Pirate Party

Yesterday was Hollie's birthday, and while the celebration started at Hirome like most birthday parties, this was rather different in that it was a pirate party. The plan for the evening was to get dinner and then go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. In true form, most of the group showed up in pirate-themed attire. Mostly it was just striped shirts, but there were a few tri-corner hats as well. Catriona was so thoughtful as to bring felt mustaches we could apply with double-sided sticky tape, and she made a parrot for Hollie to wear on her shoulder. I had a good deal of trouble keeping my mustache on.

About nine of us had dinner at Hirome. Hyemi, another ALT, brought an ice cream cake for Hollie, but there wasn't time to eat it before the movie. It was packed well with dry ice, though, so we were hopeful that it might keep until after the movie. We barely made it to the 8:00 showing. Walking through the mall to the theater, we got quite a few looks, but at least on this occasion there was a reason for it. One of the best parts of the evening was watching the ticket-taker try to keep a straight face as I walked up wearing my black felt mustache. In the theater, a few members of the group cracked open beers and chuhais. Not exactly in keeping with the rules of the cinema, but either no one else noticed or no one bothered to call us out on it. Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie a great deal. I wasn't that impressed. I had gone in expecting not to like it that much, and in the end, I didn't enjoy it a great deal. Usually when I go into a movie with low expectations I end up enjoying it more than I thought I would, but it didn't work out that way. At the very least, I appreciated the soundtrack and I enjoyed the mermaid attack scene.

After the movie, we walked from the mall down to the riverside to attempt to eat the cake. Unfortunately, the dry ice had melted onto the cake, which at this point was a soupy mess. Everyone was a bit concerned about eating melted dry ice. Catriona tried scraping off the top layers with her fingers and flinging it into the river. A few people ate some of the cake. Since there were no utensils, this was a messy process. Mostly we just sat by the river and drank the remaining chuhai while talking.

I had gotten a ride with Sasha, and since she still had an hour's drive back home, we headed out a little early. I was about ready for bed in any case. All in all, it was a fun social event, even if I wasn't that entertained by the movie. On the agenda for today is a bad movie night at Kavita's place in Yusuhara. It's a very small town maybe two hours away from Kochi City. Sasha is being so kind as to give me a ride out there. I'm looking forward to enjoying some terrible movies.