Our lives have fallen into a fairly predictable routine. Jonathan goes to class 5 mornings a week, and I go to class 3 afternoons a week. On our afternoons off, we have to make hard choices about how to spend our time. :-) Sometimes Jonathan goes out to do errands and practice language. Sometimes we both stay home and try to get some work done here. Sometimes we pack up the family and run errands together.
Thursday afternoon was a run-errands-together day. Ever since we arrived in the big city, we've been hearing about Pasar Baru (New Market). Many of our neighbors and national friends like to shop there. Our foreign colleagues aren't as enthusiastic about it. So, of course, I wanted to see this place for myself. Jonathan agreed with the idea in principle, but he mainly agreed to go to make me happy. (Isn't he wonderful?) We decided this would be primarily a scouting trip, not a shopping trip, so we wouldn't feel defeated if we didn't make any purchases. Good thing, too.
We gathered our children and backpacks and set off after lunch. As usual, we walked 20 minutes and made small talk with several neighbors before we got to the main road. As we crossed the street, we witnessed a collision between a city "bus" (more like a VW van) and a motorcycle. Scary! This is the first accident we've seen, and, thankfully, the motorcycle driver walked away without serious injuries. We hopped on our bus and rode for about 40 minutes to our destination. As we rode, Toby kept himself entertained by looking out the window, and Abbie charmed the other passengers with her smiles.
When we got off the bus, we walked 2 blocks on a sidewalk crowded with people. There were shops on one side and street vendors selling toys, clothes, hair accessories, fruit, and purses on the other. And by "crowded" I mean people were pressing in on us on all sides. We joined the constant stream of people squeezing by other people. I gave up on trying not to bump into anyone almost immediately; that was too much to expect. Upon reaching Pasar Baru, we only half-jokingly agreed that now we were tired out and ready to head home. :-)
If I had to choose one word to describe this place, it would be "overwhelming". The building is at least 7 stories high, and it's designed so that if you're standing in the middle of the building, you can see all the floors looming overhead. The place is a maze of little shops selling all sorts of goods. One floor is completely devoted to fabrics of all kinds. Other floors offer shoes, clothing, luggage, jewelry, and more. The top floor is a massive food court. We looked over the first few floors with interest, which soon dwindled into grim determination to complete our mission of scouting out the place. Jonathan purchased a nice dress shirt for cheap, and I looked wistfully through racks of women's shirts without finding something that was both my size and style. Toby, as usual, was just happy to be out and about, so he walked blithely through the aisles, only complaining when he grew tired of holding onto someone's hand. Abbie was content to observe from the baby carrier, but all the sights were much too exciting to allow for a nap. She fell asleep as soon as we sat down in the food court for a snack.
After our snack, we made our way down the elevator, out of the building, through the crowds of people lining the sidewalks, onto the city bus, and up the road to our house. Whew! The trip left us exhausted but glad we had experienced Pasar Baru.
Thursday afternoon was a run-errands-together day. Ever since we arrived in the big city, we've been hearing about Pasar Baru (New Market). Many of our neighbors and national friends like to shop there. Our foreign colleagues aren't as enthusiastic about it. So, of course, I wanted to see this place for myself. Jonathan agreed with the idea in principle, but he mainly agreed to go to make me happy. (Isn't he wonderful?) We decided this would be primarily a scouting trip, not a shopping trip, so we wouldn't feel defeated if we didn't make any purchases. Good thing, too.
We gathered our children and backpacks and set off after lunch. As usual, we walked 20 minutes and made small talk with several neighbors before we got to the main road. As we crossed the street, we witnessed a collision between a city "bus" (more like a VW van) and a motorcycle. Scary! This is the first accident we've seen, and, thankfully, the motorcycle driver walked away without serious injuries. We hopped on our bus and rode for about 40 minutes to our destination. As we rode, Toby kept himself entertained by looking out the window, and Abbie charmed the other passengers with her smiles.
When we got off the bus, we walked 2 blocks on a sidewalk crowded with people. There were shops on one side and street vendors selling toys, clothes, hair accessories, fruit, and purses on the other. And by "crowded" I mean people were pressing in on us on all sides. We joined the constant stream of people squeezing by other people. I gave up on trying not to bump into anyone almost immediately; that was too much to expect. Upon reaching Pasar Baru, we only half-jokingly agreed that now we were tired out and ready to head home. :-)
If I had to choose one word to describe this place, it would be "overwhelming". The building is at least 7 stories high, and it's designed so that if you're standing in the middle of the building, you can see all the floors looming overhead. The place is a maze of little shops selling all sorts of goods. One floor is completely devoted to fabrics of all kinds. Other floors offer shoes, clothing, luggage, jewelry, and more. The top floor is a massive food court. We looked over the first few floors with interest, which soon dwindled into grim determination to complete our mission of scouting out the place. Jonathan purchased a nice dress shirt for cheap, and I looked wistfully through racks of women's shirts without finding something that was both my size and style. Toby, as usual, was just happy to be out and about, so he walked blithely through the aisles, only complaining when he grew tired of holding onto someone's hand. Abbie was content to observe from the baby carrier, but all the sights were much too exciting to allow for a nap. She fell asleep as soon as we sat down in the food court for a snack.
After our snack, we made our way down the elevator, out of the building, through the crowds of people lining the sidewalks, onto the city bus, and up the road to our house. Whew! The trip left us exhausted but glad we had experienced Pasar Baru.
