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Published: September 28th 2013
Reculking the Bathroom SinkGrocery shopping is never a quick “in and out” experience not matter how prepared you seem to be. Even if your write out a list of items you need before you go, a food list does not make the experience go any faster. I’ve even tried shopping right when the store opens, but even though the process of getting the food off the shelf may be quicker, time waiting in lines are the real killer. You can expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours at any given time. Yeah…MUCH longer than at home! Going with friends makes the experience a little more bearable as time spent waiting, can be done while socializing. Aside from navigating your way through the check out, stores love to rearrange things. The reason for this remains to be discovered, as no one can figure it out. Just as you begin to memorize where things are located, the isles are rearranged – the layout of the store is different. For instance, the other night I was going to make tacos for dinner and was in need of some tortilla chips. I knew exactly where to find them so I expected my time
Before Paintin the store would be efficient. Once I arrived in the chip section, several isles had been flipped the opposite way they had been a few days prior and the products on the shelves were shifted around. In less than a week this particular store did major rearranging three times! After trying to communicate to a worker to help me locate the chips (thinking perhaps they were hiding out at who knows where) I was unsuccessful. I’m finding that I just need to accept grocery shopping is not meant to be done efficiently, stores will rearrange their products and layout at any given time. I suppose it is their creative way to keep their customers on their toes! The other thing is if you find an item you would like to have, you better purchase it, otherwise chances for it to be there later are slim to none –prime example would be the frozen raspberries and mixed berry packages I found. The price wasn’t too bad so I stalked up! I’ve even made raspberry lemon muffins already…hmmm so good. Other things are just too expensive to purchase so you are better off buying the ingredients and making it yourself [i.e.
After Paintflour tortillas and granola which are not hard to do!]. I recently bought a microwave too. These things are not cheap here, but it’s been worth it already! Since I’ve arrived very time I wanted to re-heat something I would need to make other dishes dirty first before I could eat and not to mention more time consuming.
I’ve created a challenge for myself where I have to buy something new every time I go out shopping – meaning I am to try a different food or product. Since I arrived here, I have heard about snake fruit, dragon fruit and manggis fruit so I bought some in recent weeks and tried it out. The snake fruit was pretty tasteless, but the little taste that it did have reminded me of a pear back home. The fruit comes in three sections and has large pits in the middle. It gets its name from its peel. The peel resembles snake skin – very scale like and when you peel it, it is tough and breaks off in pieces. The dragon fruit was bright pink/red
Before Paint [One Big Mess]and quite large. I didn’t know what to expect, but the inside was fascinating to me. I didn’t expect the flesh to be white with small black seeds. In fact, it immediately reminded me a little like a kiwi fruit. The seeds were about the same size and it tasted a little like one too…some flavor but not much. The manggis were my favourite. They are the fun to open – you just squeeze them in the palm of your hand till the shell cracks in half. Inside, the fruit resembles the shape of a garlic, but its full of flavor and sweet tasting. In addition, I have also stumbled across Magnum Bars . Oh my goodness they are delicious and a dangerous treat – especially after walking home after work sweating up a storm, feeling sticky with the humidity and you’re hungry! It doesn’t help that the little grocery store right near my apartment lobby sells them. I was on a mission to try the different flavours they have here in Indonesia. I know that there are a lot more available in Australia so there is more discovering to
After Paintbe had in the Magnum world, but I’ve been persistent and have managed to try them all! I now can make an educated decision on what magnum bar I’ll buy next time! BUT this past weekend I made a wonderful discovery that in one of the largest malls downtown Jakarta….there is a Magnum Café! We looked at the menu and we’ll definitely be back to test it out – everything looked scrumptious! The line was super long and we were hungry for dinner. Apparently the café always has a huge line up no matter the time of day and they don’t take reservations.
HOME RENOVATIONS When I first arrived, I bought some cleaning products and wiped down everything. Things quickly become dusty here so the apartment was in need of a thorough cleaning when I came. Just knowing your place is dirt free and clean feels better too! I love a clean, tidy house, so this was a first step in the right direction – on my way to making the apartment my own.
In those early weeks to what felt like I was living at
Getting Grey Paint in Indonesia was unsuccessful!the mall, I noticed you could buy caulking. Mold had developed under the seal in the bathroom from all the moisture in the air and from the previous tenant. A new seal around the bathroom sink was especially needed. Every time I went to wash my hands or brush my teeth the mold would haunt me. Being aware of mold’s potential health complications and feeling that the bathroom was perma dirty despite how many times I cleaned it, I decided to undertake a culking project. After purchasing what I needed and watching you-tube videos to make sure I was doing it right, I went for it. I not only redid the bathroom, but the kitchen too. What a difference it made!
In some of my friends apartments, the walls and doors were jus t repainted before we moved in. I noticed their windows, doors and door frames were painted bright white where as mine were a dark blue-grey hospital colour. I could have lived with it, but every time I was in my place, I grew to dislike the colour even more…not sure what it was…I think perhaps it looked grungy and they were also in need
The Lilac Colour HAD to goof a fresh paint job. When a local hardware store put their paint on sale I quickly bought some and gave my windows, doors and door frames a face lift. It made the whole place feel cleaner and look much brighter as light was able to reflect more than it could before.
Several of the other newbies decided to buy coloured paint as well. I also bought some and we all helped each other out – rotating from one apartment to the other having painting parties. It was awesome – socializing while getting the job done in fraction of the time than what it would have cost me to do it alone. During those first few days here, I bought some decorative pillows and a throw that matched so I knew what colour paint I wanted to purchase. The pillow undertones were purple so I thought I would go for that. I really wanted to buy grey paint as well but that quickly became more difficult than I anticipated. It isn’t possible to get true grey paint here. The grey I initially bought turned a lilac colour on the walls a colour tone I couldn’t stand and
Snake Fruitit made the other wall look awful. Back to the store I went and with a different tone of grey. It looked much better but it’s still much too blue-like for me. I wasn’t going to buy more paint and even though it turned out a little different than what I had thought, it’s a thousand times better than that lilac colour! My pattern wall was inspired by a picture I stumbled across when I first arrived. I took a flap from a cardboard box, cut off the ends to make the diagonal edge and then used this piece as a template. I first traced the template onto the wall and then painted each piece free handed. I had some help but it certainly took more time and effort than the large wall - my solid grey wall. It’s incredible how much paint can transform the looks of a room.
Ever since I have arrived a have been keeping my eye on couch prices. The set that was here in my apartment was ok, but the colour clashed and it was a love seat only – I couldn’t fully extend my legs on it,
Inside look to Snake Fruitwhich is what I like to do when I am sitting on a couch and relaxing. About a week and a half ago, I got an email in my inbox about people in the area who are moving and wanted to sell some things. On the list there was a sectional couch and a tv – both items that I have been shopping around for. The prices were amazing so I emailed right away! Moving sales from other expats around here are very popular. I was first in line for the couch and second in line for the TV. After thinking about it some more and seeing it, the decision was easy – I bought them both. At this time the first person who was in line for the TV dropped out. I roped some friends to help me pick it up and carry it. As we arrived at the house and met the couple we started talking and found out that they were also Canadians. In fact, they had moved from Ontario to BC, met at Trinity Western etc. We know some mutual people and we clicked right away. He works for the university here and has just accepted
Dragon Fruita position at another university in Eastern Europe. They have children around my age, who are back in Ontario. To be honest, I’m a little sad they are moving, they seem like such fabulous people! I even got some Valentine and Canada Day décor, wine glasses, and a DVD player out of the deal. My next purchase will be to buy a large tropical plant. I have a perfect corner for it and I want to get rid of this sad looking plant which someone left behind in my apartment. Plants here are super cheap so I’m excited to explore what’s all out there. Orchids in particular are only a few dollars! I love orchids so I’ll have to be careful not to drown my apartment with them.
RESTAURANTS . DINNER CLUB . HELPER . THUNDERSTORMS . FOOD TECH CLASS Eating out or even grabbing a drink can be very inexpensive depending on where you go. Starbucks however still has their Starbucks prices. I mean it makes sense on one hand, but on the other I was hoping it would be even just a little bit cheaper…nope! Aside from
Inside look to Dragon Fruitstarbucks there are several other coffee shops/cafes to choose from. When I was younger I remember that I had to come up with a company name for a class…I don’t remember the premise of the project but what I do remember is that I named my company J Co. after my initials. Well, it was a great surprise to discover that there is a Starbuck chain alike – called J CO here!!! With every drink you get a free donut and the donuts are scrumptious. I’ve only been there once, but it was fun to test it out! Whenever a new restaurant opens up here it is always a gamble. For some places it has started off rough but has reclaimed their title and are now one of the local recommendations. As for other places they aren’t so lucky and they shut down. The mall across the street is growing. In fact, they are adding floors. The third floor was just completed when we arrived, and now they are onto their fourth and fifth floors. On the newest floor, there is a new restaurant titled the “Jail Restaurant”. Tables are set up into different cells and the waiters and waitresses
Manggi Fruitare dressed up in black and white stripes. The cells where some tables are placed even have their own door that slides shut. The food was about what we expected, it for more for the experience. From our table we could see the mall’s roller coaster so we decided that after we paid the bill we’d take a ride followed by a trip to cold stone to fill up the cracks from dinner. All in all, it was a great time had by all. Then there’s this other new restaurant in the mall that opened up in recent weeks. Yup, things definitely come and go around here! This restaurant is called pan-flip. It looks like a breakfast place but we’ve been told that they offer pasta dishes, salads etc. as well. A friend and I were curious so one night we decided to check it out. It came with pretty good recommendations, and man, did those recommendations live up to what they were! I’d certainly be going back - the food was tasty and all for a reasonable price. We split something more savory first and had the sugar options for dessert. In Indo it’s very common to
Inside look to Manggi Fruitserve pancakes or waffles with ice cream instead of whipping cream.
The Dinner Club is up and running, in fact we just finished our second week. There were seven of us who were interested and so I created a two week rotation schedule in an excel spreadsheet from Monday to Thursday. I started us off, and cook Monday. This whole past week I didn’t have to which was nice! Since there are only seven of us, every other Thursday we’ve called it “girls night out” where we’ll grab dinner at a local restaurant, or for whoever wants to. As for Friday – Sunday everyone fends for themselves. It’s been awesome, just knowing that you don’t have to worry about dinner, just show up and leave again. We calculated that we’re certainly saving money this way and definitely eating better than if we’d all cook for ourselves. It just so happens that Tuesday is one of the days my helper comes in to clean my apartment , so like last time I just left everything from dinner by the sink and the next day after I came home from work everything was cleaned up! Ahh the luxury! I
The Jail Restaurantdidn’t intentionally plan it like that, it just happened to work out nicely.
Our usual Sunday night routine is to grab dinner at the bookstore right beside us and work for a few hours. Their prices are low and the food is great. I love working there partially because it’s super close and it’s a change of scenery – out our front door and walk down the street a few meters.
In recent weeks I have also been able to hire a maid. She comes into my apartment a few times as week to clean, do laundry, do dishes etc. It’s been fabulous and it definitely makes a large difference in my schedule. Since we do work such long days and need to wake up super early, not worrying about those everyday chores helps a lot. It has worked out perfectly in the sense that she comes the day after I host dinner club so after dinner I just stack the dishes for her to do twelve hours later. We have been communicating by writing notes to each other in this notebook that I bought. I always use Google translate and it’s actually been
helping me learn more words in the Bahasa Indonesian language. Every time I come home and see her note it’s like a secret message and I’m excited to type it into Google translate to discover what she’s saying!
Two weekends ago I went out for dinner with another friend at the mall. After hours of talking and eat great food, we headed home. A thunderstorm had moved in and it was pouring. Indonesians believe that you’ll get sick if you get wet from the rain because the water is dirty . Instead of waiting for it to pass by , we decided to brave it and walk home. As we walked along, people were crowded under overhangs and umbrella’s. People started taking pictures of us. They probably thought we were crazy and I’m sure the water is dirty, but we got home much faster than if we would have had to wait.
Last week a friend and I were invited to the Head of School’s home for dinner. He and his
wife are fabulous! He’s from Australia and she is from New Zealand. We caught up on life and we heard all about their recent trip to Vietnam. Also last week the Grade 7 Food Technology class needed volunteers to sign up to sample and then evaluate their pancakes. I was free during that time so I went down to the Senior School Canteen and met the other teachers who volunteered to sample their work too! The students had to choose at least one healthy topping and a sweet topping if they wanted to. The students came out to serve us with chef hats on – they certainly were rocking the outfits! For most, it was their first time to cook anything and they did a great job.
MOTORCYCLE LISCENCE . STREET PHOTOGRAPHY A few weekends back I went with 19 others into Jakarta to get our Indonesian Motorcycle License. Yup, I plan to buy a bike! It’s a common way to get around, many other expat teachers have one and since I’ve always wanted to get my motorcycle license, I thought now’s the time! I have already bought a
Waitresses and waiters wore black and white stripped outfits!helmet for my ojek rides, but now a bike to go with it. I still need to line up a test drive with friends of mine – one has a bike and the other a scoopie. The scooters look much more like a motor bike than what they do back home. Females tend to go with the scoopies typically because they are lighter with a full tank of gas compared to the bikes]. The initial cost will be more, but the resale value is amazing here so I’ll have no trouble reselling it once I leave. Plus after you add up the costs assuming you’d take an ojek every day to and from work multiplied by two years, you’re saving money! There may be an opportunity to go in on one with someone else, but if not, I ’m planning to go solo. Since I coach several times during the week and it gets dark here quickly, a bike will give me more freedom and depend less on others. The national guys I work with are very knowledgeable in this area so I’ve been asking them lots of questions!
The locals will transport just about anything on
After eating what we could, we got creativea motorcycle. One day I rode on the back of my friend’s scoopie to help her pick up some artwork pieces she got done. There were five pieces in total, and they weren’t small by any means! She drove as I held onto the artwork but I had to be careful that the wind didn’t catch the frames and push me backwards right off the bike!
I love photography, so when my friend invited me to explore the local neighborhood with her located right behind us to do some street photography, I willingly said yes! After meandering for five minutes a crowd of kids started following us. I felt like I was in Africa all over again! I hadn’t experienced that at all yet here in Indonesia. It was crazy to walk through a hidden area that is out of eye sight from where we live, yet as we walked around our apartment buildings were in clear view as we passed the rice patties. The way these people were living were much different compared to how we were living not far from them at all.
DAY TRIPS INTO KEMANG AND
Riding the Mall's Roller Coaster!JAKARTA
About a month back two friends who have been here for a couple years now took me on a day trip to Kemang – an area south of Jakarta. We visited more malls and they showed me where I can get custom furniture made, buy nice pottery, get things framed etc. It was a packed but great day as two of us had a sports symposium at the local university first in the morning.
One of the national teachers recently took a small group of us downtown Jakarta where we did a little bit of sightseeing. He took us to the ‘old’ town first– Batavia. We went to the Jakarta Historical Museum first at Fatahillah Square (former Batavia city square). A man immediately met us as we walked through the front door and started touring us around. He was rather funny to watch and listen to as he was really expressive and made sounds . There were times where we tried so hard not to laugh, but we weren’t always successful. Half way through the “tour” our friends told us that he wasn’t
Riding the Mall's Roller Coaster!even an employee of the museum. It was entertaining enough and the guy had things about the place to tell of us…whether it was all truthful….well, who knows! The courtyard of this building is apparently where spices were traded once upon a time – this area was known as the market place. At one point the guy led us to his friends puppet workshop. Parts of Java are famous for these puppet plays. I have not been to one yet, but he showed us the amount of work that goes into making a one. The puppets are made from either a paper material or from buffalo hide. The buffalo hide is what he was working with and the puppets last much longer. After the hide is stretched and dried, he draws the outline of the characters on it before he cuts it and punctures holes in it. The final step is paint. Since there are holes in it, a light is shone behind these puppets in order to penetrate an image onto the wall. We ended out time at the old town eating lunch at the Batavia Café. We visited the Monas, went to one of the largest malls in
Filling up on Cold Stone..Hmm, delicious. Indonesia for dinner – ate at a restaurant called Mad Garlic enjoyed pizza and for dessert we all shared a garlic pizza. It has what looked and tasted like nutella, ice cream, sliced bananas and sweetened covered garlic cloves on top. I tried the combination and even though it wasn’t that bad tasting, I wouldn’t order it again.
As we drove from the Monas to the Mall we passed the city fountain – a famous landmark downtown where all the demonstrations occur. There were reports discouraging people to enter the area in fear that it would get out of hand, but it was super tame – a large number of Muslims all dressed in white around the fountain. There were protesting about the upcoming Miss World Pageant that is scheduled to happen in Bali in coming months.
LOST IN TRANSLATION Living here for a couple of months now I have come across my fair share of mistranslated signs. Even though you can decipher what the sign is getting at, how the message or sign is translated can be
Eating at Pan-Flippretty comical. I have included a photo of a sign that is located in on the school grounds just inside the front gate…..
Side Note: Two weeks today I'm coming home!!!
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