Here I am in Jakarta. It’s my first morning and I’m up early, or at least earlier than the rest of the house. Outside on the street, there are some sounds I would expect--birds chirping, dogs barking--and some that are new. For example, some guy just rode by on a bike singing out the same word over and over and pushing a large cart loaded down with something he must be selling. I couldn’t tell what because I don’t even have my contacts in yet. I’m sitting in bed, bundled up in my blanket, and peering out the window. I can’t see too much from that position, because of the aforementioned lack of contacts and also because there’s a big tree in my front yard and it’s blocking my view. In case you’re wondering, I’m bundled up because of the air conditioning in my bedroom. I could open my door and let the warmth in, but at present my bedroom is mosquito free and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Today is Friday and I have no particular place that I have to be. My plan is to explore a little bit. To my dismay, part of that exploring is going to include a mall. There are apparently six malls in Kelapa Gading, which is the area of Jakarta that I am now living in. (I believe it’s a sort of suburb, but I’ll get back to you on that.) So, six malls. I’m not even sure there are six malls in all of Chicago. Probably there are. But I hate malls, so I never explored enough to find out. Last night, I learned that even the grocery stores are at the mall, so there’s no avoiding them. Must be Karmic payback for something really bad that I did.
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