The Sun Stayed Out!

Yesterday, the sun was out ALL DAY. So after work, I smsed boyfriend, “Does this mean we get pizza?” to which he replied, “Ayo!” (Come on! Let’s go!) So I changed my clothes, grabbed some moneys, and we set out.

A perfect evening for a motorbike trip! If anything, the sun was TOO bright.... I tried to take a picture of the coffee plantation we drove past, and this is how it turned out!

We didn’t take into account that we’d make it there in under an hour and that neither of us would be hungry at, oh, 4:45. So we decided to head to Carrefour (Indonesian Wal-Mart) across the street first. I saw bins of clothes on clearance and started digging through them to see if there was anything that would fit. And much to my amusement, I think I found the entire Miley Cyrus winter line. But then under THAT, I discovered..... OLD NAVY TANKTOPS! For $3 each. Cheaper here than they are in America. Things only got better from there. In the toy section, I found plastic dishes with lock on lids for 60 cents. The funny thing is that until now, I never questioned why they were in the toy section... Then in the kitchen section, I found a REAL cutting board! No more of this moldy slab of tree I’ve been using for 3 years! They also had CHEESE. Wow. So yeah, Carrefour before pizza was a good time.

Before I forget, I have to interject here – this particular Pizza Hut has VALET PARKING. We are talking fancy dinner here, people. The funny thing is that the entire parking lot only holds about 4 – 5 cars and all the parking spaces are approximately 2 car lengths from the valet dropoff.

So anyways, I spent $22 at Carrefour and got: 4 Old Navy tanktops (blue, white, purple and pink), baby wipes (because our faces felt nasty from driving in rush hour bus/truck traffic), 3 nice plastic dishes for leftovers, a bag of mini cheese wheels, a 3 pack of sponges with built-in brillo pads on one side, and an awesome looking wooden cutting board.

Then we had a delicious dinner of meat lovers pizza and came back home just in time for Aswan to be able to visit with some friends who used to live here but now live on Papua. (They’re back in town for a conference).

Oya – two other highlights (or humorous moments) of the evening...

1. My house helper left me a note yesterday, and I wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to get at. Sometimes it’s hard to see through the culture and know what people are REALLY trying to say. So I brought the note with me and showed it to Aswan at dinner to ask his opinion on how I should reply. He explained what she meant and gave me some advice on how to respond to her. I was like, “Well, if she means that, then why doesn’t she just SAY that?” And he replied, “It’s OK, babe. She just doesn’t understand our culture.” Hahaha... I think that dating an American is making him forget – HE’S JAVANESE TOO!

2. A friend from church who is still in college SMSed both of us while we were at dinner last night to advertise a fundraiser she’s doing for something for her university. They are selling brownies. According to the message, flavors include: red rice, cheese, durian, chocolate, jackfruit, strawberry, pineapple, fruity taste, jambu, mango, passion fruit, soursop, apple, corn, peanut, tiramisu, orange, banana, mint, red bean, tape (it’s a fermented Indonesian food), lychee, blueberry, caramel, and special. After all those flavors, I can’t imagine what could be so special about special. So what do you say? Anybody want some brownies? Red bean flavor, maybe?