Pam's first solo grocery trip

Work held a "setting up bank accounts day" at the office so Oky (our only driver for now) picked me up at 8:30 to take me to Brad's office building. He'd taken Brad to work at 6:45. All of the spouses were coming in today. Mursosan had arranged for two banks to have reps on site today to work with everyone in setting up accounts.

Once that process was begun ( one of them can't do anything until I get my KITAS visa which is now scheduled for next Monday), I announced that I was thinking of making my first solo trip to the grocery store. There are several large groceries that sit within large malls and it's OK (safe) to use a credit card. That way we don't always have to carry cash to buy groceries. Side note: there is a substantial issue with credit card fraud here so you do need to be watchful where and how you use your credit card. You are much safer using a debit card or simply cash in most cases,

I admit I was quite nervous, but determined to give a try. I called Oky from the main lobby of the office, he picked me up and I announced that I needed him to take me to Senayan City to do a little grocery shopping. So off we went. The adrenaline was really flowing by the time I got there. I managed to get the basics on the list plus a few extras. I really wanted to get more meat at the meat counter but it wasn't as self serve as we'd seen previously and my Bahasa Indonesian is not anywhere near good enough to discuss the ins and outs of meat.

I couldn't even remember how to ask if someone speaks English.  I have now looked it up again. "Anda bisa bicara inggris?" means can you speak English and "Anda mengerti bahasa inggris?" means do you understand English.  And let's not forget the important sentence "Saya tidak mengerti Bahasa Indonesian" which means I don't understand Indonesian. A lot of good it does me sitting at the computer, but I will work on my memory and learning more Bahasa and increasing the frequency of speaking it. Hopefully soon, we will be able to begin formal lessons.
 
The real challenge is that you enter this grocery by using an exterior escalator after passing by a security person or two. You go down a level. Next you must hunt for a cart (they don't put any near this door). After shopping and paying, you exit near a different door and come up inside the mall on a different escalator. Those who know me well are aware just how directionally challenged I am and yet I managed to make that loop and come back at the proper mall exit carrying my 4 bags. If you can take the cart upstairs, we haven't figured it out yet.

One of my purchases was an assorted "pudding" cup set. I'd seen these and wanted to try them. Pudding here isn't the same as pudding in the US. Here it seems to be a jello combination with a fruit puree (highly strained) and may or may not also contain chopped up fruit. I'd already eaten the passion fruit flavor before I took the photo.

After exiting the mall I called Oky who picked me up and safely delivered me back to the Fraser Residence. Whew! Coming back down off the adrenaline now...