Gandaria (yes, it sounds like that to me too)

So on the second full day we were in Jakarta, we went to the mall.

That's what you do here.

Go to the mall.

So we did.  It is a very big mall.  Not the biggest I've seen here, but bigger than any I've been to in the U.S.  It was lovely.  If you didn't think about it much, you would feel like you were in your own home town.

Six or seven floors.

 The fam.

 I thought this restaurant was funny.  You will find that I will take a lot of pictures of funny things relating to awesome English.  First of all, I thought that Italian Mexican was a brilliant combination.  And second of all, who doesn't want to eat at a 'Group of Spageddies' establishment?

This is the grocery store on the lower level of the mall.  It is very convenient to have a grocery store in a mall.  You could pretty much spend your whole day in a mall.

I did not like my first few experiences at the grocery store.  I had a whole nest full of hungry birds, and I couldn't figure out how to buy groceries.  I got bread, milk and cereal because I knew what those things looked like.  But what about flour and rice?  Oh my, the many many varieties of rice!  Have I mentioned that I don't speak a lick of Indonesian?  It's too bad we don't eat noodle packages (like Ramen) every meal.  We would have been set.  There are aisles dedicated to that one type of food.  So, we ate a lot of pasta our first few weeks here.  And when I say pasta, I mean it.  No cheese, no oil, no butter.  Oh, we did have salt and pepper.  And I would steam some familiar looking vegetables.  Carrots.  But don't worry, the kids loved it.  In fact, they probably miss having it that way.

Since then, I have gotten a lot better.  I love to shop now.  The produce is my favorite part.  There are so many wonderful things to try.  And it is all inexpensive unless you want peaches, cherries, or plums.  I have told the kids to freaking forget it.  I'm not paying $6 for a peach that probably tastes nothing like the peaches we got in Utah or Virginia.  And cherries, oh my goodness.  I don't even want to tell you how much people spend for those things.  But I can get about 10 passionfruit for about $2!  But that's another post.