Movie in a Theater

Last weekend we visited a new mall that has a movie theater, KFC, and even a Pizza Hut!  Briant went there to see Star Wars with a few colleagues when it first came out, and came home raving about the theater and how “normal” it was, as well as the pizza.  So we thought it was time for the family to make a trip.  

It’s funny how this sort of outing is so normal and “every day” back in the states but has been such an out of the ordinary treat here!  There is another mall out by the kids’ school that we could have gone to before, but the value of the dollar was lower so a movie with the whole family would have been $75.  Just the movie, no popcorn, dinner, etc.  Right now (until the value of the dollar comes back down, which could be tomorrow), we’re able to see a movie, get popcorn, get a family bucket of chicken at KFC, salad, 2 medium pizzas from Pizza Hut, and drinks for $42.  Even substantially cheaper than the states at this point, so we’re enjoying this while it lasts!  It took us about an hour to get there because of mid-day traffic, but we were able to return home in 15 mins.  Not bad at all if we can time it right.  There was only one movie for the kids, “Shaun the Sheep” so that’s what we saw.  It was the perfect movie because of the little amount of talking that was in it, but it was in English anyway with Portuguese subtitles.  

We had the whole theater to ourselves and Briant was right—it was a wonderful theater, “normal” in every way.  The seats were clean and comfortable and the picture and sound were good.  We went straight to the restaurants and enjoyed our pizza and chicken (I ate a veggie cup--less than satisfying canned corn and unripe tomatoes from Pizza Hut). Here the kids are running to KFC & Pizza Hut after the movie. :)

We thoroughly enjoyed our pizza and chicken (I ate a veggie cup--less than satisfying canned corn 

and unripe tomatoes from Pizza Hut).

We walked around the mall after eating, to see what the stores were like.  We didn’t recognize any, but found it interesting how many home décor/supply stores there were—one was called “Kinda Home,” drawing the attention of the expat community of course as does the KFC and Pizza Hut.  We're always still surprised to see "normal" functioning stores here.

We also found a playground to let the kids get some energy out!  This, along with every other aspect of our trip, is something we have missed and do not take for granted anymore--playgrounds and the freedom to play there freely.The kids ate it up and even made a few friends to play with while there.  It’s amazing how little we need to talk to actually communicate and how quick they are to reach across linguistic and cultural barriers to find playmates.