The Big Tease

I realize that some of my readers who are posted in other countries may not feel any sympathy for me when they read this post. You are stationed in one of those places where you have to ship in everything you could possibly want for the next year or at the very least the next six months. You should feel free to stop reading now. If however you think you might be posted in Jakarta at some point in your future you should keep reading.

Jakarta is a big city in the fourth largest country in the world. If you read my earlier post you know that there are about 10 million people who live here. 

Because of this you can get almost anything you want. Particularly if you are willing to pay the price. For the American shopper I have seen a Gap, Victoria's Secret, Clair's, Nike and Forever 21. Pretty much standard U.S. mall fare. 

With the help of my new friends I have also found many options for grocery shopping and have only discovered one item so far that just doesn't seem to be available but luckily for us we can always order on Amazon, Walmart or various other sites that will ship to our DPO, we just need to be willing to wait, so plan ahead.

But this is a developing country, despite the flashy malls and American fast food chains, and I have come to think of it as the Big Tease.

Just because it looks like the store should have an item or it's listed on the menu doesn't mean they actually have it. 

I have sat at a restaurant trying to order a beverage and had to work my way down the list in an attempt to find something they actually have...

Coke?
No
Teh (tea in a bottle) ?
No
Mint Tea?
Yes.
:-)

This week Z blew out her soccer cleats. (Insert Mom rant where I suggested we buy her new ones before we left the States and they were actually reasonably priced and she turned me down) This required our second trip out to the stores to purchase sport shoes for my daughter in the last month, the first time her new Nike running shoes were stolen.

We headed out to Lippo Mall where we had had success before and they are close to home. The have a Nike, Addidas, Puma and general "Sporting Goods Store".  We carefully scoped out all the options, if you have ever been shopping with a 16 year old girl you know what I mean, Finally to go back to the "General Sporting Goods" store because she deemed them the best option. 

This is where I should also tell you that Jakarta doesn't have much green space so there are not a lot of outdoor soccer fields. Because of this there are far more indoor soccer shoes than cleats available. 

This is also the point where we learned that women must not play soccer here because the only shoes they had were in men's sizes or children's. Like in the States the children's shoes are not as good for her level of play. The helpful clerk tried to bring her the model she liked in kids..nope. Then he went deep into the stock room and found an adult pair in her size but they weren't the style she wanted...nope. 

We thanked him for his help and since I had plans for the evening I took her home to T who had the fun of taking her to the next mall. Luckily there was success. 

I suppose we should be grateful it only took two trips. My neighbor's son wears a size 13 and they have to order all his shoes from the States. It turns out Southeast Asians don't have big feet.

That hunt is over now I need to find good, affordable cheese.

                                                      Our Find! Way to go T!  http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pd/hypervenom-phelon-fg-soccer-cleat/pid-1480794/pgid-728985


If you are interested in more on our adventures from T's point of view:  http://secretasianman3.blogspot.com/