey packets, some earrings that don't actually look good on me after all so someone is getting them for a present, and 4 balls of yarn. Barbara and Lourdes and I also found another bus that takes us like 2 blocks from Eni's apartment. This came in handy today and it will again tomorrow because walking ten blocks in the dark isn't fun, and we can take our regular bus and get off at the same stop, but then instead of walking take the other bus, which comes right to the stop for the other bus, so it's safe and convenient.

Yesterday we all went to the afternoon class, and discussed coffee for 3 hours. Since the afternoon class is all levels together, it's probably hard for the people who don't know Portuguese very well, and it's excruciatingly boring for those of us who don't need the preterite explained with great detail and 12 example verbs. I did a lot of doodling, and my paper about the history of coffee in Brazil looks really nice, but I feel like going to the market was a lot better use of my time.

Today, sort of on a whim, Lourdes and Barbara and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie instead of going to afternoon class. I liked it a lot, and I learned some things about Brazilian culture and the moviegoing experience that I wouldn't have gotten had I gone to class. First of all, all of the theatres that I've heard of are located in shopping malls. Second, they're more open than American theatres, and therefore easier to regulate. What I mean by that is that there aren't front doors - you can walk right in and wander around the lobby and the concession stand all you want. Ticket stubs are taken at the entrance to each individual theatre, so it's pretty much impossible to sneak in - there are employees checking tickets at every door for every movie. Another difference is that the staff apparently aren't required to be nice - the woman that Lourdes and I bought our tickets from was really mean and was yelling at us because we didn't understand her. I understand being frustrated with foreigners, but usually people who are working try to be accomodating and helpful. I felt really dumb and frustrated after that, but then the excitement of Harry Potter took over and I got over it. We had some time to kill before the movie, so we walked around the mall a little, and then decided to go get in line. This was a really good choice, because we were the second group in line, and half an hour after we started waiting, the line was all the way out into the mall. The wait was long and uneventful, but I got my homework and some knitting done. Another difference between Brazilian and American movie theatres is that here, you're allowed to bring in whatever you want. The people who ended up sitting in front of us in the theatre had some delicious looking cookies that they were dipping in chocolate frosting and an huge party size bag of Ruffles. Lourdes went to the grocery store in the mall and bought cookies for herself, saltines for Barbara, and a banana for me, all of which we carried into the theatre in plain view. I like this a lot better than trying to find the biggest purse I own to conceal snacks when I go to the movies in the U.S.

Once we got into the theatre, it was pretty similar to what I'm used to in the U.S. - the seats were blue and cushy, it was stadium-style, and the walls had odd geometric shapes in primary colors. I was really surprised by the previews though - they were on a DVD, and there was nothing at all on the screen until everyone had entered the theatre. Then the operator clicked the play button, we watched the previews, and he took out the disc and changed to the Harry Potter film reels. I was kind of excited for ads and movie trivia in Portuguese, but, alas, that doesn't seem to be something they do here. I liked the movie a lot, and the Portuguese subtitles weren't too distracting. Afterwards everyone exited through a door at the front of the theatre - I've seen those exits in the U.S., but hardly anyone uses them. Here, that's how you get out. Our show was probably sold out, or close to it, and on the way out there were people waiting for the next screening, and a couple of them were dressed up. One of them had a pink inner tube around his waist and was dancing, I'm not totally sure why. All in all, I don't feel guilty at all about ditching class - the afternoon is scheduled as a time to learn about Brazilian culture, and I feel like I did that pretty well.