There are a few events that make me really, really miss the States. Obviously, holidays are at the top of the list. But surprisingly at a close second are midnight movie premieres. I miss the culture of staying up to the wee hours of the night and going to a packed theatre where everyone is ecstatic about the film. My dad, the movie buff, always took us to midnight showings and it's a cultural thing that I truly miss. So when The Hunger Games recently released and my Facebook feed exploded with, "THE HUNGER GAMMMEEESSSSS!!!!" status updates, I got a case of the homesick blues.
Sometime in February, I saw a advertisement for The Hunger Games and saw that it would be a worldwide release, which meant that for the second time (first being Harry Potter), I wouldn't have to wait several painstaking weeks to see a blockbuster that all my North American friends were raving about. I promptly told Alvaro, "Make no plans for that weekend, we're going."
A new cultural experience I have had since moving into my new place is shopping for furniture. It's an unfurnished apartment, so I have had the luxury of picking out the perfect bed just for me. We found a bed from some furniture market and negotiated with a salesman named Freddy (pronounced in Spanish). We set the delivery for 3pm on the Saturday of our Hunger Games viewing.
Freddy called Saturday morning and said he would be a little later and would be at the apartment at 6pm. We had already purchased movie tickets for 8pm, but I was confident we could make it in time. We were at my apartment at 5:45, no Freddy. 6pm, no Freddy. 6:30, no Freddy. 7pm, no Freddy.
Finally, at 7pm I told Alvaro, we are leaving now. "What?" he asked, "But what if he comes?"
"I don't care," I said, "I'm not missing The Hunger Games to wait for no show Freddy."
So we left. Freddy finally called on our way to the theatre and told us the bed was "just delivered to the market". He offered to deliver it that evening but under no circumstances was I going to sacrifice The Hunger Games for this bed. We rearranged the delivery for the following afternoon. We continued on to the theatre and I was clearly the most excited person in the theatre. It seems that not many Peruvians had read the book. And unfortunately no one came dressed as Katniss nor Capitol residents. I'll just have to wait for Catching Fire for the real fan experience.
The movie was amazing, meeting all my expectations. That night I happily slept on my mattress on the floor, dreaming of my epic performance as tribute.
