Several friends have asked me about my maid... her name is Ibu (eeboo). Today, she reluctantly agreed to let me take her picture so that I could share it with you....
Ibu comes every day but Sunday. She cleans the dishes, sweeps the floors (inside and out), mops, and cleans the bathrooms. If we have clothes that need to be ironed, she does an amazing job at that too. We set out the vegetables we want cut up or anything else we want done and she takes care of it. She doesn't speak English and I don't know Any Indonesian, but we seem to be able to communicate fairly well. Meena has to step in quite often and translate. It's kind of funny actually - Ibu talks to me as if I should know what she says and I talk to her as if she understands me.... somehow, we get the job done.
After she finished the housework this afternoon, Meena and I set off to find a place for me to get my nails filled. Those of you who wear acrylic nails know that 3 weeks is way too long! There were a few interesting things we found along the way:
We have a Circle K.... sometimes called K Circle here :)
I walked inside and felt like I was back in the states.... for just a moment.
Restaurants.... Eat, Live, Love (LOL) Everyone loves Julia's movie! Or, maybe This is where they got the name for the movie Eat Pray Love... hmmm just sayin'
This is one of the many shops we passed that are located on the side of the streets. If you look, you will find the shop owner on the left. He is relaxing until a customer approaches. (He graciously allowed me to photograph his business)
After finding out that we would have to go to one of the malls to get my acrylic nails filled, we headed home. Keep in mind, we walked to the main street, then walked home. We covered about a mile. Neither one of us wanted to cook tonight, so we headed out for some fried noodles. We took the little red bus and I sat beside a lady who, I think, didn't want to be sitting so close to this redheaded white woman. All she got from me was a smile. :) The mall wasn't too far away (not the one that does acrylics) so it wasn't a bad ride. The cost for the bus is 2000 rupiah - which is about 0.24. Not bad for public transportation, huh? We arrived at the mall and I got out while Meena handed the driver the money. At our destination, there were some men who were sitting on a bench. They started talking like crazy when I got out of the bus. Meena tells me that I was attracting attention. Apparently, it's not every day that they see such a white skinned woman in their area. LOL There was a woman inside the mall who couldn't help but stare, as well. This experience has given me a chance to be treated as a minority. At first, it kind of bothered me. I couldn't help but wonder what it was about me that they didn't like. Then, it occurred to me that it really didn't matter if they liked me or not. I will continue to be myself and enjoy my time here.
We ate dinner (or supper, as Dad would call it) at an oriental restaurant in the mall that is owned by the father of one of our students.
We changed our minds on the fried noodles and had chicken and fried rice instead. It was awesome, but I got ahold of some chilies that I didn't know was on my plate.... talk about being on FIRE! If you look closely to the left of the slice of cucumber, you'll see the tiny green chilies that kicked my butt! It was so hot I got nauseous and had to head for the restroom. Luckily, by the time I walked half way through the mall, I felt better and never threw up... but it was close! Note: No more chili pepper for me! Meal 27000 rupiah = $3.18 Not bad...
Really delicious chicken! and the strawberry juice was really good too! After eating, we headed for the mall to look around. I found a pair of FitFlops (google it). I am sure that I will go back and buy them. I looked them up on the Internet and they go for 65 pounds = $105 but I can get them here for about $41 ($30/each if I buy two pair) Yea! Sounds like a deal to me!
Meena needed to get a few things at the grocery store (one in almost every mall around here) so we headed down stairs.... what can I find new today?
Tropical fruit like I have never seen before... much less heard of - the red is dragon fruit and the green beside it is mango (yes, I've heard of mango/ the juice is really good too). Beautiful! The melons are a little different than what you find in the states.... Better flavor, I think!
OK, those of us in the US know about escalators.... but what about travelators? Notice, there are no steps and it is not level like what you would see in the airport. It is at an angle taking you from one floor to the next. It allows you to take your groceries (shopping cart) from the floor it is located on to the ground level. It has magnets in it to keep the carts in place and stop them from rolling. You can imagine, I acted like a country girl on her first visit to the Big City! Wow, what fun! LOL
It was such a beautiful evening, we decided to walk home. This is a street not too far from my home. Notice how close the shops are to the street and how narrow the streets are. The walk home took about 25 minutes... Mom would have a fit if she knew about some of the roads and Traffic we were on. Ha! A big difference here is that I feel safer walking down these streets at night having no idea what the locals are saying than I do in some areas of OKC. It's not the area that brings fear... it's the fear of the unknown. Edwardo, a fellow teacher asked me the other day if I felt fearful traveling (literally) half way around the world to a place where I know not a soul. I answered him the best way I knew how... "No, I am not afraid... I have God with me every step I take." In order to survive here, you have to put ALL your faith and trust in God and Know that He will walk with you every step of the way... even in the dead of night.
Safely home, we each took our showers and got into cool, comfortable clothes and settled in for a good movie on the TV.... Oh, yes, I bought the Harry Potter movie Deadly Hallows Part I. I could have bought Part II, but Meena says NO! Wait for it to come here to the theatre.... then I will buy it, giving me a full set of Harry Potter. (The DVD was 7,000 Rupiah / 0.82 USD - yep, it's Bootleg, but Mom, that's what they have here! LOL)
Till next time...
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